Supramundane Samadhi in Theravada
Soh

Due to a discussion with a Theravadin, a thought came to mind to find out what is the Theravadin term for supramundane samadhi of an arya where vipassana/insight and samatha is conjoined.


Someone resourceful informed me:


there is “lokuttara jhāna” in abhidhamma aka supramundane jhāna
 
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=112871#p112871
Pitch-black emptiness and Mahasi Sayadaw technique - Page 2 - Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum
 


https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=118324#p118324
concentration on the signless - Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum
“Suññatā samādhi is listed a few times in the suttas, along with signless samādhi (animittā samādhi), and undirected samādhi (appaṇihitā samādhi). For example, SN 43.4: And what monks, is the path leading to the not-fabricated? The emptiness samādhi (suññatā samādhi), the signless samādhi (animittā samādhi), the undirected samādhi (appaṇihitā samādhi). This is called the path leading to the not-fabricated. The development of suññatā samādhi is the same as the development of the emptiness liberation of mind (suññatā cetovimutti). MN 43 Mahāvedalla Sutta: What is the emptiness liberation of mind? Here a monk goes to the forest, to the root of a tree, or to an empty place and reflects: 'This is empty of a self or that which belongs to a self.' Friend, this is said to be the emptiness liberation of mind. These terms (suññatā, animittā, and appaṇihitā) are presented in more detail in the Abhidhammapiṭaka and the Paṭisambhidāmagga. The Dhammasaṅgaṇī mentions entering and abiding in emptiness as one of the alternate designations of supramundane jhāna (e.g. lokuttaraṃ jhānaṃ ... paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati suññataṃ), where calm (samatha) and liberating clear seeing (vipassanā) are coupled together and balanced within jhāna. And as already mentioned, the Paṭisambhidāmagga makes frequent use of this triad (suññatā, animittā, and appaṇihitā), where the method of development of emptiness deliverance is stated in exactly the same terms as the above excerpt from MN 43 regarding the emptiness liberation of mind. Stated simply, these various designations related to suññatā samādhi are the supramundane development of the recognition/contemplation of selflessnesss (termed anattasaññā in the suttas and anattānupassanā in the Paṭisambhidāmagga).”

lots of posts by Geoff about this topic supramundane jhana measureless samadhi emptiness samadhi signless samadhi measureless liberation of mind etc

“And what is the emptiness awareness-release (suññatā cetovimutti)? There is the case where a monk, having gone into the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or into an empty dwelling, considers this: 'This is empty of self or of anything pertaining to self.' This is called the emptiness awareness-release.” [MN 43, SN 41.7]
 
 
 
another good post:
 
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=113691#p113691

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My Thousand Faces
Soh
“Every moment is an encounter of my thousand faces. The sound of thunder, every drop of rain, every heartbeat, every breath, every thought. Experience, experience, experience, experience!”
- Soh, 2012
 
"Pure clarity has a strict no-face - the face of non-conceptuality.
Empty clarity has a thousand faces, every face is brilliance and new."
- John Tan, 2014
 
"Alejandro, I would separate non-arisen and emptiness from the luminosity. Imo, it's a separate pointing. The one hand clapping here directly points to the luminosity. 
 
What is the way that leads the practitioner to “the direct taste”? In zen, koan is the technique and the way.
The one hand clapping koan is the instrument that leads one to directly and intuitively authenticate presence = sound.
 
Let’s use another koan for example, “Before birth who am I?”, this is similar to just asking “Who am I”. The “Before birth” here is to skilfully lead the thinking mind to penetrate to the limit of its own depth and suddenly completely cease and rest, leaving only I-I. Only this I as pure existence itself. Before birth, this I. After birth, this I. This life or 10 thousand lives before, this I. 10 thousand lives after, still this I. The direct encounter of the I-I.
 
Similarly the koan of the sound of one hand clapping, is to lead the practitioner after initial break-through into I-I not to get stuck in dead water and attached to the Absolute. To direct practitioner to see the ten thousand faces of presence face to face. In this case, it is that “Sound” of one hand clapping. 
 
Whether one hand claps or before both hands clap, what is that sound? It attempts to lead the practitioner into just that “Sound”. All along there is only one hand clapping, two hands (duality) are not needed. It is similar to contemplating "in hearing always only sound, no hearer".
 
As for the empty and non-arisen nature of that Sound, zen koans have not (imo) been able to effectively point to the non-arisen and emptiness of one’s radiance clarity.”
 
- John Tan, about two years ago
 
Soh's 2013 translation of an article by a famous blogger, 了了灵知亦不是
 
"The Clear Knowing of Spirit/Intelligent Awareness is Also Not It":
 
 
Partial excerpt from link:
 
八
朗月当空照，犹是阶下汉。了了灵知时，莫强生知见。见中立能所，生死又一翻。根尘相对时，明相亦是幻。是幻皆应离，不应生贪念。昭昭灵光相，不是佛本面。佛有千张脸，张张活又鲜。举语问君子，哪张是佛面？佛面在何处？谁知谁曾见？能见法身时，了了在目前。
 
8. The bright moon shines in the sky, that is still the man below rank (not yet entering the gate). The clear knowing of spirit/intelligent awareness, should never lead to the stubborn arising of views. Establishing subject and object in the midst of seeing, birth and death comes yet another round. When the root (sense faculty) and dust (sense object) meet, clear appearances are also illusions. All that are illusions should be left, we should not give rise to thoughts of craving. The appearance of bright and clear spirit/intelligence is not the Buddha's original face. Buddha has ten thousand faces, each face is fresh and alive. Speaking up to ask the noble man, which face is the Buddha's face? Where is the Buddha's face? Who knows and who has seen it before? When you are able to see the Dharmakaya, it is clearly right in front.
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Mind is like a little puppy
Soh

 

Yin Ling

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My teacher used to tell me that my mind is like a little puppy, I need to be patient and train it slowly, repetitively. I find this to be very very true.
Few months ago, I keep telling this mind,
In the seen only the seen,
Watch mind, watch. No-self.
When it contracts again, I tell the mind again, I take a deep breath, exhale and feel into no-self.
After a few months, the mind suddenly knows how to do it.
Now it is reverse, the mind reminds me and show to me all is no-self.
Recent months I was practising emptiness.
I read a lot, analyse a lot, contemplated a lot.
Then I keep telling my mind :
All these are imputed. All these are like a dream.
Where does leaf come from? No where right ?
Watch. Like a dream
At first it cannot see.
Emptiness is hard to see. Not so easy.
But like a doggie it eventually learns.
Now the mind shows me the illusoriness.
The dream like nature of everything.
The mall, the road, the shops, my house, the ppl.
Do not underestimate the power of our mind if you are patient and determined.

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Recognise Your Mind
Soh

    Yin Ling

    eorm8c6ih670201fu1guum3 
    V important for dhamma teachers to teach students to recognise their mind.
    It’s No.1 agenda.
    Once it’s recognised,
    The mind is there all the time, can’t even run away!🫣🧟‍♀️

    5 Comments


    William Lim
    What is Mind?
    Is it thoughts?
    Is it "consciouness"?
    Is it awareness?
    Is it me?


    Yin Ling
    William Lim haha what do u think ?


    • Soh Wei Yu
    You said before birth who am i leads to conceptuality for you. I told you that you should change your koan to “before thinking, what am I?”
    There is a similar koan in the past
    元音老人
    从前有一位师父参“如何是父母未生前本来面目？”参了多年，未能开悟。后来碰到一位大德，请他慈悲指示个方便。大德问：“你参什么话头？”他答道：“我参如何是我父母未生前的本来面目？”大德道：“你参得太远了，应向近处看。”他问：“怎么向近处看？”大德道：“不要看父母未生前，须看一念未生以前是什么？”禅者言下大悟。
    大家坐在这里，请看这一念未生前是什么？它在各人面门放光，朗照一切而毫无粘着，无知无见而又非同木石，这是什么？就在这里猛着精彩，就是悟道。所以说“至道无难，言端语端”啊！
    元音老人：《碧岩录》讲座第二则（19）_大德
    SOHU.COM
    元音老人：《碧岩录》讲座第二则（19）_大德
    元音老人：《碧岩录》讲座第二则（19）_大德

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    • Soh Wei Yu
    Soh's translation:
    Yuan Yin Lao Ren:
    In the past there was a Master who contemplated, "what is the original face before my parents were born?" He contemplated for many years, but did not awaken. Later on he encountered a great noble person and requested for his compassionate guidance. The noble one asked: "What koan did you contemplate?" He replied: "I contemplated what is the original face before my parents were born?" Noble one replied: "You contemplated too far away, should look nearby." He asked: "How should I look nearby?" Noble one replied: "Don't look into what is before your parents were born, need to look at: before a thought arise, what is it?" The Zen practitioner immediately attained great awakening.
    Everyone that is sitting here, please look at what is this before a moment of thought's arising? IT is radiating light in front of everybody's [sense] doors, the brightness radiates everything yet is without the slightest clinging, nothing is known and nothing is seen yet it is not similar to wood and stones, what is This? IT is right here shining in its brilliancy, this is awakening to the Way. Therefore it is said, "the great way is not difficult, just cease speech and words"!







    • Mr. J.P. H
    Me: Does the mind person use mind eyes to see the mind things?
    My friend Danny: Dude, what?

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AtR Guide in ePub
Soh

Khizar Ali shared this with me: Hello, I wanted to give you the epub version of your book awakening to Reality that I downloaded and converted from your website. This version works great on mobile as the original version was hard for the mobile to load. Maybe you can upload it to the website for others It can be accessed via epub book reader app for android such as Moon Reader

 

 

 Link: https://app.box.com/s/0bwjltx32s8ricc1ppf13rtobqm0b3n6

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Weight of a Thought
Soh

 

    John Tan

    resdo89ia10853u5ca2uh966 
    How heavy are thoughts?
    Where are their roots?
    It is not uncommon to hear in the spiritual circle phrases like "the 'I' is just a thought" or "thought is empty and spacious, there is no weight or root to it".
    While the rootlessness and the space-like nature of "thoughts" should be pointed out, one must not be misled into thinking they have seen through "anything" much less up-rooted the deeply seated conceptual notions of "I/mine", "body/mind", "space/time"...etc.
    So emphasis must also be placed on the other side of the coin. "Thoughts" are astonishingly heavy like a black-hole (size of a pinhole, weight of a star); the roots of conceptual notions" they carry permeate our entire being and everywhere.
    The "roots" of thoughts are no where to be found also means they can be found anywhere and everywhere, spreaded across the 3 times and 10 directions -- in modern context, over different time-lines across the multiverse. In other words, "this arises, that arises".

    4 Comments


    Yin Ling
    Need to hear this when so much thoughts 💭 popping up 😫🤦🏻‍♀️


    • Mr./Ms. JM
    Sensing the weight of this wisdom. 🙏


    • Geovani Geo
    The weight is anchored as a pre-conceived centered ongoing entity called 'me'. It is pre-conceived because thoughts conceive it as being prior to the very thought that conceives it.

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    John Tan
    Geovani Geo in fact any imagined notion reified as real takes up lots of energy.

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