[Partial AI assisted show notes:] On Oct 22, 2024 I spoke (again this time online) with David Johnson, a meditation practitioner with over 13 years at Dhammasukha. David reflects on his interactions with renowned meditation teachers such as Mahasi Sayadaw and Deepa Ma, as well as his evolving meditation journey. After practicing what’s considered by some as Vipassana for many years, David found the results insufficient, prompting him to explore new methods under the guidance of Bhante Vimalaramsi, a monk who developed a meditation style called Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation (TWIM).
Key Points:
- Shift from Vipassana: David discusses how his exploration of TWIM came after realizing that pure Vipassana wasn’t fully aligning with his expectations. He describes Bhante Vimalaramsi’s method, which blends concentration and insight (Samatha and Vipassana) based on Sutta 149 from the Pali Canon.
- TWIM Practice:
- TWIM focuses on combining Metta (loving-kindness) and mindfulness meditation to lead to jhanas (meditative absorptions) while applying the six Rs:
- Recognize the wandering mind,
- Release the distraction,
- Relax the tension,
- Re-smile,
- Return to the object (Metta),
- Repeat.
- He emphasizes using Metta as a pleasant feeling to cultivate mindfulness, allowing it to naturally deepen into jhanas.
- TWIM focuses on combining Metta (loving-kindness) and mindfulness meditation to lead to jhanas (meditative absorptions) while applying the six Rs:
- Relaxation and Insight: The key in TWIM is not to force concentration but to gently relax distractions, allowing insight to arise. The method emphasizes acceptance, rather than suppression, of hindrances (such as restlessness or doubt).
- Jhanas and Mindfulness: David touches upon the difference between concentration-based jhanas and what he calls “aware jhanas,” which allow practitioners to maintain mindfulness while progressing through meditative states.
Instructions:
- Start with Metta: Focus on bringing up feelings of loving-kindness toward yourself, then extend it to a spiritual friend for 20 minutes.
- Six Rs: As the mind wanders, apply the six Rs to gently return to the object of meditation without force.
- Progress through Brahma Viharas: Once mindfulness is strong, cycle through the four Brahma Viharas (Loving-kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity) to deepen the practice.
I also ask David for advice about openly inviting and allowing phenomena (using a metaphor of living in a house of snakes) vs guarding the sense doors.
A big highlight for me was this definition of samadhi:
- Sa – meaning “together” or “unified.”
- Ma – representing “the mind.”
- Dhi – denoting “to hold” or “to place.”
Thus, samādhi means “holding the mind together” or “placing the mind in unification,” highlighting its function of concentrating the mind on a single object without distraction
David’s Guru Viking episode I mention toward the beginning that I draw on for follow up from it https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep212-path-to-nibbna-david-johnson
We also get into differing camps over the importance, or lack of importance, of the Abhidhamma, the commentaries and sub-commentaries and how we still don’t have English translations of all of them.
I forgot to ask about the role of light in jhana and in meditation practice in general and forgot to make the point that perhaps the Abhidhamma and Visuddhimagga are about knowing and seeing the three characteristics of existence — inconsistency, stress/unsatisfactoriness and not-self — in deep, vast, expansive, comprehensive, profound and exhaustive detail on the micro and macro levels so as not to have any gaps in one’s wisdom
We also touch on reconciliation amongst Buddhist schools. David mentions the Buddha as a commonality and I mention the four Noble truths, or at least acknowledging them (to later say there is no suffering like in The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra). And again I forgot to ask David’s opinion if right effort / skillful means could be an explanation to perhaps why there are so many Buddhist practices / traditions to address proclivities, dispositions, and variations of the myriad beings, locations and time periods.
Lastly, I bring up truth in the contexts of conviction, admitting errors / getting it wrong and being open for deep investigations of the nature of reality.
Find David and much of what’s mentioned at https://www.dhammasukha.org
Audio: Aware Vs Concentration Jhanas, Buddhist Reconciliation And The Six R’s (To Dissolve Distractions) With David Johnson
Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)
The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
holess welcome this is Josh tippled integrating presen and today I have David Johnson with me David what’s going
on great uh everything’s good and happy to be with you um I’ve been here at
Damas sua for jez around 13 years Lucky 13 and before that I was practing
practicing vipasana I’ve met mahasa I met Deepa Ma I had I took film of them
back in the 70s I’m that old I know manindra I know Joseph I Know
Jack you know I I know the whole whole crew with the vasana not so much in the goo world I’m not that familiar with it
but I spent like 20 years going through the the vasana um system I was very impressed
because there’s a book about how to do it and what would happen at each stage and that really drew me in and I
thought well if this is being laid out then I’ll just follow the process and attain enlightenment
well I did that um in terms of I did follow the process but what come came
out at the end of it it wasn’t really what I was thinking
I I thought I had done something but later my mind was just as kind of crazy as
before but in any case so I uh ran across Bon vimma Ramsey and he’s
practicing something very different I went to his website he’s got something like you know you have to smile you have
to laugh and it’s like oh that’s not serious at all and I thought well there must be something something’s up with
this so I got a hold of him I’d known him uh in his lay person days for a long
time back in the 70s we were all doing vas and uh he was always laughing so I
he he did carry that trait forward but he’d become a monk and he he was a monk 12 years and he went to upand all the
vas the world and all that so uh I got a hold of him uh somebody let me know that he was available so I
got a hold of him and and he wrote to me and and I and I asked him what is all this stuff you’re doing here this ey
doesn’t look like Buddhism to me and he wrote back oh no I’ve given up the mahasi style I’m G I’ve developed my own
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