Dharma Questions: Miscellany — Part 5

This irregular “Dharma Questions” series deals with “dharma” meaning both the truth of the nature of reality and some Buddhist teachings. Please see this post on the intensions for questioning and not questioning. Amongst other things these questions can be, but not necessarily:

  • thought experiments
  • borderline musings not meant to be answered
  • from laziness of not contemplating or researching them yet

[FIRST JHANA]

“There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal.

“Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman’s apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip; even so, the monk permeates, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal

via https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca4/samma-samadhi/jhana.html
  1. How does bath powder work once it’s kneaded together with water? [This is a reference to the quoted passage above. For context, perhaps this first Jhana simile could benefit from an extended visualization and explanation on use once the powder is mixed with water as this is a nonexistent practice in the Western world.
  2. What is the I AM? Where did it come from? How does it work? Why did the Buddha say it was the biggest conceit?
  3. How and why does aligning with truth bring happiness?
  4. Dividing Sangha is said to be a grave offense? What if one divides Sangha unintentionally? Mustn’t the division be intentional? If so, why is this distinction seemingly seldom mentioned?
  5. I’ve heard TM (Transcendental Meditation) can lead to rebirth in formless realms. How?
  6. Does Nirvana know Samsara?
  7. What is the root condition of annica — impermanence?
  8. What is mind made of? What is mind’s essence? Is it made of consciousness and space (elements)? Earth, air, water, fire?
  9. Did the Buddha speak (in) the Pali language we find in the suttas? If so, how do we know? If not, why then was it written down in Pali instead of the language he spoke? And further, was the Pali language then created just to record the Buddha’s words and teachings? Why and how? Who all created Pali, when and for what reason(s)? How do we know?
  10. For keeping the precept of refraining from falsehoods, and developing the pāramī of truth, is it skillful and wise to use language that’s obviously exaggeration and embellishment? For example: “I use olive oil on everything.”
  11. What are some wise, skillful and wholesome ways to relate to ignorance? Specifically, being ignorant to what we’re ignorant of; the ignorance of what’s causing that/this ignorance; and the ignorance of being ignorant of all that is obscuring and blocking knowing we are ignorant, and being ignorant of how to address and relate and respond to all this?
  12. Do nagas have anything to do with the “rainbow body”? What is the origin of the “rainbow body”?
  13. What are any and all similarities and differences between “Para Brahman” and “Nirvana”?
  14. What are the karmic results for (continually) getting upset about being caught in samsara?
  15. Could the differences between the Theravada (immediate) rebirth after death, and the Tibetan intermediate bardo period after death be resolved by taking spontaneous rebirth immediately into a bardo body following human death? Why or why not?
  16. On Abhidhamma/Abhidharma:
    • How did each of the various versions of the Abhidhamma/Abhidharma come to be (the way they are now) and why (the differences)?
    • Has there been any changes in Abhidhamma/Abhidharma since their inceptions, and if not, are they subject to change? Why and/or why not
    • Whom all does Abhidhamma/Abhidharma apply to? All beings everywhere, or just certain beings in certain times and places (or lack of times and places)? Why and/or why not?

Dharma Questions: Miscellany — Part 4

This irregular “Dharma Questions” series deals with “dharma” meaning both the truth of the nature of reality and some Buddhist teachings. Please see this post on the intensions for questioning and not questioning. Amongst other things these questions can be, but not necessarily:

  • thought experiments
  • borderline musings not meant to be answered
  • from laziness of not contemplating or researching them yet
  1. If no longer operating much with — and out of — habit patterns, ought intention be let go of? What kinds of intentions are skillful, wholesome, helpful and wise, and when — and when not — are (these) intentions skillful, wholesome, helpful and wise?
  2. Does aging and death on the 12 links of Dependent Origination condition ignorance? If so, how and why? If not, how is ignorance conditioned?
  3. Addressing “Dosa” as meaning more “ill-will” instead of “hate”: For the three unwholesome roots of greed, hatred and delusion couldn’t hatred just be an unconscious response to fear? Is(n’t) hate a (natural) emotion not to be repressed/suppressed? Can/could hate be a less than desirable response/reaction to something we care about? (For example, because one cares and respects the planet and environment hate could arise when observing people trash the planet and environment. . . Ill-will seems far more dangerous than hate because of ill-will’s intention to harm.) How about “despise”, “contempt”, “hostility”, “degradation”, “antagonism” as alternate interpretations for “dosa”?
  4. Is yoga (practice) mentioned by that name in the suttas?
  5. Why is truth not a perfection/Pāramitā in Mahayana?
  6. Can (the whole cycle of the) 12 links of Dependent Origination go backwards due to retrocausality?
  7. Does/could Bodhidharma’s inventing, teaching, and/or paving the way for kung fu have anything to do with the Buddha not following the traditional path of his warrior cast?
  8. [next 4 are Koan(ish?) like questions:]
  9. What is the root of awareness?
  10. How does awareness know how to know?
  11. Can mind die?
  12. Who/What experiences inconstancy and dukkha? /(or) aka:/ Who’s ever-changing dukkha? /(or) aka:/ What experiences inconstant dukkha?
  13. Could/Does the chant wishing that wishes come quick contribute to time seeming to speed up by people getting their wishes fulfilled quicker and then wanting even more?
  14. Why are the aggregates so convincing as a self? How and why do they heap or bundled together (if this is a correct innerstanding and they actually do so)?
  15. Could any details of how the niyamas work ever become outdated due to impermanence?
  16. Would grafting a (“higher” and/or “lower”) being’s DNA on to plants, or any other species effect karma? If so, how?
  17. How much true credit and merit should thinking get?
  18. What is the appropriate, ideal role of thinking in each moment?

An Integrating Presence Meditation: Classic Mindfulness Imagery — June 2, 2021 At Fat Cat Longevity

This guided meditation practice involves the following classic mindfulness images and similes:

  • a relaxed cowherd after the harvest
  • surgeons probe gathering information before action
  • ploughshare to prep the ground for wisdom
  • elephant’s neck supporting the head of wisdom while turning the full body to look, not just the head, for full attention
  • climbing a platform with detachment for an broader perspective and overview
  • town gatekeeper knowing who to keep out and able to direct who comes in
  • wheel spokes connecting the hub of the body to the outside of the wheel of our experiences while helping to steer
  • hitching post to tame and keep animals from wandering off all the while the strong post remains unmoved
  • balancing aspect like walking with bowl of oil atop the head

Other relevant imagery:

Faith and wisdom are evenly yoked together.

Conscience is its pole, the mind is the rope tied to the yoke, Awareness is the watchful charioteer.

from SN 45:4

Suppose a king had a frontier city with strong ramparts and walls, with six gates. A wise gatekeeper keeps out strangers and admits acquaintances. A swift pair of messengers would come from the east and ask the gatekeeper: “Where is the lord of this city?” He would reply: “He is sitting in the central square.” Then the swift messengers would deliver a message of reality to the lord. …

The meaning here is: ‘The city;’ is a term for the body. ‘The six gates’ is the six internal sense bases. ‘The gatekeeper’ is awareness. The swift messengers are tranquility and insight. ‘The lord of the city’ is consciousness. … ‘The message of reality’ is Nibbāna.

From SN 35:245

Any river can be stopped with the dam of awareness. I call it the flood-stopper. And with wisdom you can close the floodgates.

from Sutta Nipāta v. 1035

Note: A Turner is “One who or that which turns; specifically, one whose occupation involves work with a lathe.” The following sutta selection implies and highlights keeping a steady attention as a whole on the entire piece of lathe wood in addition to the action of cutting into it:

“Monks, just as a skilled turner or apprentice turner who is making a long turn understands ‘I am making a long turn,’ or when making a short turn understands ‘I am making a short turn,’ in the same way, when a monk is breathing in a long breath, he understands ‘I am breathing in a long breath,’ or when breathing out a long breath, he understands ‘I am breathing out a long breath.’ When breathing in a short breath, he understands ‘I am breathing in a short breath,’ or when breathing out a short breath, he understands ‘I am breathing out a short breath.’ He trains in this way: ‘I will breathe in experiencing the whole body.’ He trains in this way: ‘I will breathe out experiencing the whole body.’ He trains in this way: ‘I will breathe in calming the body.’ He trains in this way: ‘I will breathe out calming the body.’

Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta—Suddhāso Bhikkhu
10. Great Discourse on the Establishment of Mindfulness

“If, on examination, a monk knows, ‘I usually remain covetous, with thoughts of ill will, overcome by sloth & drowsiness, restless, uncertain, angry, with soiled thoughts, with my body aroused, lazy, or unconcentrated,’ then he should put forth extra desire, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, & alertness for the abandoning of those very same evil, unskillful qualities. Just as when a person whose turban or head was on fire would put forth extra desire, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, & alertness to put out the fire on his turban or head; in the same way, the monk should put forth extra desire, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, & alertness for the abandoning of those very same evil, unskillful qualities.

“But if, on examination, a monk knows, ‘I usually remain uncovetous, without thoughts of ill will, free of sloth & drowsiness, not restless, gone beyond uncertainty, not angry, with unsoiled thoughts, with my body unaroused, with persistence aroused, & concentrated,’ then his duty is to make an effort in maintaining those very same skillful qualities to a higher degree for the ending of the effluents.”

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.051.than.html

Meditation space at Fat Cat Longevity
Meditation Audio: Classic Mindfulness Imagery
Meditation Audio: Classic Mindfulness Imagery — Recorded Live on June 2, 2021 at Fat Cat Longevity

Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

Mary’s House of Healing
524 South Main Street
Downstairs at Fat Cat Longevity next to Peace Love Coffee…
St. Charles, MO 63301

June 2, 2021 — 6:00pm – 6:45pm

Doors open: 5:50pm — Doors close: 6:05pm

Cost: Fat Cat Longevity price packages, monthly membership or generosity inspired donation

Towards Everyday Implementation Of The Universal Beautiful Mental Factors

IntegratingPresence.com responses for the Dharma Gates event “Truth, Suffering, & Liberation Part III” with Beth Upton

Dhamma and meditation teacher Beth Upton — who’s other chats I’ve posted — recently held a three part event with Dharma Gates called “Truth, Suffering and Liberation“. I’ve edited out most everything except my responses to Beth’s questions and her responses to me so please watch the full video at the end of this post especially if requiring more context.

Beth read an excerpt of the Aggañña Sutta about the origin of human kind on planet earth then linked our suffering caused by the defilements to what was dramatically depicted in the Aggañña Sutta to the Buddha’s antidote: the The Universal Beautiful Mental Factors (sobhanasādhāraṇa). Beth then offered a short teaching, followed by a guided meditation, on her condensed and more practical version of these Mental Factors from the Abhidhamma which are:

  • Faith
  • Mindfulness
  • Non-greed
  • Non-hatred
  • Morality
  • Balance
  • Tranquility
  • Lightness
  • Softness
  • Flexibility
  • Uprightness/Authenticity/Truthfulness
  • Proficiency

Below Beth’s questions (in bold) that guided group discussion I share a few new responses to what’s already included in the video:

1) What was your experience being with the Beautiful Mental Factors?

2) What stands in the way of us being with these Mental Factors in the world and what helps us?

In busy, loud, frantic places — instead of fighting the chaotic flow — what about opening up to an open awareness (practice) allowing the object of meditation to be whatever and wherever the mind is pulled?

And I wonder, ironically perhaps, how the following disengaging-based guided samatha instruction from Ajahn Sucitto might be modified to help us better be with the Beautiful Mental Factors in the world:

“.. let go of the sense realm, and just take some time and keep your eyes half open because you just don’t want to go into your mental sense. Normally if you close your eyes you go into your mind sense, but you don’t want to be engaged with that either. Keep your eyes slightly open and downcast. So you’re not in. You’re not out. You’re sort of poised between the inner and outer world. And it’s light.

And the practice is to steady the attention so it’s not running out. Not running in. Not jumping up and down. Not searching for something. Just poised. And in fact, soothe it by widening it. So you might say the entire visual field, auditory, all the senses — you’re opening the whole lot up internally; that is you’re opening up the sensitivity of awareness but not focusing on any particular object.

. . . You could say your body is like a ballon. As your breathing fills it up sense something lightly expanding. Not holding back; letting it lightly expand.

Then you connect your mind to that. Just by the act of placing your mind — your attention — on that experience. The whole experience. The rhythm. The spaciousness. The quality of it. Not just the sensation but the quality of spaciousness, fluidity, relaxing, with this thread of sensation acting as the trace that you can sense. Don’t get too tight on that one.

It’s really about changing the atmosphere. Perhaps getting a feeling for body which is much more to do with how the breathing shapes it internally. Fluid.

— from Dhamma Stream Guided Meditation – Jhāna is Based on Disengagement by Ajahn Sucitto

And what about the reverse psychology of asking: how can I generate more unwholesome mental factors? What does the mind do with this question?

3) Which contexts help us pay wise attention and which contexts don’t?

When do we loose sight that mindfulness itself is a conditioned state? Can unhelpful, unskillful perceptions of noisiness be transmuted? What could they better be transmuted into (perhaps something not perceived as distraction)? Maybe maintaining mindfulness doesn’t need to be top priority in such unsupportive environments, but perhaps instead the acknowledgement of suffering and its wise response of compassion?

4) How do we engage with life in the West wholeheartedly with no gentle context to train in, no nursery, where we’re either on retreat or out there fending for ourselves — going deep on retreat and then practice collapsing?

1) Zen and 2) sitting two hours a day 3) embodiment (practices). I find and hear sitting for two hours a day can maintain much of the benefits of retreats. However, obviously, not everybody has this opportunity and/or drive. Zen though is not just a lifestyle, but way of life — living every moment, moment by moment, in and as (the) practice, (even) with ordinary mind. Not really even as an opportunity for practice but as the way itself. And for lack of better phrasing, the better we can encode our practice in the body the more available its expression wherever we are.

5) How can we bring these beautiful mental factors into our lives?

Nineteen universal beautiful mental factors (sobhanasādhāraṇa) from Wikipedia

Audio only version — Towards Everyday Implementation Of The Universal Beautiful Mental Factors

Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

Dharma Gates event “Truth, Suffering, & Liberation Part III” with Beth Upton

More Beth Upton videos:

Practicing in the Desire Realm | (5/25/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu)

For this month’s regular open-audience, open-discussion “Ask Us Anything” — continuing discussions about meditation and related topics — (despite some technical snafus) Denny and I pick one topic each we’ve yet to discuss much publicly — the Eight “Touches”, and wholesome sexuality(/sexual energy), respectively. (Amended) show notes are as follows:

(From Josh):

What is Kusala (Wholesome) Sexual Energy?

  • Five Training Precepts are about refraining from — as in refraining from misusing sexual energy by avoiding breaking up relationships and sexual activity only in committed relationships
  • So what’s the opposite positive version? Skillful and appropriate relational energy [6/8/2021 UPDATE: Equating relational energy and sexual energy may be my (mis)interpretation from hearing Ajahn Sucitto. I’m still re-listening to several talks for more references. Plan to post more clarification here if found]
  • Most anything of sexual nature is taboo in the West for both skillful and wise reasons as well as unskillful and unwise reasons
  • Cognitive dissonance of hyper-sexualization promoted in mass media and culture but along with #MeToo, sexual repression, dress codes, “princess code/programing“, “toxic masculinity”, emasculation, gender confusion, using sex to gain power, and “battle of the sexes”
Denny mentions Miller’s planet, a water planet from the film Interstellar

(From Denny):

Five stages of mind practice

  1. Knowing
  2. Quieting
  3. Contemplating
  4. Deconstructing
  5. Emancipating

Eight “Touches”

  1. Movement (動) : interaction of all four elements, earth, water, fire and wind causing either regular or irregular movement or gyration of body
  2. Itchiness (癢)
  3. Cold or Coolness (冷)
  4. Hot or Warm (暖)
  5. Weightlessness (輕) : exaggeration of the wind element, body feels light, like cloud or dust, as if flying
  6. Heaviness (重)
  7. Smoothness (滑) : body feels smooth as butter or milk, can sense bright light
  8. Roughness (澀) : body feels rough, like sandpaper

Josh mentions similarities of Eight “Touches” to Four-Elements Meditation as taught by Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw. See page 114 on PDF of Knowing and Seeing and Mindfulness of Breathing & Four Elements Meditation [PDF]

“Tapussa the householder, here, has said to me, ‘Venerable Ananda, sir, we are householders who indulge in sensuality, delight in sensuality, enjoy sensuality, rejoice in sensuality. For us—indulging in sensuality, delighting in sensuality, enjoying sensuality, rejoicing in sensuality—renunciation seems like a sheer drop-off. Yet I’ve heard that in this doctrine & discipline the hearts of the very young monks leap up at renunciation, grow confident, steadfast, & firm, seeing it as peace. So right here is where this doctrine & discipline is contrary to the great mass of people: i.e., [this issue of] renunciation.’”

“So it is, Ananda. So it is. Even I myself, before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened Bodhisatta, thought: ‘Renunciation is good. Seclusion is good.’ But my heart didn’t leap up at renunciation, didn’t grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace. The thought occurred to me: ‘What is the cause, what is the reason, why my heart doesn’t leap up at renunciation, doesn’t grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace?’ Then the thought occurred to me: ‘I haven’t seen the drawback of sensual pleasures; I haven’t pursued [that theme]. I haven’t understood the reward of renunciation; I haven’t familiarized myself with it. That’s why my heart doesn’t leap up at renunciation, doesn’t grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace.’

[1] “Then the thought occurred to me: ‘If, having seen the drawback of sensual pleasures, I were to pursue that theme; and if, having understood the reward of renunciation, I were to familiarize myself with it, there’s the possibility that my heart would leap up at renunciation, grow confident, steadfast, & firm, seeing it as peace.’

“So at a later time, having seen the drawback of sensual pleasures, I pursued that theme; having understood the reward of renunciation, I familiarized myself with it. My heart leaped up at renunciation, grew confident, steadfast, & firm, seeing it as peace. Then, quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities, I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation.

“As I remained there, I was beset with attention to perceptions dealing with sensuality. That was an affliction for me. Just as pain arises as an affliction for a healthy person, even so the attention to perceptions dealing with sensuality that beset me was an affliction for me.

[2] “The thought occurred to me: ‘What if, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, I were to enter & remain in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation—internal assurance.’ But my heart didn’t leap up at being without directed thought, didn’t grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace. The thought occurred to me: ‘What is the cause, what is the reason, why my heart doesn’t leap up at being without directed thought, doesn’t grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace?’ Then the thought occurred to me: ‘I haven’t seen the drawback of directed thought; I haven’t pursued that theme. I haven’t understood the reward of being without directed thought; I haven’t familiarized myself with it. That’s why my heart doesn’t leap up at being without directed thought, doesn’t grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace.’

Selection from:
Aṅguttara Nikāya
Book of the Nines
9.41. To Tapussa

Many people shaken by fear go for refuge to mountains and woods,
to places with beautiful trees.
That is not a secure refuge,
that is not the refuge supreme,
nor is it the refuge to come to that liberates from all suffering.

Whoever has gone for refuge to the Buddha,
the Dhamma and the Saṅgha,
and who sees as it really is the four noble truths.
That is a secure refuge,
that is the refuge supreme,
that is the refuge to come to that liberates from all suffering.

Śaraṇavagga — Bhikkhu Ānandajoti
Patna Dhammapada
13. The Chapter about Refuge
Audio only version — Practicing in the Desire Realm | (5/25/2021 — AUA Live | Joshua Dippold and Denny K Miu)

Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

Currently, for a chance to experience, practice, and receive Yi Jin Jing instructions from Denny plus more mindful exercise join in free on Saturdays:

Continue reading “Practicing in the Desire Realm | (5/25/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu)”

Dharma Questions: Miscellany — Part 3

This irregular “Dharma Questions” series deals with “dharma” meaning both the truth of the nature of reality and some Buddhist teachings. Please see this post on the intensions for questioning and not questioning. Amongst other things these questions can be, but not necessarily:

  • thought experiments
  • borderline musings not meant to be answered
  • from laziness of not contemplating or researching them yet
  1. If all compounded things are not self, how and why is there a sense of agency? And how and why does our experience seem to be associated with body?
  2. Are there intents of/behind/to samsara? If not, why not? If so, how do these intents operate and how are they established, maintained and abolished?
  3. How do sankhārā [formations/mental formations/volitional formations] come from ignorance? What is the process?
  4. What would be the pros and cons of allowing A.I. translations of Buddhist texts/scriptures — for texts already translated and yet to be translated?
  5. Does the Pali cannon have anyone explicitly asking along the lines of, “how did you become a Buddha?” and/or “can I become a Buddha too? If so, how can I become a Buddha?”
  6. If consciousness does not arise [in the process of dependent origination — for example, during dreamless, unconscious sleep] do the links following consciousness cease (temporarily)? If so, without the six sense base consciousnesses (active), can mindfulness of breathing be known (without body-consciousness, sound-consciousnesses, etc)? If not, how can consciousness be optimized for (more continuous) mindfulness of breathing?
  7. Do alternatives to reality exist besides samsara/nirvana (here or elsewhere)? If not, why not and how is it known?
  8. Why are the aggregates five in number? Why aren’t two or more unified/combined? Why not just energy and consciousness as the first four — form, feeling, perception, formations/fabrications — are energy/energetic?
  9. How does Buddhism square with divinity? [No mention of an ultimate creator god/being with a set beginning — only that the Buddha could detect no discernible beginning or end to births/deaths/rebirths. But there’s also mention of the “divine eye”]
  10. Would there ever be incentive (both inside and outside Mahayana) to prevent (certain individual) beings from reaching full enlightenment? Why or why not? If so, how?
  11. Does/would the 100th monkey effect apply to saving/liberating/emancipating/awakening beings? Why or why not?
  12. What happened to the other early Buddhist schools besides Theravada?
  13. How does effort for vitakka wax & wane? How does vitakka turn into, or allow, or go along with vicāra?
  14. What are the root conditions of 1) mindfulness 2) any and all opposites of mindfulness 3) the fluctuations between these? What exactly is attending mindfully and how is this done? What is knowing?
  15. Could taṇhā also be interpreted as: unaware denial and lack of acknowledgment of how things actually are?
  16. There’s seems to be a partial sense of a certain amount of agency and non-agency in experience. How does this work? Why do some beings appear to exercise greater agency than others (within similar conditions)?
  17. To what extent can karma be investigated and studied without the danger of becoming insane by engaging in this imponderable?
  18. Are each of the eight factors of the noble eight fold path ultimately impermanent, unsatisfactory and not-self?
  19. How did the deva who told Bāhiya he wasn’t anywhere near enlightenment know this? How did both the deva and Bāhiya know/find the location of the Buddha?

“Now, what is the food for the arising of unarisen mindfulness as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of mindfulness as a factor for awakening once it has arisen? There are mental qualities that act as a foothold for mindfulness as a factor for awakening [well-purified virtue & views made straight]. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen mindfulness as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of mindfulness as a factor for awakening once it has arisen.

Food (for the Factors for awakening)
Āhāra Sutta  (SN 46:51)

Resources for Abhidhamma — Advanced Buddhist Thought, Inquiry, Analysis and Psychology

Abdhidhamma and Development of Buddhist Thought

After auditing the now public Abdhidhamma and Development of Buddhist Thought, part of Mid-America Buddhist Association’s Diploma in Pali and Buddhist Studies (DPBS) I was inspired to create this post. (If interested in checking out ongoing classes at MABA, please email to request free auditing, or please enroll).

Here’s some Abhidhamma resources, some of which were mentioned in class:

Beth Upton answers some Abhidhamma questions
10 Part Teaching on Theravada Abhidhamma with Bhikkhu Bodhi
via https://rukkhamula.wordpress.com/add-ons/abhidhamma-add-ons/a-pictorial-representation-of-rupa-kalapas-for-visual-learners/
via https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/31157/does-vi%C3%B1%C3%B1%C4%81%E1%B9%87a-generate-n%C4%81mar%C5%ABpa-in-the-sense-that-would-make-uploading-concsciou

I feel what’s below both relevant to include in this blog post and that it ought to be somewhat apparent by the answer why we still need seasoned Abhidhamma practitioners and even Dhamma teachers in general if going by ChatGPT‘s answer to “What are some of the most contested Abhidhamma questions?”:

As an AI language model, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs. However, some of the most contested Abhidhamma questions among scholars and practitioners include:

  1. The nature of consciousness: Whether consciousness is a momentary process or a continuous stream.
  2. The concept of self: Whether there is a permanent self or soul that exists beyond the aggregates.
  3. The role of karma: Whether karma is deterministic or whether it allows for free will.
  4. The nature of nibbana: Whether nibbana is a state of cessation or an ultimate reality.
  5. The relationship between mind and matter: Whether mind and matter are separate entities or whether they are interdependent.
  6. The role of meditation: Whether meditation is necessary for attaining enlightenment or whether it is just a tool for developing concentration and mindfulness.
  7. The concept of rebirth: Whether rebirth is literal or metaphorical, and how it relates to the concept of karma.

These are just a few examples, as there are many other questions and debates within Abhidhamma studies.

Irregular Inquires — Questions For Regular Contemplation: Ethics

  • If I’m doing ______ what would the world look like if everyone was doing this?
  • If I _______ will it lead to (more) harm or non-harm? How will harm or not harm and why?
  • If I don’t _______ will it lead to more harm or non-harm? How and why?

“Whenever you want to do [while you are doing, and having done] a bodily action [verbal action, mental action], you should reflect on it: ‘This bodily action [verbal action, mental action], I want to do [are doing, and have done] — would it [is it, was it] lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Would it be [is it, was it] an unskillful bodily action, [verbal action, mental action] with painful consequences, painful results?’ If, on reflection, you know that it would lead [is leading, has lead] to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both; it would be an unskillful bodily action [verbal action, mental action] with painful consequences, painful results, then any bodily action [verbal action, mental action] of that sort is absolutely unfit for you to do. But if on reflection you know that it would not cause self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both; it would be a skillful bodily action [verbal action, mental action] with pleasant consequences, pleasant results, then any bodily action [verbal action, mental action] of that sort is fit for you to do.”

Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta: Instructions to Rahula at Mango Stone (with my edits/additions in brackets in order to condense the text)
  • If the whole universe is within, what is going on internally that leads to the perception of an external ill and/or external wholeness?

. . . it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception & intellect, that I declare that there is the cosmos, the origination of the cosmos, the cessation of the cosmos, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the cosmos.

selection from the Rohitassa Sutta: To Rohitassa

I, Kulla, went to a charnel ground
and saw a woman’s body abandoned there,
discarded in a cemetery,
full of worms that devoured.

“See this bag of bones, Kulla—
diseased, filthy, rotten,
oozing and trickling,
a fool’s delight.”

Taking the teaching as a mirror
for realizing knowledge and vision,
I examined this body,
hollow, inside and out.

As this is, so is that;
as that is, so is this.
As below, so above;
as above, so below.

As by day, so by night;
as by night, so by day.
As before, so after;
as after, so before.

Even the music of a five-piece band
can never give such pleasure
as when, with unified mind,
you rightly discern the Dhamma.

Verses of the Senior Monks
The Book of the Sixes
Chapter One
6.4. Kulla
Ouroboros

Sāriputta
With what kinds of conduct and morality,
growing in what sorts of karmas,
will a person well-established be
for attainment of the highest goal?

Buddha
Let that one be an honourer of elders, never envious,
a knower of the right time for the teacher seeing,
and when Dharma’s being taught, a knower of that time
to listen precisely to those well-spoken words.

And at the right time go to the teacher’s presence
in an unassuming way, discarding obstinacy,
with restraint and recollection of the way to practise,
remembering the Dharma for the life of purity.

Dwelling in the Dharma, delighted in Dharma,
in Dharma established, and skilled in deciding Dharma,
never uttering words to the Dharma’s detriment,
Let such a one be guided by well-spoken truths.

Disputatiousness, gossip, complaints and ill-will,
deception, hypocrisy, longing and pride,
aggressiveness, harshness, defilements-attached,
fare abandoning these, pride-free, of steady mind.

Understanding’s the essence of well-spoken words,
while that and the learnt is the essence of calmness;
but wisdom and learning in one do not grow—
that person who’s hasty and negligent both.

Delighting in Dharma by Noble Ones taught,
their mind, speech and body all unsurpassed—
in gentleness, peace, meditative-states firm,
attained to the essence of wisdom and learning.

Sutta Nipāta
Kiṁsīla Sutta
2.9. What is Good Conduct?

Types Of Samadhi (From Early Buddhist Texts)

“Monks, these are the four developments of concentration. Which four? There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to a pleasant abiding in the here & now. There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to the attainment of knowledge & vision. There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to mindfulness & alertness. There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to the ending of the effluents.

Selection from: Concentration
Samādhi Sutta  (AN 4:41)

Here and there I’ve come across different types — or names of — various versions of Samadhi while consuming material where such things crop up. Such flavors of Samadhi usually seem to be in Sanskrit or Pali, and because of the tricky spelling (at least for me) sometimes a (duckduckgo.com) search turns them up, sometimes not.

And after coming up empty-handed searching for a Samadhi list, I turned to Buddhism Stack Exchange where a fella ‘did an in depth research going through a digital search of the pali suttas and compiling a comprehensive list of every type of usage of Samādhi: broad umbrella term in every type of usage in EBT [Early Buddhist Texts].’

The following is a sampling of his compilation:

  • sammā-samādhi
  • Ānā-pānas-sati-samādhi
  • a-nimitta ceto-samādhi — sign-less mind’s-undistractable-lucidity
  • ap-paṇihito samādhi, ap-paṇidhāya bhāvanā — un-directed samadhi
  • Ariyassa pañc-aṅgikassa sammā-samādhissa — 5 factors = 4 jhānas + reflection-nimitta + 5 similes
  • ariyo sammā-samādhi sa-upaniso itipi sa-parikkhāro itipī — noble right concentration 7 factored
  • a-vitakko a-vicāro samādhi
  • a-vitakko vicāra-matto samādhi
  • samādhi-bala — one of 5 bala)
  • samādhi-bhāvanā
  • samādhi-sambojjhanga
  • samādhi-khandha
  • samādhi-nimittā
  • paṇihito samādhi, paṇidhāya bhāvanā — directed samadhi
  • samādhi-parikkhārā — requisites, equipment, indispensables
  • sa-vitakko sa-vicāro samādhi
  • suññato samādhi — emptiness samadhi

Would love to see someone take this even further by including Sanskrit, Chinese, etc. sources.

[6/4/2021 UPDATE] Starting a running list of other samadhi names:

Here’s a (copy and pasted) portion of the aforementioned work:

4👑☸ Cattāri Ariya-saccaṃ 四聖諦

4👑☸ → ☂️ Samādhi (in broadest sense)8🌄 🔝

☂️ Samādhi (in broadest sense)

Continue reading “Types Of Samadhi (From Early Buddhist Texts)”

An Integrating Presence Meditation at Fat Cat Longevity Wednesday May 5, 2021

Join meditation 7:00-7:45pm Wednesday, May 5th at Fat Cat Longevity [https://facebook.com/freyflow] downstairs next to Peace Love Coffee at Mary’s House of Healing, on Main St in St Charles, MO.

We plan to start with brief instructions along with a discussion before and after.

Our semi-formal meditation possibilities include a combination of:

  • compassion and loving-kindness
  • (open) awareness
  • 5 simple qigong breathing exercises
  • mindfulness [1) body 2) heart-mind: thoughts, emotions, moods, mind states 3) relationship to our experience]

Mary’s House of Healing
524 South Main Street
Downstairs at Fat Cat Longevity next to Peace Love Coffee…
St. Charles, MO 6330

May 5, 2021 — 7:00pm – 7:45pm

Doors open: 6:50pm — Doors close: 7:05pm

Cost: Fat Cat Longevity price packages, monthly membership or generosity inspired donation