|
|
|
|
Jhana in Theravada
|
| |
|
| |
Jhana (Pali: Sanskrit; Dhyana) is a meditative state of profound stillness and concentration in which the mind becomes fully immersed and absorbed in the chosen object of attention. It is discussed in the Pali Canon (and the parallel agamas) and post-canonical Theravada Buddhist literature. The Buddha himself entered jhana during his own quest for enlightenment. The Buddha is constantly seen in the suttas encouraging his disciples to develop jhana as a way of achieving awakening and liberation.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Jhana in Theravada' Start a new discussion about 'Jhana in Theravada' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Jhana (Pali: Sanskrit; Dhyana) is a meditative state of profound stillness and concentration in which the mind becomes fully immersed and absorbed in the chosen object of attention. It is discussed in the Pali Canon (and the parallel agamas) and post-canonical Theravada Buddhist literature. The Buddha himself entered jhana during his own quest for enlightenment. The Buddha is constantly seen in the suttas encouraging his disciples to develop jhana as a way of achieving awakening and liberation. Just before his passing away, The Buddha entered the jhanas in direct and reverse order, and the passing away itself took place after rising from the fourth jhana.
Stages of Jhana
The Rupa Jhanas
There are 4 stages of deep concentration which are called the Rupa Jhana (Fine-material Jhana):
- First Jhana - To attain this jhana, the meditator must fix his mind on the meditation object to reduce and eliminate the lower mental qualities which is called the Five Hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt) and promote the growth of five jhana factors (applied/directed thought, sustained thought, rapture, bliss and one-pointedness). In this stage, only the subtlest mental movement remains. The ability to form unwholesome intentions ceases.
- Second Jhana - To attain this jhana, the meditator must reduce and eliminate the two initial factors of the first jhana itself (applied/directed thought and sustained thought), the three remaining jhana factors still possessed by the meditator are the rapture, bliss and one-pointedness. In this stage, all mental movement utterly ceases. The ability to form wholesome intentions ceases as well. Acquires complete confidence.
- Third Jhana - To attain this jhana, the meditator must reduce and eliminate the third initial factor of the first jhana itself (rapture), the two remaining jhana factors still possessed by the meditator are the bliss and one-pointedness. Three additional components are possessed by the meditator (equanimity, mindfulness and discernment).
- Fourth Jhana - To attain this jhana, the meditator must reduce and eliminate the fourth initial factor of the first jhana itself (bliss) and replace it with another jhana factor (equanimity/neutral feeling), the two remaining jhana factors still possessed by the meditator are the neutral feeling and one-pointedness. In this stage, the meditator enters a state of supreme purity, equanimity, and pure consciousness.
The Arupa Jhanas
Beyond the four jhana lie four higher attainments in the scale of concentration, usually referred as the Arupa Jhana (Immaterial/formless Jhana). The immaterial jhanas are designated as:
- Dimension of infinite space.
- Dimension of infinite consciousness.
- Dimension of nothingness.
- Dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.
The Buddha learned these eight meditative attainments from teachers prior to his enlightenment.
Cessation of feelings and perceptions
The Buddha himself discovered a state of beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, the "cessation of feelings and perceptions" — this is sometimes called the "ninth jhana". Only someone who is already an anagami or arahat can attain this state; here a person gains a sort of unconscious meeting with nibbana. It is attained through an integral blending of jhana and vipassana.
Preliminary Stage
The Buddha explains right concentration (samma samadhi), part of the Noble Eightfold Path, as the four first jhanas. According to the Pali Canon commentary, there is a certain stage in of meditation that the meditator should reach before entering into jhana, this stage is called upacara-samadhi (Access/Neighbourhood Concentration). The overcoming of the Five Hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry and doubt), marked the entries into access concentration. Access concentration is an unstable state where the mind become well concentrated on an object but it is still not yet a state of full concentration (jhana). The difference is in full concentration, where certain factors become strengthened to such a degree that they bring about a qualitative shift in the level of consciousness, they actually shift the mind to a different level of consciousness, and it no longer functions on the ordinary sensory level. Access concentration does appear in the discourses of the Buddha, though it is not labeled as such. The equivalent of upacara-samadhi used in Tibetan commentaries is nyer bsdogs.
At the state of access concentration, some meditators may experience vivid mental image (Pali: nimitta), which is similar to a vivid dream (as vividly as if seen by the eye), but in this case the meditator is fully aware and conscious that they are seeing mental images. Different meditators will experience different mental images, some meditators may not experience any mental images at all. The same meditator doing multiple meditation sessions may experience different mental images for each session. The mental image may be pleasant, scary, disgusting, shocking or neutral. At this stage, the meditator must ignore the mental images and should continue their concentration.
As the concentration become stronger, the feeling of breathing and the feeling of having a physical body will be completely disappear leaving only pure awareness. At this stage the inexperienced meditator will usually become afraid thinking that they are going to die if they continue the concentration because the feeling of breathing and the feeling of having a physical body has completely disappeared, at this stage the meditator should not be afraid and should continue their concentration in order to reach full concentration (jhana).
Mastering the Jhana
A meditator should first master the lower jhana, before they can go into the higher jhana. There are five aspects of jhana mastery:
- Mastery in adverting: the ability to advert to the jhana factors one by one after emerging from the jhana, wherever he wants, whenever he wants, and for as long as he wants.
- Mastery in attaining: the ability to enter upon jhana quickly.
- Mastery in resolving: the ability to remain in the jhana for exactly the pre-determined length of time.
- Mastery in emerging: the ability to emerge from jhana quickly without difficulty.
- Mastery in reviewing: the ability to review the jhana and its factors with retrospective knowledge immediately after adverting to them.
Samatha meditation had been discovered before the Buddha's time. The Buddha's interpretation of the jhanas as characterized by the three marks was a unique contribution.
The early suttas state that "the most exquisite of recluses" is able to attain any of the jhanas and abide in them without difficulty. An particular arahant is "liberated in both ways:" he is fluent in attaining the jhanas, and is also aware of their ultimate unsatisfactoriness. If he were not, he would fall into the same problem as the teachers from whom the Buddha learned the seventh and eighth jhanas in seeing these meditative attainments as something final. Their problem lay in seeing permanence where there is impermanence.
Usage of the Jhana
The meditator uses the jhana state to strengthen and sharpen the mind, in order to investigate the true nature of phenomena (dhamma) and to gain higher knowledge in the state of access concentration. The longer the meditator stays in the state of jhana the sharper and powerful the mind becomes. The jhana will cause the Five Hindrances to be suppressed for days.
After coming out from the state of jhana, the meditator will be in the state of post-jhana access concentration. This post-jhana state of access concentration will have the qualities of being certain, long-lasting and much more stable. This is where the job of investigation and analysis of the true nature of phenomena start. It is also where deep insight into the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and not-self arises. The meditator can experience these truths, which lie at the heart of the Buddha's teachings, through direct experience.
As the Five Hindrances will be suppressed for days, after entering jhana. The meditator will feel perfectly clear, mindful, full of compassion, peaceful and light after the meditation session. This may cause some meditator to mistakenly assume that they have gained Enlightenment.
The jhana state cannot by itself lead to Enlightenment as it is only suppresses the defilements. Meditator must use the jhana state as an instrument for developing wisdom by cultivating insight and use it to penetrate the true nature of phenomena through direct cognition, which will lead to cutting off the defilements, fathoms the Four Noble Truths and Enlightement.
In other schools
Schools of Mahayana Buddhism have different approaches to calm concentration.
The most distinctive feature of Zen meditative techniques is the emphatic rejection of the meditative absorption states of early Buddhism, in favor of total mindfulness of one's surroundings. Hui Neng says in his Platform Sutra: "To concentrate the mind and to contemplate it until it is still is a disease and not Zen." He goes on to say that the meditator who enters a state in which thoughts are suppressed must allow them to arise naturally once again.
Tibetan Buddhism also lacks emphasis on achieving levels of concentration higher than access concentration. According to B. Alan Wallace, one possible explanation for this situation is that virtually all Tibetan Buddhist meditators seek to become enlightened through the use of tantric practices. These practices require the presence of sense desire and passion in one's consciousness, but jhana effectively inhibits these phenomena.
See also
External links
|
| |
|
|
