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Early Buddhism presents us with a conundrum around the practice of the formless attainments of deep meditation. Namely, are they skillful routes to nirvana, or are they not? We will look at evidence from the early suttas that indicates both options, as well as suttas that raise questions as to precisely which of the formless attainments may or may not be useful in this regard.
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✅ Videos mentioned:
The "Formless Attainments" of Early Buddhist Meditation - • The "Formless Attainme...
The Deepest Meditative Attainment in Early Buddhism? - • The Deepest Meditative...
Emptiness in Buddhism: Early Practice - • Emptiness in Buddhism:... [change link in description for formless attainments video].
Is Deep Meditative Absorption (Jhana) Necessary for Enlightenment? - • Is Deep Meditative Abs...
Who Was Sariputta/Śariputra? (Life of the Buddha's Chief Disciple) - • Who Was Sariputta/Śari...
✅ Suttas mentioned:
suttacentral.net/mn26/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn36/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn52/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/an9.36/en/su...
suttacentral.net/mn111/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn74/en/sujato
✅ Other resource:
www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-pra... (on whether the jhānas lead to the formless attainments).
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00:00 Intro
01:38 First, how the formless attainments aren’t useful
05:32 Second, how the formless attainments are useful
09:07 Are jhānas necessary at all?
13:19 Can all formless attainments lead to nirvana?
16:11 Interesting claims in AN 9.36
19:18 Bhikkhu Bodhi and the odd claims about Sāriputta in MN 111
24:52 Third, making sense of diverse evidence
26:43 What do I make of all this?
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