Yash: “So this Panca Nivarana Suppression can act as a hindrance towards one path if one is ignorant of the Buddha Dhamma. One may suppress it to the extent that one may get to the 1st jhana, and his belief would become unshakable about the methods he used.”
- That is quite true. It is possible to get into jhanas by focusing on the breath (provided one abstains from immoral deeds and abstains from sensual thoughts for a long enough time.)
- Then they misinterpret that as getting close to Nibbana. Many yogis attained the highest jhanas and even cultivated supernormal powers even before the Buddha. They were not even close to Nibbana! They all were and still are puthujjana residing in Brahma realms right now.
- Buddhist meditation requires a solid understanding of Paticca Samuppada, Tilakkhana, etc.
- I will start a new series on that.
Gad: You are right. #3 is the first one to tackle. Until one gets rid of that, one is a puthujjana.
