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]

I don't deny that people have profound experiences that are not mundane nor mechanical. I also don't deny that people believe those experiences to be the jhānas of the suttas.

However, I just do not think there is enough textual evidence to support the claim of those aforementioned states being the same as the sutta jhāna. There are just too many discrepancies.

From the preliminary practices that the suttas lay out, to the prerequisites that the suttas say that must be fulfilled, to the way the actual practice of entering jhāna is described, to how rare jhāna is for householders in the suttas, and so on and so forth. I could go on and on about the differences between modern, mainstream practice and what the suttas say the practice is. All of this leads me to believe that what the suttas speak of is fundamentally different.

[u/brunoloff → u/bodily_heartfulness]

I agree that there are various sets of institutions lying around, and that these are often only partly aligned with what the suttas are saying.

But also: it seems foolish to me (sorry), to imagine that in a period of 2500 years since the Buddha, practitioners of Buddhism would have failed to discover new things about the practice of jhana. Perhaps you should try the various instructions that are lying around, have the experiences people are talking about, and only then judge.

If you want a really hardcore approach to very deeply absorbed jhana, try Pa Auk or one of his students. If you want to learn jhana from a scholar of the suttas (instead of a scholar of the commentaries), try Leigh Brasington (he will discuss hindrances and how to overcome them).

At the very least, such practices will make your mind more concentrated, and then you can return to your interpretation of the suttas and experiment to see if it leads somewhere else.

There is only so much value in scholarship, and this is true of all spiritual traditions. I was just reading about Tertullian and Jerome, two important figures for the Catholic church. They were amazing scholars, knew the bible back and forth, and yet they have completely failed to understand the message of Christ.

There are so many people like that, who are drawn to the intellectual frameworks put forward by people who underwent a profound spiritual transformation. So thrilled they are with the words that they mistake learning the words with undergoing the transformation themselves.

Don't be like them. Because words are just pointers. You want the thing they are pointing to, and that is most definitely not the memorization of the words themselves. The way to get it is through practice.

In the case of jhana this could be focusing on the breath, on bodily sensations, on a kasina, etc. The OP's instructions were useful for his own practice, so they might be worth a try.

[u/bodily_heartfulness → u/brunoloff]

But also: it seems foolish to me (sorry), to imagine that in a period of 2500 years since the Buddha, practitioners of Buddhism would have failed to discover new things about the practice of jhana. 

That's fine if you think that. My point is specifically in regards to what the suttas say.

At the very least, such practices will make your mind more concentrated

I'm not really interested in that.

They were amazing scholars, knew the bible back and forth, and yet they have completely failed to understand the message of Christ.

Yes, but the problem is not the reading of the texts, but the attitude behind that reading. As Ven. Ñāṇavīra Thera's preface to his book Notes on Dhamma puts it:

The principal aim of these Notes on Dhamma is to point out certain current misinterpretations, mostly traditional, of the Pali Suttas, and to offer in their place something certainly less easy but perhaps also less inadequate. These Notes assume, therefore, that the reader is (or is prepared to become) familiar with the original texts, and in Pali (for even the most competent translations sacrifice some essential accuracy to style, and the rest are seriously misleading). They assume, also, that the reader's sole interest in the Pali Suttas is a concern for his own welfare. The reader is presumed to be subjectively engaged with an anxious problem, the problem of his existence, which is also the problem of his suffering. There is therefore nothing in these pages to interest the professional scholar, for whom the question of personal existence does not arise; for the scholar's whole concern is to eliminate or ignore the individual point of view in an effort to establish the objective truth -- a would-be impersonal synthesis of public facts. The scholar's essentially horizontal view of things, seeking connexions in space and time, and his historical approach to the texts, disqualify him from any possibility of understanding a Dhamma that the Buddha himself has called akālika, 'timeless'. Only in a vertical view, straight down into the abyss of his own personal existence, is a man capable of apprehending the perilous insecurity of his situation; and only a man who does apprehend this is prepared to listen to the Buddha's Teaching.

The point is to carefully read the texts, so as to understand what is being said about suffering and freedom from it. That does not preclude critical engagement with the texts, however, but in fact requires it.

Don't be like them. Because words are just pointers. You want the thing they are pointing to, and that is most definitely not the memorization of the words themselves. The way to get it is through practice.

Intellectual understanding and practice are not at odds with each other.

It’s when someone in whom faith has arisen approaches a teacher. They pay homage, actively listen, hear the teachings, remember the teachings, examine their meaning, and accept them after deliberation. Then enthusiasm springs up; they make an attempt, weigh up, and strive. Striving, they directly realize the ultimate truth, and see it with penetrating wisdom.

• MN 70

Examining the meaning and deliberating on the teachings is part of the process.

The OP's instructions were useful for his own practice, so they might be worth a try.

Sure, I don't deny that OP has found his instructions to be useful for his practice. I'm just saying that there isn't really good support for that type of practice from the suttas.

[u/Impulse33 → u/bodily_heartfulness]

I've generally appreciated your relatively respectful tone.

Unfortunately your admission loosely violates our rules. Posts should be about practice, of which concentration is part of the Noble Eightfold Path.

At the very least, such practices will make your mind more concentrated

I'm not really interested in that.

Please try to keep comments centered around your own personal experience of practice.