Just what did the Buddha teach? How did he teach meditation? There are so many methods – which one is the original one! Nibbana can be achieved here and now. If you don't believe it, listen in with Bhante Vimalaramsi as he talks to his retreaters every night at the 6PM Dhamma Talk.
Bhante spent 3 mos in a cave in Thailand, with a cobra no less, to try to understand just what the earliest suttas from the Tripitaka actually teach you in terms of how to meditate. These methods have appeared to have changed and mutated over the last 2500 years. Which is the right one? He spent 20 years with many Burmese, Thai and Sri Lankan masters, yet finally just got a copy of the Majjhima Nikaya and went into the jungle to figure it out for himself. Now he teaches what he has found.
And we can listen in on that in this book as he gives talks to meditators and answers their questions on his typical 10-day retreat. He found a particular step that was left out. It made all the difference in the world. Bhante goes through the instructions, handling simpler distractions and obstacles and then moves into deeper Dhamma such as the 8 Jhanas and Dependent Origination and finally Nibbana, all of which can be experienced on these retreats. Awakening can take place in weeks and not years or decades.
The Buddha stated that this practice is immediately effective. All of these talks are based on suttas from the Majjhima Nikaya translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Wisdom Publications – 1995).
