Can a Layperson Practice the Actual Dhamma?

Hillside Hermitage Podcast

Is there a way that's according to the Suttas whereby a lay person can actually practice successfully towards the stream-entry or higher? ___________________________________ The books mentioned in the video discuss the historical differences between the Suttas and the later Commentaries and Abhidhammas, the original jhana practice taught by the Buddha, and later yogic-style concentration practices:

• "Early Buddhist Meditation: The Four Jhanas as the Actualization of Insight" by Keren Arbel

• "Reexamining Jhana: Towards a Critical Reconstruction of Early Buddhist Soteriology" by Grzegorz Polak (https://www.academia.edu/34093551/Reexamining_Jhana_Towards_a_Critical_Reconstruction_of_Early_Buddhist_Soteriology)

• "Nikaya Buddhism and Early Chan: A Different Meditative Paradigm" by Grzegorz Polak

___________________________________ @14:48 - A mistake, it wasn't Mahasi's teacher, but the teacher of Ledi Sayadaw called Hpo Hlaing. For further reading of some works that unintentionally reveal implicit esoteric, yogic, and Abhidhammic views that underlie modern Theravada, see:

• "Kate Crosby - Esoteric Theravada: The Story of the Forgotten Meditation Tradition of Southeast Asia"

• "Kamala Tiyavanich - Forest Recollections: Wandering Monks in Twentieth Century Thailand"

• "P.L. Dhar - Thai Forest Tradition and Advaita-Vedanta"

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