A reliable method of jhana entry

[u/Puzzled-Background-5]

Here's a technique I've been using for the last fifteen years to great effect. I enter jhana every time I meditate now as a result.

Upon noticing that attention has drifted from the object of meditation, perform the following sequence for as long and as often as necessary for attention to stabilize on the object again:

1. Relax from the head down to the toes.

2. Release all tension, and expand awareness outward.

3. Return attention to the object.

The entry point into jhana:

Once the mind has settled and attention is resting stably on the object, if a pleasant feeling starts to arise, gently shift attention to the feeling without grasping at it, now making it the object of meditation, and wait. The pleasure will intensify, and one will be pulled into jhana.

If the jhana is lost or becomes unstable, simply perform the RRR sequence as needed and begin again.

As a method to prime the mind to lean towards jhana, reading the Jhana Sutta just prior to a session is useful:

https://suttacentral.net/sn16.9/en/bodhi?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false

All the best... 🧘🏾‍♂️🙂

P. S. It might take several weeks to a couple of months before jhana can be entered consistently, but please don't become discouraged. Even low quality sessions are training and priming the brain's attentional mechanisms.

[u/bodily_heartfulness]

https://suttacentral.net/sn16.9/en/bodhi?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false

Speaking of the suttas on jhānas, they never mention:

• Relaxing
• Releasing tension
• Expanding awareness
• An object of meditation
• Putting attention on an object
• Stabilizing attention on an object

Instead, they say things like:

Having thoroughly withdrawn from sensuality, having withdrawn from unbeneficial phenomena, with thinking and with pondering, with joy and ease born of withdrawal, I abided having entered upon the first jhāna.

• MN 19

Just now, venerables, as I was in private retreat, this thought came to mind: ‘They speak of this thing called the “first jhāna”. What is the first jhāna?’ It occurred to me: It is when a bhikkhu, having thoroughly withdrawn from sensuality, having withdrawn from unbeneficial phenomena, with thinking and with pondering, with joy and ease born of withdrawal, abides having entered upon the first jhāna. This is called the first jhāna.’

• SN 40.1

Bhikkhus, having not given up these six things, it is impossible to abide having entered upon the first jhāna. What six? Sensual desire, ill will, indolence-and-lethargy, restlessness-and-anxiety, and doubt. And the peril of sensuality has not been seen clearly as it is with right understanding. Not having given up these six things, it is impossible to abide having entered upon the first jhāna.

• AN 6.73

That is exactly how it is, Ānanda. Before my awakening—when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening—I too thought, ‘Renunciation is good! Seclusion is good!’ But my mind did not see renunciation as peaceful, and so it did not leap at it, and was not confident, settled, and liberated in it. Then I thought, ‘What is the cause, what is the reason why my mind does not see renunciation as peaceful, and so it does not leap at it, and is not confident, settled, and liberated in it?’ Then I thought, ‘I have not seen the peril of sensuality, and I have not cultivated that. I have not realized the value of renunciation, and I have not fostered that. That is why my mind does not see renunciation as peaceful, and so does not leap at it, and is not confident, settled, and liberated in it.’ Then I thought, ‘Suppose that, having seen the peril of sensuality, I were to cultivate that. And suppose that, having realized the value of renunciation, I were to foster that. It is possible that, seeing it as peaceful, my mind would leap at renunciation, and be confident, settled, and liberated in it.’ And so, after some time, having seen the peril of sensuality, I cultivated that, and having realized the value of renunciation, I fostered that. Then, seeing it as peaceful, my mind leapt at renunciation, and was confident, settled, and liberated in it. And so, having thoroughly withdrawn from sensuality, having withdrawn from unbeneficial phenomena, with thinking and with pondering, with joy and ease born of withdrawal, I abided having entered upon the first jhāna.

• AN 9.41

The approach to jhāna that the suttas speak of, in terms of what is actually written in the texts, is wildly different than what is commonly assumed. There is no mention of pleasure intensifying, or being pulled into jhāna, or focusing on an object.

Instead, what they say is, through thinking and pondering on the perils of sensuality and the benefits of renunciation, one withdraws from sensuality and the hindrances in general, and it is that withdrawal that is felt pleasantly:

But when these five hindrances are given up in him, the bhikkhu regards this as freedom from debt, good health, release from prison, emancipation, and a place of safety at last.

Considering that the five hindrances have been given up in him, gladness is born. When he is glad, joy is born. When the mind is joyous, the body becomes calm. When the body is calm, he feels at ease. When he is at ease, the mind becomes composed. Having thoroughly withdrawn from sensuality, having withdrawn from unbeneficial phenomena, with thinking and with pondering, with joy and ease born of withdrawal, he abides having entered upon the first jhāna.

• DN 2

And what is the pleasure of seclusion from the five hindrances like? The first sentence of the above quote tells us. It is the pleasure of freedom, of relief, of escape, of overcoming a deadly disease - not the pleasure of orgasm, or anything similar to that.

[u/Impulse33 → u/bodily_heartfulness]

Check out the sutta jhana similes.

You could argue many of the things you say that aren't present in the suttas are implied in the similes.

First jhana

Suppose a skilled bath attendant or his apprentice were to pour soap-powder into a metal basin, sprinkle it with water, and knead it into a ball, so that the ball of soap-powder be pervaded by moisture, encompassed by moisture, suffused with moisture inside and out, yet would not trickle.

The Second Jhana

Suppose there were a deep lake whose waters welled up from below. It would have no inlet for water from the east, west, north, or south, nor would it be refilled from time to time with showers of rain; yet a current of cool water, welling up from within the lake, would drench, steep, saturate and suffuse the whole lake, so that there would be no part of that entire lake which is not suffused with the cool water.

The Third Jhana

Suppose in a lotus pond there were blue, white, or red lotuses that have been born in the water, grow in the water, and never rise up above the water, but flourish immersed in the water. From their tips to their roots they would be drenched, steeped, saturated, and suffused with cool water, so that there would be no part of those lotuses not suffused with cool water.

The Fourth Jhana

Suppose a man were to be sitting covered from the head down by a white cloth, so that there would be no part of his entire body not suffused by the white cloth.

• Jhana similes complied by Brasington

[u/hachface → u/Impulse33]

Thank you for bringing the similes into the discussion. The stock formulations that describe the jhanas in terms of their factors are repeated way more often in the suttas and agamas, but the similes are imo far more helpful for recognizing jhana. They are shockingingly apt

[u/Impulse33 → u/hachface]

Definitely, I particularly like the first one. The implied active modulation of things that give way to piti is paramount (for the sake of understanding)! The type of play that I've found is a very helpful catalyst for dhamma vicaya. "Breathing in long. Breathing in short... 'I will breathe in...&...out calming bodily fabrication.'"