In which Jhana you experience the perception of light?

The cultivation of calm or tranquility and the development of concentration
SarathW
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Re: In which Jhana you experience the perception of light?

Post by SarathW »

:goodpost: Zom
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
SarathW
Posts: 21305
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:49 am

Re: In which Jhana you experience the perception of light?

Post by SarathW »

paul wrote:In this case at least 'perception of light' means daylight:

"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then attend to the perception of light, resolve on the perception of daytime, [dwelling] by night as by day, and by day as by night. By means of an awareness thus open & unhampered, develop a brightened mind. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness." --AN VII, 58.
What is the meaning of "by night as by day, and by day as by night"?
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
paul
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Re: In which Jhana you experience the perception of light?

Post by paul »

It means one focuses on the perception of daylight, then carries that into the night, then carries that perception into the day again, thereby dispelling drowsiness. The degree to which this would be perception of daylight or a mental image would depend on the progress of the individual because in terms of the preliminary work for samadhi, developing this would follow the normal pattern, focusing first on real daylight then developing the sign as a mental image.

Being in the open air is recommended for the removal of sloth and torpor:

The open air provides a life
That aids the homeless bhikkhu’s strife,
Easy to get, and leaves his mind Alert as a deer, so he shall find
(Mental) Stiffness and torpor brought to halt. Under the star-bejewelled vault
The moon and sun furnish his light, And concentration his delight. Vism. II, 62

The description of the development of the Perception of the Repulsiveness of Nutriment in Vism. XI shows that the development of a perception is based on reviewing the actual experience (of obtaining and eating food), and in this case, it would be of being in daylight.

"As he reviews repulsiveness in this way in ten aspects and strikes at it with thought and applied thought, physical nutriment becomes evident to him in its repulsive aspect. He cultivates that sign again and again, develops and repeatedly practices it. As he does so, the hindrances are suppressed, and his mind is concentrated in access concentration, but without reaching absorption because of the profundity of physical nutriment as a state with an individual essence. But perception is evident here in the apprehension of the repulsive aspect, which is why this meditation subject goes by the name of “perception of repulsiveness in nutriment.”
There may be a distinction in the suttas generally between 'perception' and direct knowledge.
In the Perception of Light, the aspects of brightness, openness and unhamperedness would be objects of perception as contrasted with the dull and closing aspects of drowsiness.
No jhana produces light spontaneously except as an imperfection of insight. The light kasina is capable of producing all four absorptions. This is the answer to the OP question.
The light in the practice is from understanding.
Last edited by paul on Fri Dec 30, 2016 8:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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