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Hi Zapper, you didn’t experience jhana – first jhana feels like peak sexual pleasure that does not come down and even goes beyond bodily pleasure. I’m saying that some people who have never experienced jhana can relate to something they most likely experienced before. It will feel “holy” or “light” but intense.
What you experience is a calm state of mind that Dhamma influences you in a neutral state, it moves your energy. I’m not sure where to put it in terms of Pali words, if you contemplate Dhamma and chant, and have this neutral energy flow I would say it’s samma samadhi – perfect state to comprehend Dhamma.
Jhanas in most cases are too strong to understand Dhamma unless you can reach 4th jhana which is the most optimal state to contemplate Dhamma. (in jhanas*)
Here is a genuine experience that one can check if one attained jhana or not. Those things are supernatural, it will not be “feeling light and relaxed”, real jhana shakes up the whole worldview especially materialistic. For me, if not for jhana and super-natural experiences I would never believe anything
1) There is a doer or person, I – in Nibbana we can not say there is something but we can not say there is nothing, it’s like a third option that needs to be discovered and experienced. You can not read “there is no self” and act like you have no self, it will be counter-productive.
2) There is neither determinism nor free will, there are certain mechanics and limitations. Some give us the freedom to act, some determine limitations beyond the possibility of choice ie. cause, and effect. The problem is you do not see the full picture but make the judgment based on very little information on suttas without knowing the whole context, mechanics, and how things work.The worst-case scenario is when people read stuff, take it, and make a wall for themselves based on it rather than use it for liberation pathfinder is a great example of making the wall for himself – hopefully more people can see through that, and do not repeat the mistake by walling themselves by assumptions without any real experience of jhanas, Nibbana or wisdom.
For example if you know someone drinks a lot of alcohol you can predict that he will become alcoholic or already is and you can predict related issue/outcome because of that condition. Prediction on the base of attachment is not really determinism and lack of free will, but result of it. At the end of the day it’s neither if you look very closely at it, that there is only cause and effect that can be sometimes predicted but it’s not “determinism” which is hard to see-thru. Same if you see object that is spinning really fast, if you do not know physics of spinning you would say the object does not move or move backwards etc. It’s much complicated than you think it is when it comes to “free will” or “determinism. Assumptions are your “enemy” on the Path.
As Buddha said in one sutta, if there will be “determinism” there would be no Nibbana. (I do not remember exact sutta though)
We need to handle each case differently, depending on the situation.
This is the point I wanted to make, to handle a lot of people with different types of gathi, mindset you need to be beyond average as person in standing, insight, discipline etc. otherwise people will not take you seriously. The best course of action now is to make possibility for those people who want to learn Dhamma have way to learn a real and proper Dhamma with proper understanding, once this is established we can move forward towards people
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We can do so out of compassion. If you see a child about to eat a glass shard will you just stand there?
People who are ignoring Dhamma or not are willing to learn it or practice it, or they are not interested, etc. are not children who are about to eat glass, if you think this way you will pretty much suffer as there is no way to changing the people or the world, being idealistic will cause a lot of harm to yourself. Focus on Nibbana first then you may try to bother with people if you are even willing
And why did the Buddha travel to teach Angulimāla?
Buddha and Arahants ignored many people in suttas for various reasons, you can not compare yourself to Buddha and do not do that or you will be delusional about yourself. Just because you find this site and it has an impact on you – you should not suddenly think that you are “bigger” than you are. This is a mistake that plenty of new people make before realizing the depth of Dhamma and how much there is to understand before opening your mouth to speak about Dhamma.
Sometimes even being an Arahant is not enough to teach Dhamma and some Arahants vary when teaching for various reasons. Sotapanna is not enough to teach on a high level as you will be agitated with people and you will do “dispromotion” for Dhamma as people have always high expectations for “spiritual” people, super unrealistic expectations.
**Keep in mind I’m talking about being like a “missionary” or trying to “save” people through Dhamma. Creating spaces like this site or aiming for people who are “seekers” looking for spiritual liberation is okay.
Yes, what I’m talking is anariya meditations which untrained are pretty much dangerous, a lot of them are beneficial but most of them are waste of time and health
Attaining magga phala — including Arahantship — does not have such specific requirements (at least, I have not seen them).
Being Tihetuka would qualify as specific requirement
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For example if you I drink water to fulfill thirst if you drink too much you may even die from water poisoning, if you drink too small amount you will hurt body too – while most people naturally can drink water without side effects when it comes to meditation is not the case, you doing random things with your mind which governs your body and life function, messing up with with it and randomly “toying” with meditation will hurt you long term. Proper meditation has little or no side effect and only positive results.
“Unfortunatly true. The most we can do is to help them see bit by bit” – this is bad mindset, as Buddha stated personal Nibbana is more important than trying to convince anyone to Dhamma. If one reach Anagami or Arahanat then may do “convincing” but at that stage I doubt anyone will see point of doing so
You should look for meditation teacher, what you experience are actually signs of wrong meditation and practicing that way may cause permanent damage in the body/neurology
The only bad thing about paying for sex is that you will become addicted to it and you will be reinforcing that pattern in your mind which at the end of the day will slow down progress (if Sotapanna or Sakadagami, there is sutta of Sakadagami having sex with his wife). Paying for sex gives a “thrill” but it’s no different than buying a bottle of alcohol. There are many layers to it, I would not say it’s wrong in terms of Dhamma itself but by understanding Dhamma you will know it will lead somewhere. Drinking here and there may not be bad or a “sin” but it’s a high chance to be a gateway for addiction, once addicted it will be very hard to give up. Most people do not know themselves or their gathi until it’s too late for them.
People who sell sex are often deranged one way or another, often connected criminally – if you have any residue of karma waiting to be ripe and end up with a bad result you increase the chances of getting hurt and suffering, etc. There are many layers to it.
Understanding bigger picture of Dhamma helps see things as they are in much bigger view and depth so it does not become gray area but clarity area I would say
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I really like taryal inquires, I think it is very important to have this quality in yourself to succeed in Dhamma. Keep this mindset the way it is but you need to understand a thing or two about Dhamma practitioners who reached a certain level when comes to Lal answers or in general you may feel we want you cut you off short or just hide from your inquireness to not “show” our misunderstanding that you think we can have but in reality Dhamma practitioners do not have spare time to play those “mental games” as life is passing quick and there is no time to spend on intellectual bantering at least to some extent or eventually when is needed.
Just added that input so you will not misunderstand the intent behind that interaction as it may not be as you think it is. Deep inquiry is really important but not all practitioners will be willing to do it. If you are the type of intellectual who enjoys digging you can join my discord (which is a hub for all pure Dhamma content) and we have a section for questions & answers where you can ask as much as you want https://discord.gg/3nMWMZv9yU
Here is another example of Aphantasia:
Rather then using any third party apps you can just use my discord (with free unlimited options + free recording). I can setup event channel where everyone can talk and Lal can do simple moderation as main speaker (people who wants to speak will have “hand up” icon) and you can pull them up automatically to talk rather than pick and choose some random apps that you can use with limited manner, use platfrom that has already plenty of people with some basic understanding of Dhamma (and it’s easy to invite people who do not need even register with discord if they want to just go into event ie. temporary membership)
