ASK MAYA: Meditation vs. Absorption?

Maya, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Kelly Y., Wisdom Quarterly  ASK MAYA, 2/7/14

Not excited, not distracted, not asleep, not doing, wakeful-attention to a single object eventually leads to what we were always missing. (Sue90ca/flickr)

  

This question comes from Wisdom Quarterly reader Ron: "What is the difference between meditation and absorption?" Here we answer in a more practical than theoretical way with instructions.
 

Meditation is dull and unclear until...

"MEDITATION" (bhavana) is a very general term. It literally means, "bringing into being." So it is often translated as "mental cultivation" or "self development." The mental and self can be misleading if taken too literally; it is not a brain or head thing, nor is the ego being built up. Intellectualizing the process or cultivating ego are the opposite of what's happening.

 

One might cultivate or develop many beneficial things such as virtue (the foundation of concentration) or calm or restraint.

 

One might develop one's knowledge of the Dharma (Buddhist Doctrine) through fantastically woven Mahayana stories penned long after the Buddha but written as if the Buddha had said them. Or one might get closer to the source by studying Theravada "lists," sutras, and commentaries.

Or one might learn the precepts, further precepts, or Disciplinary Code for long-term intensive practice. Or one might study the life of the Buddha and various figures from ancient India, such as these four fascinating enlightened Buddhist nuns: Khema, Uppalavanna, Bhaddhakaccana, and Sundari Nanda. Little is heard of them today as nearly all of the focus is put on monks, kings, and warriors. (The first two were the Buddha's beautiful chief disciples, the third his former wife, and the fourth his princess sister).

Stay awake (PeterFroehlich/flickr.com)

Or one might learn a meditation technique from a teacher and regularly cultivate it.

Sitting-meditation to bring "right concentration" into being first means settling the mind/heart (more correctly, letting it settle). This is done so that it can strengthen and achieve its potential. What potential?

The heart/mind has the miraculous ability to so focus its attention that it becomes one-pointed. This temporarily purifies it. 

Absorption! (Jess Allison)

"ABSORPTION" (jhana) is this effortless focus as the mind/heart is "absorbed" or pulled into the appropriate single object of its attention.
 
Getting to this point can be a long slog or a spontaneous occurrence. (No one for whom it happens spontaneously was expecting it, so it is better to prepare for a long slog. Expectations kill concentration).

So does it take effort, or is it effortless?

 

Until one lets go of the striving, efforting, grunting, and "trying," the heart/mind will not cohere and blossom. This is why we refer to it as "effortless." 

 

But one had made the effort to cultivate virtue and to meditate with regularity, which develops the Five Factors of Absorption (jhananga). Meditation will all seem to have been preliminary and preparatory when one tastes the first absorption. All of that effort was unnecessary and in the way? Yes and no. Would we have stayed with it and gotten here if we had not put forward a tremendous amount of effort to abstain from many distracting things, to develop regularity in practice, to inquire, to study, and so on? Virtue is the foundation. It's benefit is "concentration" (samadhi).

Samsara is turbulent, swirling flood (FP)

Concentration is a misleading English translation. The word in modern American English suggests scrunching our foreheads and trying. That is NOT samadhi. 

 

Imagine when one wants clear water, but it's cloudy; one wants it clean, but it's full of obscuring particles in suspension. What is the best way to get it clear?

Let it settle. How much effort does that take? None or next to none. But we're going to need tons of effort to be patient, sit still, and wait. "Patience is the highest virtue," the Buddha said. As an American, that's the last thing we have. Clear water? Drain it, filter it while pouring it back in, irradiate it, and throw in some chlorine because we're busy! Who has time to wait and do nothing?

 

The heart/mind is naturally clear, but there are all of these defilements floating around so that we never see things clearly. And we will do anything -- except the easiest and most natural thing -- to clear things up.

ANSWER: The difference between "meditation," usually thought of as sitting crosslegged even though it means so much more, and "absorption" is like the difference between muddy turbulent water and a crystal clear still forest pool.

One can suddenly see clearly in a still forest pool (nyanamolibhikkhu/plus.google.com)

 
The Buddha gives an analogy to explain the first two Factors of Absorption, "applied-attention" (vitakka) and "sustained-attention" (vicāra).
 
These factors form the bridge between meditation and absorption. They are like the effort a bird makes to get into flight and the effort(lessness) to stay in flight. One is messy jumping and flapping, the other easy holding and gliding.

• Translating vitakka as "thought-conception" and vicāra as "discursive thinking," as was done by the earliest Western translators is incorrect and completely misleading. Scholarship by nonpractitioners has this liability. Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, who is both a scholar and a meditation master with many accomplished Western students, was able to clarify this matter for us.

"The first absorption is free from five [hindrances], and five [Factors of Absorption] are present. Whenever the meditator enters the first absorption, there have vanished: sensual craving, ill-will, sloth/torpor, restlessness/worry, and doubt. And there appears: applied-attention, sustained-attention, rapture, joy, and concentration (samādhi)" - Path of Purification (Vis.M. IV).

(jhanasadvice.com)

Another analogy used is that of poured water, which is choppy and broken. It is contrasted with poured oil, which is steady and unbroken. If one practices consistently and correctly then it no longer becomes anything about thinking. Instead, it becomes all about "getting in the zone." As soon as we start thinking, we are no longer in the zone. The same is true of absorption, which is free of discursive thinking. It is full of one-pointed attention. It's all zen (jhana). It is different from "the zone" in sports because it is full absorption; there is only one object of attention. 

 

Translating absorption as "trance," as the earliest Western translators did, can be misleading because it suggests that there is no object of attention at all. There is only one object.

 

Note, not all objects of meditation can lead to absorption. For example, we loosely say we were "totally absorbed" in a movie or videogame such that we lost track of time. That form of high external stimulation in no way leads to meditative-absorption. In fact, it leads away from it because the mind/heart becomes weaker and weaker, growing more and more dependent on intense stimulation.

 

The Buddha suggested the breath as suiting most temperaments (among 40 different objects of meditation), but it is very easy to misunderstand what he meant. Fortunately, he explained it to Ananda. He meant the subtle breath at the tip of the nose just under the nostrils when it becomes so still as to be almost imperceptible. And it will be imperceptible until the mind intensifies enough to notice it no matter how subtle it has grown. This is one of the great benefits of choosing the breath, he explained to Ananda: The more one pays attention, the subtler the breath grows. The subtler it grows, the more one needs to pay attention. This feedback loop leads right to absorption BECAUSE it leads to more subtlety with more attention.

 

 
If one strains or pushes or is otherwise disturbed, the breath will instantly be disturbed (becoming grosser and easier to notice). This does not strengthen attention, and one must again wait for it to settle into the subtle breath, which is the object of meditation. Therefore, a balance must be kept or one will go from strain and overeager striving for something to happen to sleepiness and lapsed attention (distractability).

Any strain reflects craving. And it is the very problem pointed out in the famous Indian expression ridiculing the origin of meditation: "One meditates, mismeditates, premeditates, overmeditates... One is like a cat or an owl waiting by a mouse hole..." This is what meditation was in the beginning according to the Buddha. It comes from the Buddhist "Origins of Life on Earth" story (the Aggañña Sutra, DN 27). It is called "meditation" (from the stem related to jhana), but it is not right-meditation. It will not lead to absorption. But why? They look exactly the same!

Looks have little to do with these matters. What is the state of mind of an unsuccessful meditator? Expectant, eager, craving, impatient. Like a cat or an owl, one looks patient just sitting there staring hour after hour. That is not patience; that is greed. When one meditates in another way, fully attentive but not expectant, eager, impatient, or full of craving, suddenly things happen. One did not do them; they happened. But one did set up the causes and conditions without which they would not have happened.

In absorption there is no thinking about the meditation object. One is aware of it without evaluation and without lapse. Meditation, on the other hand, means bringing attention back to the object again and again every time it wanders, which can be millions of times. Absorption refers to being immersed in one object without distraction or wavering or struggling. It is very blissful. People would never guess how blissful it is. (Next we will explain how to take this to enlightenment).

• Meditative Absorption: The First Jhana

Meditation: Five Factors of Absorption

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly UPDATED; Ven. Nyanaponika (The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest: Selected Texts from the Pali Canon and the Commentaries)

The Absorptions or Zen States

There are eight meditative states of "absorption" (Pali jhana, Japanese zen, Sanskrit dhyana, Chinese ch'an, Vietnamese seon), four material and four immaterial (and in the Abhidharma a ninth beyond feeling and perception).

Five "absorption factors" (jhana-anga) or temporary liberations are crucial to developing the states of meditation that result in profitable types of consciousness corresponding to higher form (rupa, "fine-material") and formless (arupa) worlds, beyond our sensual sphere. They are:

1. initial-application of attention (vitakka)
2. sustained-application (vicchara)
3. joy, rapture, bliss, keen interest, enthusiasm (piti)
4. happiness, ease (sukha)
5. single-pointedness of mind (ekaggata)

These five factors are evident in most types of consciousness, even the sensual sphere consciousness of the human plane.

The Five Hindrances

The Five Hindrances (nivarana) are typical of very low, unprofitable states of consciousness and development -- such as the consciousness of animals (and other less favorably born beings), which is saturated with these factors:

1. craving/clinging
2. aversion (anger)/fear
3. drowsiness/lethargy
4. restlessness/worry
5. skeptical doubt

The presence of these hindrances means that mind is conditioned and manipulated by the variegated stimuli around it.

In opposition to these Five Hindrances are the Five Factors of Absorption. The absorption factors counter and eventually eliminate the hindrances. We can reduce the controlling power of the hindrances to the extent we cultivate the absorption factors.

The Crossroads

I can do it this way or that.

In a sense we are at a crossroads. All of these factors, hindering us or leading us to immediate absorption, are present in our minds/hearts. The question is, "Do we allow the mental hindrances to dominate, or do we develop the absorption factors?"

The Five Factors of Absorption, or intensification, can liberate the heart/mind. The contest is important. As long as the hindrances predominate, we are likely to see the results in this life and the next. There's immediate woe and rebirth in unfavorable states.

However, if consciousness is cultivated, raised, and tuned -- developing the absorption factors -- it effortlessly reaches higher levels of consciousness both here-and-now and in the future, wherever we may go.

The lesson is to regard to the Five Hindrances as an inner or outer undisciplined animal versus a well-trained companion dissuaded from bringing us harm. Regarded in this way, the Five Factors of Absorption are immediately seen as friends, aides, and wondrous powers.

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (talks)

Addie deHilster (Foothills Mindfulness Meditation & Discussion Meetup); Wisdom Quarterly

Addie deHilster, La Crescenta

There are some topics we've been discussing recently, like this segment of a talk by Martin Aylward.

• Dharmaseed.org/teacher/200/talk

It's entitled "No Wrong Experience," which addresses embodied attention and how to mindfully investigate what's arising moment by moment.

.

This week, there was also a brief overview of the teaching called the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. These are ordinary, innate qualities (we all have them) we develop and keep in balance through practice:

1. mindfulness
2. investigation
3. energy
4. joy
5. tranquility
6. concentration
7. equanimity.

The way to liberation? Bojjhangas.

Jack Kornfield from Spirit Rock has an excellent article on the subject of enlightenment factors:

• jackkornfield.com

With an emphasis on their ordinariness and also good is this by Gil Fronsdal:

• insightmeditationcenter.org

What does the term bodhi -- as in Bodhi Tree -- mean, "awakening" or "enlightenment"? It's the same thing! Whatever our aspiration for practice might be, these seven factors are wonderful, accessible qualities to cultivate. More

The inner-LIGHT in meditation (nimitta)

Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Kalyani, Wisdom Quarterly  MEDITATION

Light arose, knowledge arose... During meditation, inner-light may arise. (ecowatch.org)

The Buddha high in the Himalayas, Thimphu, Bhutan (SoulTravelers3.com)

.

If one, while practicing consistent meditation, that is, just sitting in the sense of their being no objective other than to concentrate the mind (attention) on a single object, such as the in-and-out breath, the mind will eventually form a counterpart image of the subtle breath.

What is the "breath"? It is not the gross in and out, rise and fall movement of the body or respiratory system. In fact, it is the subtle breath (spirit), the prana, the "holy spirit" (Latin spiritus), as it were. Its movement at the nostrils is more like osmosis than inhaling and exhaling. The mind becomes fascinated with this still little breath.

• Mindfulness meditation on in-and-out breathing (anapana-sati)
• Mindfulness is a factor and prerequisite of concentration
• When concentrated the mind is turned to systematic mindfulness-practice for insight

More attention, more concentration (not effort and "trying" to concentrate but an almost effortless cohering of the mind being purified resting on a single object), more stillness, less obvious breathing. A less obvious breath is subtle and alluring. What goes unheeded, untended to, placed on automatic pilot is suddenly the object of keen attention without any effort to alter it. Why? It is a mirror reflecting mental and emotional states, and this becomes very clear when one simply and only attends to it.

The nimitta slow arises like parting clouds (imperishableconsciousness)

 
Eventually, an unusual thing begins to happens -- the cause of which seems to be consistent practice above all things, consistency not overexertion.
 
With long stretches of there being only ONE object of attention, the subtle breath -- and that is the arising of a "sign." This is a natural process. The mind does it. The third eye or divine eye (dibba cakkhu) perceives a light the mind is generating. In a sense, that inner light (nimitta, see below) is the breath. And it can even be visible with eyes open, from some internal internal.

It is very precious and something to protect, like a delicate sprout. It will go away and can be lost. It is very difficult to retrieve or regrow. If it arises in the mind's eye when attention is held steady at the nostrils, attention should NOT be given to it. Let it be.

If one lets it be, it will eventually grow stronger, brighter, more stable, and by itself it will come where attention is being given. If, however, one moves the mind from the nostrils to the new sign, the budding sprout, it will disappear. It is flighty like a timid bird, a fickle girl, a butterfly, or a curious woodland creature. It wants to approach, but it doesn't know. Any movement toward it scares it away instead of bringing it closer. How does one bring it closer? Let it be: "The bird alights on the hand that does not grasp."

I saw the sign (nimitta)!

I saw it, I saw it! (dhammawheel.com)

The mark, sign, counterpart image, target, object, cause, condition. These meanings are used in and adapted to many contexts of which only the Buddhist doctrinal ones are mentioned here.

 

1. "Mental (reflex-) image" obtained in meditation: In full clarity, it will appear in the mind by successful practice of certain concentration-exercises and will then appear as vividly as if seen by the external eye.

The object perceived at the very beginning of concentration is called the preparatory image (parikamma-nimitta).

Was it a nimitta? Hard to tell sometimes.

The still unsteady and unclear image [sometimes not a light but a mist, like cotton or cloud, or opaque or colored shape or disk], which arises when the mind has reached a weak degree of concentration, is called the acquired image (uggaha-nimitta).

An entirely clear and immovable image arising at a higher degree of concentration is the counterpart-image (patibhāga-nimitta). 

As soon as this image arises, the stage of neighborhood (or access) concentration (upacāra-samādhi) is reached. For further details, see kasina and samādhi, meditation disk and concentration.

While Buddhist meditation teachers claiming to teach vipassana ("insight") are a dime a dozen, actual masters capable of helping one successfully cultivate the tranquility and serenity (shamatha and samadhi) necessary for insight-practices to succeed are difficult to find.

"Light will create matter in a year,"says science (theguardian.com). It already does.

 
Many people interested in Buddhist meditation in this more or less "decadent age" (kali yuga) are drawn to it because of previous practice at a subconscious level. So it may be easy for many people to see a nimitta or quickly arrive at access concentration. It seems safe to say that for most people, however, there is initial effort involved. How does one balance effort and effortlessness, striving and ease?

The Buddha gave a wonderful analogy in describing the initial-attention and sustained-attention, the first two factors or limbs (jhana-anga) of meditative absorption (jhana): When a stationary bird wishes to fly, it must first leap, struggle, and flap in an ungainly way, but soon it holds still and soars carried by the air. In exactly the same way, it takes effort to get to a meditation mat, to sit still, to apply the antidotes to the Five Hindrances to meditation.

The nimitta can take many forms but is NOT a phosphene (superconsciousness.com)

 
But soon in a spell or fit of calm, one is simply doing it. There is the effort, as when one breathes in, but thereafter there is only release, letting go, simply being. Then one realizes no effort is actually needed in the inhalation. The body will do it by itself. Look. Watch it. Give complete attention to it.

The body will know when it's full, when it wants to exhale, when it wants to draw in another breath. All if its decisions are intimately tied to what we are doing with the mind. If, for example, we think of a distressing memory, breath immediately becomes labored: Angry or excited thoughts give rise to relatively short, quick breaths. Joyful or pleasant thoughts give rise to soothing longer inhalations and exhalations.

The Five Hindrances are (1) sensual craving, (2) ill will, (3) sleepiness/lassitude [bodily/mental tiredness], (4) restlessness/worry, (5) skeptical doubt. By overcoming them -- which Wisdom Quarterly has been covering in a five-part series titled "Ask a Ninja: How to Meditate -- one is effortlessly already cultivating the Five Factors of Absorption.

SOME RECOMMENDED MEDITATION MASTERS

• Pa Auk Sayadaw (Burmese elder)
• Ayya Khema (German nun)
• Sayalay Susila (Malaysian nun)
• Ven. Dhammadipa (Czech monk)
• Ven. Dipankara (Burmese nun)
• Stephen Snyder, Tina Rasmussen (American)

• Leigh Brasington (American)
• Jack Kornfield (spiritrock.org)
• Sharon Salzberg
• Myoshin Kelly
• Joseph Goldstein (Dharma.org)
• S.N. Goenka (Dhamma.org) with no attention given to jhana or nimittas, which participants are discouraged from pursuing by the U Ba Khin school until later stages, so if it comes, pursue it silently and contact a better teacher.

ASK MAYA: Meditation vs. Absorption? (Part 2)

Maya, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Kelly Y., Wisdom Quarterly  ASK MAYA (See PART 1)

Enlightenment is not an ancient dream but a modern reality (michellemortagemusings.com)

 

Part 2: Enlightenment

Note that the "point" of meditation is not meditation itself. Nor is it absorption.
 
The Buddha was interested in virtue, but not virtue for virtue's sake. He was interested in virtue because he realized that it led to concentration (a calm, collected heart/mind).

He was not interested in concentration for concentration's sake. Nor was it all the marvels a calm, collected, concentrated mind/heart is capable of. The point of virtue is that it is the basis for concentration. The point of concentration is that it is the basis for WISDOM.

Enlightenment (bodhi) sees nirvana. (SC)

What is the heart/mind's greatest potential? Enlightenment. And here is how to arrive at it:

1. What is the problem? Suffering is the problem. 2. What is the cause? Ignorance (which causes and conditions craving). 3. What is the solution? Nirvana. 4. What is the path to nirvana? It is the path to enlightenment. The first glimpse of nirvana is the first stage of enlightenment: stream entry.

 

Modern tree sitter Amanda Senseman (PD)

If one meditates, one might become absorbed. If one gains the first absorption, one will notice that it is too close to the ordinary distracted state we live in. Seeing this defect, one can move to the second absorption, which is better but still flawed.

Noticing the flaw in the second absorption, one can move to the third...fourth [...eighth]. From the fourth, full of equanimity and one-pointedness of attention, it is very easy to come out and turn the mind/heart to the unique teachings of the Buddha: special mindfulness practices (such as Dependent Origination) to see things as they truly are. How?

Everything that is of a nature to arise is of a nature to fall.

 

Under the original Bodhi tree (BG)

If one emerges from the fourth absorption -- the heart temporarily pure, the mind crystal clear -- and turns to insight meditation practices, wisdom can arise.

 

This arising does not happen by accident, without causes and conditions. It all begins with an intention to meditate, followed by effort, then effortlessness, then the absorptions (at least the first), then emerging and turning to the unique practices the Buddha taught. This, indeed, is the way outlined in general by the Buddha as the Noble Eightfold Path.

The absorptions in Buddhist meditation

The Wanderling, "The Jhanas in Theravadan Buddhist Meditation"; Wisdom Quarterly

(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.

• HOW TO: I want to start meditating

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. More

The jhanas were not only at the heart of the Buddha's own practice but also at the heartof Buddhism. Even so, the jhanas are not enough. The Buddha's breakthrough took place only after he entered and emerged from the eighth absorption and with the defilement temporarily suppressed took up the practice of insight. His awakening did not occur in jhana but aided by them. Wisdom goes beyond the jhanas. Enlightenment is going even beyond beyond.

Pro-jhana

ATI: Jhana 

ATI: Right Concentration  

Samadhanga Sutta (AN, V.28) 

PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR MEDITATORS by Bhikkhu Khantipalo 

JhanasAdvice.com 

PaAuk.org

Anti-jhana

• VIPASSANA and JHANA: What the masters say 
• BuddhaNet: Ethnic Buddhism 

Another view

• Shikantaza 
• Hua T'ou

Sitting 101: What to "do" to do Zen (jhana)

Wisdom Quarterly (edit) Zendayton

1. What do I “do” to do sitting Zen meditation (zazen)? Hamilton explains:

When we sit, we follow our breath. Beginning meditators are often asked to count their breath -- on the exhale -- up to ten then back to one. Lose track? Simply go back to one.

The breath is what it is, whatever it is. It eventually becomes slow and regular, never forced or artificially controlled. It is something to dispassionately and keenly observe. Breathe naturally and count. Distractions are inevitable. The sounds are nothing compared to the multimedia show within -- thoughts, memories, emotions, lights, dreams, sexual or violent fantasies, fears, cravings...



The way to handle them is to acknowledge them without identifying with them or becoming attached or straining to reject them. Just watch. Just let them be.

Accept them and watch them dissipate. In this way one does not get involved with them. Let it be, let it go, focus again on the breath.

Later, the same bare attention (free of judgment an attachment) used for distracting sounds and thoughts will work with physical discomforts as well.

2. The second explanation is what the historical Buddha (Siddhārtha Gautama, Śhākyamuni, "the Sage of the Shakya Clan") is recorded as having said in Theravada scriptures from 2,600-year-old meditation instructions (Mindfulness of Breathing Sutra).

• “A practitioner, having gone into seclusion in the wilderness, under the shade of a tree or the still of an empty building, sits down folding legs crosswise, holding body erect, and setting up mindfulness in the fore. Mindful one breathes in, mindful one breathes out."

Peter Coyote reads Suzuki Roshi audio book

3. Soto Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki Roshi had this to say:

When we practice zazen, our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes to the outer world.

The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say “inner world” or “outer world,” but actually there is just one whole world.

In this limitless world, our throat is like a swinging door. The air comes in and goes out like someone passing through a swinging door. If you think, “I breathe,” the “I” is extra. There is no you to say “I.”

Buddhist monks in zazen, Elheiji Zen Monastery, Japan (Art.com/Ursula Gahwiler)

What we call “I” is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all.

When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no “I,” no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door. –Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

If simply sitting is too hard, play in a sandbox.

• WTF? How to do Zen (smallcricket.com)
• PDF: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (esotericonline.net)
• VDO: Suzuki Roshi Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind interview
  

"Rapture" in Buddhism

Wisdom Quarterly

The "Christ in a the clouds UFO-invasion" theory promulgated by fundamentalist Christians may be a too literal interpretation of an internal experience.

There is a lifting up, an effervescence, a pleasurable floating sensation -- called piti in Buddhism -- as if one were held in soft, nurturing hands. Five things oppose it, and five things enable it. It all occurs on a seat, a cushion, or the root of a tree, fully clothed.

Rapture (Pali, pīti, pronounced "pee-tee," Sanskrit prīti) is variously translated as joy, bliss, supersensual happiness, enthusiasm, or keen or joyful interest in an object of Buddhist meditation. It is certainly not limited to Buddhist experience; it is, rather, a universally accessible and naturally occurring process of the cultivated mind.

It is a serene quality of absorption (intense collectedness or concentration into a single object, Pali, jhana, Sanskrit, dhyana). While rapture is uplifting, it eventually wears thin as the mind longs for greater peace. This happiness is happiness-in-the-body, but it is not a physical sensation. Rapture is precariously close to Earth and one senses it would not take much to draw one back to erratic and distressing worldly affairs.

Eventually, as the absorptions deepen (there are eight progressively subtle and pleasurable states, four material and four immaterial), gross happiness becomes equanimous. Excited bliss becomes calm impartiality. Buoyancy goes from a healthy, happy body to a tranquil, contented mind (sukha or "gladness").

What opposes entrance into this natural state? The Five Hindrances:

1. Sensual desire: craving for sense pleasures.
2. Ill-will, anger, or wrath: malice directed at others.
3. Sloth-torpor: boredom or lassitude of body and mind.
4. Restlessness-worry: worry, regret, scattered energy.
5. Doubt: lack of confidence, conviction, faith, or trust.

What enables entrance? The Five Factors of Absorption:

1. Moving the mind onto the object (applied attention)
2. Retaining the mind on the object (sustained attention)
3. Rapture (joyful interest in the object)
4. Happiness (the opposite of suffering or distress)
5. Equanimity (impartiality, serenity, tranquility)

All of these states are accompanied, to a lesser or greater degree, by one-pointedness of mind, something we often lack in our attention-deficit-disordered daily lives. When does serenity ever occur? Now. Only now.

Ajahn Brahm: Ways and Means into Jhana

Ajahn Brahm Dharma talk

WQ-edited transcription

Tam sukham annatra kamehi annatra akusalehi dhammehi na bhayitabbam (M.I 247, M.II 454). This is a brief saying by the Buddha. It states that happiness which is other, or apart from, sensuality [pleasure that is secluded from unwholesome states (dharmas)] is not to be feared.

And, indeed, I want to use this opportunity this evening to, instead of giving a general talk, to give a specific talk on the process of meditation leading up to meditative-absorptions (jhanas).

I want to give this talk now because it is the right time in the retreat. After just over a fortnight, much of the external activity has disappeared, and mind and body should be settling down. The mind should be inclining towards these quiet and peaceful states.

Now I want to give a talk on how one deals with the mind to lead it into these deep states of peace and bliss, these very useful states.

Many of you who've heard my talks on this subject before will hear much which is repeated. But then again because these talks are not planned, there will be other pieces of information which you have not heard before which will help. And anything that helps settle the mind to let go of the Five Hindrances, to let go of the world of the senses, and gain these uttari-manussa-dhamma, these "superior human states" worthy of the noble ones (aryas), will be useful.

I was talking in my last discourse about the need for sense-restraint. And it goes without saying in this discourse that sense-restraint gives one the groundwork, the foundation, for taking this mind into a fuller restraint of the senses. A fuller letting go of many, many things where the mind used to dwell. It is going to another place in the mind, a place of great peace and bliss, a very profound place which gives you great insights into the nature of the mind.

What the mind is capable of and how it feels to be in these states, why these states are such, and how they come about -- these are the questions. It gives one great insight into a world, a world which you cannot know unless you have been there, because these worlds, these samadhi states are so strange compared to the external world that they are very difficult to describe. Those who have not been there find it very difficult to believe that such states can even exist.

One has to start from the very beginning. Having practiced some sense-restraint, there comes a time when one sits down on one's cushion, still, and starts training the mind. That initial training of the mind should begin with what the Buddha called the iddhi-padas. The iddhi-padas are the Four Roads or Bases of Success, or the Four Bases of Power.

These are what empowers you to actually succeed in this process of meditation. As you all know these iddhi-padas are the arousing of a desire for a goal and the maintaining of the desire for that goal: the chanda-samadhi [desire or resolve to reach concentration]. This is a prerequisite of gaining any success in this meditation.

If you fail to set yourself a goal, you will not arouse that desire, that movement of mind to achieve the goal. And there will be no results. You do not get to one-pointedness of mind by allowing the mind to wander. It will never get close. It needs to be directed, to be pointed. And that direction, that singlepointedness of mind, has to be done through a very clear resolution.

The most important thing about this iddhi-pada is that this resolution has to be maintained throughout the course of the meditation. If you make that resolution and you maintain it then you have got a hope for success. If you make that resolution and after one or two minutes you forget what you are supposed to be doing, what you are aiming for, then it is very easy to turn a corner and go backwards or sideways and waste a lot of time.

These are very profound states, and they need that degree of effort. Not immense effort, but constant effort. So take your goal, and keep it in mind. Read more

• Ajahn Brahm biography

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