Jhana: meditative "absorption" ("meditation") chiefly refers to the first four meditative absorptions of form
Gandhara: meditating Buddha
Namely, these are the form absorptions of the fine-material sphere (rūpa-jjhāna or rūpāvacara-jjhāna, see avacara). These profound absorptions are reached through full (ecstatic) stillness, samādhi, concentration (appanā).
At this time there is a complete (albeit temporary) suspension of fivefold sense-activity and of the Five Hindrances (pancha-nīvarana). However, this state of consciousness is one of full alertness and lucidity and, it is said, singlepointedness (ekagata) of mind/attention.
This degree of concentration becomes a fully absorbed state. It is generally developed by the practice (cultivation) of one of the 40 subjects of tranquility meditation (samatha-kammatthāna, see bhāvanā).
There are four higher (more refined) states of absorption called the Four Formless Attainments of the immaterial Spheres (arūpāyatana). These are called the four absorptions of the immaterial sphere (arūpa-jjhāna or arūpāvacara-jjhāna).
The usual text, often met with in the Pali canon sutras, runs as follows:... More: jhāna
Touch me now. It doesn't matter. I've got breast armor. I'm failed pop idol Catty Purry Brand.
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I wish, I wish I were Daisy from Great Gatsby
It seemed to begin when I was a kid in middle school. I couldn't wait to get to the ninth grade so I could be all grown up like the seniors. They had mustaches, cars, and girls fawning all over them. But a strange thing happened, and I saw and noticed it in slow motion. Neither I nor my classmates were ever getting any older. We were the same people being promoted through the grades. The older kids left school never to be seen again, so there was no direct comparison. But in my I remember thinking that by the 9th grade, there was no real noticeable change. Sure, there was progression. We didn't freeze in time. What I mean is, we didn't become them. The 7th graders did NOT grow up to look like the 9th graders of our youth. What was going on? It might all be perspective, but everyone began to notice.
There must be a "self"! Or else who's writing -- and who's reading? - There is a self, an atta or atman. Touch your chest; there's the self. It does no good to think, "Is there a 'self' or is there not a 'self'?" What is useful is to ask,What is the nature of that "self" that for sure is existing right here right now?
It is (as impossible as it will ever actually be to believe but actually possible to see) utterly impersonal. This is why Buddhism is not a faith.
CAN YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS "NOT SELF" BUSINESS? IT SEEMS LIKE A JOKE. - Yes. It is possible to explain with an analogy. Let's say I say, "There's no such thing as a 'car.'" Then pointing you'll say, "You're crazy. It's right there! They're everywhere. Cased closed!"
But I'll say, "I didn't say there isn't anything that looks like a 'car.' The illusion exists, and it's quite useful to designate assemblages of things and cling to them as real entities, but the fact is -- in an ultimate sense -- there is no such thing as a car. You might ask, "What is there then?"
To that I will point to all the parts that, when put together, give the illusion of a new thing coming into existence. It sure seems to come into existence. It can do things the parts couldn't, and conventionally speaking, it is new to existence. But it never really makes it. It is unreal, an illusion.
"What's the proof?" you say.
I say, "Let's take it apart and find it." We proceed to disassemble the whole assemblage, and when we come to the last two pieces and separate them, do you think a 'car' will fall out?
No, it was never like that!
Exactly! And what was it like? Let's say a car is composed of 5,000 pieces but really only needs five (5): wheels, frame, motor, steering wheel, and brake. Is there a 'car' in there, or do these exist independently?
They exist independently. We don't need those particular pieces. Any set of wheels, frame, motor, steering device, and brake will do.
Do you see? The 'car' does not come into being and, of course, never goes out of being, in an ultimate sense. An illusion arises, and an illusion goes away, and this "illusion" is a convenient descriptor of that assemblage.
I don't get it.
Let's make it easier. Fire does not exist.
That's easier?
Yeah, because now you can point and say, "You're crazy. That's it right there. There's fire everywhere. Case closed!"
I will then counter by pointing out that what we call "fire," what we regard as real and existing and being "fire," is actually an illusion that arises utterly dependent on five factors.
What five? It is just one thing, a fundamental element!
Not at all. The five (and there can be more, but let's keep it to five fundamental ingredients which, when present, reliably give the persistent illusion of fire): fuel, heat, oxygen, wick, and the mysterious process-of-combustion. (We can go on and on analyzing "fire" into parts, but the one thing that is sure is that it is all parts, not a compact thing in itself).
How do we know that?
We know that because when present, Bam! The illusion arises. When any is missing, the illusion goes away. Put the five together (in a functionally coordinated way) and there it is, "fire." Take any way, and where has it gone? Where does fire go when it goes out?
Up? No, I don't know, into oblivion?
Does it wait in oblivion to come back? Because, let's say we remove oxygen, it will go right out. Add the oxygen back, and it will roar back. Where was it in the meantime?
It was not anywhere. It does not actually "go" out. It becomes unmanifested.
It becomes nonexistent, except it doesn't really come into and go out of existence either. It just seems to. Why? Because it is conditionally originated, that is, dependently originated. When this is, that comes to be. When that is not, it does not come to be.
Oh, I kinda get it. I don't believe it! I think people, and fire, and cars are real. Real REAL.
Can you begin to see, however, how and why someone might say they're unreal?
Not really. That's crazy.
It's crazy to our conventional way of worrying and needing to cling to illusions. But let's say we wanted to be free of illusions, then wouldn't it be great to disillusion ourselves?
Disillusion?
Awaken, enlighten, clearly see what's really there?
Well, yeah, sure if we could be sure that that really is the Truth.
We can. The Buddha saw it, pointed to it, and invited us to come and see, to clearly see the Truth, not to believe him or anyone else. We with our own purified and intensified eyes, heart, mind could come and see. Where is the car before the parts-of-a-car are assembled?
It isn't anywhere.
Where will it go when disassembled again?
It won't "go" anywhere.
Now you're getting it! It doesn't come or go because it was never really what it seemed to be. Illusion arises, that's for sure, and the illusion of the loss of it, that, too, is sure. But it isn't reality.
Why would anybody talk like this?
One (such as the Awakened One, the historical Buddha) would talk like this because we are clinging to pain (suffering, distress, disappointment) and the unreal. He wanted to move us to reality, and that means waking up to what's REALLY there and what's been there all along.
What's that?
Self and not-self.
Aha! So there is a self?
Yes, conventionally speaking. But ultimately speaking, no. There is no self.
You're crazy. It's right there. I'm pointing at it. Case closed.
And what are you pointing at?
At you, Dummy! I can also point to myself, Smarty.
Good, good. I say you're pointing at a body.
Well, sure, but within that body there's a soul, and that's the self!
Good, very good. The body is an illusion; you can see that much. Now let me disassemble the soul/self you're sure is in there. What are the components of "self"?
There are no components! It's a highly mysterious fusiform whale carcass thingy with feelings.
Ha ha ha. There is a body; that's one thing, but it is no thing. It is components. We can disassemble, reassemble, add, subtract, but still it's just a functional assemblage of parts. The "self" is partly that and partly four other things.
Things? What things?
Invisible things -- feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and a mysterious process we call consciousness. Whatever else we want to add to "self," it is at least these fundamental five things, these Five Aggregates clung to as "self."
Oh. I think I'm starting to see. You're not crazy, but you're speaking dangerously. Aren't you afraid you're going to vanish in a puff of unsmoke for talking like this?
What would vanish, the illusion? I'd be glad to get rid of it. It has cause incalculable misery (dukkha) and disappointment, chasing after things for it, never being able to satisfy or fulfill it. Ah, to be free!
Free of "self"?
No, free of the persistent illusion of "self" traveling and rearising life after life in this samsara, this Wheel of Rebirth, of Life and Death, of endless suffering (unsatisfactoriness)!
Yeah, I guess that would be good, but what about taking rebirth in a permanent heaven and having a good time all the time till the end of time?
Nice alternative, but it doesn't exist. The longest most enduring heavens all come to an end eventually. It may take a great aeon (maha-kalpa), but beings (dynamic becomings) fall away to continue on according to their just desserts which we call karma. And because of greed, hatred, and delusion (lust, aversion, and ignorance), our many unskillful deeds in pursuit of things will yield many painful results for a long, long time. It would be far better to awaken to the Truth.
Well, I won't argue with that. But who can say what the "Truth" is?
The Awakened One, the Buddha, and those enlightened ones who have awakened by practicing the Teaching (the Dharma) of the Awakened One(s).
Faith (saddha, confidence, truth, conviction) is useful but not nearly as important as a shamanistic attitude to actually come see the Buddha's Teaching, investigate it, and confirm it. It won't liberate us because it's true; it will liberate us because we PRACTICED whether or not we "believed" (had faith) in advance. Better to doubt and question AND practice than to completely "believe" and not practice.
Modern Buddhists try to explain this away by various analogies, many of which amount to Hinduism with different gods and bodhisattvas. It's actually very easy to grasp intellectually and not be confused, almost impossible to accept, as if by accepting we would instantly disappear in a puff of unsmoke (as in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). We will not. The habitual tendency or "conceit" (māna) to conceive, think, and speak in terms of I-and-other is very strong and not easily wiped away, but actually wiping it away is key to awakening from illusion and clinging and suffering. It is the missing key to enlightenment.
Even Mahayana, which often speaks like a school of Hinduism, could understand this if it only paid attention to its most prized and popular discourse, the Heart Sutra. It's not about love, feelings, and emotions; it's about getting to the heart of wisdom through the perfection of wisdom.
What is there if not a self/soul? - There are Five Aggregates clung to as self. - Who clings?! - The aggregates, steeped in ignorance, cling and have aversion/fear. Released from the illusion (disillusioned), there is freedom and realization that the ultimate Truth was always true. - How does [the illusion of] self arise? - It comes about through Dependent Origination.
Talking about "Emptiness" (Śūnyatā) and "Suchness" (Tathātā) obscures the fact that what the Five Aggregates clung to as self are devoid of is an abiding, enduring HEART, core, essence. Conditioned things do not last even one moment because in the sub-moments there is arising, turning, and falling away. This is true at a submicroscopic level of atoms (kalapas) and mind-moments (cittas), mind and body, name and form.
And this is great news because to really see it, even for a moment, transforms the heart/mind, releases us from illusion, as we are able to effortlessly let go of clinging and be free through the perfection of wisdom, the direct experience of the Truth.
This does not happen by accident. It happens by higher training.
Erin Brockovich, WQ: ABJ racked up another million views.
(Abramorama) The WISDOM OF HAPPINESS shows us a timeless truth: happiness is still possible, even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. This powerful message of hope is delivered as a personal audience with one of the greatest living thinkers, Nobel Peace Prize winner Tenzin Gyatso, known to billions around the world as the 14th Dalai Lama.
From Executive Producers Richard Gere and Oren Moverman, the film premieres its North American theater tour in 2025. Learn more and sign up to receive updates: wisdomofhappinessfilm.com.
Dalai Lama shares advice for finding happiness in the 21st century in new documentary
The danger of seeing what others don’t: Alan Watts
(Alan Watts Daily Wisdom) Oct. 10, 2025: Alan Watts Collection. Ever feel like you see too much? In this profound lecture, let's explore the experience of the highly perceptive person—the one who walks into a room and instantly feels the unspoken tensions, hidden sorrows, and secret truths.
This Alan Watts talk reveals why this "gift" of clear-seeing (vipassana, "insight") can be the most dangerous thing you'll ever possess.
Discover the four hidden dangers of being deeply intuitive:
the profound isolation of living in a different reality,
the impossible choice between speaking truth and losing yourself,
the pain of becoming a target for those who prefer illusion, and
the devastating risk of losing your own identity by absorbing the emotions of others.
I can even meditate in city traffic and chaos.
This isn't about being "too sensitive"; it's about navigating a world that isn't ready for your clarity.
This is a complete guide to transforming this potential curse back into a gift. Learn the art of "conscious distance"—how to see clearly without the compulsion to fix, how to protect your energy, and how to hold your awareness as a quiet strength rather than an unbearable burden.
Stop trying to WAKE UP the world and, instead, learn to live peacefully with your own eyes wide open.
If this message resonates with your experience, please give the video a thumbs up and subscribe for more deep insights to help navigate life with greater wisdom.
💬 Join the conversation:
What is the most challenging part of seeing what others don't? Share experiences in the comments.
Disclaimer: All content on this channel is for inspirational and entertainment purposes only. The ideas shared are not a substitute for professional advice. This channel is not officially affiliated with any specific philosopher or their estate. All materials are used under the principles of fair use, and no copyright infringement is intended. The channel aims to share timeless wisdom in a respectful manner. For a deeper understanding, please refer to original works where applicable.
What happens when "YOU" don't exist? The Buddha's most radical TRUTH
(Buddha's Wisdom) April 6, 2025: 🔍 WHAT IF “YOU” WERE NEVER REALLY THERE?
What happens when the “you” you’ve always identified with suddenly disappears?
(Forget you. What about me? What happens when the “I” I’ve always identified with suddenly disappears and, what’s worse, I realize it was never really there to begin with?)
According to the Buddha, this isn’t a sci-fi scenario. — It’s the key to the deepest freedom a living being can experience.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 THE DAY "YOU" DISAPPEARED
02:42 THE MOMENT OF DISAPPEARANCE
06:07 FREEDOM FROM THE PRISON OF SELF
09:40 RELATIONSHIPS WITHOUT A "ME"
13:04 THE PRACTICAL REALITY OF NO-SELF
16:59 THE ULTIMATE LIBERATION
21:52 THE COSMIC JOKE BUDDHA DISCOVERED
This video explores the Buddhist concept that all things are already impersonal and there is, ultimately speaking, no-self (anatta), what it feels like to let go of the illusion of identifying with this and that (form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness aka the "Five Aggregates clung to as self"), and why letting go of clinging to that illusion of “you” is the most liberating thing one can ever do.
But how to let go? We can’t “do” it, but it can be done. It’s easy: see things for what they really are (ultimate mentality and materiality, nama-rupa, cittas and kalapas through insight meditation as taught by the great living Buddhist master Pa Auk Sayadaw). DISCOVER:
How flow states reveal moments of “self-disappearance”
Why the Buddha taught that the self is just a mental construct
The mystery of who — or what — is aware when “we” are gone
How relationships transform when ego drops away
What neuroscience says about the illusion of self
LINKS: – Adyashanti, The End of Your World – Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear – Mark Epstein, The Trauma of Everyday Life – Research on the Default Mode Network – Harvard Neuroscience Studies – Zen Teachings from Dōgen, Huineng, Shunryu Suzuki.
👉 If this video made you question the illusion of our consensus reality in the best way possible, hit the subscribe button and join the Buddha’s Wisdom community. New videos every week, exploring the mind, meaning, and liberation through a Buddhist lens.
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(Beth Upton) Feb. 24, 2025: Here British Buddhist meditation master Beth Upton, formerly the successful Burmese Theravada Buddhist nun Sayalay Anutara, gives a brief overview of what is meant by the terms "mind," "nāma," and "heart" during a meditation retreat Q&A.
These educational Dhamma videos are made possible only by the generous donations of viewers.
Please consider supporting the extraordinary work of making the historical Buddha's Teachings known in the English-speaking world:
Beth Upton (bethupton.com), video shot by Alexis P.N. (alexispn777@gmail.com) and Zsolt Batar
@GuavaFunk: YouTube/laffcotchtv; edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
(Einzelgänger) Jan. 11, 2025: What is Zen (the Japanese version of Chinese Chan) Buddhism? Let’s explore its core, several key concepts, and the practice. How does it differ from the traditional teaching of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha "Shakyamuni" Gautama) as embodied in the ancient Theravada Buddhist school and its practice of "tranquility" (jhana, dhyana, channa, chan, zen) and "insight" (vipassana, lit. "clear seeing") in this very life or through lives of striving?
Fun fact: most footage was shot during my recent trip to Kanazawa and Tokyo. This video: When You Seek It, You Lose It | The Zen Secret to Letting Go. #zen#alanwatts#taoism
As an American, I opt for a sudden awakening (because I ain't gots no time to be muddling through formal or intensive practice. I need to purify and clarify my inner vision and awaken ASAP!)
Where does "Zen" get all these non-Buddhist ideas? Lao Tzu's Taoism: The Art of Not Trying
(After Skool) July 9, 2024: The curious Taoist celestial sage Lao Tzu was aware of a human quirk. We get so lost in our intellectual prisons that we forget the "natural" way. We force and struggle, swimming against the stream [like the historical Buddha said his Dharma or Teaching traveled, not the way of the world but something counter to it]. We do this so much that sometimes we end up farther from our goals than when we started. So what if we stopped "trying" so hard and pursued a different way, an effortless way, of getting things done? This video explores Lao Tzu and the art of not trying or what one modern American author has capitalized on in his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. Because if there's one thing we Americans love, it's our misconceptions of what "Zen" is, teaches, and does. Happy Kensho or Satori.
Why does Theravada waste time with effort?
Early Buddhist Studies
Theravada ("the Teaching of the Elder Enlightened Disciples of the historical Buddha") is such a drag. Why so slow, traditional monks and nuns? Get with the new program, the Hindu-fueled fast track to enlightenment and riches and everything you ever wanted. "Zen" sounds great, but it's an amalgamation that's gone off the rails.
It may be fun. It may be Taoism and Confucianism (and Shinto) with a whole lot of Vedanta and Hinduism thrown in, as is the way with Mahayana Buddhism. If only it worked as promised. What if we stripped away all the add-ons and cultural baggage? There might be nothing left but some naked Brahmanism/Hinduism.
Most of what people think is so "Buddhist" about Zen is actually Taoist. Have fun, but probably we shouldn't confuse it with or call it "Buddhism." That suggests the Buddha Shakyamuni was talking like this when he very much was not. What was he saying? His stripped-down teachings are reduced to misleading lists. The lists are good. The misleading part is that one can just memorize a list and think one knows anything.
Lists are a shorthand. They refer to very detailed teachings, most of which are not in the written texts but handed down in the teaching lineage of Theravada meditation masters. The suttas (discourses) are great for a broad understanding, and the Commentaries (like the Abhidhamma) are great for a pedantic detailed understanding (in ultimate terms), but actual practice always has been and is likely to always in the future be handed down through the practice.
Find a teacher who actually sits and teaches the art of sitting meditation, walking meditation, mindfulness, and the contemplations. The secret formula is this: Develop the jhanas (zens, dhyanas, chans, or meditative absorptions, which can be called the "meditations") to some extent, preferably to the fourth absorption, then apply the Satipatthanas or "Fourfold Setting Up of Mindfulness Practice."
That may sound fancy, but it's easy: Systematically practice mindfulness (sati) on four things: the body, feelings, mind, and mind objects. There's no need to figure it out. It is explained in the Satipatthana Sutta and the Maha Satipatthana Sutta. That's the conceptual part. The practice part is learned from an experienced teacher. There is one great one in Burma known as Pa Auk Sayadaw. Why is he great? He is a scholar-monk-practitioner. He actually did it, succeeded, and can explain it in terms of the texts. He is both a textual expert (scholar) AND a successful practitioner of it. Of what? He is a success at the practice of the Path that leads to enlightenment here and now in this very life. His greatest contribution may be that he left a line of awakened teachers able to teach -- monks (bhikkhus) and nuns (sayalays) and successful lay practitioners. They are out there.
(It is not true that Theravada advocates anyone take many lives; it may not be possible for everyone to reach full enlightenment in this life nowadays, but it remains true that nearly everyone can attain stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment, which assures full enlightenment in no long time, or what the Buddha promised was a maximum of seven more lives. That may sound like a long time, but compared to the countless lives we've already endured in samsara or the countless rebirths to come, it is as nothing, and it is a maximum. Most can finish in one more life, if they so wish, but now there's no hurry or stress because one is assured of no more rebirths in worlds of woe below the human plane, and one is likely destined for some very sublime and wonderful lives in the deva and brahma planes).
There may be others (Thai Ajahn Chah and his Western students British Ajahn Brahm and American Ajahn Sumedho), but successful practitioner-teachers are rare. Most monastics prefer the easier route ("career") of study and teaching when it would be far better to apply those teachings to one's own life. In that way one could teach from experience and success, but this only very rarely happens.
Theravada may sound slow, but it is a back-to-basics movement about what the real Buddha, the historical human figure (rather than the Cosmic Buddhas and divine figures like Amitabha, Budai or Hotei, Guanyin or Kwan Yin, Avalokiteshvara, Ksitigarbha, and others) taught. The Buddha was not a Hindu (there was no Hinduism then) and not a Brahmin, not an advocate of the Vedas (though very familiar with them), and not an advocate of non-dualism, which many Mahayanists (acting like Hindus) equate with some kind of "enlightenment." Buddhist enlightenment is about penetrating the Four Ennobling Truths that lead one to the "noble" state of enlightenment/awakening. It is the way of direct wisdom, which is full of compassion.
Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; Einzelgänger, Jan. 11, 2025, After Skool, July 9, 2024
The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology
American Buddhist Jack Kornfield wrote a guide. (It has 4.8 out of 5 stars after 1,408 ratings). It is a guide to the transformative power of Buddhist psychology— for meditators and mental health professionals, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.
We have within us unlimited capacities for extraordinary love, for joy, for communion with life, and for unshakable freedom — and here is how to awaken them.
In The Wise Heart, celebrated author and Bay Area psychologist Jack Kornfield offers the most accessible, comprehensive, and illuminating guide to Buddhist psychology ever published in the West.
Here is a vision of radiant human dignity, a journey to the highest expression of human possibility — and a practical path for realizing it in our own lives.
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