Ethical and Doctrinal Questions Regarding Restrictions on Teaching Jhāna to Lay Practitioners

[Pasanna]

The way I have heard Ajahn Brahm explain this, is not a prohibition on lay people practicing jhana, it’s from the Theravada monastic sangha in Vietnam teaching it. Though I will take user P.bodhi’s word that this isn’t currently true and could be a misunderstanding

[trusolo]

The thread had digressed significantly from the original topic but the issue under this new discussion was consistent, so the posts have been moved to a new thread on PTS translation choices.

[Mark_Foote]

Can you give us a link?

Thank you!

[Mark_Foote]

Thanks, I found it:

Old vs Contemporary Translations for Samadhi/Jhāna

The pioneering PTS translators who gave us Kindred Sayings, Gradual Sayings, Further Dialogues, Psalms of the Brethren, etc. were all heavily influenced by both the diction and style of the King James Bible. Hence the common description of their work as “pseudo-Jacobean”. I think “trance” is probably an example of this. Though the primary modern sense of the word is quite inapt, the KJV Biblical one (where it’s used to render the NT Greek ἔκστασις) doesn’t seem too far astray.