Bhante, I had an understanding of this type of meditation years ago when I didn't have a sangha and studied suttas online alone. I achieved jhana, made such progress! Then, my practice lapsed for a few years. When I did find a local Buddhist community, I started practicing seriously again but never felt that progress or found that peace again. It is like you said about meditation teachers, it is always focused on concentrating. Recently I realized that these teachers may be wrong, and started practicing the way you teach again. What beauty! It feels like perfection, peace. The way The Buddha taught. Thank you for your teaching and confirming what I used to know about meditation.
I had the same expierience. I remember one suttha, where Buddha explains, that the sitting meditation is called in his teachings just having a good time, here and now. The real hard work is to keep the ethics for life time.
Thank you bhante. You are the budda to me. I get tears when I listen to you. Thank to your institution I get to silence in my mind. I listen to or Delson or to David every day. I lean lot. Where I live in Europe there are not darma centers. Thank to Darma sukka mind in a good place. I hope and wish to depend my meditation. I know for sure you are in the budda field and helping everyone. Sadu Sadu.
I come back to this talk every once in a while, and each time I always learn something new thanks to further practice. An endless fountain of happiness. Thank you so much Buddha/Bhante 🙏😁😸
anytime you feel tension in the body or mind it is because of craving ….. so important to release tension - clinging happens really quickly ...Wonderful dhamma talk - very clear - thank you so much - deep respect …..
I have never heard of or listened to Bante before. This is a great talk and insightful. He clearly lays out the ground and basis of Jhana and its stages, and most important how to link Jhana with love and kindness meditation and Nirvana. Great insight 🙏🏽
Listening to this, must be what it was like for a 1920’s physicist to read Einstein‘s theory of relativity for the first time. It’s earth shaking. It turns everything I thought I new about meditation on its head, in the best possible way!!
I want to thank you noble one.. Coz what u teach has helped let me go in the depth i have never known before. . Viassana is gr8 but ur touch of softness helped me go through what people call dhyana... Thanks so much..
This was an excellent talk. He is on point with everything here. Meditation, if done right (the way he described it) opens up so many possibilities for your life!
At first , I watched a video of Jurgen Zieve ,and then Delson Armstrong's appeared as a related video (Viking Guru), which was really interesting . So I decided to check his teacher Bhante's website and RUclips channel , and I was truelly amazed by what he had said about Metta meditation and Vipassana and Samatha ! I learned and paracticed Therevada Buddhism and its mediatations(Metta , Vipassana ) in Japan Theravada associaation many years ago . The teacher was a Sri Lankan monk Sumanasara . He teached Vipassana besed on Mahashi method , and metta meditation independently . But many people there ,including me , had some big questions, like :" Is it possible to get the final point only by Vipassana ? How should we practice Samatha ? We don't need it ? etc " . What Bhante said was a revolution to me ! I left Fundamental Buddhism or Theravada Buddhism many years ago ,and went through many other spiritual paths .including traditional Advaita Vedanta. But now I am very attracted by Bhante's " Suttavada" . Anyway ,thank you very much Bhante !
I'm surprised to see that the putting a smile on your face technique really works. It had a great change in my practice. Thankyou sir for this video. I'm truly grateful 🙏🙏🙏
quite right... i am coming from a buddhist country where most people get caught in the ritual part of buddhism, these are more cultural aspect that has been added to buddhism over the years... take a few core teaching and meditation technique such as vapassana, what Bhante is saying then you can tell what buddhism is and where cultural aspect have been added. Peace!
ave been trying various methods to treat my nicotine addiction. The method of meditation Bante Vimalaramsi explains of loving-kindness and dependent origination is the first to offer comfort and belief I can make progress and address my fear. sadhu sadhu sadhu!
SADHU !.... What a wonderful teacher !.....I can't stop smiling as I listen more ! Later, I started laughing and it's so relaxing and fun !!.....with the practise... Thank You so much ! 🌷⚘🌷⚘🥳🥳🥳
Amai! Zeer interessant! Ik beoefen vipassana sinds 2003. Aangeleerd in 10dagen retraite maar sinds beoefend alleen. Dé stadia doorgemaakt worden hier zeer duidelijk beschreven en opgehelderd! Natuurlijk zijn er nog vragen maar ik voel bij het beluisteren alleen al inzicht groeien. Prachtig dank je wel.
You are very welcome ( I translated your comment on google) Please visit our site for more information. consider an online retreat. We only have retreats in english and some german. David
@@davidjohnson8218 Dank je wel maar Bhante Bodhidhamma is mijn leermeester. Hij heeft in Engeland een eigen centrum geopend en ik blijf hem trouw. Ik ben dankbaar met jullie wijsheid en ondersteuning die me ook verder helpt. on line retraite spreekt me niet meteen aan. Maar zeg nooit nooit, je weet het trouwens nooit. Beste groeten en dank. Karin
This was a useful and interesting talk. Thank you. To an audience member: staying in the room during a recording despite a loud persistent cough not skilled.
Modern Zen has cut out too much and now no longer has any connection to the Buddha's original teachings. The majority of zen practitioners have no clue about jhana. The eightfold path must be practiced in it's entirety to achieve results.
Bhante.......Is there ANY existent Sangha which teaches what you share besides your own? How is the Thera approach on meditation taught in Thailand vs. Myanmar vs. Cambodia? Thanks P.S. I've sent a message to you via your website address.
+Stefos Hi Stefos - I hope you got a reply. We have groups in some cities who are practicing meditation. See "Groups" You can do an online retreat with us from anywhere in the world as well. check our site. We are small but what we teach really works so you have to work a little extra to find it.
bante pls advise i have a difficult father who give my life and family great sufferring and he wont want to change.i difficult to give meeta how u advise me..
+Ivan wong Bhante asks that you forgive him. Forgiveness is very powerful and lets you release old "stuff" that you carry with you. Forgive him for not wanting to change and stop trying to change him. Let him be and appreciate him just as he is. Sadhu
5:39 wrong. upon reaching access concentration the hindrances cease both in and out of meditation. and the physical and mental pliancies and blisses continuously abide day n night
Access might last for a day but eventually disappears and must be built again. The point of TWIM is to actually eliminate the hindrances for good. Access pushes them away for a little while but TWIM based on the suttas doesn't push away but accepts what is there, releases thinking about it and relaxes the desire to continue thinking about it. This is totally different then concentration meditation. Until you try it you really won't see how it works. Its kind of magic -but it is the Right Effort which says don't push it away but just 1.know there is a distraction 2. Let it go 3. Bring up a wholesome state (smile and metta) 4. Keep it going. Nowhere does it say to push away the hindrance and develop access concentration. I have developed access on many retreats. Its nice but its not the same as the practice here.
@@davidjohnson8218 real access concentration does not diminish inside or outside of the session once it has arisen. cessation of the hindrances is a sideeffect that constantly accompanies a mind with access to the form realm. furthermore the obstacles to access level samadhi are clear, laxity and excitation, and certainly returning to one's meditation object repeatedly with metta if done properly will gradually eliminate those 2
Attachment is a poor definition of the Pāli "upadana" which means both clinging and fuel. In the Buddha's first discourse he encapsulated the definition of suffering as the five clinging aggregates (pancaupadanakhanda). In other words the aggregates are the fuel by which selfhood arises. Unfortunately the satipatthana suttas have been recreated in simplified form as vipassana meditation, a form of Buddhist modernism, as something separate from anapanasati. In actuality they are two ends of the same stick. One cannot pick up a stick without picking up both ends. Yes the hindrances are great teachers. There is much to learn from them keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is to gain a direct understanding (not an intellectual understanding) of the Four Noble Truths this uprooting the conditions from which the whole tangled skein of suffering arises.
Arupa is pali for mental (formless) - the mental realm - not of the body. Bodily feeling is not present unless contact is made. If you are sitting and a fly lands on your head you will feel it . Whereas in the Rupa Jhanas you do feel the body and what is going on as coarse feeling. In Arupa states the mind becomes tranquil and dispassionate to bodily feeling but there is still internal contact with sights and sounds and other sensations that is from the mind.
Everything you said resonates deeply with my experience. However, I just don't understand why/how it is really different than any other meditation. I have done many meditations, and they all seem to have that, or at least I have had that experience in them. Am I that unique? I have not trained formally with any teachers, though I sat with a few groups in the past.
We hear this from many meditators that they don't see anything different but they haven't Tried the method adding the most important part of the process which is the 6Rs. It turns it from a concentration or forced absorption jhana into a tranquil aware jhana- a state in which you are aware but the hindrances are gone. You have to try this to understand how it is SO different then other methods. In sutta MN 36 the Buddha rejected normal concentration and said it didn't work - he left the teachers that were teaching 7th and then the 8th jhana. He had to figure out why and he finally did where he added the relax or Passambayah step. Get my book and I explain it thoroughly -The Path to Nibbana
The Samadhi ( the concentrated meditation ) leading to Vipassana, ( insight) develops the stillness of your mind with observation of thoughts arise, persist and fall and letting go. The objective of the use of these techniques is to develop equanimity ( un waived and non labeling ) In the process of elevated levels of concentrated meditation this eventually unfolds; while experiencing the Jhannas which are merely the progress levels of these meditation practice. Then continue to apply to day to day life in real experiences. The 4 levels of Jhannas are described below:- The next four Jhanas are the formless meditations which are describes as: Realisation of the sphere of ‘space-infinity’ Realisation of the sphere of ‘consciousness-infinity’ Realisation of the sphere of ‘no-thing-ness’ Realisation of the sphere of neither ‘perception-nor-nonperception’ The Buddhist scholar Winston states that these Jhanic meditations are the “paradigm of meditation techniques in its highest classical Indian form” and ancestors of all the later Buddhist meditative practices. However that shall pass too in practice, and not be attached to Jhanna but learning to be unwavering and non labeling. (gain equanimity) With the elevation of this practice levels of renunciation takes place gradually as it will auto rid your cravings and cutting fetters and non realization of perception and non perception. Just alone thinking of the unwavering brings stress free joy and only bliss experiencing for real With the practice of those moments you experience bliss! Thank you and May all be Well and Happy! 🙏🏼
PhainHmoobLee an arahant its mind is equanimous all times to toughts,feelings, smell, taste, sights, sounds thats arise and passing away with compassion/meeta to all beings
No-Dependent Origination is the way the mind works. There are 12 links in every moment of consciousness-each dependent on the one before it. Nothing to do with past lives. Although you could say "yesterday" was a "past life!"
nan huai chin speaks about smiling to uplift and clear the mind, esp for the stereotypical pensive buddhists, as do daoist practices; yoga often begins with calming the breath, its the first step of alternate nostril pranayama.
all the suttas + all of the commentaries are rubbish if you cannot quieten the mind + if you can achieve this tranquillity than surely you will not need any suttas or commentaries
dont read the commentaries just stick to the suttas ... concentration and vipassana are interconnected ... jhanas are states of concentration - but nowhere in the suttas have i read anything about 5 Rs
6Rs - Have read about Right Effort? The 4 right efforts: 1. Recognize the mind isin an unwholesome state 2. let go of the unwholesome state 3. bring up a wholesome state 4. Keep it going. Basically the 6Rs. Also check anapanasati sutta and satipatthana sutta which tell you to "tranquilize the bodily and mental formations" In other words the RELAX step in the 6Rs. The 6Rs are just an easy way to talk about Right Effort and what it really means.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Bhante, I had an understanding of this type of meditation years ago when I didn't have a sangha and studied suttas online alone. I achieved jhana, made such progress! Then, my practice lapsed for a few years. When I did find a local Buddhist community, I started practicing seriously again but never felt that progress or found that peace again. It is like you said about meditation teachers, it is always focused on concentrating.
Recently I realized that these teachers may be wrong, and started practicing the way you teach again. What beauty! It feels like perfection, peace. The way The Buddha taught. Thank you for your teaching and confirming what I used to know about meditation.
I had the same expierience. I remember one suttha, where Buddha explains, that the sitting meditation is called in his teachings just having a good time, here and now. The real hard work is to keep the ethics for life time.
This is one of the best talks i have listened to in recent times about meditation practices.
Thank you bhante. You are the budda to me. I get tears when I listen to you. Thank to your institution I get to silence in my mind. I listen to or Delson or to David every day. I lean lot. Where I live in Europe there are not darma centers. Thank to Darma sukka mind in a good place. I hope and wish to depend my meditation. I know for sure you are in the budda field and helping everyone. Sadu Sadu.
Thank you for your kind comments. Its always nice to hear people are benefiting. And we all have Bhante to thank!😀
I come back to this talk every once in a while, and each time I always learn something new thanks to further practice. An endless fountain of happiness. Thank you so much Buddha/Bhante 🙏😁😸
This is awesome! In all the ten directions! Thank you thank you thrice thank you!
The more you feel love and kindness the easier it is to give it away. Thank you
anytime you feel tension in the body or mind it is because of craving ….. so important to release tension - clinging happens really quickly ...Wonderful dhamma talk - very clear - thank you so much - deep respect …..
I have never heard of or listened to Bante before. This is a great talk and insightful. He clearly lays out the ground and basis of Jhana and its stages, and most important how to link Jhana with love and kindness meditation and Nirvana. Great insight 🙏🏽
Very clear. Very direct. Very helpful.
Listening to this, must be what it was like for a 1920’s physicist to read Einstein‘s theory of relativity for the first time. It’s earth shaking. It turns everything I thought I new about meditation on its head, in the best possible way!!
Yes - its true - And the meditation is not so hard that you can't do it at home and attain the jhana states that Bhante talks about. cheers
how much merit one must have to come across this pointing that is so important,
It is so simple.
thank you very much
You are welcome and it is indeed lucky - It only took me 20 years of doing the meditation the wrong way before I found the right way with Bhante. dj
Sadu! Sadu! Sadu! Wise people will understand what you are saying Bhanthe!
Thanks Sir.
I want to thank you noble one.. Coz what u teach has helped let me go in the depth i have never known before. . Viassana is gr8 but ur touch of softness helped me go through what people call dhyana... Thanks so much..
This was an excellent talk. He is on point with everything here. Meditation, if done right (the way he described it) opens up so many possibilities for your life!
At first , I watched a video of Jurgen Zieve ,and then Delson Armstrong's appeared as a related video (Viking Guru), which was really interesting . So I decided to check his teacher Bhante's website and RUclips channel , and I was truelly amazed by what he had said about Metta meditation and Vipassana and Samatha !
I learned and paracticed Therevada Buddhism and its mediatations(Metta , Vipassana ) in Japan Theravada associaation many years ago . The teacher was a Sri Lankan monk Sumanasara .
He teached Vipassana besed on Mahashi method , and metta meditation independently .
But many people there ,including me , had some big questions, like :" Is it possible to get the final point only by Vipassana ? How should we practice Samatha ? We don't need it ? etc " .
What Bhante said was a revolution to me !
I left Fundamental Buddhism or Theravada Buddhism many years ago ,and went through many other spiritual paths .including traditional Advaita Vedanta.
But now I am very attracted by Bhante's " Suttavada" .
Anyway ,thank you very much Bhante !
This is an AMAZING talk!
I'm surprised to see that the putting a smile on your face technique really works. It had a great change in my practice. Thankyou sir for this video. I'm truly grateful 🙏🙏🙏
This is one of the most compete dhamma talks I've ever heard! Wonderful and practical. Thank you!
quite right... i am coming from a buddhist country where most people get caught in the ritual part of buddhism, these are more cultural aspect that has been added to buddhism over the years... take a few core teaching and meditation technique such as vapassana, what Bhante is saying then you can tell what buddhism is and where cultural aspect have been added.
Peace!
I love his teachings.
ave been trying various methods to treat my nicotine addiction. The method of meditation Bante Vimalaramsi explains of loving-kindness and dependent origination is the first to offer comfort and belief I can make progress and address my fear. sadhu sadhu sadhu!
SADHU !....
What a wonderful teacher !.....I can't stop smiling as I listen more !
Later, I started laughing and it's so relaxing and fun !!.....with the practise...
Thank You so much ! 🌷⚘🌷⚘🥳🥳🥳
Thank u bhante
Such a brilliant and important sharing of true insights and experience. Thank you Bhante :)
Thanks Bhante
So helpful! Thank you for sharing!
Amai! Zeer interessant! Ik beoefen vipassana sinds 2003. Aangeleerd in 10dagen retraite maar sinds beoefend alleen. Dé stadia doorgemaakt worden hier zeer duidelijk beschreven en opgehelderd! Natuurlijk zijn er nog vragen maar ik voel bij het beluisteren alleen al inzicht groeien. Prachtig dank je wel.
You are very welcome ( I translated your comment on google) Please visit our site for more information. consider an online retreat. We only have retreats in english and some german. David
@@davidjohnson8218 Dank je wel maar Bhante Bodhidhamma is mijn leermeester. Hij heeft in Engeland een eigen centrum geopend en ik blijf hem trouw. Ik ben dankbaar met jullie wijsheid en ondersteuning die me ook verder helpt. on line retraite spreekt me niet meteen aan. Maar zeg nooit nooit, je weet het trouwens nooit. Beste groeten en dank. Karin
Thank you very much Sir. I am taking the Precepts .
This was a useful and interesting talk. Thank you.
To an audience member: staying in the room during a recording despite a loud persistent cough not skilled.
The person coughing may have needed to hear it the most.
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu 🙏
Vandami Bhante💐💐💐 sadhu, sadhu, sadhu 💐💐💐
It's really true, when you experience in meditation all the steps sutta is easily understand.
We all must have had some GREAT kamma finding Bhante Vimalarmsi lol, what a gem
Yes I agree completely. Deep respect for hon bhanteji.
Wonderful Bhante Vimalaramsi Step By Step Entrance.
Modern Zen has cut out too much and now no longer has any connection to the Buddha's original teachings. The majority of zen practitioners have no clue about jhana. The eightfold path must be practiced in it's entirety to achieve results.
Sounds too black & white to me.
In all of its irony zen actually means jhana in japanese
Yes.. But many zen practitioners go to theravada countries to learn and practice there... Then they combine it somehow.
🌈AUM NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA🌟
I want to take precepts. please help
Bhante sir,
How can we contact you? Is there a email address? Please reply thanks. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Bhante.......Is there ANY existent Sangha which teaches what you share besides your own?
How is the Thera approach on meditation taught in Thailand vs. Myanmar vs. Cambodia?
Thanks
P.S. I've sent a message to you via your website address.
+Stefos Hi Stefos - I hope you got a reply. We have groups in some cities who are practicing meditation. See "Groups" You can do an online retreat with us from anywhere in the world as well. check our site. We are small but what we teach really works so you have to work a little extra to find it.
Yes we have in srilanka ,teaching very similar technique. and explain from Tripitaka only and it works too.
bante pls advise i have a difficult father who give my life and family great sufferring and he wont want to change.i difficult to give meeta how u advise me..
+Ivan wong Bhante asks that you forgive him. Forgiveness is very powerful and lets you release old "stuff" that you carry with you. Forgive him for not wanting to change and stop trying to change him. Let him be and appreciate him just as he is. Sadhu
Sadhu sadhu sadhu.....
@@DhammasukhaOrg what if he's beating, abusing them physically and / or verbally??
@@y9w1 I think it is time to leave the situation. That is metta for yourself and compassion for them as they no longer can make bad merit. Move on!
5:39
wrong.
upon reaching access concentration the hindrances cease both in and out of meditation. and the physical and mental pliancies and blisses continuously abide day n night
Access might last for a day but eventually disappears and must be built again. The point of TWIM is to actually eliminate the hindrances for good. Access pushes them away for a little while but TWIM based on the suttas doesn't push away but accepts what is there, releases thinking about it and relaxes the desire to continue thinking about it. This is totally different then concentration meditation. Until you try it you really won't see how it works. Its kind of magic -but it is the Right Effort which says don't push it away but just 1.know there is a distraction 2. Let it go 3. Bring up a wholesome state (smile and metta) 4. Keep it going. Nowhere does it say to push away the hindrance and develop access concentration. I have developed access on many retreats. Its nice but its not the same as the practice here.
@@davidjohnson8218 real access concentration does not diminish inside or outside of the session once it has arisen. cessation of the hindrances is a sideeffect that constantly accompanies a mind with access to the form realm. furthermore the obstacles to access level samadhi are clear, laxity and excitation, and certainly returning to one's meditation object repeatedly with metta if done properly will gradually eliminate those 2
Attachment is a poor definition of the Pāli "upadana" which means both clinging and fuel. In the Buddha's first discourse he encapsulated the definition of suffering as the five clinging aggregates (pancaupadanakhanda). In other words the aggregates are the fuel by which selfhood arises.
Unfortunately the satipatthana suttas have been recreated in simplified form as vipassana meditation, a form of Buddhist modernism, as something separate from anapanasati. In actuality they are two ends of the same stick. One cannot pick up a stick without picking up both ends.
Yes the hindrances are great teachers. There is much to learn from them keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is to gain a direct understanding (not an intellectual understanding) of the Four Noble Truths this uprooting the conditions from which the whole tangled skein of suffering arises.
may i ask? in arupa_jhana, do the bodily feelings (vedana) exist? dukkha vedana, sukha vedana, and adukkhasukha vedana namely.
Arupa is pali for mental (formless) - the mental realm - not of the body. Bodily feeling is not present unless contact is made. If you are sitting and a fly lands on your head you will feel it . Whereas in the Rupa Jhanas you do feel the body and what is going on as coarse feeling. In Arupa states the mind becomes tranquil and dispassionate to bodily feeling but there is still internal contact with sights and sounds and other sensations that is from the mind.
Go for a goenka retreat
Everything you said resonates deeply with my experience. However, I just don't understand why/how it is really different than any other meditation. I have done many meditations, and they all seem to have that, or at least I have had that experience in them. Am I that unique? I have not trained formally with any teachers, though I sat with a few groups in the past.
We hear this from many meditators that they don't see anything different but they haven't Tried the method adding the most important part of the process which is the 6Rs. It turns it from a concentration or forced absorption jhana into a tranquil aware jhana- a state in which you are aware but the hindrances are gone. You have to try this to understand how it is SO different then other methods. In sutta MN 36 the Buddha rejected normal concentration and said it didn't work - he left the teachers that were teaching 7th and then the 8th jhana. He had to figure out why and he finally did where he added the relax or Passambayah step. Get my book and I explain it thoroughly -The Path to Nibbana
@@davidjohnson8218 ok. I will, thanks.
❤🙏😁
The Samadhi ( the concentrated meditation ) leading to Vipassana, ( insight) develops the stillness of your mind with observation of thoughts arise, persist and fall and letting go.
The objective of the use of these techniques is to develop equanimity ( un waived and non labeling )
In the process of elevated levels of concentrated meditation this eventually unfolds; while experiencing the Jhannas which are merely the progress levels of these meditation practice. Then continue to apply to day to day life in real experiences.
The 4 levels of Jhannas are described below:-
The next four Jhanas are the formless meditations which are describes as:
Realisation of the sphere of ‘space-infinity’
Realisation of the sphere of ‘consciousness-infinity’
Realisation of the sphere of ‘no-thing-ness’
Realisation of the sphere of neither ‘perception-nor-nonperception’
The Buddhist scholar Winston states that these Jhanic meditations are the “paradigm of meditation techniques in its highest classical Indian form” and ancestors of all the later Buddhist meditative practices.
However that shall pass too in practice, and not be attached to Jhanna but learning to be unwavering and non labeling. (gain equanimity)
With the elevation of this practice levels of renunciation takes place gradually as it will auto rid your cravings and cutting fetters and non realization of perception and non perception.
Just alone thinking of the unwavering brings stress free joy and only bliss experiencing for real With the practice of those moments you experience bliss!
Thank you and May all be Well and Happy! 🙏🏼
Great Discussion!
1:03:09 The only way Nibbana occurs
is an arahant continuously conscious of his/her mind? or is it that they have no thoughts which gives rise to emotions?
PhainHmoobLee an arahant its mind is equanimous all times to toughts,feelings, smell, taste, sights, sounds thats arise and passing away with compassion/meeta to all beings
Dependent and origination here means u can see yr past life?
No-Dependent Origination is the way the mind works. There are 12 links in every moment of consciousness-each dependent on the one before it. Nothing to do with past lives. Although you could say "yesterday" was a "past life!"
Im always folding my arms at 18:48
Jhāna is absorption samādhi is concentration
Lost in translation apparently ...
:) My name is Jhana
Time to look up to ur name Jhana Hawkins
❤❤❤
What a cool name! Does meditation come easier to you?
i got here after searching first jhana in the search box
nan huai chin speaks about smiling to uplift and clear the mind, esp for the stereotypical pensive buddhists, as do daoist practices; yoga often begins with calming the breath, its the first step of alternate nostril pranayama.
all the suttas + all of the commentaries are rubbish if you cannot quieten the mind + if you can achieve this tranquillity than surely you will not need any suttas or commentaries
dont read the commentaries just stick to the suttas ... concentration and vipassana are interconnected ... jhanas are states of concentration - but nowhere in the suttas have i read anything about 5 Rs
6Rs - Have read about Right Effort? The 4 right efforts: 1. Recognize the mind isin an unwholesome state 2. let go of the unwholesome state 3. bring up a wholesome state 4. Keep it going. Basically the 6Rs. Also check anapanasati sutta and satipatthana sutta which tell you to "tranquilize the bodily and mental formations" In other words the RELAX step in the 6Rs. The 6Rs are just an easy way to talk about Right Effort and what it really means.
Well, Zen tries pretty much to cut out the religious crap.