Jhanas
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Brothers, I hope you may help me again...
I have reached first Jhana once, but only once and since then never again.
First of all I'll give you some ideas of what I felt and that I possibly consider first Jhana: First my respiration got very soft and some seconds later it felt like disappearing, then my senses "turned off"(I stoped hearing or feeling anything) and a very brighty and dense light showed in my mind together with a feeling of having it being "pulled up to a kind of void".
Well, was it first jhana?
Nowadays I have tried many times to reach jhana again. I get very close to it, my breathing turns almost nothing, very rare. My thoughts go only about the touch of the air coming in and out from my nose, but the final result is nothing. What are the essencial conditions to reach Jhana? Something special about food? sexual abstency? Noise?
Tell me about your experiences.
May the peace be with you.
NAMO AMITA BUDA
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Originally posted by frsjulio:
Hi,
Brothers, I hope you may help me again...
I have reached first Jhana once, but only once and since then never again.
First of all I'll give you some ideas of what I felt and that I possibly consider first Jhana: First my respiration got very soft and some seconds later it felt like disappearing, then my senses "turned off"(I stoped hearing or feeling anything) and a very brighty and dense light showed in my mind together with a feeling of having it being "pulled up to a kind of void".
Well, was it first jhana?
Nowadays I have tried many times to reach jhana again. I get very close to it, my breathing turns almost nothing, very rare. My thoughts go only about the touch of the air coming in and out from my nose, but the final result is nothing. [b]What are the essencial conditions to reach Jhana? Something special about food? sexual abstency? Noise?
Tell me about your experiences.
May the peace be with you.
NAMO AMITA BUDA [/b]
When one's mind has developed one pointedness, the breathing will slow down and stop. This happened to me also, and those who have meditated until their thoughts have been "stilled". So anyone who experiences this shouldn't be alarmed or try to breathe again.
I have my own experiences which I believed to be Jhanic, but is not exactly similar to your experience. If there was anything that could describe what I experienced the strongest, it is probably "Piti" (ecstasy).
I don't know whether your experience is 1st jhana or not, if you have meditation teacher best to ask your teacher. Otherwise.. listen to advise from Sangha, because he is quite trained in both Jhanas and Vipassana practices and has more meditation experiences to share. He has just returned from the Metta Retreat yesterday.
My advise to you is not to be attached to any kind of experiences or hold onto any expectations as it can hinder you. Just meditate with a pure mind, don't worry about anything else. -
The essential conditions to develope jhana is withdrawal from our senses and having one pointedness.
A very trained person can sit in a very noisy environment and not become affected by the noise at all. Do you know if you reach higher jhanas, even if someone chops off your hand, you will not be affected at all? 1st Jhana maybe not so powerful yet. Well, that is how strong the one pointedness of jhana is.
As for eating, best is if you can eat vegetarian meals as it does help in meditation, many have said. Otherwise (just as any Buddhist should), eat the 5 clean sources of meat:
(1) That he did not slaughter the animal personally
(2) That he did not instruct others to slaughter
(3) That the slaughter was not committed for his sake
(4) That he did not witness the slaughter
(5) That he did not hear the cries associated with the slaughter
Also try to avoid eating pungent herbs: garlic, chives, leeks, onions, and asafoetida. It can cause passion and anger and distrupt meditation.
A definite No is Alcohol. My dharma teacher tells us that she unknowingly drank some Ginseng wine, and for a long time was unable to return to the previous stable state of samadhi. Sangha also have similar experience, his friends put alcohol into his drink without telling him, and then for quite some time was unable to do jhana or vipassana practise, like a helpless baby.
Back to First Jhana,First Jhana
Once Access Concentration has been established, you now induce the next factor of the First Jhana. This third factor is called Piti and is variously translated as delight, euphoria, rapture and ecstasy. By shifting your attention from the meditation subject to a pleasant sensation, particularly a pleasant physical sensation, and doing nothing more than not becoming distracted from the pleasant sensation, you will "automatically" enter the First Jhana. The experience is that the pleasant sensation grows in intensity until it explodes into an unmistakable state of ecstasy. This is Piti, which is primarily a physical experience. Physical pleasure this intense is accompanied by emotional pleasure, and this emotional pleasure is Sukha (joy) which is the fourth factor of the First Jhana. The last factor of the first Jhana is Ekaggata (one-pointedness of mind). Like Sukha, this factor arises without you doing anything, and as long as you remain totally focused on the physical and emotional pleasure, you will remain in the first Jhana.
As far as I have been able to determine, based on my own experience, the entry into the first Jhana from a physiological perspective proceeds something like this:
1. You quiet your mind with the initial and sustained attention to the meditation subject. I suspect that brain wave activity shows a noticable decrease during Access Concentration.
2. By shifting your attention to a pleasant sensation, you set up a positive reinforcement feedback loop within your quiet mind. For example, one of the most useful pleasant sensations to focus on is a smile. The act of smiling generates endorphins, which make you feel good, which makes you smile more, which generates more endorphins, etc.
3. The final and most difficult part of entering the First Jhana is to not do anything but observe the pleasure. Any attempt to increase the pleasure, even any thoughts of wanting to increase the pleasure, interrupt the feedback loop and drop you into a less quiet state of mind. But by doing nothing but focusing intently on the pleasure, you are propelled into an unmistakably altered state of consciousness.
See also: Mara -
THANKS VERY MUCH!!! MAY ALL BUDAS BLESS YOU MY FRIENDS!!!
I'LL MAKE SOME CHANGES IN MY ALIMENTATION AND LOOK FOR A LESS NOISY PLACE TO MEDITATE.
THANKS -
Hi Friends,
This is not about Jhana... but is about a possible result of Jnana.
There are no movement, there is only the thought of movement.
There are no outer, there is only the thought of outer.
There are no observer and the being observed, there is only the thought of being an observer.
They are no me and other, there is only the thought of other... -
what you are experiencing is call yo yo jhanna. what you are experiencing is tip of jhanna. but yet its not the real one yet.
its like the snake game. reach the 100 square u win. step on the 99 square drop down back to the first.(quoteing from ajahn brahm)
reason for yo yo jhanna is because of lack of experience, or the mind is still not ready for enterring jhanna yet. eg, mind not focus enough yet. stay with the breathe again.
i believe ajahn brahm did have articles on it. try this link. www.bswa.org.
just be assure that you are on the right track. just do what you normally do. you will get used to it. -
If the final result is really nothing, then you have surpassed all steps of Jhana. Then there is only one question left: What is still there? If you figure that out, you wonÂ’t have any questions anymore.Originally posted by frsjulio:My thoughts go only about the touch of the air coming in and out from my nose, but the final result is nothing. -
Amituofo,
In PL school, it like the Nine grades of rebirth in one Amitabha PL as Stated clearly in The Sutra of Visualization of the Buddha of Infinite Life
as Expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha.
http://www.cloudwater.org/visualization.html
which are :
The Lowest Grade of Rebirth
The Middle Grade of Rebirth
The Superior Grade of Rebirth
and each of them is divided into high, medium and low.
some notes i took:
Upper superior - Dedicated to transfering one's body, speech, mind merits to pureland in what ever one do. (MCK encourage us to strive for this stage, no lesser)
Middle superior - Practice Middle way of compassion and wisdom. Need one day for lotus to open in order to see Amitabha.
Lower superior - More incline in compassion; doing good deeds for others in life.
All superior level are equal to stage of Bodhisattvahood; seeing Amitabha, Guan Yin, Manjushri and Ocean of Bodhisattvas coming to escort.
Upper medium - Understand 4 noble truth; practice precepts; more for Hinayana, lesser vehicle who turn small to great.
Middle medium - Faith in Dharma, practice precepts; need 7 days for lotus to open and half a kalpa to reach enlightment.
Lower medium - Practice human, deva vehicle, need 7 days for lotus to open and a kalpa to reach enlightment.
All medium levels are equal to stage of Arahat; and when enlightened, they reach at least a 7th grade Bodhisattva!!; some only see Amitabha coming to escort.
Upper inferior - Do bad deeds; do not object to Buddhism. When near death Amitabha come to inspire; need 49 days for lotus to open and 10 kaplas to reach first level of enlightenment.
Middle inferior - Do bad deeds; break the precepts; need 6 kaplas for lotus to open.
Lower inferor - Do the five evil deeds; near death with the supportive recitation of peers; need 12 kaplas for lotus to open.
All inferior levels are for worldly beings; some see Guan Yin only to escort.
/\
amtf.