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In my limited experience, I had my first "jhana", or (ah-ha moment) after sitting for at least 2 years, 2 to 3 hours every day. But it did not happen during my sitting, but at the time, I was an electronic tech at our local university, and it was a warm spring day, and I just walked out of our shop to my van. I was enjoying the weather , not thinking about Zen or anything else. All at once everything dropped away. Out of no where. (Kensho), I saw that "I" was connected to everything, and everything to me. It was like the weight of the world just dropped from my shoulders and I knew that everything was just fine , right now in this eternal moment. Didn't last that long, had to get in my van and repair some equipment, but the experience has stayed with me for many years.
Interesting, thanks! I wouldn't necessarily call that jhāna though; the first jhāna is more an experience of intense pleasure and happiness than one of "dropping away".
@@DougsDharma thanks for the clarification. I really can't put words to this experience, only metaphors. My initial "thought" just afterward was the feeling that I had been walking around with a chain, pulling a hundred pound log behind me where ever I went. The energy released, (or freed up), during this thing I experienced was sublime. completely freeing. I saw very clearly the vast amount of energy I wasted "trying" rather than "being". I suppose I will never know what to call it. but then again, I am ok with that. cheers.
Hey Doug! I cannot express enough how invaluable your channel has been for me. I have been meditating for the last 4 years now with increased interest and discipline and have always found the history and study of world religions fascinating. I am an atheist quite skeptical of anything claiming to be spiritual or supernatural. That said I have found there to be great wisdom in the religions of the world if one has the energy to preform the appropriate mental gymnastics needed to wade through the more hyperbolic, esoteric, or superstitious qualities present in all religious writings. I must say without a doubt how impressed I am to see such an honest, clearly presented, and well researched discussion of secular Buddhism and Buddhism in general. You present each video with a splendidly refreshing passion and calm attention to detail (a balance which is often asymmetrical for most ). I have learned more from your videos then I have from any other source on the internet involving Buddhism. You have inspired me to continue my own personal studies of Buddhism and remain diligent with my meditation which has proven itself to be of great benefit to my life. To end such a long post I need only say thank you for all that you do!
Hello Jacob. It's nice to know there is someone out there in the universe who has such a strong interest in Buddhism. If you will allow me, i wish to point you to the earliest recorded discourses of the Buddha in the Nikayas. An invaluable resource for one really interested in the core Doctrine of Buddhism, i would recommend that you get a copy of the Samyutta Nikaya translated from Pali by Ven Bikkhu Bodhi and published by Wisdom Publications. This will truly transform your understanding of the Buddha's teachings unlike others. May you progress well in your spiritual journey
I've been experiencing this body state from time to time. It gets so strong that it almost feels like overwhelming joy and I may feel the urge to cry but I never do. I've felt it like a rush of energy and I'd describe it almost as though a rushing river of powerful blissful energy. It's definitely something that arises with the right conditions, and after the first time I experienced that it was difficult to approach again because of the clinging to it, the expectation and the searching for it. It only returns when I am totallly unattached to it coming or going. That is when I am most "open" and it seems to flow and arise naturally from there. Today I felt it again after some time not feeling it. I got up and started to do something else for work and it sort of lingered and slowly subsided. It's hard to do anything else but feel it and enjoy it while it lasts.
I think I may have entered the first jhana on a retreat I was on a couple of weeks ago. Only fairly briefly. But it was really quite incredible. Though my body felt calm, my mind was in a very brightly highly energised ecstatic state. It was really quite amazing. It might not have been a jhana, I’m not totally sure. But whatever it was, it was a pretty amazing state to be in.
term: kammaṭṭhāna on p.24 Lamp of the Law excerpts from Gurulugomi’s Dharmapradīpikā "Progressing in this way, shedding all dust by the intensity of practice that becomes keener and keener, he develops the Path of Mental Absorption (jhānamagga) by casting out the hindrances. Seated in cloister cell, at the foot of a tree, under the open sky, or in some other suitable place, he fixes his mind on a subject of meditation (kammaṭṭhāna) and by struggle, and unceasing effort washes out the impurities of his mind-flux and gradually reaches the first, the second, the third and the fourth absorption, and enjoys the benefit of his high attainment. Lastly with the power of concentration he has won, he turns his mind to the understanding of actuality in the highest sense, and when he knows that, clears himself of all defilements by the roots."
Yes, the levels of Janna’s are basically the higher concentration levels of the breadth and insight meditation. The levels will represent the equananimous Stability & renunciation levels land contentments.
My own way to understand the first Jhanna is as follows: we try to pleasure and happiness but we do so but clinging to events and conditions of the world, which are impermanent and unsatisfactory and we just end up clinging to something ultimately empty and unfulfiling, The Buddha, after trying both that life and the opposite excess austerity, thought about his childhood and discovered a kind of happiness that comes from inside, without cause or conditioning. By tapping into that source of happiness we can begin to find independence from the world dukkha. It's as simple as that and no, I don't think this is such as difficult or particularly "deep state of absorption". It is just a practice we must go back to, which is what Buddha himself did and, of course, build up from there into the other Jhanas and beyond.
That's right Francisco. Although in the early teachings, jhāna isn't without cause or conditioning: it's a conditioned state, though it is very pure. Awareness of that fact can be one key to attaining enlightenment.
Check out a book by Bhante Gunaratana (ordained Theravada monk) titled 'The Path of Srenity snd Insight'. In that book the writer does give s clear description of what is experienced during meditation as one approaches and enters the first jhana, and beyond. I am not a Bhuddist in the formal sense, but did find this book helpful. To what degree the content re attaining jhana is based on the writers personal experience, or solely his familiarity with Bhuddist texts I cannot say.
Wow! What an excellent video! Thanks a lot, Doug! 😊🙏 To those who are interested in the subject I can most warmly recommend Leigh Brasington's book _Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhānas,_ and the Chapter _Absorption_ out of Anālayo's book _Early Buddhist Meditation Studies._ 🙏
Yes. I should emphasize however (as I will in a later video in this series) that this is controversial. Some practitioners do not feel that (form) jhānas are felt in the body. The similes are not entirely reliable since they don't have exact parallels and may therefore be later interpolations. The whole matter is complicated!
What a wonderful video, I love these deeper dives into subject. So thankful that you decided to break this into four parts. I was also wondering if your book might be coming in a printed option anytime in the future? Thank you for all your efforts.
Glad it was helpful, Stormy! Yes, it was getting too long to put into one video, which is why I decided to break it up into four. As for the book, the distributor hasn't made physical copies available yet. If and when they do, I'll let everyone know. 🙏
Thanks for the lovely video. Personally I've been meditating the way I was thaught by Theravadan Buddhist monks in North Thailand (vipassana) for 20 years, but when I came across Ahjan Brams book "Mindfulness, bliss and beyond" I changed up my method and experienced the first jhana for the first time. Before that I struggled with keeping a daily routine of 20 mins of meditation. After that I've been meditating 2-3 hours each day. The difference is like night and day, for me at least. Later I've also experienced the 3 other jhanas, but those are much more rare and I've only had them a couple of times during 6 months of meditating 2-3 hours a day - so I'm still a noob. But nothing else has had such a powerful and positive impact on my life.
Yes! Similar story to your fellow practitioner - I have spent 20 years on Burmese and Thai Theravada but added the Jhana’s a few years ago. I actually think cultivating the Jhana teach you much about letting go that benefits your Vipassana (insight)!
Thank you Doug. Your explanation very much jives with my interpretation of the sutta on the Jhanas. Ven Bikkhu Bodhi interpretation of 'vitaka & vicara' is one i came across quite recently and is still trying to digest it. I am a practitioner of the Dhamma and sit regularly each day. Yes, indeed the Jhanas (even the 1st Jhana) are extremely difficult to achieve. It requires seclusion of the body as well as mind and this is most difficult to do when one is involved in daily mundane life.
What is jhanna and samadhi? To make ppl to understand like reading ABC Jhanna,samadhi made simple to be understood in this way..... This is how it can be easily understood....... Just say calm ,calmer,calmest or say strong stronger,strongest. It is in this way the meaning of jhanna and samadhi can be quickly understood. It is the mind that become peace, more peaceful, completely peaceful . Jhana are to be easily understand in this way. This is from my 37 over years of vipasanna meditation and experience and have come to attain to the path. And seeing all the 8 level of jhanna and the final 9th level is ceesation of conciousness. There are totally 4 pairs.Path and fruition in each pair so totalling eight states of calm mind. The 9th level is magga phala. Suki hotu. Buddhang saranam gacchami
I’m not qualified to teach jhāna meditation, and anyhow it’s best done in person. If you want one general intro to the actual process, one place to start is Leigh Brasington’s book that I think I linked to in the show notes.
@@DougsDharma Good afternoon Doug. I have a practice and have been interested for over 30 years but the more I read, the keener I am to get instruction. There are few places in the UK that I trust with this and information on this subject is sometimes (suspiciously) easy to come-by. Mindfulness is a subject I have grown increasingly drawn towards and I`m very keen to learn better technique. I fully understand that you feel unqualified to teach but giving a breakdown of what you understand to be accepted practice would be very useful to us that trust you. Or, can you recommend reliable videos or a school you can point me towards in the UK? Sorry, these are a big ask, I understand. Pete
This is barely the second time I have heard of your personal meditative experience. I would love to hear your personal meditative experience and perhaps a couple of meditation guidance videos. I understand that is not your experience, but I would most certainly be interested in it.
@@DougsDharma thank you for replying, Doug. I did watch the video on ambition already. It makes me a little sad but I do this that perhaps some people might be interested in buddhism and following your passion
Finally I think I found the words I was looking for : Jhana vs Jnana. I was always confused about these two. When people talked about Jhana I thought they were talking about Jnana but did not sound Jnana. My bad, they're actually talking about Jhana not Jnana.
Ah yes, very different! Jñāna is the Sanskrit term for the Pāli word ñāṇa or "knowledge". Jhāna is the Pāli word that in Sanskrit is dhyāna or "meditation/absorption" (Root for words like "zen"). 😄
The way to attainment is vipasanna. The mental purifications that really calm the mind and remove the kelisa. How i realise nibanna through vipasanna? (Greed,hatred,delusions)are momentarily removed in that moment. Sotapanna attainment how it occur and the sequence you will experience..... It starts with vipasanna sitting meditation then until mind shuts down.Before it shuts down,you are clearly comprehending the inbreath watching the beginning,the middle and the end of the breath. Ceesation of conciousness occur during this moment. The mind suddenly shuts down. Ceesation of conciousness is similar to mind shuts down: When this happen,you will not know.(it is because your mind has now stop fabricating just like a factory stop production all machine are switch off and no one working) That moment of not knowing is the moment you enter magga(path)and phala(fruition)where you are no more existing in this ignorance existence of samsara. After the magga phala attainment is over you will be in strong samadhi adsobtion where your whole body are radiance with strong pleasurable sensations.(jhana adsobtion) At that moment you still do not know you have attain magga phala.(only pleasurable sensation overwhelming the mind) As these strong samadhi adsobtion gradually subside,you will now be able to aware of the calmness of mind and body sitting in erect and firm(in lower samadhi) At this moment you can easily aware of your breath as it rise on inbreath and as it fall on outbreath. It is easily notice without effort. It was during this time you will suddenly remember or recollect the mind ceesation or shuts down clearly. You remember it very clearly before it shuts down, your were clearly comprehending inbreath rising,middle and end of breath and suddenly everything vanished,no more conciousness,mind shuts down. Then you realise whole body immersed with strong pleasurable sensations and when the sensation is over you can realise your mind is peaceful ,happy and mindfulness on inbreath and outbreath is easy and that your sitting meditation posture is straight and erect or is very firm(In samadhi state) In this way you now come to realise that you have finally come to know how suffering ends. Nibanna is being realise by your pure mind. Mind that is non greed,non hatred,non delusions. You are now a stream entry or is now a confirmed Ariya or sotapanna.You are free from 4 woeful realms of existence and you only have 7 more existence one as human and another 6 life as devas. If you are hard working and if you continue practice your vipasanna meditation and come to ceesations of conciousness for the second times,your next attainment is Sakadagami and you only have 3 more existence.And if the third time ceesation you are Anagami and the 4th time you are Arahat and will be fully aware of everything and totally free from ignorance completely and never to be born again. May my explaination be enlightening to vipasanna meditators and what is being explain are the final knowledge you will experience when your time for attainment is ripe. Suki hotu. Buddhang saranam gacchami
I think a bit of further detail re what actually achieving the first jhana 'feels' like would be helpful. Specifically, as concentration becomes sustained for an adequate duration, the experience of 'nimitta'--a sign indicating the mediator is on the verge of entering the first jhana. One example could be the experience (in ones mind) of a clear disc like the full moon. My understanding is that this is actually the object of concentration being experienced in a new way. This signals the achievement of 'access' concentration. At this critical point one may or may not enter the first jhana, depending on whether concentration is sustained or not. But, it seems in Theravada texts this experience of a 'nimitta' is always present as a precursor to absorption in the first jhana. Being aware of this could be very useful as an indicator of where one is at in their efforts--and that they are 'on the right track' so to speak.
Knowledge desired earlier in life. Living outside a Buddhist community I have mixed many forms, so I do not officially have a way to communicate since it takes many words to explain simple things. I am sure of the first Jhana after that things start to happen, or were they always there just out of notice.
After watching your videos, when I came home and meditated for 30 minutes, the last 5 or so minutes was an unusual type of state with diffuse whitish light everywhere and there was a type of effervescent (or bubbly) joy associated with the state...I also noticed that time seemed to fly by the moment I got there...I am not sure if this is the first jhana but it was fun and definitely had an uplifting type of afterglow...I don't know if there is a difference between joy and bliss though.
It is arising because your mind is absorbed to your object of mind you use for meditating. You can do this absorbtion practice and can progress until the 4th jhana. Boddhisatta Sidharta (when he still NOT YET awakened) did this following Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta methods. However, he left and abandoned this practice since it is not going to his goal to end suffering. What does this mean? The jhana that arising from practice of absortion (pointed our mind to an object until the mind and object become entangled as one) will lead you far but nowhere near Nibbana. When the prince awaken and become Buddha, he taught a method to achieve Nibbana for people who aspire to go there. How?
I would say that in the kneading simile we are not the kneader, we are the dough. The first jhana is ecstatic and overwhelming, and feels the least controlled of all the jhanas. In the first jhana rapture explodes, and it feels like we are flooded by waves of rapture, so comparing it with kneading certainly seems fitting. The following jhanas are progressively calmer and more stable. At least those are the kind of jhanas we can entering following the Ayya Khema - Leigh Brasington tradition and instructions.
Could we not be both the kneader and the bath powder ball? "[The mendicant] makes the rapture ... pervade this body" as "a skilled bath man ... kneads it until the moisture ... pervades it inside and out." It looks like the mendicant is parallel to the bath man and the mendicant's body is parallel to the powder ball.
I appreciate all your videos and am learning so much. I am still confused by this. I think that I may be experiencing the first phase of Jhana, but I have only been meditating for a year, so it seems unlikely. I use the Headspace ap and at the end of each mediation they indicate “let your mind be free” - so giving permission to not have to focus. This kinda does a reverse psychology thing and it makes you focus better (they allude to this in the Headspace “Self-Esteem” pack). Headspace also does a few meditations where you try to imagine filling your body with light (filling from head down) or like there is a ball of light in your chest expanding. And in the Self-Esteem pack they indicate that when you “let your mind go” - i.e. have no singular focus (like the breath) and concentrate then you achieve a spacious warm feeling (feeling kinda like the light imagination meditation, but in the letting go meditation you achieve this feeling without initiating imagination and instead just let go). I have spent every day for the last 4 months doing this letting go technique. I practice 10 minutes a day formally, but try to incorporate it into my day hundreds of times. I can now produce that spacious warm sensation (without imagination and only letting go) for maybe a minute before getting distracted. And I can do it while walking, talking, and thinking (for maybe 10-20 seconds). So kinda does not sounds like Jhana. But feels like the “there is no part of my body that’s not spread with rapture and bliss”. The spacious warming feeling also feels like I do not have a specific boundary to my own body (like the boundary of my body is not defined). Since the feeling is achieved from just letting go then I feel it is possible to maintain while talking and walking as I just need to continue to remind myself to let go (or get better at maintaining the letting go without thought that is distractive to that state (like craving or aversion)).
Well I wouldn't worry too much about such things, they can become a distraction. Eventually if you are interested in jhāna it's probably best to find a good teacher who can lead you in instruction, and spend a retreat on it. But be aware that the depth of jhāna is controversial. See: th-cam.com/video/2DotdUIO8iM/w-d-xo.html
Hey Mr. Doug, can you please do a video about piti(joy) as one of the awakening factors? I am very new to secular buddhism and reading Satthipatthana sutta left quite a bit of questions in my mind. Most importantly, if not sensual, what kind of joy do we talking about? Is intellectual joy one of this kind? Moreover to a commonsense everyone feels better(or joyful) doing the good but how is it used practically to beat laziness, sloth and torpor in the mind? Also thank you for the video, I love every video of yours!
Thanks Ivankov! Pīti is often translated as "rapture"; it's seen as a more active form of joy or happiness than say "sukha". I think it can come in many flavors, depending on the person and the context. It can be an almost physical, bodily feeling of effervescent pleasure, or I suppose it also could be an active intellectual pleasure. Since it's an active feeling, it wakes us up and therefore could theoretically be an antidote to torpor, though it may also be that we have to overcome torpor first and then in time pīti can arise. I don't recall suttas in which pīti is recommended as a particular antidote to sloth and torpor, though.
@@DougsDharma Oh! Thank you! I was trying to not have pleasure because I thought it was bad practice so I almost had depression while practice. I was very wrong it seems. I didn't see it in suttas as antidote to sloth and torpor but I saw it mentioned that way by some bhikkus. There are lot of things to misunderstand so I give a probability of misunderstanding to every practice or theory until I get more clear big picture in my mind. Your explanations really help, thank you for your time you put in the videos and replying to me.
Sati, samathi, via negativa, apophasis, retroduction... TY SO MUCH, Doug! (lets go beyond the Tathagata view's of the Atman/Brahmayama.) {S.N. 5.5} Jhana is the Lógos in Lógic, the harmonic intuition with deduction and induction: Anatta = the subjetive lógic ancient methodologics by the objetive negation, pure subjective synthesis. (Plato and the Nous in abductive cosmological reminescent dialétics, by socratical antropological retroduction dialogues...; the metaphysics between the Arkhé and the Techné) (sorry my english, Master Doug.) The Real Meditation is indeed the Teurgy, the Breath of the [Prometeus] Fire.
You're very wise. Doug still teach the heresy NATHATTA (No-soul). Did you know Via negativa(neti neti) is secretly called "Patisothagami=Opposite Current" in the Pali Nikayas. I recently read Patanjali Yoga Sutras and to my surprise discovered the same idea mentioned in a different term "Pratiprasava=Opposite Current".
I agree, the book "Mindfulness, bliss and beyond" is the book that helped me "achieve" the first jhana. I'be been on many retreats and have meditated for over 20 years, but his book is what helped me get in the right direction. After that I'd highly recommend Ayya Khema/Leigh Brasington, especially Ayya Khema on WHY jhanas are so important to insight.
Yes, Ajahn Brahm has been one of the leaders in bringing jhāna back to the forefront of practice for many, as has Leigh, following Ayya Khema as you say.
There are two types of First jana: 1. First jana with light to brahmin abodes 2. First jana with insight meditation to Nirvana ( seven lives with happiness in the highest abodes)
Thanks Doug for focusing on the meditative phenomenon, better known as Jhana. As I understand it, Jhana is a result. A vipaka. (wholesome of course) It is the result of all the preparatory work of stilling and refining the mind, most often by anapanasati, mindfulness of the breath. The focus of the breath becomes more stable, until our old pals, the five hinderances, finally give up the fight. As they depart the scene, the jhana factors of sukha and piti(and several others) expand to pleasantly fill the space left by the now absent hinderances. There is a paradox here. What seems like Bodily pleasure initially arises, like the bubbles of a shaken soda bottle suddenly opened. Yet sensory pleasure would seem only possible if the five hinderances were still active. But they are not. I believe that these "bodily" sensations occur at the transition or so called threshold of Jhanic absorption, which then refines into the first jhana itself. Sukha and piti ease in intensity as the other more refined aspects of the first Jhana become more prominant. The meditator can direct the focus of the action(vtaka, vicara) but the Jhana itself, is the result of the previous efforts to focus and refine the mind and thus, draws the mind deeper. Cheers Doug, thanks again for your fine scholarship.
Thanks for the explanation Doug! I wanted to share my (brief) experience of what I think may have been approaching the first jhana. I have been meditating regularly for the last three years, and over the last year have been taking it quite seriously. After about an hour of sitting meditation, I was focused on my breath, but of course still had the occasionally thought coming to mind. After a while, an almost electrical feeling that started in my legs moved up through my body. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant - it felt a little scary to be honest - but certainly something I had never felt before. It caused me to become distracted from my breathing, at which point the feeling started to go away, but returned again once I had focused on my breath again; and this went in cycles. I get the impression this was the "placing the mind and keeping it connected", the latter of which I had trouble with. I wondered what it might have been, and after some searching came across this video. Thanks again for the explanation! :)
Doug, I'm curious to know whether or not you have trained in the jhanas. If so, who was your teacher? Do you use jhana in your daily meditation? How long does it take to reach the first jhana? I'm thinking that I might like to increase my concentration ability to help me stay in the present moment throughout the day.
I've taken jhāna training with Leigh Brasington and Bodhipaksa, though I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near expert. It takes a lot of meditation time daily to reach jhāna, either that or a long retreat.
It is to be understood that once you have enter the ceesation of conciousness,all sufferring ends. The life line of samsara conciousness are momentarily disconnected as you are no more existing in samsarara or no more existing in the dreams of existence in that moment and as you experience the unborn,deathless,uncondition NIBANNA. YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHEN CEESATION OF CONCIOUSNESS OCCUR. WHY? YOU ARE NO MORE CONNECT TO THIS EXISTENCE. THERE IS NO MORE YOU. THERE IS NO MORE SUFFERINGS. So this is the highest attainment one can accomplished. The end to all conditions. Seen and understood. The Buddha quote: This is how all vipasanna meditation practitioners will come to known what i have known. The end to all birth and death sufferings. Nibanna. Suki hotu. Buddhang saranam gacchami
Thanks Doug, this is huge help for my meditation! Just to make sure: is this the same Thing as the four Dhyana and eight samadhis 四禅八定？？ if I succeed in the first one, I will come to the US and buy you a cup of tee!
The Sanskrit word "dhyāna" is the same as the Pāli "jhāna", so I would imagine you're talking about the same thing. Though without looking in depth at which practices you're talking about, I can't be 100% sure! 😊
Hey Doug, Great video about Jhanna. I have a questioned that's a bit off topic. I was reading my Art History Textbook for this winter semester and it had glazed over topic that I had no idea about. But, it was talking about Muslims destroying Buddhist statues because they were seen offensive to Islam. I've never heard of this before, and I was looking more into it but I was reading articles about it and I felt more confused. I'm sure this can be controversial but i was curious what your thoughts were? Thanks for all your help! :)
That's a big and somewhat controversial topic, Joseph! There has been a lot of recent scholarship around it, too. I've done a couple of videos recently that might be of interest, though if you're really interested you'll have to delve deeper into the references in the show notes to each. One on Buddhism and iconography: th-cam.com/video/qRqxuxS1qUg/w-d-xo.html , another on Buddhism's decline in India: th-cam.com/video/y8GNgWatUwE/w-d-xo.html (particularly Elverskog's book in the latter video touches on Islam and Buddhist iconography. The upshot: it's complicated!)
It's great to be able to follow what you're saying based on my own experience. I may not have reached the first Jhana but I've certainly felt pleasure of seclusion during meditation. I've got to ask you... Last week I had an experience where it felt like the person I thought I was had receded into the background of my awareness and I felt no separation between "me" (even though I didn't feel like a "me" anymore) and everything around me. Is this what "anatta" is?
Thanks for that, Justin. As to your question, it's difficult to say for sure, but I'd speculate that it's a kind of non-self experience. Some however will identify this experience with that of a "greater self", and in that case it wouldn't really be non-self. I think it depends on how one grasps it.
@@DougsDharma Thanks, Doug. It certainly felt like both. A disappearance of me and an emergence of that which just is. I appreciate your response and thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Do understand that there is 2 stages which l expirenced, one a thought and back to meditation state and other stay in the body but feel like meditation with awarnes body? Am l correct?
I always wondered if these years of extreme ascetisme are waved away as 'a death end' by later Buddhist propaganda. One could argue that those years brought him to a certain level, that made it possible to' transcended ' with his own path . We will obviously never know, but I can't even imagine the effect of years filled with extreme dieting , mediation, mortification etc has on a human mind.
Perhaps so, but he did not recommend it as part of the path for his own followers, so I don't think he himself saw it as useful. Indeed, he described it as one of the two extremes to be avoided, along with sensual indulgence.
@@DougsDharma Maybe he himself , or those who wrote in his name didn't even recognize the influence of all these years on his progress. They are obviously something ' to be avoided ', That the whole point of Buddhism. I'm just saying, that some claim such rigoureus & intense meditation practice must have have been a steppingstone for the the Buddha's personal enlightenment.
Hard to say for sure since there is debate about what counts as jhāna, but it would have to be the first jhāna at most since the other ones lack discursive thought or language.
If Jhanas wasn’t important why would the Buddha taught it along with Vippassana? Many people don’t know that the western Vippassana movement came from Burma’s tradition of meditation which invented the Vippassana meditation that is very different from early Buddhism which only started about 150 years ago.
Well that's a big question, Rafaele. The Buddha had a very rudimentary explanation of how the consciousness aggregate at the end of one life begins a new life. However an enormous amount is left unexplained. As a secular practitioner I leave such speculative material to the side.
That's a question even many Buddhists have... But the answer for that is according to the buddha there's no traceable beginning in the rebirth process... The number of past lives we have had is infinite..... Once a monk asked the buddha how many great Aeons have we been in the samsara. One great Aeon is about 30 billion years... The buddha replied suppose 4 monks who have the ability to recall any number of lives were to recall 100,000 great aeons each per day... Like that even after 100 years straight until the 4 monks die still there wud be infinite Great Aeons needed to be recalled....
Hi Tough Another great video, I have been meditating for years now and been in a state where time and body doesn't exist (no feeling of the body) what seems like time minutes of meditation after coming out of it two hours have past it is a state of pure consciousness where nothing else exists. Is this Jhana ?
I can't say for sure Jason, but it doesn't sound like jhāna to me, more like one of the formless attainments. (I'll be doing a video on them as well soon).
Sorry Jason. The first Jhana you actually feel very powerful pleasure throughout the body. Trust me, when you have Jhana you will know it without any doubt what’s so ever
Jason it actually sounds like true samadhi. I would say 2nd jhana. It’s possible to skip the first and go straight to 2nd but it’s not recommended unless first jhana is mastered. What style meditation were you doing?
@@magicaree hi thanks you for your reply, unfortunately I don't know the type of medication the first year I concentrated on breath and saw colour and strange images but as I went on over the past year I stopped seeing this and was Also able to stop thoughts instantly . This meditation was without thought (no internal dialogue) and no concentration on a sound or object, it was pure consciousness with no sense of time or sense of body. Perhaps it was just a basic form of meditation but many thanks for your interest. All the best Jason
The early texts don't really talk about objects used to attain jhāna, though teachers throughout the centuries have suggested several, such as the "kasinas". One can also use inner signs or "nimitta" as indicators for jhāna, but that's better left to your meditation teacher to explain, since there are a lot of personal differences between how people experience them.
Katamo ca, bhikkhave, puggalo tiººo pa’raªgato thale tiTThati bra’hmaºo? Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco puggalo a’sava’nam khaya’ana’savam cetovimuttim pañña’vimuttim AN 2.6 “How is one a Brahman, is deemed crossed over, and gone beyond? Herein him, whose mind is freed, devoid of defilements, is liberated by wisdom. Such a one is a Brahman, is deemed crossed over, and gone beyond! Sattime, bhikkhave, sama’dhiparikkha’ra’. Katame satta? Samma’diTThi, samma’saªkappo, samma’va’ca’, samma’kammanto, samma’-a’ji’vo, samma’va’ya’mo, samma’sati. Ya’ kho, bhikkhave, imehi sattahaªgehi cittassekaggata’ parikkhata’ ‚02, ayam vuccati, bhikkhave, ariyo samma’sama’dhi ‚03 sa-upaniso itipi saparikkha’ro itipi’”ti. AN 4.40 These are the seven prerequisites of Samadhi. Sammaditthi…sammasati. These are the seven requisites for making the mind (citta) sovereign which is the Exalted Sammasamadhi, those causes, those prerequisites. Yato kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno pañña’ya cittam suparicitam hoti, tassetam, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno kallam vacana’ya-‘khi’ºa’ ja’ti, vusitam brahmacariyam, katam karaºi’yam, na’param itthatta’ya’ti paja’na’mi’’”ti. AN 4.402 “When, followers, when ones mind is thoroughly ripe with wisdom, he can say that birth is destroyed, the Brahma-faring has been fulfilled, what must be done has been done, for there is naught but this very Soul.” So yadeva tattha hoti r³pagatam vedana’gatam sañña’gatam saªkha’ragatam viñña’ºagatam, te dhamme aniccato dukkhato rogato gaº¹ato sallato aghato a’ba’dhato parato palokato suññato anattato samanupassati. So tehi dhammehi cittam paTiva’peti ‚01. So tehidhammehi cittam paTiva’petva’ amata’ya dha’tuya’ cittam upasamhara AN 4.422 In the first Jhana he dwells. Whatever form there be, feelings, perceptions, experiences, or consciousness, these he sees to be without permanence, as suffering, as ill, as a plague, a boil, a sting, a pain, an affliction, as foreign, as otherness, as empty, as Selfless (anattato). So he turns his mind (citta) away from these; he gathers his very mind in the realm of Immortality.
Hi Doug. Good content, generally. But in this video, it's clear from your descriptions that you have no direct experience with the jhanas and you are doing a tremendous diservice by going into such detail about something you have no insight into. As Bhikkhu Bodhi has made very clear, knowledge is not understanding, and intellectual knowledge isn't a replacement for insight. No amount of book knowledge, or intrepreting the suttas, is a subsitute for direct insight; and teaching something that know nothing about is reckless. I don't expect that this comment will have any impact on your intention to "teach" on the 3 remaining jhanas, nor your intention to teach on the four formless attainments, which you should absolutely not do. With metta.
Thanks for your concern Flynn. I do have some experience with jhāna practice, but my concern in these videos will be with how these states are described in the texts, since those descriptions are often taken as determinative. I have tried to make clear that much of this material is controversial. Different jhāna teachers teach them in different manners. There are a lot of strong views around such attainments, and I would urge us not to cling to such views but rather read the texts and practice with an open mind. 🙏
Doug is speaking to an Internet audience, so his approach is well suited for those of us who don't have any access to a local teacher, much less someone steeped in the Jhanas.
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I am extremely inspired from your vedios . I am interested in doing phd on buddhism. Please can you help me in this regard
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In my limited experience, I had my first "jhana", or (ah-ha moment) after sitting for at least 2 years, 2 to 3 hours every day. But it did not happen during my sitting, but at the time, I was an electronic tech at our local university, and it was a warm spring day, and I just walked out of our shop to my van. I was enjoying the weather , not thinking about Zen or anything else. All at once everything dropped away. Out of no where. (Kensho), I saw that "I" was connected to everything, and everything to me. It was like the weight of the world just dropped from my shoulders and I knew that everything was just fine , right now in this eternal moment. Didn't last that long, had to get in my van and repair some equipment, but the experience has stayed with me for many years.
Interesting, thanks! I wouldn't necessarily call that jhāna though; the first jhāna is more an experience of intense pleasure and happiness than one of "dropping away".
@@DougsDharma thanks for the clarification. I really can't put words to this experience, only metaphors. My initial "thought" just afterward was the feeling that I had been walking around with a chain, pulling a hundred pound log behind me where ever I went. The energy released, (or freed up), during this thing I experienced was sublime. completely freeing. I saw very clearly the vast amount of energy I wasted "trying" rather than "being". I suppose I will never know what to call it. but then again, I am ok with that. cheers.
Hey Doug! I cannot express enough how invaluable your channel has been for me. I have been meditating for the last 4 years now with increased interest and discipline and have always found the history and study of world religions fascinating. I am an atheist quite skeptical of anything claiming to be spiritual or supernatural. That said I have found there to be great wisdom in the religions of the world if one has the energy to preform the appropriate mental gymnastics needed to wade through the more hyperbolic, esoteric, or superstitious qualities present in all religious writings. I must say without a doubt how impressed I am to see such an honest, clearly presented, and well researched discussion of secular Buddhism and Buddhism in general. You present each video with a splendidly refreshing passion and calm attention to detail (a balance which is often asymmetrical for most ). I have learned more from your videos then I have from any other source on the internet involving Buddhism. You have inspired me to continue my own personal studies of Buddhism and remain diligent with my meditation which has proven itself to be of great benefit to my life. To end such a long post I need only say thank you for all that you do!
Hey that's so cool to hear, Jacob! So happy for you. 🙏😊
I agree! Dougs videos are refreshingly insightful and it's always a blast to get all the knowledge and different views he knows about. Love it! 🙏
Hello Jacob. It's nice to know there is someone out there in the universe who has such a strong interest in Buddhism. If you will allow me, i wish to point you to the earliest recorded discourses of the Buddha in the Nikayas. An invaluable resource for one really interested in the core Doctrine of Buddhism, i would recommend that you get a copy of the Samyutta Nikaya translated from Pali by Ven Bikkhu Bodhi and published by Wisdom Publications. This will truly transform your understanding of the Buddha's teachings unlike others. May you progress well in your spiritual journey
That’s so true! I immediately fell in love with this channel as soon as I saw the content. Doug is a treasure
I've been experiencing this body state from time to time. It gets so strong that it almost feels like overwhelming joy and I may feel the urge to cry but I never do. I've felt it like a rush of energy and I'd describe it almost as though a rushing river of powerful blissful energy. It's definitely something that arises with the right conditions, and after the first time I experienced that it was difficult to approach again because of the clinging to it, the expectation and the searching for it. It only returns when I am totallly unattached to it coming or going. That is when I am most "open" and it seems to flow and arise naturally from there. Today I felt it again after some time not feeling it. I got up and started to do something else for work and it sort of lingered and slowly subsided. It's hard to do anything else but feel it and enjoy it while it lasts.
Experience it, let it go. 🙏
I think I may have entered the first jhana on a retreat I was on a couple of weeks ago. Only fairly briefly. But it was really quite incredible. Though my body felt calm, my mind was in a very brightly highly energised ecstatic state. It was really quite amazing. It might not have been a jhana, I’m not totally sure. But whatever it was, it was a pretty amazing state to be in.
Neat!
Doug is the best Western teacher of Buddhism whom I've come across so far.
Very kind of you to say. 🙏
term: kammaṭṭhāna on p.24 Lamp of the Law
excerpts from Gurulugomi’s Dharmapradīpikā
"Progressing in this way, shedding all dust by the intensity of practice that becomes keener and keener, he develops the Path of Mental Absorption (jhānamagga) by casting out the hindrances.
Seated in cloister cell, at the foot of a tree, under the open sky, or in some other suitable place, he fixes his mind on a subject of meditation (kammaṭṭhāna) and by struggle, and unceasing effort washes out the impurities of his mind-flux and gradually reaches the first, the second, the third and the fourth absorption, and enjoys the benefit of his high attainment.
Lastly with the power of concentration he has won, he turns his mind to the understanding of actuality in the highest sense, and when he knows that, clears himself of all defilements by the roots."
Yes, the levels of Janna’s are basically the higher concentration levels of the breadth and insight meditation. The levels will represent the equananimous Stability & renunciation levels land contentments.
My own way to understand the first Jhanna is as follows: we try to pleasure and happiness but we do so but clinging to events and conditions of the world, which are impermanent and unsatisfactory and we just end up clinging to something ultimately empty and unfulfiling, The Buddha, after trying both that life and the opposite excess austerity, thought about his childhood and discovered a kind of happiness that comes from inside, without cause or conditioning. By tapping into that source of happiness we can begin to find independence from the world dukkha. It's as simple as that and no, I don't think this is such as difficult or particularly "deep state of absorption". It is just a practice we must go back to, which is what Buddha himself did and, of course, build up from there into the other Jhanas and beyond.
That's right Francisco. Although in the early teachings, jhāna isn't without cause or conditioning: it's a conditioned state, though it is very pure. Awareness of that fact can be one key to attaining enlightenment.
Check out a book by Bhante Gunaratana (ordained Theravada monk) titled 'The Path of Srenity snd Insight'. In that book the writer does give s clear description of what is experienced during meditation as one approaches and enters the first jhana, and beyond. I am not a Bhuddist in the formal sense, but did find this book helpful. To what degree the content re attaining jhana is based on the writers personal experience, or solely his familiarity with Bhuddist texts I cannot say.
Wow! What an excellent video! Thanks a lot, Doug! 😊🙏
To those who are interested in the subject I can most warmly recommend Leigh Brasington's book _Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhānas,_ and the Chapter _Absorption_ out of Anālayo's book _Early Buddhist Meditation Studies._ 🙏
Yes, thanks xiao mao!
I totally agree! I keep that book as a reference. Every time I feel stuck I go to the right chapter and reread it. It's priceless! Love it!
Excellent video, Doug! Thank you!
My pleasure, Wayne! 🙏
It never struck me until hearing it from you at 15:54 that the form jhanas are called that because you feel them in the body.
Yes. I should emphasize however (as I will in a later video in this series) that this is controversial. Some practitioners do not feel that (form) jhānas are felt in the body. The similes are not entirely reliable since they don't have exact parallels and may therefore be later interpolations. The whole matter is complicated!
What a wonderful video, I love these deeper dives into subject. So thankful that you decided to break this into four parts. I was also wondering if your book might be coming in a printed option anytime in the future? Thank you for all your efforts.
Glad it was helpful, Stormy! Yes, it was getting too long to put into one video, which is why I decided to break it up into four. As for the book, the distributor hasn't made physical copies available yet. If and when they do, I'll let everyone know. 🙏
Thanks for the lovely video. Personally I've been meditating the way I was thaught by Theravadan Buddhist monks in North Thailand (vipassana) for 20 years, but when I came across Ahjan Brams book "Mindfulness, bliss and beyond" I changed up my method and experienced the first jhana for the first time. Before that I struggled with keeping a daily routine of 20 mins of meditation. After that I've been meditating 2-3 hours each day. The difference is like night and day, for me at least. Later I've also experienced the 3 other jhanas, but those are much more rare and I've only had them a couple of times during 6 months of meditating 2-3 hours a day - so I'm still a noob. But nothing else has had such a powerful and positive impact on my life.
Yes! Similar story to your fellow practitioner - I have spent 20 years on Burmese and Thai Theravada but added the Jhana’s a few years ago. I actually think cultivating the Jhana teach you much about letting go that benefits your Vipassana (insight)!
Great, glad to hear this! I'm sure that 2-3 hours of meditation a day will be extremely productive and beneficial! 🙏
Thank you Doug. Your explanation very much jives with my interpretation of the sutta on the Jhanas. Ven Bikkhu Bodhi interpretation of 'vitaka & vicara' is one i came across quite recently and is still trying to digest it. I am a practitioner of the Dhamma and sit regularly each day. Yes, indeed the Jhanas (even the 1st Jhana) are extremely difficult to achieve. It requires seclusion of the body as well as mind and this is most difficult to do when one is involved in daily mundane life.
🙏😊
What is jhanna and samadhi?
To make ppl to understand like reading ABC Jhanna,samadhi made simple to be understood in this way.....
This is how it can be easily understood.......
Just say calm ,calmer,calmest or say strong stronger,strongest.
It is in this way the meaning of jhanna and samadhi can be quickly understood.
It is the mind that become peace, more peaceful, completely peaceful .
Jhana are to be easily understand in this way.
This is from my 37 over years of vipasanna meditation and experience and have come to attain to the path.
And seeing all the 8 level of jhanna and the final 9th level is ceesation of conciousness.
There are totally 4 pairs.Path and fruition in each pair so totalling eight states of calm mind.
The 9th level is magga phala.
Suki hotu.
Buddhang saranam gacchami
Good evening to all. Thanks for these great videos Doug. Can you make one on the actual process of sitting to practice Jhana meditation? Thank you.
I’m not qualified to teach jhāna meditation, and anyhow it’s best done in person. If you want one general intro to the actual process, one place to start is Leigh Brasington’s book that I think I linked to in the show notes.
@@DougsDharma Good afternoon Doug. I have a practice and have been interested for over 30 years but the more I read, the keener I am to get instruction. There are few places in the UK that I trust with this and information on this subject is sometimes (suspiciously) easy to come-by. Mindfulness is a subject I have grown increasingly drawn towards and I`m very keen to learn better technique. I fully understand that you feel unqualified to teach but giving a breakdown of what you understand to be accepted practice would be very useful to us that trust you. Or, can you recommend reliable videos or a school you can point me towards in the UK? Sorry, these are a big ask, I understand. Pete
Otherwise, these are all just words.
This is barely the second time I have heard of your personal meditative experience. I would love to hear your personal meditative experience and perhaps a couple of meditation guidance videos. I understand that is not your experience, but I would most certainly be interested in it.
I’ll keep it in mind for future videos, though I consider myself a beginner. 😊
especially connected with music and the arts
Yes, also check out my earlier video on Buddhist art: th-cam.com/video/ydYLXYvz6oA/w-d-xo.html
@@DougsDharma thank you for replying, Doug. I did watch the video on ambition already. It makes me a little sad but I do this that perhaps some people might be interested in buddhism and following your passion
Such an important topic, Doug. Thank you for making this series 🙏☀️ excellent work as always!
My pleasure, Anthony! 🙏😊
Excellent presentation, thank you.
You're very welcome!
Just discovered your channel the other day, you have a great way of getting points across and making things understandable. Thank you
My pleasure, Nathan. Glad the videos are useful to you!
Empty yet filled
🙏
Finally I think I found the words I was looking for : Jhana vs Jnana. I was always confused about these two. When people talked about Jhana I thought they were talking about Jnana but did not sound Jnana. My bad, they're actually talking about Jhana not Jnana.
Ah yes, very different! Jñāna is the Sanskrit term for the Pāli word ñāṇa or "knowledge". Jhāna is the Pāli word that in Sanskrit is dhyāna or "meditation/absorption" (Root for words like "zen"). 😄
@@DougsDharma Burn objects/objectives fenomena (materialism) using the Citta's fire-ball becoming the Nirvana laser by the lenses of the Wisdom.
Good thinking to devote a video to each!
Yes, initially I'd intended to do them all in one video (I have a much older video where I do that), but it just got too long! 😄
The way to attainment is vipasanna.
The mental purifications that really calm the mind and remove the kelisa.
How i realise nibanna through vipasanna?
(Greed,hatred,delusions)are momentarily removed in that moment.
Sotapanna attainment how it occur and the sequence you will experience.....
It starts with vipasanna sitting meditation then until mind shuts down.Before it shuts down,you are clearly comprehending the inbreath watching the beginning,the middle and the end of the breath.
Ceesation of conciousness occur during this moment. The mind suddenly shuts down.
Ceesation of conciousness is similar to mind shuts down:
When this happen,you will not know.(it is because your mind has now stop fabricating just like a factory stop production all machine are switch off and no one working)
That moment of not knowing is the moment you enter magga(path)and phala(fruition)where you are no more existing in this ignorance existence of samsara.
After the magga phala attainment is over you will be in strong samadhi adsobtion where your whole body are radiance with strong pleasurable sensations.(jhana adsobtion)
At that moment you still do not know you have attain magga phala.(only pleasurable sensation overwhelming the mind)
As these strong samadhi adsobtion gradually subside,you will now be able to aware of the calmness of mind and body sitting in erect and firm(in lower samadhi)
At this moment you can easily aware of your breath as it rise on inbreath and as it fall on outbreath.
It is easily notice without effort.
It was during this time you will suddenly remember or recollect the mind ceesation or shuts down clearly.
You remember it very clearly before it shuts down, your were clearly comprehending inbreath rising,middle and end of breath and suddenly everything vanished,no more conciousness,mind shuts down.
Then you realise whole body immersed with strong pleasurable sensations and when the sensation is over you can realise your mind is peaceful ,happy and mindfulness on inbreath and outbreath is easy and that your sitting meditation posture is straight and erect or is very firm(In samadhi state)
In this way you now come to realise that you have finally come to know how suffering ends.
Nibanna is being realise by your pure mind.
Mind that is non greed,non hatred,non delusions.
You are now a stream entry or is now a confirmed Ariya or sotapanna.You are free from 4 woeful realms of existence and you only have 7 more existence one as human and another 6 life as devas.
If you are hard working and if you continue practice your vipasanna meditation and come to ceesations of conciousness for the second times,your next attainment is Sakadagami and you only have 3 more existence.And if the third time ceesation you are Anagami and the 4th time you are Arahat and will be fully aware of everything and totally free from ignorance completely and never to be born again.
May my explaination be enlightening to vipasanna meditators and what is being explain are the final knowledge you will experience when your time for attainment is ripe.
Suki hotu.
Buddhang saranam gacchami
Thanks for your thoughts, Joe.
What a beautiful explanation !!!
Glad it was helpful! 😊🙏
I think a bit of further detail re what actually achieving the first jhana 'feels' like would be helpful. Specifically, as concentration becomes sustained for an adequate duration, the experience of 'nimitta'--a sign indicating the mediator is on the verge of entering the first jhana. One example could be the experience (in ones mind) of a clear disc like the full moon. My understanding is that this is actually the object of concentration being experienced in a new way. This signals the achievement of 'access' concentration. At this critical point one may or may not enter the first jhana, depending on whether concentration is sustained or not. But, it seems in Theravada texts this experience of a 'nimitta' is always present as a precursor to absorption in the first jhana. Being aware of this could be very useful as an indicator of where one is at in their efforts--and that they are 'on the right track' so to speak.
The nimitta is not described in any detail in the early texts, and my understanding is that people experience it differently.
Knowledge desired earlier in life. Living outside a Buddhist community I have mixed many forms, so I do not officially have a way to communicate since it takes many words to explain simple things. I am sure of the first Jhana after that things start to happen, or were they always there just out of notice.
After watching your videos, when I came home and meditated for 30 minutes, the last 5 or so minutes was an unusual type of state with diffuse whitish light everywhere and there was a type of effervescent (or bubbly) joy associated with the state...I also noticed that time seemed to fly by the moment I got there...I am not sure if this is the first jhana but it was fun and definitely had an uplifting type of afterglow...I don't know if there is a difference between joy and bliss though.
That's nice!
It is arising because your mind is absorbed to your object of mind you use for meditating. You can do this absorbtion practice and can progress until the 4th jhana. Boddhisatta Sidharta (when he still NOT YET awakened) did this following Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta methods.
However, he left and abandoned this practice since it is not going to his goal to end suffering. What does this mean? The jhana that arising from practice of absortion (pointed our mind to an object until the mind and object become entangled as one) will lead you far but nowhere near Nibbana.
When the prince awaken and become Buddha, he taught a method to achieve Nibbana for people who aspire to go there.
How?
I would say that in the kneading simile we are not the kneader, we are the dough. The first jhana is ecstatic and overwhelming, and feels the least controlled of all the jhanas. In the first jhana rapture explodes, and it feels like we are flooded by waves of rapture, so comparing it with kneading certainly seems fitting. The following jhanas are progressively calmer and more stable. At least those are the kind of jhanas we can entering following the Ayya Khema - Leigh Brasington tradition and instructions.
Ah yes, could be that too Zeleni! I was relating it to vitakka and vicāra, but it may simply be a description of the phenomenology.
Tho Khema-Leigh lineage is in that group which interprets vittaka-vicara as background thinking, the monkey mind.
Could we not be both the kneader and the bath powder ball? "[The mendicant] makes the rapture ... pervade this body" as "a skilled bath man ... kneads it until the moisture ... pervades it inside and out." It looks like the mendicant is parallel to the bath man and the mendicant's body is parallel to the powder ball.
Thank-you brother:)
My pleasure, zain. 🙏
I appreciate all your videos and am learning so much. I am still confused by this. I think that I may be experiencing the first phase of Jhana, but I have only been meditating for a year, so it seems unlikely. I use the Headspace ap and at the end of each mediation they indicate “let your mind be free” - so giving permission to not have to focus. This kinda does a reverse psychology thing and it makes you focus better (they allude to this in the Headspace “Self-Esteem” pack). Headspace also does a few meditations where you try to imagine filling your body with light (filling from head down) or like there is a ball of light in your chest expanding. And in the Self-Esteem pack they indicate that when you “let your mind go” - i.e. have no singular focus (like the breath) and concentrate then you achieve a spacious warm feeling (feeling kinda like the light imagination meditation, but in the letting go meditation you achieve this feeling without initiating imagination and instead just let go). I have spent every day for the last 4 months doing this letting go technique. I practice 10 minutes a day formally, but try to incorporate it into my day hundreds of times. I can now produce that spacious warm sensation (without imagination and only letting go) for maybe a minute before getting distracted. And I can do it while walking, talking, and thinking (for maybe 10-20 seconds). So kinda does not sounds like Jhana. But feels like the “there is no part of my body that’s not spread with rapture and bliss”. The spacious warming feeling also feels like I do not have a specific boundary to my own body (like the boundary of my body is not defined). Since the feeling is achieved from just letting go then I feel it is possible to maintain while talking and walking as I just need to continue to remind myself to let go (or get better at maintaining the letting go without thought that is distractive to that state (like craving or aversion)).
Well I wouldn't worry too much about such things, they can become a distraction. Eventually if you are interested in jhāna it's probably best to find a good teacher who can lead you in instruction, and spend a retreat on it. But be aware that the depth of jhāna is controversial. See: th-cam.com/video/2DotdUIO8iM/w-d-xo.html
The "not really bath powder" pic was funny!
Thanks! It's often difficult to find the right illustrations ... 😄
Thank you! 🙏🏾
My pleasure! 🙏😊
Hey Mr. Doug, can you please do a video about piti(joy) as one of the awakening factors? I am very new to secular buddhism and reading Satthipatthana sutta left quite a bit of questions in my mind. Most importantly, if not sensual, what kind of joy do we talking about? Is intellectual joy one of this kind? Moreover to a commonsense everyone feels better(or joyful) doing the good but how is it used practically to beat laziness, sloth and torpor in the mind? Also thank you for the video, I love every video of yours!
Thanks Ivankov! Pīti is often translated as "rapture"; it's seen as a more active form of joy or happiness than say "sukha". I think it can come in many flavors, depending on the person and the context. It can be an almost physical, bodily feeling of effervescent pleasure, or I suppose it also could be an active intellectual pleasure. Since it's an active feeling, it wakes us up and therefore could theoretically be an antidote to torpor, though it may also be that we have to overcome torpor first and then in time pīti can arise. I don't recall suttas in which pīti is recommended as a particular antidote to sloth and torpor, though.
@@DougsDharma Oh! Thank you! I was trying to not have pleasure because I thought it was bad practice so I almost had depression while practice. I was very wrong it seems. I didn't see it in suttas as antidote to sloth and torpor but I saw it mentioned that way by some bhikkus. There are lot of things to misunderstand so I give a probability of misunderstanding to every practice or theory until I get more clear big picture in my mind. Your explanations really help, thank you for your time you put in the videos and replying to me.
Sati, samathi, via negativa, apophasis, retroduction... TY SO MUCH, Doug! (lets go beyond the Tathagata view's of the Atman/Brahmayama.) {S.N. 5.5} Jhana is the Lógos in Lógic, the harmonic intuition with deduction and induction: Anatta = the subjetive lógic ancient methodologics by the objetive negation, pure subjective synthesis. (Plato and the Nous in abductive cosmological reminescent dialétics, by socratical antropological retroduction dialogues...; the metaphysics between the Arkhé and the Techné) (sorry my english, Master Doug.) The Real Meditation is indeed the Teurgy, the Breath of the [Prometeus] Fire.
You're very wise. Doug still teach the heresy NATHATTA (No-soul).
Did you know Via negativa(neti neti) is secretly called "Patisothagami=Opposite Current" in the Pali Nikayas.
I recently read Patanjali Yoga Sutras and to my surprise discovered the same idea mentioned in a different term "Pratiprasava=Opposite Current".
@@secondcomingofnagarjuna3028 THANKZ SO MUCH!
@@secondcomingofnagarjuna3028 Thank you so much!
Thai Forest Tradition are well learned in the Jhanas check out Ajahn Brahm
I agree, the book "Mindfulness, bliss and beyond" is the book that helped me "achieve" the first jhana. I'be been on many retreats and have meditated for over 20 years, but his book is what helped me get in the right direction. After that I'd highly recommend Ayya Khema/Leigh Brasington, especially Ayya Khema on WHY jhanas are so important to insight.
Yes, Ajahn Brahm has been one of the leaders in bringing jhāna back to the forefront of practice for many, as has Leigh, following Ayya Khema as you say.
There are two types of First jana:
1. First jana with light to brahmin abodes
2. First jana with insight meditation to Nirvana ( seven lives with happiness in the highest abodes)
Thanks Doug for focusing on the meditative phenomenon, better known as Jhana. As I understand it, Jhana is a result. A vipaka. (wholesome of course) It is the result of all the preparatory work of stilling and refining the mind, most often by anapanasati, mindfulness of the breath. The focus of the breath becomes more stable, until our old pals, the five hinderances, finally give up the fight. As they depart the scene, the jhana factors of sukha and piti(and several others) expand to pleasantly fill the space left by the now absent hinderances. There is a paradox here.
What seems like Bodily pleasure initially arises, like the bubbles of a shaken soda bottle suddenly opened. Yet sensory pleasure would seem only possible if the five hinderances were still active. But they are not.
I believe that these "bodily" sensations occur at the transition or so called threshold of Jhanic absorption, which then refines into the first jhana itself. Sukha and piti ease in intensity as the other more refined aspects of the first Jhana become more prominant. The meditator can direct the focus of the action(vtaka, vicara) but the Jhana itself, is the result of the previous efforts to focus and refine the mind and thus, draws the mind deeper. Cheers Doug, thanks again for your fine scholarship.
Yes, that is certainly one way to understand the process, John. Thanks for the tips! 🙏
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Thanks for the explanation Doug! I wanted to share my (brief) experience of what I think may have been approaching the first jhana. I have been meditating regularly for the last three years, and over the last year have been taking it quite seriously.
After about an hour of sitting meditation, I was focused on my breath, but of course still had the occasionally thought coming to mind. After a while, an almost electrical feeling that started in my legs moved up through my body. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant - it felt a little scary to be honest - but certainly something I had never felt before. It caused me to become distracted from my breathing, at which point the feeling started to go away, but returned again once I had focused on my breath again; and this went in cycles. I get the impression this was the "placing the mind and keeping it connected", the latter of which I had trouble with. I wondered what it might have been, and after some searching came across this video. Thanks again for the explanation! :)
My pleasure!
Thank you.
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Doug, I'm curious to know whether or not you have trained in the jhanas. If so, who was your teacher?
Do you use jhana in your daily meditation? How long does it take to reach the first jhana? I'm thinking that I might like to increase my concentration ability to help me stay in the present moment throughout the day.
I've taken jhāna training with Leigh Brasington and Bodhipaksa, though I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near expert. It takes a lot of meditation time daily to reach jhāna, either that or a long retreat.
hey doug, I like your videos and I would be interested in seeing a video about buddhism and following your passion.
Thanks Kashimir! I did a video awhile back about Buddhism and ambition, which sounds similar: th-cam.com/video/DF4rdQ7FRFY/w-d-xo.html
@@DougsDharma thanks again for replying!
It is to be understood that once you have enter the ceesation of conciousness,all sufferring ends.
The life line of samsara conciousness are momentarily disconnected as you are no more existing in samsarara or no more existing in the dreams of existence in that moment and as you experience the unborn,deathless,uncondition
NIBANNA.
YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHEN CEESATION OF CONCIOUSNESS OCCUR.
WHY?
YOU ARE NO MORE CONNECT TO THIS EXISTENCE.
THERE IS NO MORE YOU.
THERE IS NO MORE SUFFERINGS.
So this is the highest attainment one can accomplished.
The end to all conditions.
Seen and understood.
The Buddha quote:
This is how all vipasanna meditation practitioners will come to known what i have known.
The end to all birth and death sufferings.
Nibanna.
Suki hotu.
Buddhang saranam gacchami
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Great!
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Thanks Doug, this is huge help for my meditation! Just to make sure: is this the same Thing as the four Dhyana and eight samadhis 四禅八定？？ if I succeed in the first one, I will come to the US and buy you a cup of tee!
The Sanskrit word "dhyāna" is the same as the Pāli "jhāna", so I would imagine you're talking about the same thing. Though without looking in depth at which practices you're talking about, I can't be 100% sure! 😊
Can you reccomend a Pali dictionary good for materials in EBTs? What do you use.... I assume I'll need to learn some grammer too.
Here is one of the standard ones, from the Pali Text Society: gandhari.org/dictionary?section=ptsd .
@@DougsDharma thank you!
No matches found for “jhana”. Why?
Hey Doug,
Great video about Jhanna. I have a questioned that's a bit off topic.
I was reading my Art History Textbook for this winter semester and it had glazed over topic that I had no idea about. But, it was talking about Muslims destroying Buddhist statues because they were seen offensive to Islam.
I've never heard of this before, and I was looking more into it but I was reading articles about it and I felt more confused. I'm sure this can be controversial but i was curious what your thoughts were?
Thanks for all your help! :)
That's a big and somewhat controversial topic, Joseph! There has been a lot of recent scholarship around it, too. I've done a couple of videos recently that might be of interest, though if you're really interested you'll have to delve deeper into the references in the show notes to each. One on Buddhism and iconography: th-cam.com/video/qRqxuxS1qUg/w-d-xo.html , another on Buddhism's decline in India: th-cam.com/video/y8GNgWatUwE/w-d-xo.html (particularly Elverskog's book in the latter video touches on Islam and Buddhist iconography. The upshot: it's complicated!)
Something about a credit card ad while watching a video about the first jhana…
Thanks Doug, great explanation. I was just curious if you have experienced this first Jhana yourself?
I've discussed this in several videos, it depends who you ask!
What's SN, MN, and so forth? acronyms for parts of suttas?
These are abbreviations for the Nikāyas and other early texts. See for example: th-cam.com/video/YIcnCqOALPs/w-d-xo.html
I had to turn on notifications because you stopped showing up in my subscriptions.
Wild! I have no clue how TH-cam's algorithm works for these things ...
It's great to be able to follow what you're saying based on my own experience. I may not have reached the first Jhana but I've certainly felt pleasure of seclusion during meditation. I've got to ask you... Last week I had an experience where it felt like the person I thought I was had receded into the background of my awareness and I felt no separation between "me" (even though I didn't feel like a "me" anymore) and everything around me. Is this what "anatta" is?
Thanks for that, Justin. As to your question, it's difficult to say for sure, but I'd speculate that it's a kind of non-self experience. Some however will identify this experience with that of a "greater self", and in that case it wouldn't really be non-self. I think it depends on how one grasps it.
@@DougsDharma Thanks, Doug. It certainly felt like both. A disappearance of me and an emergence of that which just is. I appreciate your response and thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Their more then 4 Jhana
In later Buddhism they were all called jhānas, but in early Buddhism there were only four.
Do understand that there is 2 stages which l expirenced, one a thought and back to meditation state and other stay in the body but feel like meditation with awarnes body? Am l correct?
I'm not sure about your question, though the first jhāna doesn't to my knowledge have two stages.
I always wondered if these years of extreme ascetisme are waved away as 'a death end' by later Buddhist propaganda. One could argue that those years brought him to a certain level, that made it possible to' transcended ' with his own path . We will obviously never know, but I can't even imagine the effect of years filled with extreme dieting , mediation, mortification etc has on a human mind.
Perhaps so, but he did not recommend it as part of the path for his own followers, so I don't think he himself saw it as useful. Indeed, he described it as one of the two extremes to be avoided, along with sensual indulgence.
@@DougsDharma Maybe he himself , or those who wrote in his name didn't even recognize the influence of all these years on his progress. They are obviously something ' to be avoided ', That the whole point of Buddhism. I'm just saying, that some claim such rigoureus & intense meditation practice must have have been a steppingstone for the the Buddha's personal enlightenment.
Could a felling of pleasure felt when repeating a mantra be considered a jhana?
Hard to say for sure since there is debate about what counts as jhāna, but it would have to be the first jhāna at most since the other ones lack discursive thought or language.
If Jhanas wasn’t important why would the Buddha taught it along with Vippassana? Many people don’t know that the western Vippassana movement came from Burma’s tradition of meditation which invented the Vippassana meditation that is very different from early Buddhism which only started about 150 years ago.
Right, the Buddha certainly seemed to think jhāna was a very important practice.
How long do these states last? A few seconds? That's my experience.
The Buddha claims they can last several days. To my knowledge they can last long periods of time in proficient practitioners.
According to Buddhism how and when a new life is born/created? Or is it some of the questions Buddha never answered?
Well that's a big question, Rafaele. The Buddha had a very rudimentary explanation of how the consciousness aggregate at the end of one life begins a new life. However an enormous amount is left unexplained. As a secular practitioner I leave such speculative material to the side.
That's a question even many Buddhists have... But the answer for that is according to the buddha there's no traceable beginning in the rebirth process... The number of past lives we have had is infinite..... Once a monk asked the buddha how many great Aeons have we been in the samsara. One great Aeon is about 30 billion years... The buddha replied suppose 4 monks who have the ability to recall any number of lives were to recall 100,000 great aeons each per day... Like that even after 100 years straight until the 4 monks die still there wud be infinite Great Aeons needed to be recalled....
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Hi Tough
Another great video, I have been meditating for years now and been in a state where time and body doesn't exist (no feeling of the body) what seems like time minutes of meditation after coming out of it two hours have past it is a state of pure consciousness where nothing else exists.
Is this Jhana ?
I can't say for sure Jason, but it doesn't sound like jhāna to me, more like one of the formless attainments. (I'll be doing a video on them as well soon).
Sorry Jason. The first Jhana you actually feel very powerful pleasure throughout the body. Trust me, when you have Jhana you will know it without any doubt what’s so ever
Jason it actually sounds like true samadhi. I would say 2nd jhana. It’s possible to skip the first and go straight to 2nd but it’s not recommended unless first jhana is mastered. What style meditation were you doing?
@@magicaree hi thanks you for your reply, unfortunately I don't know the type of medication the first year I concentrated on breath and saw colour and strange images but as I went on over the past year I stopped seeing this and was Also able to stop thoughts instantly .
This meditation was without thought (no internal dialogue) and no concentration on a sound or object, it was pure consciousness with no sense of time or sense of body.
Perhaps it was just a basic form of meditation but many thanks for your interest.
All the best Jason
Hello sir, Can I know what's the object use to attain Jhana?.
The early texts don't really talk about objects used to attain jhāna, though teachers throughout the centuries have suggested several, such as the "kasinas". One can also use inner signs or "nimitta" as indicators for jhāna, but that's better left to your meditation teacher to explain, since there are a lot of personal differences between how people experience them.
@@DougsDharma thanks sir for the answer. Anumodana.
Doug, my dad Doug gave up drinking....wooooo
Thanks for the info, Griffin!
Do you know that vitarka and vichara are also described in the Yoga sutras? 😁
It wouldn’t surprise me at all!
Is the first Jhana conducive to Insight Meditation?
It certainly can be, Aron. It depends on how it's made use of. The calm and focus of mind can be conducive to insight after we exit the state.
No First jhana is different it can be achieved by covering the 5 hindrances....
Katamo ca, bhikkhave, puggalo tiººo pa’raªgato thale tiTThati bra’hmaºo? Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco puggalo a’sava’nam khaya’ana’savam cetovimuttim pañña’vimuttim
AN 2.6 “How is one a Brahman, is deemed crossed over, and gone beyond? Herein him, whose mind is freed, devoid of defilements, is liberated by wisdom. Such a one is a Brahman, is deemed crossed over, and gone beyond!
Sattime, bhikkhave, sama’dhiparikkha’ra’. Katame satta? Samma’diTThi, samma’saªkappo, samma’va’ca’, samma’kammanto, samma’-a’ji’vo, samma’va’ya’mo, samma’sati. Ya’ kho, bhikkhave, imehi sattahaªgehi cittassekaggata’ parikkhata’ ‚02, ayam vuccati, bhikkhave, ariyo samma’sama’dhi ‚03 sa-upaniso itipi saparikkha’ro itipi’”ti.
AN 4.40 These are the seven prerequisites of Samadhi. Sammaditthi…sammasati. These are the seven requisites for making the mind (citta) sovereign which is the Exalted Sammasamadhi, those causes, those prerequisites.
Yato kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno pañña’ya cittam suparicitam hoti, tassetam, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno kallam vacana’ya-‘khi’ºa’ ja’ti, vusitam brahmacariyam, katam karaºi’yam, na’param itthatta’ya’ti paja’na’mi’’”ti.
AN 4.402 “When, followers, when ones mind is thoroughly ripe with wisdom, he can say that birth is destroyed, the Brahma-faring has been fulfilled, what must be done has been done, for there is naught but this very Soul.”
So yadeva tattha hoti r³pagatam vedana’gatam sañña’gatam saªkha’ragatam viñña’ºagatam, te dhamme aniccato dukkhato rogato gaº¹ato sallato aghato a’ba’dhato parato palokato suññato anattato samanupassati. So tehi dhammehi cittam paTiva’peti ‚01. So tehidhammehi cittam paTiva’petva’ amata’ya dha’tuya’ cittam upasamhara
AN 4.422 In the first Jhana he dwells. Whatever form there be, feelings, perceptions, experiences, or consciousness, these he sees to be without permanence, as suffering, as ill, as a plague, a boil, a sting, a pain, an affliction, as foreign, as otherness, as empty, as Selfless (anattato). So he turns his mind (citta) away from these; he gathers his very mind in the realm of Immortality.
A+
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Incorrect, it can happen immediately
please don't talk about Jhana if you have only read about it.
Hi Doug. Good content, generally. But in this video, it's clear from your descriptions that you have no direct experience with the jhanas and you are doing a tremendous diservice by going into such detail about something you have no insight into. As Bhikkhu Bodhi has made very clear, knowledge is not understanding, and intellectual knowledge isn't a replacement for insight. No amount of book knowledge, or intrepreting the suttas, is a subsitute for direct insight; and teaching something that know nothing about is reckless. I don't expect that this comment will have any impact on your intention to "teach" on the 3 remaining jhanas, nor your intention to teach on the four formless attainments, which you should absolutely not do. With metta.
Thanks for your concern Flynn. I do have some experience with jhāna practice, but my concern in these videos will be with how these states are described in the texts, since those descriptions are often taken as determinative. I have tried to make clear that much of this material is controversial. Different jhāna teachers teach them in different manners. There are a lot of strong views around such attainments, and I would urge us not to cling to such views but rather read the texts and practice with an open mind. 🙏
Doug is speaking to an Internet audience, so his approach is well suited for those of us who don't have any access to a local teacher, much less someone steeped in the Jhanas.
@DougsDharma I'm curious, what is your experience with them?
And do u want more experience with them?
In hindusim,it is call brahma dhyana