from š Passaddhi (Pacification) to first jhÄna
How to pacify the body (kÄya passaddhi).
Do get first jhÄna, you really only have to do one thing.
5š pacification awakening factor, the 5th factor that precedes the samÄdhi (i.e. 4 jhÄnas) of
6š.
The pacification factor has two components, a mental (citta) and (kÄya) physical part.
How do you completely relax?
If you were standing up, and you decided to completely relax, you'd collapse on the floor like a rag doll, urinate on yourself and fall asleep.
Everyone knows how to completely relax, everyone can sleep.
So first jhana is really just a balancing act between maintaining the mind on the appropriate
āøDharma meditation subject using
S&Sšš, and letting the body fall asleep while maintaining an awake posture, such as standing quietly, or cross leg sitting on the floor.
The tough part of first jhana really is the mental side, how to take up and genuinely enjoy skillful
āøDharma meditation subjects and abandon the
5nivā
hindrances.
V&Vš has a section on first jhana that explores this comprehensively and in detail.
So assuming everyone is able to take care of the mental side of things for a few seconds at least, and temporarily suspend
5nivā
for a few seconds, and you all know how to relax the body fully and let it fall asleep, what's keeping you from experiencing the bliss of first jhana immediately?
Absolutely nothing. If you follow the simple instructions up to this point, there are only 4 possibilities:
1. You'll experience the sukha pleasure (physical, can even be intensely euphoric or orgasmic, or just mild pleasure) of first jhana. Depends on how full your jhana battery is charged.
2. You'll feel jhana constipation (
JhÄna-constipation āš), a condition where you feel pressure and forces of the body pushing on some knot, blockage, or rough patches in your body, things that are blocking the free flow of energy in the many interconnected loops of energy in your body.
3. You don't feel 1 or 2. If this is the case, it's because your jhana battery isn't sufficiently charged. That is, you're a net energy waster. You spend more money than you make. You're not getting enough sleep, noble silence, and meditation, and you're wasting too much of your precious internal energy (PIE) on the
5nivā
, usually for most people this would be sex, overeating, drugs, partying, etc. To charge your battery, stay celibate (in body and mind), at least for a good period of time like 100 days, and cease the activities that drain your PIE. If you can keep 5 and 8 precepts, don't have any unusual health problems, I guarantee after 100 days your battery is going to be super charged and you will feel (1) sukha of first jhana, or (2) jhana constipation.
4. In the process of melting jhana constipation blockages (months, years), parts of your body will feel sukha from (1), other parts of the body will feel the discomfort of jhana constipation (2).
How long does it take to cure jhana constipation?
Depends on your age, health, preexisting conditions, etc.
As a general guideline, I'd say that if you keep 5 precepts well, meditate 2 hours a day, within 3 months to 1 year you should be able to do low to medium quality of first jhana.
If you can keep 8 precepts well, and meditate 4 hours a day, I'd say anywhere from 1-5 years you can do competent 2nd or 3rd jhana.
First jhana is actually very easy to do. The reason most people don't get it, is:
1. They don't make the time committment and keep the precepts every day. See
4ļøš¦ āfoot in the doorā section for powerful method to help you develop kusala habits that will result in jhana.
2. They commit the time for a while, then because jhana constipation feels uncomfortable, even painful, they give up after some time. See
āÆš¦, especially
ššØāš³š„§ and
š§š¢ for exercises than can greatly accelerate the melting of jhana constipation.
3. They believe the wrong re-definition of jhana propaganda of
VRJš or
Jabramaš¤”-jhana, which is a different meditation system entirely, which Vism. estimates "only 1 in a million can attain first jhana".
But in the
EBT, first jhana
j1š is fairly easy to do, the Buddha designed it such that he expects even newly ordained novices to be able to do at least first jhana.
ļ»æ
how gradual and accessible first jhÄna is
š
MN 45 and MN 36, how gradual 1st jhana is
MN 45 and
MN 36.
VRJš and
Jabramaš¤”-jhana (ajahn brahm redefined jhana doesn't fit here)
MN 45 is a good sutta to get a holistic sense of how ordinary, gradual, and easily accessible first jhana was designed to be. The contrast between wrong pleasure, the 5 strings of sensuality, and four jhanas, the right kind of pleasure, is what first jhana formula's 'vivicceva kamehi' is referencing.
ā¦
don't give up on jhÄna, š
until you drink from the sutta cup.
hint: try looking up the definition of 'gradual'. It doesn't mean 'abrupt', or 'random'. If a samadhi path is gradual, 4th jhana should have a meaningful distinction from 1st jhana.
It's not samatha kungfu the buddha is emphasizing for first jhana, it's
AN 5.51: freedom from
5nivā
hindrances is an uttari manussa dhamma, š
the real essence of first jhÄna.
If you plug in vitakka 'placing the mind' as vaci-sankhara, you break the fidelity of the oral tradition and you get
š
B. Sujato mumbling incoherently.
š
proof: V&V are vaci sankhara
First jhana is not about kasina staring and samatha kung fu!
It's about learning how to skillfully use Dhamma vitakka, first jhana thinking to lubricate the mind with spiritually inspiring and relevant Dharma instructions to carry out.
first jhÄna is easier than you think
don't give up on jhÄna, š
until you drink from the sutta cup.
AN 5.176 the Buddha and Sariputta tells 500 lay people to work on first and second jhana. Does that sound like something only 1 in a million can people can do?
AN 5.179 same 500 lay people with first jhana from AN 5.176 attain stream entry.
DN 18: 3 ways of using vitakka to attain first jhana. And over 2.4 million lay followers attain stream entry. Does this sound like 'only 1 in a million' can attain first jhana as vism. claims?
MN 68: š
MN 68 case study on how easy and accessible first jhana is for newly ordained.
MA 77: agama parallel to MN 68, matches closely. Again, notice how it's expected for newly ordained to get first jhana if they can choose delighting in holy life over
5nivā
. Also, notice importance of using inspiring
āøDharma vitakka thoughts to launch
7sbāļø sequence.
SN 47.4 newly ordained, arahants, and all skill levels in between do the same
4spš with
4jš quality of samadhi (first jhana or better!) simultaneously.
š
AN 1 micro first jhana, 37 of them
V&Všš
simile of bird corrupted by vism.
ļ»æ