Methods of Awakening - Stop! Jhana Time
[Edited January 27th 2020: Corrected a few bits and pieces. At the moment, I am undecided as to whether to continue using the term, "jhana", to describe the concentration states I'll be discussing. Without going into detail, I would rather develop a more universal framework than confuse matters by appropriating Buddhist terminology, and particularly if the states are not in keeping with traditional understanding. An audio version of this post will be made available in coming weeks, so stay tuned.]
Stop!
Jhana Time
In a previous post, I talked about access concentration as being the foundation of meditation practice, so I suppose it makes sense to continue the discussion by talking about what gets built on top of this fine, but very basic foundation. I will use the Buddhist framework to describe this as it’s a simple but incredibly accurate model, although I’ll try my best to describe any map-specific terminology in terms of actual practice and physical/mental sensations so as to avoid overcomplicating this. When it comes down it, all of these things are basically mental exercises that facilitate the process of recognizing the natural state as it is.
So,
you’ve gotten into access concentration, you’re inside your
meditative bubble, nicely focused on the breath and grooving on the
pleasant sensations currently running through your body...BOINK...all
of a sudden there’s something different; a change or a shift of
some sort. The breath feels very stable and clear. You notice these
lovely, subtle shimmering sensations beneath the skin but you just
keep coming back to the breath. You might notice that your eyes have
become focused on the area right in front of your nose, lazily
resting in a downwards position but not in any way sleepy. You
may notice that, if you let your concentration flag, the eye focus
comes back up and some of the pleasant bodily stuff goes away.
Perhaps you’ll notice that if you shift the attention to the
pleasant sensations themselves, they increase without having to “do”
anything other than focus on them. Welcome to what some consider to
be the 1st Jhana, as described by the Buddha in the early
texts.
Just
like access concentration, I thought that jhanas were something
reserved for long-time yogis and adepts but, as I mentioned in the
previous post, that turned out to be nothing more than unhelpful
thinking. If anything, jhanic states are probably common for anyone
who seriously practices meditation, and continued practice showed me
that I already had access to jhana before even getting stream-entry.
Once I understood what jhanas “were”, i.e. strata of mind
accessed through focused attention, it became easier to identify when
a jhanic state was accessed and thus easier to identify the various
aspects of each one, to examine them again and again, gaining insight
through the application of vipassana.
How
Does I Jhana Good?
If
we take the basic instructions from my “Access
Concentration” article and use that as a starting point, it
will make it easier to cut to the chase and describe some of the
phenomenological details, which should hopefully make the recognition
of 1st jhana
easier. It’s worth mentioning at this stage that my word should not
be taken as final on any of this stuff; everything I describe should
be taken away, tested empirically and not accepted at face-value.
Put another way, don’t believe a word of it!
-
Assuming
that you’re already familiar with the state of access
concentration, see how long you can remain stabilized in that.
Remain with the breath. It’ll still require a certain amount of
effort to maintain, but the mental focus will remain essentially the
same. Just keep the attention rested on the breath. There’s no
need to go investigating the bare sensations or picking the entire
in/out cycle apart bit-by-bit; insight practice is a different
matter and is something I’ll go into another time, but for the
moment try to understand that concentration practice, a.k.a.
samatha, simply requires that one stay 100% focused on a specific
object, be it breath, kasina [2], mantra or
deity.
-
You’ll
probably already be aware of very pleasant tingling sensations, or
just this general emotional tone of everything feeling really nice.
It feels very simple and clear; nothing spectacular but it’s
evident quite quickly once you’ve been practicing for a while.
It’s a feeling you’ll probably recognize quite easily once it’s
been pointed out to you. It’s common in 'good' meditation practice
but can go unnoticed, especially if, like me, you were expecting
some sort of firework display of bliss and joy. Goose-bumps may be
experienced at this point, or a sort of shimmering, tingling over
the body. This is what Buddhists call “piti”[3],
which translates as “rapture” or “joy”, words which may
suggest something more substantial than their initial experiencing
provides. However, this is merely the weak stages[4] of
“piti” and it will become staggeringly clear why words like
“joy” and “rapture” are more than sufficient to describe the
experience.
-
If
you gently incline the mind towards those sensations, without trying
to change them or alter them in any way then you can allow them to
become more apparent. With continued, applied attention exclusively
to those sensation - but still returning to the breath should you
become distracted - that sense of joyfulness will increase of it’s
own accord. What will also become apparent is a sense of mental
ease, of well-being and happiness which seems to occur by itself.
This is what’s known in Buddhism as “sukha”, and along with
“vitaka” and “vicara”, makes up one of the four jhanic
factors, (See footnote [3]) which leads me
to:
-
The
occurrence of thinking in jhanic states is something that can throw
people a bit, but those last two pali words, “vitakka” and
“vikara” will allow us to develop a little more clarity on the
matter. “Vitakka” roughly translates as “applied thinking”,
basically where mind makes contact with a mental object, a.k.a.
thought occurs. “Vikara” translates as something like “sustained
thinking”, which is the continued application of thought leading
to discernment of the object, so it defines the specific details and
allows for identification. Essentially, we could say that “vitakka”
means the thought itself at the moment it’s perceived, and
“vikara” means the discernment of the qualities of that thought.
What I’m trying to say is that thought and thinking continue to
occur in 1st jhana, contrary to what some people may
have you believe, however they can appear quite different to how
they’re normally experienced.
-
When
you actually hit 1st jhana, there will be a definite
sense of being in an altered state of consciousness, usually
preceded by some sense of a mental ‘shift’. That shift may be
very obvious or very subtle depending on the depth of your practice,
but when it happens you’ll recognize it. The senses may seem
softened in some way, and there may be a sense of ‘light’ in the
visual field which, if focused on, becomes ‘brighter’ or
expands. This is what’s known as a “nimitta”, which means
“characteristic” or “sign”. It’s a natural occurrence and
shouldn’t be viewed as any more important than any other
sensation, however dazzling it may be at first. The body can feel
very relaxed, but you must remain attentive so as to avoid slouching
as this will lead to sleepiness and distraction. Sounds may seem
somewhat distant, as if they’re just happening elsewhere, only
being recognized as “sound” and then let go of without further
interpretation or mental narrative about it.
-
It
really is as simple as learning to rest the attention on those
pleasant bodily sensations. Doing this will lead to the arising of
the other jhanic factors, each of which will only really be
discerned through dedicated practice. Don’t get hung up on trying
to identify any of this at first, just stick to what’s going on in
the body and it will definitely become clearer with time. No amount
of reading about it will cause it to make sense, it has to be
experienced directly to be understood and, when it happens in your
own practice, you’ll understand why I go on about that so much.
So,
to summarize, firstly we get into access concentration and then turn
the attention towards those pleasant tingling, dynamic sensations
wherever they are in the body, however subtle or obvious they may be.
If you’re practicing correctly, these sensations will appear
without a doubt so you don’t need to go looking for them, or sit
there waiting for them to happen. Stay present and attentive, and
don’t drift off into a mental reverie...but if you do there’s no
need to beat yourself up about it. As you did when cultivating access
concentration: Bring the attention back to the breath if you can’t
notice any of those sensations since becoming distracted. If you’re
still aware of them, however subtle, simply tune back in to them
again and continue as before.
What
I’ve written above should be a fairly reliable way to incline the
mind towards what some consider to be the 1st jhana.
It’s very straightforward but does require consistent and dedicated
practice. It’s possible to get into what could be called
'jhana-lite', which is like a weak state of absorption in those
sensation, and this itself is quite sufficient to begin applying
vipassana to the experience. Jhanas, like all other states and
stages, are as empty and transient as any other and can be
investigated via bare attention. Which brings me to...
How
Not To Become A Jhana Junkie
As
I just said, jhanas are as empty and transient as anything else you
can experience. They’re ultimately no different to the sensations
which make up your little finger. No sensations, states or
experiences last. None exist apart from awareness and none can be
found outside of their own experiencing. The Buddha layed out The
Three Characteristics and they are undeniably evident in the
moment-by-moment experience of every human being: Impermanence
(Anicca), Not-Self (Anatta), and Suffering or Dissatisfaction
(Dukkha).
They
represent three seals of experience in that, regardless of where we
look, how we look or who’s looking, all phenomena are subject to
change, none contain or can be said to be a Self, and none are able
to provide any real or lasting satisfaction. I defy anyone to look
closely and sincerely at their own experience right now, their bare
sensate experience as these six streams of sense-consciousness, and
find anything permanent or anything which contains or could be a
Self. There is literally nothing which is not constantly changing at
some level. Even mountains are subject to erosion, but this is
something we can experience directly for ourselves by simply looking
at the way in which reality is perceived, on the bare sensate level,
on a moment-by-moment basis.
The
problem with jhanas is that they’re incredibly seductive and can
give one the impression that they’re more realized than they
actually are. They can be mind-blowing sometimes, but they can also
just be a pleasant break from the stresses of everyday life. However,
the Buddha taught insight and morality as well as concentration, so
this should be borne in mind.
There’s
nothing wrong with enjoying concentration states. Learning to abide
in them is a skill in itself, but when it begins to interfere with
your practice and become the be all and end all, then it’s time to
bring in some insight. Worse still, continuing to get deeper into
meditative states can sometimes interfere with, and impinge upon,
your daily life. This is more of an issue for advanced practitioners
who’s concentration skills are more highly developed, but it’s
possible to experience hallucinations, altered states or things which
seem to be outwith rational explanation.[5] At
all times, the sincere practitioner should bear the Three
Characteristics in mind and experience them directly. Even in the
most elevated states, since even those are not exempt from the dharma
seals. To cling to any state, no matter how glorious or beautiful it
seems, is a grave error which will not lead to liberation. Every
sensation experienced at every sense door can be seen directly to be
without any ultimate source, without a beginning or end; just a
process of change. It is all empty of meaning and devoid of
information until the mind begins to construct a story around it,
turning it into an “I” and creating a subject to this fresh, new
object.
All
that said, it’s not like there’s not considerable benefit to be
had from cultivating concentration states. Even getting into
1st jhana leads to the temporary suppression of the
“five hindrances”, and higher states eliminate conscious thought
entirely, revealing something fundamental about the nature of
reality. It’s just a case of using them with moderation. Some of
the experiences possible through strong concentration, especially
while on retreat, can be incredibly seductive and can even convince
you, for a while at least, that you’re completely awakened. Jhana
is an excellent baseline from which to do insight practice. The mind
is stabilized and the natural focus of 1st jhana is
conducive to the sort of targeted investigation required when
practicing vipassana. The optimal jhanic strata to begin with for
insight practice is, in my opinion, 4th as it offers
a completely different mental focus or frame which allows
for deeper, more open and effortless investigation into
whichever sensations present themselves.
I’ve
ended up writing more than I thought would be required for this, but
I’m trying to ensure that I’m communicating the nuts and bolts of
the practice clearly and how to actually do it. What I’ve written
is just my opinion, based on my experience, and is subject to change
at anytime. Hopefully what’s there is sufficient to allow you to
improve your practice, identify the first jhanic strata and avoid
some of the potential pitfalls of strong concentration practice.
Thanks
for reading and the very best of luck in your practice, may you and
all sentient beings end suffering in this lifetime.
Peace
& Practice Well,
Tommy
[1]
According to certain models, there are actually 15 concentration
states as well as other attainments possible beyond this point.
[2]
Kasinas are basically just some external object you can use to focus
on, but there’s a whole range of objects with specific meditations
dependent on which tradition you’re working with. At their most
basic level, removed from the specifics of traditions, anything can
be used as a kasina, but in practice it’s found that basic
geometric shapes are usually best to begin with. Plates, bowls,
cardboard shapes like triangles or squares, anything you can sit up
against a wall and fix the eyes on.
[3]
“Piti” is one of, what are known as, the “factors of jhana”,
a set of phenomenological characteristics which are present in each
jhanic strata and allow for their identification.
[4]
According to some sources, there are five levels of “piti”, with
only the last two, “exalting rapture” and “fulfilling rapture”
being truly considered “piti” proper. The levels of bliss and
joyfulness possible with strong practice can become overwhelming,
which is when it comes time to bail out of 1st and
move into 2nd jhana.
[5]
Magical powers, also known as siddhis, are developed using
concentration practice but require a LOT of practice to even begin to
understand. This is another story for another time, but suffice to
say that the siddhis are not required for awakening to occur.
Thanks Tommy, very clear, concise and readable. Newbie-friendly, too.
ReplyDeleteA question/comment comes to mind. First jhana is relatively little fuss to achieve, and suppresses the hindrances. However, I've never heard a teacher recommend just developing concentration to the point of being able to get what you called jhana-lite, and from there using that as a base for insight meditation in a way that is more pleasant than just dry vipassana, i.e. insight meditation using access concentration only. It seems to be a case of either an encouragement to develop all of the jhanas strongly or to ignore them entirely. Any thoughts on this?
Bugger, looks like I deleted my initial comment by accident!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, what I'd basically said was that the suggestions above about getting into "jhana-lite" are based on what's worked for me. I know what you mean though, and a real teacher would probably go for either 'wet' or 'dry' insight, but in my experience it seems that insight develops concentration naturally, and vice versa if done correctly. There's no distinction in the suttas between insight and concentration, which seems to be the case in my own practice and so I don't tend to lean in either direction.
Also, thank you for taking the time to comment and I really appreciate the feedback.