No. 398 - The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart (Sun, 23 March 2025)

 The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart

Sun, 23 March 2025

Question: Is it jhāna when breathing seems to be stopped?

Than Ajahn: No, it just means that your mind is paying attention to breathing. It becomes jhāna when the mind enters a stillness where you no longer notice the breath. You go deeper and become calmer. You reach the fourth jhāna when the mind stops paying attention to the body. Mind becomes calm and happy by itself. Sometimes it can still hear a voice or feel a body, but the mind is not disturbed by what it hears or what it feels. This is the fourth jhāna.

If you want to go deeper, you have to focus your mind further. Then, you will enter arūpa-jhāna. But, no need to reach that deeper level. If you want to develop the mind to attain enlightenment, you only need the fourth jhāna. Once you get out of the fourth jhāna, when you return to a normal state of mind, you teach your mind that everything the mind wants is not permanent. Everything will cause you to suffer because everything will change or one day it will disappear.

So when your mind wants something, it knows it will end in misery. Thus you will not want for anything. You can stop your want or passion for something and someone else. Once you have no passion and desire, there will be no more anxiety, anxiety, sadness, or mental torment left in the mind.

“Dhamma in English, February 27, 2018. ”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

#ajahnsucharttabhijato #meditasi #perhatian #jhana

No. 397 - The Teachings of Lord Buddha. ( Sun, 23 March 2025)

 The Teachings of Lord Buddha.

Sun, 23 March 2025

Desires

Becareful of extreme views like “have no desires” or to basically be mindless and have zero perceptions (with wrong view), which can lead to the realm of gods called “Asaññasatta devas” (mindless/non-precipient Deva).

The Buddha doesn’t tell us to have no desires & aspirations, he tells us to have both RIGHT & WHOLESOME desires and aspirations. The very Eightfold Path describes right intentions (the basis of desire), and appropriate actions. To meditate, one must have desire. The role of faith, the drawbacks, and listening to Dhamma talks is primarily to evoke the desire to practice the path.

Here are some examples of sutta about desire:

“Bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu has desire (chanda) for something, he arouses effort for it, he applies his mind and exerts his energy. This is called desire as a basis for spiritual power.” - Chanda sutta

“Bhikkhus, if a bhikkhu wishes: ‘May I be dear and agreeable to my companions in the holy life, respected and esteemed,’ he should be one who fulfills virtue, cultivates meditation, and develops wisdom.” - AN 4.170

In the Digajhanu sutta, the Buddha explains what one must do If they DESIRE welfare in the world, with 8 conditions. - AN 8.54

In the Akankha sutta, the Buddha discusses the several wholesome aspirations (desires) and accomplishments a monk would make true if he practiced the Patimokkha. - AN 10.71

And many many more examples. Let us not adopt extreme views, steer away from extreme views. Let us follow the Dhamma prescribed by the Buddha 🙏

May the triple Gem bless you 🙏

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By Norbu :

Your understanding is very balanced and aligns well with the Middle Way (majjhima patipada) taught by the Buddha. Indeed, the complete elimination of all desire is not what the Buddha taught - rather, he taught the skillful cultivation of wholesome desires (kusala-chanda) while gradually abandoning unwholesome desires (akusala-chanda).

The suttas you've cited are excellent examples. Even the desire for Nibbana (nibbanasacchikiriyatthaya) is considered wholesome and necessary for progress on the path. As stated in the Brahmana Sutta (SN 51.15), the desire for liberation is what drives the development of the four bases of spiritual power (iddhipada).

Your warning about the dangers of wrong views leading to rebirth as an Asaññasatta deva is particularly important. This demonstrates how misunderstanding the teachings about desire can lead to unfortunate results.

The Buddha's path is one of careful discernment (yoniso manasikara) - knowing which desires to cultivate and which to abandon. This is part of Right View (samma ditthi), the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Used sources:

Yuganaddha sutta AN4.170 (2109 characters)

Dīghajāṇu sutta AN8.54 (7118 characters)

Ākaṅkha sutta AN10.71 (3425 characters)

(Text collected and compiled by Andrew Sum)