(Wonderlane/Flickr.com)
The Noble Eightfold Path -- the Buddha's prescription for attaining enlightenment -- is familiar. We have some idea what is meant by right speech, right action, right livelihood, and so forth. And we know that these are very important.
However, the one factor of the path that is often shortchanged is the eighth fold:
Right Concentration. Here the Wanderling seeks to explain what "right concentration" is, how to practice it, and the role it plays on the road to enlightenment.
Right concentration (
samma samadhi) is explicitly defined in the
Mahasatipatthana Sutta (DN 22) and in other sutras (e.g.,
Saccavibhanga Sutta, MN 141) as jhanic meditation:
And
what is right concentration? Here a [meditator] -- secluded from sense
desires, secluded from unwholesome states of mind -- enters and remains
in the first jhana, which is filled with rapture and joy born of
seclusion accompanied by initial and sustained attention. With the
stilling of initial and sustained attention, by gaining inner
tranquility and oneness of mind, one enters and remains in the second
jhana, which is without initial and sustained
attention, born of concentration, and filled with rapture and joy. With
the fading away of rapture, remaining imperturbable, mindful, and
clearly aware, one enters and remains in the third
jhana, and of such a person the Noble Ones declare,
"Equanimous and mindful, one has a pleasant abiding." With the
abandoning of pleasure and pain -- as with the earlier disappearance of
elation and distress -- one enters and remains in the fourth
jhana, which is beyond pleasure and pain and
purified by equanimity and mindfulness. This is called right
concentration.
Therefore, the
jhanas are at the very heart of the Buddha's teaching. This fact is presented in not only one important sutra but in many as well as in commentaries and in personal meditation instructions with living masters.
Before he became the Buddha, at the beginning of his spiritual quest, Siddhartha Gautama studied with two teachers. The first taught him the first seven
jhanas; the second taught him the eighth. Both told him they had taught him all there was to learn.
But Siddhartha, having reached these blissful states, realized that the end of all suffering had not been brought about. At best these attainments, which are very heavy wholesome karma, will only lead to high heavenly rebirths in fine material and immaterial states. While this might be considered "salvation" or liberation (
moksha) by other Indian teachers, Siddhartha realized that those long-lived states -- dependent on karma, existing within
samsara, fraught with subtle defilements like clinging and wrong view -- were also impermanent and unsatisfactory.
So he left each of these teachers and continued on his six year journey to nirvana, abandoning the
jhanas and instead taking up the practice of severe austerities.
These, too, failed to result in enlightenment. They did not provide the answer to his quest, the final solution to all suffering once and for all. So he abandoned them and took up a Middle Way avoiding extremes of sensual indulgence and self mortification.
The discourses indicate that on the night of his enlightenment, he sat under the Bodhi Tree and began his meditation by again practicing the
jhanas. (See
Mahasaccaka Sutta, MN 36), He wondered why he feared pleasure and bliss beyond sensuality. He spontaneously remembered entering
jhana as a child under a rose apple tree during a harvest festival with his father. This helped him realize that the
jhanas might be the way to his goal not an impediment to it.
When his mind was "concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability," he directed it to the "true knowledges." This gave rise to his incredible breakthrough in consciousness known in the sutras as
Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.
Therefore we see from textual sources that the
jhanas are not only at the heart of his teaching but also at the heart of his own practice.
(dhammawheel.com)
WHAT THEY ARE
The Pali word
jhana (Japanese
zen, Sanskrit
dhyana) is best translated as "meditative absorption." It derives from
dhayati, meaning to meditate or be
sucked [in], pulled in, absorbed.
What is it to be absorbed in something or in a state of "absorption"? It is a common experience, for example, we get so involved in a TV show, video game, or mystery novel that we are surprised when the phone rings and brings us back to our usual scattered state which we think of as "reality."
The
jhanas are eight heightened states of consciousness that arise during periods of strong concentration. They have the ability to
temporarily purify heart and mind (making consciousness equanimous and imperturbable, bright and one pointed). They are naturally occurring states of mind, but learning how to enter them at will and then to stay in them for designated periods of time takes practice.
HOW TO ENTER THE JHANAS
There is very little actual instruction on how to "do"
jhana practice in the sutras. [It more sort of happens naturally when we let go and sit without expectations or sensual distractions, frustrations or ambitions. It may be that all we can do is cultivate favorable conditions, the factors of absorption (
jhananga) that oppose the Five Hindrances, for them to blossom on their own as a side effect of mental purification.]
One probable reason for this is that the
jhanas were a well-known practice among serious spiritual seekers 2,600 years ago. Like today, when giving someone directions to our house, we do not include super basic information, such as how to start the car, shift gears, and so on.
So it might not have been considered necessary to explain
how to do them. Another probable reason why few instructions exist in the sutras is that the
jhanas are best learned in a one-on-one setting with a teacher. [And those who seek them tend to have some natural ability or affinity with them, obviating a need for much initial instruction about attaining them even as instructions become crucial on how to work with, develop, and master them.]
They do not lend themselves to "book learning." Let us examine each
jhana and how one goes about "doing" them.
One thing that IS mentioned as contributing to a positive overall outcome in the pursuit of meditative absorption is not so much HOW it is done, but WHERE it is done, that is, the optimal place, dwelling, or setting.
Bhante G (Ven. Henepola Gunaratana, Abbot of the
Bhavana Society in West Virginia), citing various sutras writes:
The factors which make a dwelling favorable to meditation are
mentioned by the Buddha himself. If should not be too far from or too
near a village that can be relied on as an alms resort, and should have
a clear path: it should be quiet and secluded; it should be free from
rough weather and from harmful insects and animals; one should be able
to obtain one's physical requisites while dwelling there; and the
dwelling should provide ready access to learned elders and spiritual
friends who can be consulted when problems arise in meditation
(A.v,15).
The types of dwelling places commended by the Buddha most frequently in the suttas as conductive to the jhanas
are a secluded [deserted and peaceful] dwelling in the forest, at the
foot of a tree, on a mountain, in a cleft, in a cave, in a cemetery, on a
wooded flatland, in the open air, or on a heap of straw (M.i,181).
Having found a suitable dwelling and settled there, the disciple should
maintain scrupulous observance of the rules of discipline. [One]
should be content with simple requisites, exercise control over sense
faculties, be mindful and discerning in all activities, and practice
meditation diligently as instructed. It is at this point that [one]
meets the first great challenge of contemplative life, the battle with
the Five Hindrances.
Seeking the
jhana states in a more formal setting, the texts mention
The 18 Faults of a Monastery. They are
unfavorable to the development of
jhana. They are: a large monastery, a new one, a dilapidated one, one near a road, one with a pond, leaves, flowers or fruits, one sought after by many people, one in cities, among fields of timber, where people quarrel, in a port, in border lands, on a frontier, a haunted place, and one without access to a spiritual teacher.
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