Hi Brizzi
Brizzy wrote:
Right view is the four noble truths. You ask do I understand "by my own experience", if you mean have I heard this/contemplated this and understood this, then the answer is yes( as I assume the majority of sincere Buddhists would have done so also). Right view is the starting point, without it we are not following the path.
So you are saying that you already understand what the Buddha took so long to understand? Understanding the four noble truths is a synonym for Enlightenment.
Are you really saying that you have to have considered the Dhamma before you have actually heard it?
I am saying that "wise consideration" yoniso manasikara is a requirement for Right View. Yoniso manasikara arises from sati-sampajanna. There is no wise consideration without wisdom - so, yes, wisdom has to be developed before "Hearing Dhamma" can have the right effect.
Hatha yoga is one of the branches of hinduism.
While description of it's experiences and stages of development are in sanskrit and based on the Hindu mythology (that isn't that different from the Buddhist, btw), in itself it is not a branch of Hinduism:
In this treatise Swatmarama introduces Hatha Yoga as preparatory stage of physical purification that the body practices for higher meditation. The Asanas and Pranayama in Raja Yoga were what the Hindu Yogis used to physically train their body for long periods of meditation. This practice is called shatkarma.
The word Hatha is a compound of the words Ha and Tha meaning sun and moon ( हकारः कीर्तितः सूर्यष्ठकारश्चंद्र उच्यते | सूर्यचंद्रमसोर्योगाद्धठयोग निगद्यते || ), referring to Praana and Apaana, and also to the principal nadis (energy channels) of the subtle body that must be fully operational to attain a state of dhyana or samādhi.
Yoga means to yoke, or to join two things together, hence hatha yoga is meant to join together sun (masculine, active) energy with the moon (feminine, receptive) energy, thus producing balance and greater power in an individual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hatha yoga leads to the jhanas, the elements, the iddhis (siddhis).
You are assuming that the attainments taught to the Buddha were precipitated by the four jhanas (Buddhas jhanas). This is not stated, I see no reason to presume they did. In fact the Buddhas memory of first jhana was when he was a young boy, this itself is suggestive.
Many people experience the first jhana naturally, due to kamma of previous lives. There is nothing unusual about this.
It is easily conceivable that an attainment like the base of nothingness can be achieved without the four jhanas.
Are you speaking about your own experience of the base of nothingness here?
I dont know if it is right to describe my own personal experiences in meditation.
It is. If you want to further communicate with me you will have to. For I can't read your mind. Without knowing your experiences I cannot talk to you and explain to you what I mean. You won't understand what I write.
The differences would appear to be that "Hindu jhana" is overpowering and all consuming, where no discernment is possible (like your body/mind are totally absorbed until the energy propelling one into that type of concentration is used up. No awareness of body is maintained.
This is not so. One can control the jhanas, master them, enter and leave them at will. How could this be possible without awareness?
The "Buddhas jhana" is increasing awareness of body & mind, culminating in perfect sati (fourth jhana)/satipatthana. One only has to read the similes for jhana, to gain an idea of the process.
Yes, and it is identical to the Hindu one.
Freawaru, are you implying that Arahants have sex or engage in sexual activity. The Buddha states in one of the suttas that craving can be overcome by craving and conceit by conceit etc. However in regard to the sexual act the Blessed One has advised the destruction of the bridge.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Yes, and he clearly didn't mean it in it's biological sense. The sequence is: abandonment of food, then craving, then conceit, and then "sex"??? How much sense does this make?
If you want to read the Buddhas explanation of celibacy it is found here :- AN 7 47, the sutta actually mentions coitus in regard to celibacy.
How odd. I assumed that coitus is latin (literal meaning: unification) and not Pali.
Celibacy is to be celibate regarding the sexual act and sexual activity.
I see no prove in either sutta.
You mentioned this:
The "Buddhas jhana" is increasing awareness of body & mind, culminating in perfect sati (fourth jhana)/satipatthana.
and we agree on this one. Do you really want to understand why I am sure that terms such as sex, celibacy, male and female, bhikkhu and bhikkhuni, don't refer to biology or society? If yes, answer me these questions, you don't have to write any personal information if you don't want to, just general answers to the general questions:
1) When you concentrate on something you like, whether this is a hobby, work, a movie or book, or reading and thinking about the suttas - do you sometimes find it difficult to "get out" of this activity. I mean, do thoughts about it linger, say, you want to drive the car but thinking about the suttas still keeps on going on it's own?
2) When you concentrate on something you like, whether this is a hobby, work, a movie or book, or reading and thinking about the suttas - do you sometimes loose the sense of time? Does it happen that you wanted to spend just a certain amount of time on it but when you finally remember to look at the watch it is much later than you expect it to be?
3) When you concentrate on something you like, whether this is a hobby, work, a movie or book, or reading and thinking about the suttas - does it sometimes happen that after emerging from it you find yourself noticing rather suddenly that you are actually hungry or thirsty, that there is physical pain, as if those had not been there while you had been engaged in that activity?
4) When you concentrate on something you like, whether this is a hobby, work, a movie or book, or reading and thinking about the suttas - does it sometimes happen that without stopping it and while still focused on that activity you find yourself noticing that you are not hungry or thirsty, that any physical pain you have felt before (say, you are ill and now watch a good movie) is absent, that you loose your sense of time and everything that is not required for the activity?