Mahasi on ''Vipassana Jhana''

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Ben V, modified 1 Year ago at 1/5/23 10:11 PM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/5/23 10:11 PM

Mahasi on ''Vipassana Jhana''

Posts: 418 Join Date: 3/3/15 Recent Posts
Hello all,

I don't know if this was just my wrong assumption, but I always assumed that the first contemporary teacher that coined the notion of ''vipassana jhana'' was U Pandita. But I just found a segment of a text by Mahasi Sayadaw in which he explains phenomena in vipassana that are ''somewhat like'', he says, all the 8 jhanas. Perhaps due to strict culture of orthodoxy around commentaries in Myanmar he did not take the leap to just plainly say these are actually jhanas, but reading between the lines, we see the vipassana jhanas.  You will find this on page 17 of the text linked here: A Discourse on the Sallekha Sutta (saraniya.com)

I saw another translation of this passage on Facebook with not so good English but in it it says some more details for the 8th jhana, which I include here: ''Sometimes the appearing mind is so subtle and the noting mind is so subtle that the mind is as if it does not exist. In such a case, it's a little bit the same as the "Nevasanna-nnasannna-yatana" Jhanic stage.
Olivier S, modified 1 Year ago at 1/6/23 5:35 AM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/6/23 5:35 AM

RE: Mahasi on ''Vipassana Jhana''

Posts: 983 Join Date: 4/27/19 Recent Posts
Hi Ben,

Well spotted ! Thanks !

He delineates between ñanas and jhanas differently than Daniel, but similarly to U Pandita if I recall correctly.
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Noah D, modified 1 Year ago at 1/7/23 12:24 AM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/7/23 12:24 AM

RE: Mahasi on ''Vipassana Jhana''

Posts: 1218 Join Date: 9/1/16 Recent Posts
Good find , thanks for sharing 

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