One should
pursue pleasure,
a pleasure
that is not of the senses (jhana)
April 13, 2004
By the
contemplative recluse monk Sotapanna Jhanananda (Jeffrey
S, Brooks)
(copyright 2005 all rights reserved)
Often
it is heard that one should avoid the ecstasies of the absorption states,
because one might become "addicted" or "side tracked." And
those who do not revere noble ones even say they are "bliss bunnies" for
seeking the ecstasies. However, I do not seem to have become "addicted" to
bliss and ecstasy. Every day I am just more happy, more content and
fulfilled than I can ever recall being. If that is an addiction to
being a "bliss bunny," I'll take it over an anxiety disorder, depression
or dependence on stimulants and depressants.
The
historic Buddha said, bliss and ecstasy "should
be pursued ... it should be developed ... should be cultivated, and ...
should
not be feared."
Aranavibhanga Sutta, MN 139
3. "One should not pursue sensual pleasure...and
one should not pursue self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and
unbeneficial. The Middle Way discovered by the Tathagata avoids both
extremes; giving vision, giving knowledge, it leads to peace, to direct knowledge,
to enlightenment, to Nibbana...
9.
..."One should know how to define pleasure, and knowing
that, one should pursue pleasure within oneself"..."Here bhikkhus, quite
secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu
enter upon and resides in the first (absorption) jhana"... (through 4th jhana). "This
is called the bliss of renunciation, the bliss of seclusion, the bliss of
peace, the bliss of enlightenment. I say of this kind of pleasure that
it should be pursued, that it should be developed, that it should be cultivated,
and that it should not be feared."
"So
it was in reference to this that I said, 'One should know how to define
pleasure, and knowing that, one should
pursue pleasure
within oneself."
13. Here, bhikkhus, the bliss of
renunciation, the bliss of seclusion, the bliss of peace, the bliss of
enlightenment, is a
state without suffering (dukkha)... and it is the right way. Therefore
this is a state without conflict."
(Majjhima
Nikaya trans. Bhikkhus Nanamoli & Bodhi,
Wisdom, 1995)
Jhanasamyutta, SN 34
"Therein,
bhikkhus, the meditator who is skilled both in meditation regarding absorption
(jhana) and in attainment
regarding absorption
(jhana) is the chief, the best the foremost, the highest, the most excellent
of these four kinds of meditators."
(Samyutta Nikaya tans. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom, 2000)
Jhanasamyutta, SN 9.53
"Bhikkhus,
just as the River Ganges slants, slopes and inclines toward the East, so
too a bhikkhu who develops and
cultivates the
four absorptions (jhanas) slants, slopes, and inclines toward nibbana."
(Samyutta Nikaya tans. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom, 2000)
In
conclusion it appears that the historic Buddha taught an 8 fold practice
path, that included right or noble mindfulness
(samma-sati).
Based upon the Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10, we can conclude he called the cultivation
of mindfulness (sati) "satipatthana" (DN 22), not "vipassana." And,
the conclusion, or successful execution, of satipatthana was specifically
for giving rise to right or correct meditation (samma-samadhi) (DN 22.21);
which he defined in terms of the four material, or rupa jhanas, (DN 22.21);
which he called "Di.t.thadhammasukhavihaaraa;" which is often translated
as a "pleasant abiding in the here and now" (MN 8); which he considered to
be supramundane (Lokuttara) (NM 31.10-18).
May you become enlightened
in this very lifetime,
Jhanananda (Jeffrey S. Brooks)
This article may be retrieved at this URL
http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/pleasurenotofthesenses.htm
