Tobias said: “What is brahmavihara (brahma+vihara)?”
I will discuss in the future the misunderstood concept of brahmavihara. I just wanted to introduce it here to get a start (Of course, it is mentioned in the sutta too).
Tobias said: “…one MUST have removed the 10 types of miccā ditthi even to cultivate anāriya jhāna”
That is new to me. Can you please elaborate on this?”
This is an important point. This is the reason that most people in the West have a hard time getting into jhana. On the contrary, there are many people in the East who can get to anariya jhanas. This is mainly because those in the West are heavily influenced by modern science and thus dismiss rebirth (and laws of kamma) as nonsense, which of course belong to 10 types of micca ditthi.
– We can think about it this way. Jhanic states are higher lying realms in the 31 realms. We have 11 lower-lying realms in the kama loka. Then we have 16 higher-lying rupavacara realms, and even higher-lying 4 arupavacara realms. Kama loka realms have all five senses, and those beings enjoy kama or sense pleasures.
– Rupavacara beings only enjoy seeing and hearing. They are born there simply because, while being human, they had seen the drawbacks of sense pleasures and HAD CULTIVATED rupa jhanas by either SUPPRESSING or REMOVING the craving for sense pleasures, i.e., they had cultivated anariya or Ariya jhanas.
Therefore, both types of jhana (Ariya or anariya) essentially REQUIRES one to believe in the rebirth process and the laws of kamma. EVEN SUPPRESSING the desire for sense pleasures is not an easy task. That is impossible to do without getting rid of the first level of “wrong views” about this world, the 10 types of micca ditthi.
Of course, comprehending Tilakkhana is the removal of the deeper layer of micca ditthi.