Mahayana monks often tell us that we should not be attached to jhāna. In the suttas, the Buddha said that the purpose of renunciation and living a holy life is to learn and practise the path towards liberation. Only then is a monk truly worthy of gifts, hospitality, offerings, and reverence. What is the point of supporting a Sangha if their destination is no different from that of ordinary beings?
In fact, the Buddha encouraged us to take delight in the pleasure of jhāna. Below is a quote from MN 66, The Simile of the Quail.
“Here, Udayin, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the first jhāna…With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, he enters upon and abides in the second jhana… With the fading away as well of rapture… he enters upon and abides in the third jhāna…With the abandoning of pleasure and pain… he enters upon and abides in the fourth jhana…
“This is called the bliss of renunciation, the bliss of seclusion, the bliss of peace, the bliss of enlightenment. I say of this kind of pleasure that it should be pursued, that it should be developed, that it should be cultivated, that it should not be feared.”
To read the entire sutta, please click on the link below.
If our beliefs lie outside the Buddha’s teachings, then we are not Buddhists.
I hope everyone makes an effort to investigate the origin of the Buddha’s teachings. They must come from the Buddha himself, 2,500 years ago, and not from anyone else.
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