[Buddha-l] Loving your object of study

[Richard Hayes]

On Tuesday 04 December 2007 01:46, L.S. Cousins wrote:

> But the question is what happens after stream-entry. In terms of the
> system, I find it difficult to see how one could reach never-return
> without previously practising jhaana and I find it difficult to
> conceive of reaching arahatship without previously practising insight.

Do you think the system implies that it is necessary to achieve any jhaana 
higher than the first? It has always seemed to me that the "work" of 
eradicating the various afflictions is done by realizing that everything is 
impersonal, impermanent and (at least a potential source of) dukkha. But this 
is precisely what vipassanaa consists in: fully grasping those three marks. I 
have a difficult time imagining anyone doing that work without attaining 
first jhaana, but I can't see why any higher-numbered jhaanas would be 
necessary just to fully eradicate desire and anger (and the tendency to split 
infinitives). 

Incidentally, this thread seems to have wandered off its original spool. We 
started talking about the relative advantages and disadvantages of being a 
committed Buddhist for an academic career in Buddhist studies, and we somehow 
got sidetracked onto a topic that is entirely unrelated to that, namely, 
which aspects of Buddhist practice are necessary and sufficient. This 
tendency of members of buddha-l to keep getting off topic does not speak well 
for their mastery of ekaggataa.

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes