The Heart of Buddhism by Luang Pu Dteu. Translated by Hāsapañño Bhikkhu.

The Heart of Buddhism by Luang Pu Dteu. Translated by Hāsapañño Bhikkhu.

Here, all of you skilled in Dhamma, skilled in the basis of practise, I, Phra Ajaan Dteu, or Luang Pu Dteu, offer this discernment and insight knowledge–presenting it to all of you, right up to the rulers and civil servants, male and female lay-disciples, for starters.

If it is not true as Luang Pu has described, let shit be thrown in my face!

One - someone developing jhāna has to know jhāna. If you don’t know jhāna, you’ll sit there wanting jhāna until your back breaks and you won’t realise Nibbāna in accordance with your aspirations.

Two–someone developing jhāna has to know jhāna for Nibbāna to be realised, because jhāna and Nibbāna are a pair–they can’t be isolated from each other. It’s like the moon and the stars–wherever the moon is, the stars will be there.

To say ‘not knowing jhāna, not knowing Nibbāna’, this is a mode of the mind called the ‘worldly mind’ (‘lokiya-jit’).

The ‘transcendent mind’ (‘lok’uttara-jit’) is the mind that will know jhāna, because:

The path of stream-entry, the fruit of stream-entry, is the first jhāna.

The path of once-return, the fruit of once-return, is the second jhāna.

The path of non-return, the fruit of non-return, is the third jhāna.

The path of arahantship, the fruit of arahantship, is the fourth jhāna.

Jhāna is the dwelling place of the Buddha. Nibbāna is, namely, just the heart of an arahant.

Jhāna is the root of the hair, Nibbāna is the strand of that hair. This is how they go together.

~•~•~•~

From The Heart of Buddhism by Luang Pu Dteu. Translated by Hāsapañño Bhikkhu.

https://www.vimokkharam.org/_files/ugd/9c709d_8815da4ae3eb49939d7ac30cdacb3462.pdf

~•~•~•~

There is no jhāna

for one with no discernment,

no discernment

for one with no jhāna.

But one with both jhāna

& discernment:

he’s on the verge

of unbinding.

                         —Dhp 372

[Jhāna as a prerequisite for liberating insight:]

“If a monk would wish, 

‘May I—with the ending of mental effluents—remain in the effluent-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having directly known & realized them for myself right in the here-&-now,’

then he should be one who brings the precepts to perfection, 

who is committed to mental tranquility, 

who does not neglect jhāna, 

who is endowed with insight, 

and who frequents empty dwellings.”

                                                            —AN 10:71

See also:

1. The Four Jhānas

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/MindfulBody/Section0006.html#heading_id_4

2. VII. JHĀNA / DISCERNMENT 

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/MindfulBody/Section0011.html

in Mindful of the Body: A Study Guide, by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.