Dr. Lori Marsh live from Southern Dharma, Dhr. Seven, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Leigh Brasington in conversation with Stephanie Nash (nasharts.com) about the jhanas
To enter the Buddhist meditative absorptions (zen states, jhanas, dhyanas), one has to be meditating regularly enough to reach "access concentration." Jhana Expert Leigh Brasington says two hours per day.
To enter the first absorption, after access concentration is achieved and sustained for a good 10 minutes, find and move the attention to a pleasant sensation in the body.
Leigh Brasington is leading a meditation course in Lake Tahoe, Nevada (DharmaZephyr.org: 9-night residential retreat on the jhanas/insight) this month and another at Southern Dharma next fall. He regularly teaches at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center
in Washington/Oregon (photos).
It is possible for ordinary Americans with little to no experience to experience jhana. His knowledge of Buddhist sutras is impressive. The commentarial Abhidharma (the "Higher or Ultimate Teachings"), which came later as a systematic presentation of the Buddha's Dharma, sort of discounts the jhanas as being too hard to access.
It instead promotes "dry insight," or vipassana,
as somehow more accessible. [But insight without deep concentration is
inaccessible.] Brasington also says the Abhidharma attempts to make the Buddha's teachings
into one consistent Teaching, which is an impossible goal because the
Buddha taught different things to different people, effectively
reaching them where they were. More
EDITOR'S NOTE: Theravada tradition, particularly in Burma, states that the Buddha composed the Abhidharma while in Tavatimsa, the celestial "World of the Thirty-Three." It is a systematic summary of the Dharma in ultimate terms, meticulously and uniformly breaking down subtle subject matter into its constituent elements. For this reason some choose not to believe it represents what the Buddha taught, preferring the sutras and monastic code as if they had not also been systematized. The three great divisions of the Buddha's Teaching, called the Tripitaka or "Three Baskets," are the "Sutra Collection" (Sutta Pitaka), "Higher Teachings" (Abhidharma), and "Discipline" (Vinaya).
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| Leigh Brasington |
Now one rests/focuses on in-and-out breathing (anapana) until awareness does not drift: Thoughts are no longer pulling attention away. And if there are thoughts, they tend just be wispy and in the background -- like clouds passing through a vast, clear sky.
Brasington says this always takes at least 30 minutes to get to. Stay here for 10 minutes before moving into the absorptions:
First
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| Serenity has made all the difference! |
Place attention on the pleasantness of the pleasant sensation, dropping in-and-out breath awareness.
Leave (keep) awareness on the pleasantness of the pleasant sensation, and the absorption will find you.
The first absorption is accompanied by piti-sukha. Piti (rapture, joy, bliss, zest, effervescence, euphoria) is "nervous energy," somewhat like having a finger in a light socket.
Sukha is "happiness" (pleasure, contentment, satisfaction, abiding calm). It is in the background, whereas piti is very much in the foreground.
Personally, I didn't like this excited piti state much. I'm sure I "fell into it" on a 10-day Goenka retreat when I started insight (vipassana) meditation.
Second
The second absorption is sukha-piti, when happiness comes into the foreground and piti takes a backseat.
To arrive at here, one takes a big in-breath and lets it out with a good sigh. By doing so a lot of the nervous energy drops away, and mostly sukha remains.
Third
Stay here a bit then take another deep breath, let it out, and imagine dialing back the happiness until it is contentment. This is the third absorption.
Fourth
For the fourth absorption, just imagine dropping into stillness and silence. This is as far as I got.
These first four are called the "material absorptions," and the next four the "immaterial absorptions."
The instructions to getting to the final four are just as easy, like skipping a stone across a placid lake, moving deeper and deeper into the coolest and deepest absorption.
Retreats
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| Right Concentration Guide |
It is possible for ordinary Americans with little to no experience to experience jhana. His knowledge of Buddhist sutras is impressive. The commentarial Abhidharma (the "Higher or Ultimate Teachings"), which came later as a systematic presentation of the Buddha's Dharma, sort of discounts the jhanas as being too hard to access.
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| by Sayalay Susila, edited by Seven |
EDITOR'S NOTE: Theravada tradition, particularly in Burma, states that the Buddha composed the Abhidharma while in Tavatimsa, the celestial "World of the Thirty-Three." It is a systematic summary of the Dharma in ultimate terms, meticulously and uniformly breaking down subtle subject matter into its constituent elements. For this reason some choose not to believe it represents what the Buddha taught, preferring the sutras and monastic code as if they had not also been systematized. The three great divisions of the Buddha's Teaching, called the Tripitaka or "Three Baskets," are the "Sutra Collection" (Sutta Pitaka), "Higher Teachings" (Abhidharma), and "Discipline" (Vinaya).
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