Spring Cleaning refers to the practice of starting fresh. Winter has lost its grip, the sun has broken on the horizon, and today is the day for a new (cyclical) beginning. It's time to rethink meditation.
Dry insight is increasingly trendy. Goenka offers easy directions to a difficult path that offers little comfort and, consequently, slow progress. A moist serenity practice, on the other hand, offers a gradual path of progress advocated by the Buddha as the norm in meditating.
In a stock passage that occurs countless times in the Canon, presented here with similes, the Buddha defined the first four absorption (jhanas):
First Absorption
"There is the case where a meditator — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful states — enters and remains in the First Absorption: rapture [piti, happiness] and pleasure [sukha, joy = pleasant sensation, physical pleasure, antonym of dukkha] born from withdrawal [of the mind from the Five Mental Hindrances], accompanied by applied attention and sustained attention [vitakka and vicara]. One permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture [mental pleasure] and bliss [physical pleasure] born of withdrawal. Nothing in this entire body remains unpervaded by the rapture and bliss born of withdrawal.
"There is the case where a meditator — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful states — enters and remains in the First Absorption: rapture [piti, happiness] and pleasure [sukha, joy = pleasant sensation, physical pleasure, antonym of dukkha] born from withdrawal [of the mind from the Five Mental Hindrances], accompanied by applied attention and sustained attention [vitakka and vicara]. One permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture [mental pleasure] and bliss [physical pleasure] born of withdrawal. Nothing in this entire body remains unpervaded by the rapture and bliss born of withdrawal.
"It is just as if a skilled washer or washer's apprentice were to pour bath powder into a basin and knead it, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that the ball of bath powder — saturated, thoroughly suffused, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip. Even so, the meditator permeates, suffuses, and fills this very body with the rapture and bliss born of withdrawal. There is no part of the entire body that remains unpervaded by rapture and bliss born of withdrawal...Second Absorption
"Moving further, with the stilling of applied and sustained attention, one enters and remains in the Second Absorption: rapture and bliss born of concentration, unification of mind, free of applied and sustain attention — internally collected. One permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and bliss born of concentration. There is nothing in this entire body unpervaded by rapture and bliss born of concentration.
"Moving further, with the stilling of applied and sustained attention, one enters and remains in the Second Absorption: rapture and bliss born of concentration, unification of mind, free of applied and sustain attention — internally collected. One permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and bliss born of concentration. There is nothing in this entire body unpervaded by rapture and bliss born of concentration.
"It is just as if a lake with spring water welling up from below, having no inflow from east, west, north, or south, and with the skies periodically supplying abundant showers, so that the cool fount of water welling up from within the lake would permeate and pervade, suffuse and fill it with cool waters, there being no part of the lake unpervaded by the cool waters. Even so the meditator permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and bliss born of concentration. There is nothing in this entire body that remains unpervaded by rapture and bliss born of concentration...Third Absorption
"With the fading of rapture, one remains equanimous, mindful, and clearly comprehending (attentive and alert, sati-sampajanna), and experiences pleasure with the body. One enters and remains in the Third Absorption, which the Noble Ones (the ariyas, enlightened ones) declare, 'Happily abides the equanimous and mindful person.' One permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with bliss, so that there is no part of this entire body unpervaded by bliss.
"With the fading of rapture, one remains equanimous, mindful, and clearly comprehending (attentive and alert, sati-sampajanna), and experiences pleasure with the body. One enters and remains in the Third Absorption, which the Noble Ones (the ariyas, enlightened ones) declare, 'Happily abides the equanimous and mindful person.' One permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with bliss, so that there is no part of this entire body unpervaded by bliss.
"Just as in a blue, white, or red lotus pond, some lotuses are born and grow and stay immersed in water, and flourish without rising above the water so that they are permeated and pervaded, suffused and filled with cool water from their roots to their petals. No part of those blue, white, or red lotuses remains unpervaded with cool water. Even so, the meditator permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the bliss. There is nothing of this entire body unpervaded by bliss...Fourth Absorption
"Then with the abandoning of pleasant and unpleasant sensation (sukha and dukkha = pleasure and pain) — as formerly elation and grief were abandoned — one enters and abides in the Fourth Absorption. It is a state purified by equanimity and mindfulness, having abandoned pleasure and pain. The body is permeated with a pure, bright awareness with no part of the entire body unpervaded by pure, bright awareness.
"Then with the abandoning of pleasant and unpleasant sensation (sukha and dukkha = pleasure and pain) — as formerly elation and grief were abandoned — one enters and abides in the Fourth Absorption. It is a state purified by equanimity and mindfulness, having abandoned pleasure and pain. The body is permeated with a pure, bright awareness with no part of the entire body unpervaded by pure, bright awareness.
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