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I read the following on the internet:

Here-and-now-view is one of the wrong views, DN1

Is here-and-now-view one of the wrong views in DN1?

Please kindly provide some quotes about this.

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2 Answers 2

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There are five wrong "here-and-now" views listed in DN1. These five views are part of the "net of views" that prevent progress. Here is the first:

DN1:3.20.2: ‘When this self amuses itself, supplied and provided with the five kinds of sensual stimulation, that’s how this self attains ultimate extinguishment in the present life.’

This view is a trap because it asserts that there can be a self entangled in hedonism and perpetual gratification via the senses. Those who have gained more wealth than one could spend in a life would get trapped in this view.

The other four "here-and-now" views attempt to escape the first wrong view and its successors. But in each of these five wrong views, there is an assertion of and clinging to self that tempt one to stop in the Noble Eight-fold Path.

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  • So, based on your analysis, it appears the "here & now" views are wrong views, not because they are about the here & now, but because they are self-views. Is this correct? Thank you Mar 2, 2020 at 2:34
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    That is my current understanding. And that understanding has helped me relinquish more.
    – OyaMist
    Mar 2, 2020 at 17:51
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Perhaps that's a reference to the paragraphs whose title is ...

The Self’s Unbinding in the Here-&-Now

... in this translation by Ven. Thanissaro.

Those (same) paragraphs are titled ...

  1. Doctrines of Nibbāna Here and Now (Diṭṭhadhammanibbānavāda): Views 58–62

... in this translation by Ven. Bodhi.

Piya Tan published two documents about DN 1, i.e. an annotated translation and A Commentarial Guide to the Brahma,jāla Sutta

This quote from the latter may be a summary:

Dhammapāla goes on to ask why is the doctrine of nirvana here and now included under eternalism rather than annihilationism, when it proclaims the absolute extinction (accanta,nibbāna) 199 of the self? This is so because they teach the persistence of the purified self in its own form (saka,rpe) when it is freed from bondage when it finds any kind of happiness. (DA 1:232)

The first, which proclaims nibbāna here and now through the enjoyment of all sense pleasures, is the position of the hedonist. This doctrine might also apply to the more sophisticated and pernicious school of religious thought, flowing as a dark undercurrent beneath most of the major spiritual movements of the world, that the way to be liberated from passion is to indulge in the passions. (Bodhi 1978:33)

The other four grounds are held by attainers of the four dhyanas, who mistake the zest, happiness and peace of their attainments for the highest good. From the Buddhist perspective, the dhyanas are merely a temporary suspension of mental hindrances, and not final liberation in themselves. Nirvana cannot be realized merely through the dhyanas, but through the destruction of defilements by insight wisdom.

According to the commentary, all the five doctrines of nibbāna here and now are comprised within eternalism. But if the first position is a form of hedonism, which sees man’s highest good in sensual indulgence, it would seem more appropriate to classify it under annihilationism. Perhaps, though, its classification under eternalism indicates that it is the antinomian type of spirituality that is intended. The four doctrines based on the jhānas are all appropriately categorized, for such doctrines invariably recognize a purified self persisting in its own nature following the dissolution of the body. (Bodhi 1978:34)

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  • I marked this answer down because the attached commentaries made it too confusing. Mar 2, 2020 at 2:32

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