The pinnacle of meditation: 4th Jhana

Jhana 3: contentment

Purpose

Third jhana has the feeling of contentment. It’s like we are in this cool, light bubble and contentment suffuses into every cell of our being. It’s a deep restful feeling of fullness. Once, I felt very pregnant with contentment. The analogies continue:

• The lost man from the desert, having had his filled of refreshing water, sat down by the tree and rested in contentment.
• The extracting and purifying of gold from the soil is nearly finished.

Insight

With jhanas it is important to let nature unfold in its own time and that means relinquishing our control. If we move on too fast, we don’t have enough time to enjoy, familiarise and study the jhanas. Really spent time in any jhana to imprint the feeling. It’s how we traverse in any order we like. If we want to develop jhanas, then feel. If we want to do vipassana, then watch.

Like all the previous jhanas, once our mind has had its fill, it’ll move on. Until then, be full with contentment, with love, with happiness.

Jhana 4: one-pointedness

The 4^th  jhana is awesome and all the jhanas culminate within this point. This is where it’s all happening. The analogies continue:

• The lost desert man, having been rested and contented, his mind becomes alert.
• The gold, having extracted, cleaned and purified, is now a gold bar, ready to be forged into beautiful art pieces.

Description

• Notice the sensation of awareness or consciousness coming into a single focal point.
• Observe the total stillness of the mind.
• Realise that the body has transcended and all feelings have ceased.
• Pay attention that there is the brightness and extreme clarity. Theis brightness can be the presence of actual white light or no light at all.

• We still have the breath but it is very fine or even perceived to be gone.
• The body feels solid like a rock. If we come this far, we have let go of pleasant/unpleasant physical and mental sensations.
• Sometimes there is a very distinct feeling of the mind gathering its energy into a single point. This is when we understand the meaning of the word samadhi: to come to a single point. As a result, there is this bright light and sharp focus of awareness. It doesn’t always gather, the 4^th can just remain equanimous, bright and deafeningly silent.

Insight

If the energy gathers, this present a rare and golden opportunity to enhance your knowledge and vision. We do this, by thinking about what we want to know and wait.

• If there’s an opening, all the psychic powers can be unlocked, along with the knowledge and vision of Nibbana. I believe that we should get the job done and over with(nibbana), before we go and play around with powers and formlessness.
• Notice how we gradually transcend from raw feelings to beautiful joy and happiness, to finally no feelings at all.

• The minimum insight into the jhana factors is enough to move on to the next jhana. But when we reduce these pleasant states of mind to mere sensations experiences: then we can see reality as it is, suffering, impermanence, non self.

The answer is in the act of searching.

• In the scripture this is where we can develop all the psychic powers and enlightenment knowledge.

Just a quick side note. An opening can be triggered by exploring symbolism. It was what I did as part of my painting creative process. It opened my divine eyes, ears and intuitive sense. Developing and controlling the powers is a whole new ball game.

Integration

If you are unable to engage in insight within the jhana state, then do it straight after coming out of the session.

The idea is to master to the 4^th jhana. This means, we’re adept at entering into it whenever and for however long we want. Here, we completed the job, cut all attachments, enlightenment happens; the self-ceases. That’s the ideal.

In reality, the jhanas intermingle: it’s not a clear-cut experience. Writing about their levels is just names and knowledge. In reality, the boundaries are vague and the levels are all jumbled. Sometimes, we bypass the rapture and go straight to the contentment. We may experience each of the jhanas predominantly for a few years before moving to the next. Only when we have completed the path, does it become clear through hindsight.

If you have made this far and are waiting for an opening to develop your powers or for knowledge and vision to arise, you are no doubt an ariya: a noble one.

Jhana: jhana (accesstoinsight.org)