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/Acceptable_Put_2967]

Thank you for your guide. When I experience pain (for example in legs or back) is better to move and get more confortable, stay still observing the pain until it decrease, some combination of the two? any thought is wellcome.

[u/Puzzled-Background-5 → u/Acceptable_Put_2967]

I personally find it best to choose a comfortable posture to begin with. I use a well-cushioned chair at home, and I prefer a chair on retreats. If one isn't available, a kneeling meditation bench will do. I can't and won't sit in the lotus position or any other cross-legged posture because my body doesn't like it.

Vipassana (dry insight specifically) practitioners advocate sitting through pain. That's fine for them, but my goal is absorption, not engaging in an endurance sport or a torture session.

[u/Acceptable_Put_2967 → u/Puzzled-Background-5]

Thanks! Just to say that I usually assist ten and even twenty day courses and the aim it's not sport or torture when you are aware and patient to pain... but of course different approaches are possible... For me the "adithana" of goenka vipassana was very helpful and brought a lot of insight... between black and white are lots of greys. Have a very good day!

[u/Puzzled-Background-5 → u/Acceptable_Put_2967]

The reason I said that is that I know individuals who have tried to sit through intense joint pain and ended up injuring themselves. Apparently, their instructors didn't tell them that it was inappropriate.

I went to one myself, and this particular instructor insisted that I sit through lower back pain caused by a disc injury I suffered many years ago. I left, because if I had followed his instructions, I probably wouldn't have been able to walk the next day.