This thread is not to discourage the path of the sukkhavipassaka (In fact I believe that at this time the path of the sukkhavipassaka is the most viable) but to show that it is seen as lower in status than the path of the jhanalabhi who masters mundane jhanas and attains arahatship…
1 Like
In one sense all who attain also attain jhana.
This is because at the moment of attaining even the sukkhavipassaka has concentration, just for a moment, that is classified as a special kind of jhana, supramundane jhana . But this special kind of jhana is not like mundane jhana, as this jhana is leading out of samsara.
Also
there are 2 kinds of bhavana (“meditation”),lakkhaṇārammaṇūpanijjhānena, in the dispensation (sasana).
Lakkhaṇūpanijjhāna (lakkhanupanijjhana) is what is sometimes called insight meditation (the way of the sukkhavipassakā) , seeing phenomena as they are as anicca, dukkha and anatta.
And ārammaṇūpanijjhāna ( arammanaupanijjhana) is samatha, serenity meditation.
We see that even insight that sees the nature of reality can have ‘jhana’ appended to it by this term. Also even the one devoted to samatha must eventually turn to lakkhanupanijjhana in order to comprehend the tilakkhana.
2 Likes
So how do know the sukkhavipassaka arahat is considered inferior to the arahats with jhana attainments:
In the Papancasudani (majjima nikya commentary);
s> otāpanna-sakadāgāmi-anāgāmi-sukkhavipassaka-arahantesu vā aññataro na atthi, sabbe pi chalabhiññāva, eko pi ca ettha satthakena kese chinditvā pabbajito nāma na atthi, sabbe ehibhikkhuno va eva."
There was not even one among them who was a stream-enterer (sotāpanna), once-returner (sakadāgāmi), non-returner (anāgāmi), dry-insight practitioner (sukkhavipassaka) arahant.
. All of them were possessors of the six supernormal powers (chalabhiññā). Additionally, there was not even one who had been ordained by shaving their hair with a razor (under formal ordination rites); all had been ordained through the Buddha’s direct invitation, ‘Come, bhikkhu.’
2 Likes
Apparently, during the Buddha’s time, Arahants liberated by wisdom were already the majority.
[SuttaCentral](https://Pavāraṇāsutta SN8.7)
“There is nothing, Sāriputta, that these five hundred monks have done by way of body or speech that I would criticize. For of these five hundred monks, sixty have the three knowledges, sixty have the six direct knowledges, sixty are freed both ways, and the rest are freed by wisdom.”
In this particular meeting, we have 64% of arahants freed by wisdom. So it seems that freedom by wisdom is the easiest way (but not the more pleasant way) for attaining Arahantship.
1 Like