The first 4 jhanas are experienced in the body and are called form jhanas. The last 4 are experienced purely in the mind and are called formless jhanas. Technically, there are only 4 jhanas mentioned in the suttas, the last 4 are known as the immaterial attainments.
The purpose of Jhanas
The purpose of jhana is essential in the journey towards enlightenment. If we look at the whole picture of the 8-folds path, meditation(samadhi) is the 7th criterion. The translation of samadhi is “to come to a point”. The common English translation, done by a British scholar means “concentration”. If we study the Pali Canon, we can see that the Buddha repeatedly mentioned jhana whenever he told a monk to go off and meditate. The culmination of jhana in the 4th stage gathers focus down to a point and that’s why the translation of samadhi is “to come to a point”.
To walk the path well, we need to unpack the layers of identities, remove obstacles and penetrate deep into the knowledge of existence. For this to be possible, we need insights and wisdom, a strong, focused, stable, malleable and bright mind. For a body to work efficiently and productively, it requires the right balanced nutrients and exercise. Similarly, for the mind to be directed and sustained to the knowledge of realities, it needs to be fed with wholesome food and disciplined. Jhanas is the food and the 4 frames of mindfulness is the exercise.
Weaning from addictions
We have traversed this existence in countless of lives, only being fed on the happiness of the senses and dependence on others. That’s equivalent to begging for crumbs, always unsatisfied, leaving us empty and wanting more. This result in our mind being malnourished, unfocused and chaotic. The bliss and happiness of jhanas are internal, independent of the senses and wholesome. But first we need to recondition ourselves to know what to look for in meditation and zoom into it.
Can you feel the caress of the wind, can you be ecstatic with the perfume of the orange flower or sense the love of the earth? Many people are oblivious to these simple pleasures, because they overstimulate their senses. To support the development of jhana, what we do in our daily activities is important. If we’re not alert and mindful, we might spend meditation time just cleaning our mind from daily pollution.
Supporting jhana in daily life
- Present moment awareness or mindfulness is crucial.
- Take pleasures in simplicities, in nature and heart quality actions.
- Learn to make an experience big.
- Familiarize the bliss of jhana so the mind inclines toward them.
Jhanas are the bliss of the heart. What can you do to open your heart and facilitate this?
Jhana 1: rapture
The purpose
The first jhana’s energy movement up the spine purifies and cleanses our energy system: the chakras. There are many analogies to compare first jhana to:
- It is like the first rain washing and clearing the creeks, brooks and the rivers as they make their way to the lake.
- The shower of goosebumps all over the body, like water seeping into all parts of the dough.
- It is also like the excitement of a man lost in the desert of samsara thirsty and hungry when he saw a well of water in the oasis.
- In the scripture it is also compared to the purifying and extracting gold from soil.
The description
5 factors of the first jhana:
- The absence of the 5 hindrances (restlessness, doubt, drowsiness, ill-will and sense-desires) and unskilful mental states.
- The presence of 3 qualities: directed attention, sustained attained, pleasure of rapture.
When rapture began to stir, the range can be wide.
- There is a distinct cool energy movement up the spine to the crown, resulting in waves and waves of showering goose pumps of ecstatic pleasure. Don’t mistake this for kundalini which is hot, unpleasant and circular movement.
- It is also accompanied with a tickling sensation on top of the head, like ants crawling.
- Other times it may be like a sudden bolt of electric current running up and straighten the spine erect; also resulting in goose pumps.
- Waves would continue into daily movements but weaker.
Jhana is easy only when we practice to relinquish our control. To do that we enjoy it to the max and absorb into the experience. Meaning we bliss out on it until there is only the experience. Even though rapture is ecstatic, it’s still raw and sometimes a downright disturbance to the calmness or tranquillity of the mind.
Insights
- To see what have ceased: the 5 hindrances and unskilful mental states
- To see what is present: directed attention, sustained attention and pleasant feelings.
- To study well the landscape of bodily feelings.
- To realised how rapture disturbed the mind
- To see how the mind inclines toward finer happiness.
Integration
First jhana may or may not trigger other accompanied phenomena such as spinning in meditation or disorientation. This is because when we first cleaning our energy system, unprocessed complexes in our unconscious are being released. Every experience we are going through are phases; they will pass as the process progress. Integrating and adapting our life means, have a plan of safety actions in place. Most of all, communicate with supportive people around us, so they’re in the loops.
Finding the path back
With all jhanas, to find our way back in, requires that we have studied and memorized well the landscape. First jhana can be aroused by bringing up the sensations and feeling of how the energy runs up the spine.
Jhana 2; happiness
The purpose
The second jhana is the most beautiful, delightful phase of the path; full of light and happiness. The analogies are:
- Like having many rivers and streams of water coursing through a dry land, from all directions, forming a lake. This innerspring keeps filling until it overflows.
- The gold sample of soil is further purified.
- The man from the desert is now drinking from the well; giving him immense happiness as he gulps it down.
Description
The second Jhana provides a deeper dive into the feeling aspect, characterized by the feeling of joy, bliss, and light. It is a pleasurable and enjoyable state marked by the cessation of thought. The mind is nourished by this happiness for a period of time. Both the joy and the light can range in intensity. From a bright light descending into the heart to the glow of a moonlit night. From intense teary happiness to inner smile.
Insight
- We no longer want to delve into the first Jhana because we have seen its impermanence and the disturbances it can create.
- After the mind have had its fill, it becomes a watcher, observing the joy and happiness that arise naturally. Being the observer is one way of focusing, the other is to be absorbed into the feelings.
- The mind is progressively conditioned and reconditioned, shifting its perception and redefine happiness. Instead, the mind gravitates towards the second Jhana, seeking a calmer and finer form of happiness. Once the second Jhana is attained, the mind tends to gravitate towards it in subsequent meditation sessions, moving away from the disturbances of the first Jhana.
- Realised the dual purpose of jhana: to provide nourishment when we absorb and allow insight when we watch.
- Noticed how direct attention and sustain attention have ceased when we’re absorb into the experience.
- Steam enterer insight or vision is possible her in second jhana.
Integration
Imagine our heart is filled with happiness and it overflows out to others, just like the lake. This mean kindness becomes our natural state of being, instead of persistent effort.
Getting back in
The second Jhana is entered through memory, recalling the state of mind, feelings, and landscape of previous Jhana experiences. If the jhana has become an attainment or our default state, then we can tap into the joy and happiness anytime of the day.
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