Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

The cultivation of calm or tranquility and the development of concentration
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budo
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Re: Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

Post by budo »

auto wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 2:39 pm
budo wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:39 am I'd like to discuss specifics so that we can help eachother master the jhanas. Maybe start a jhanas group as well.

- Are you able to enter the jhanas every time you sit down?
- If not, how often are you able to enter the jhanas? (Once day, week, month, etc..)
- What is the highest jhanas you've mastered?
- What method do you use?


As for me I use a combination of ayya khema/Leigh brasington, henepola gunaratana, and buddhadasa bhikkhu's methods.

The best run I had I was able to enter the first jhana every time I sat down, with a max at 4th jhana on rare days. This was last year. Lately though I am only able to enter the jhana once a week, due to switching over to mahasi vipassana, but now I will be returning to my old samadhi method and routine and hopefully can recover and return to the way things were last year.

I hope we can get a small community of jhana practioners going on, so we can learn from eachother.

Also please no off topic derailing and trolling if you're on this forum but don't follow Buddhism or jhanas

Thank you!
Jhana is practiced by certain type of people. Not me. I am following orders. If desire or urge rises i try solve it.

If i would do a breath practice with regular ventilation, that is dry, instead i come aware of breath occasionally and then do it, it is then i feel energy or internal breath and i switch to that breath and then i breath as usual.

If i would do a breathing practice then it is Me doing, there is doer and i gather that i need wait till i forget it and then come aware again and discern that i was gone. I discern that "I" was missing for a while.

Point is that "I" goes missing on throat or somewhere, there is a breath throat mind combo to replica that state without "I going missing". That is if urges are defeated you don't turn away from disgusting things or go to sleep if tired or quit working if feeling sick.

The I goes to head and into faculties. And through faculties you can start cultivate sense of self it gathers into heart and one day will rise and open the center of mind or something..

So i don't get when peopel say there is no self. Yes if self haven't rised/fell pass neck to open belly.
I can't fully understand your writing so I may be misunderstanding you, but it seems you're doing some hybrid of mindfulness of breath, sunnata (emptiness), and off-cushion satipathana. In my opinion I don't think this is sufficient, I think you need to get deep first and foremost with anapanasati so that you can understand and know what bliss feels like and what causes it, then you try to bring that knowledge, state of mind and feeling into every day life with sunnata (emptiness) practice and off-cushion satipathana practice. In short, first you make the fire, then once you've made the fire, you can walk around with the fire.

If that's your intention perhaps you should start another thread, as the intention of this thread is specifically focused on Jhanas.
auto
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Re: Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

Post by auto »

budo wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:48 pm I can't fully understand your writing so I may be misunderstanding you, but it seems you're doing some hybrid of mindfulness of breath, sunnata (emptiness), and off-cushion satipathana. In my opinion I don't think this is sufficient, I think you need to get deep first and foremost with anapanasati so that you can understand and know what bliss feels like and what causes it, then you try to bring that knowledge, state of mind and feeling into every day life with sunnata (emptiness) practice and off-cushion satipathana practice. In short, first you make the fire, then once you've made the fire, you can walk around with the fire.

If that's your intention perhaps you should start another thread, as the intention of this thread is specifically focused on Jhanas.
I discern jhana factors. Ferreting out what i can and subdue sloth and torpor etc what hinders. Im in the boat with jhanas are easy, i notice hindrance then subdue or need remove something. Takes like seconds if measured from the point i notice.

I know there is deep hidden ignored things, so i keep my mind open and try avoid activities what swallow me in. To be super attentive, maximum 5 seconds before i lose myself and forget, i come also impatient and bored. To subdue that kind of boredom is above my paygrade.
So i grind bit by bit on bland state and time to time i can subdue or remove obstacles. Best is if i start discern the bland state as discernible.

I can get to undiscernible grounds where awareness lasts very little time. Not sure how high it is in terms of jhana realms.
auto
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Re: Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

Post by auto »

Re: ban heretics
Quote

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by budo » Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:18 am
My only issue is that a subject of conversation cannot be maintained due to thread derailing/hijacking.

Take for example my jhana thread I created with the intention of finding like minded individuals to help eachother develop jhanas. Instead the thread got brigaded by people who

- Do not believe in Buddhism
- Do not believe in Samatha
- Do not believe Jhana is useful
- Do not believe Jhana is possible in this lifetime

How can anything productive happen if people are allowed to convert any thread into an argument. If my thread was respected then people could exchange advice to help eachother grow instead of being backtracked by doubters who are trying to reinvent Buddhism and the wheel.

There needs to be a new subforum for Jhana practice which is for serious meditators and invite only, to prevent keyboard warriors and internet "scholars" from derailing and hijacking the thread, and trying to keep everyone down and unenlightened.
I read what people do or say to get the counterpart sign out and then use that as an object.
This object is an access to the body,
In body it comes out when i stop breath and when breath stops the object spreads from belly into faculties, making eyes sensible to brightness.
for now i don't know what for the brightness is, the source or place where the object is is on the head then, while previously it was in belly.

Countepart sign is crucial and how to get it or notice it is burden. Burden is basically a work you don't want to do. Like you are currently used counter part sign to make that kind of post, so you missed the moment it rose to you and you failed to grasp it but don't worry you are giving others the change to take the object now.

It is like a game of super mario you told, but instead i search for the sign to arise, people spill it and its there till someone responds or takes whatever does with it or it just expires. Also just see people try to get rid of also their bad signs, they can use smells what sticks to places and others then notice them..
auto
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Re: Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

Post by auto »

budo wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 8:01 am
one_awakening wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 3:26 am
Dhammarakkhito wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 2:29 am fourth jhāna respiration ceases; you both have achieved this?
This is the problem. What qualifies as Jhanas has kept changing over the centuries to mean deeper and deeper states, to the point where the Jhanas are almost unattainable according to some definitions.

Leigh Brasington does a good job and analysis of what the suttas expect from you in his book "Right Concentration".


Highly recommended.
Google leigh brasington dharmaoverground,
https://www.dharmaoverground.org/discus ... ge/6026400



post what typed down the words heard by me:

17.00
shift focus to pleasantness. The smile.
works only about 25 percent of students.
pleasant sensation most commonly found in hands. Sort of warm tingly glow.
otherplaces, heart, head..
19.00 pleasant sensation erupts into piti, sukkha- extacy delight euphoria. Its a physical release of pleasant energy.
20.00 you can't do the jhanas. What you can do is set up supporting conditions, then jhana comes and finds you. Setting up a postivie feedback loop.
2100 adding more pleasentness to pelsanetenss means more pleasentness. 2140- it errupts into piti and sukha. It can feel like you getting out out of control.
2400- ...nucle...reward center is on overdrive. We seemto stimulate reward center automatically with just mental lack of activity and directing of attention.
[24.50 nucleus..produces dopamine. Dopamine breaks down into nepynepfrim. It can produce heatt, alsmot like hot flash.] - its piti.
25.50 sukha the joy happiness-thats probably opioids. Makes you feel good, calminf effect. Piti dies out, sukha the emotional stuff is there.
30.00- piti goes away. rapture fades. happiness free from rapture. Contented state, a wishless state. Completly satisfied.
32. 4th jhana, state beyond pleasure and pain. Emotional neutrality. Go with the sense of dropping down to quet and stillness.
33.00 4th contains mindfullness fully purified by equanimity. Concetration now is quite supreme. Usual way of looking world isn't there.
33.40 can direct now mind t oknowing and seeing.35.00 purpose of jahan is to produce a mind that is concentrated, clear, sharp,....perfect for to investigate reality.
35.20 knowing and seeing things as they really are. Knowing and seeing wahts actually happening.
36.20- at 4th jhana, contraucting of Ego- the self is shut down.
37.00 can do insight(investigation) much less egocentricly.
37.40- sharp the mind and go out and see whats really going on. Come out and investigate your mind and body. Satiphattana sutta, 13 ways to practice insight practices.
38.45- vedana- mindfulness of initual reactions of sensory input. pleasant, unpleasant, neutral.
We running after sources of pleasant vedana and avoid unplesant. We don't pay attention to these but thats waht running our lives.
39.30- third of mindfulness establishment, mindfulness of mindstates. Investigating the mind.
39.40 4th establishment of mindfulness is investigation of phenomena as phenomena relates of the teachings of the Buddha. Investigate the reality.
40.00 end of talk of 4 jhanas. There are also 4 immaterial states. that means 8 altered states in sequence.
41.00 infinite space. 1st arupa jhana. limitless, boundless. Vast empty space appear in front of you. Huge space.
43.21- 5th jhana is realm of infinte space. 3D infinite space.
44.44- 6th realm is infinite conciousness. Trick here is you can't be concious of infinite space with a limited conciousness.
Conciousness has to be big as whatever it is concious at. Can you turn your attention from the space to your conciousness of space?! can you become aware of your awareness?!
45.07- if you do that there is a sense of becomeing absorbed into that space and then your mind is as big the space was. Union with atman.
45.40- 7th is realm of nothingness. Sense of space is gone. Object is no object.. Feeling that there is nothing there, that sense of nothingness.
46.30- people stumble all these states unintentionally too.
47.00 8th jhana. Percetion- sanna is the ability to name, identify things. 8th jhana is neither naming nor not not naming.
This sate does not have characteristics to descibe it. Except you can reqocnice this state by that it has no characteristics..
budo
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Re: Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

Post by budo »

Thanks for these posts auto, I remember seeing this video when it came out, going to watch it again to refresh.
auto
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Re: Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

Post by auto »

budo wrote: Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:50 pm Thanks for these posts auto, I remember seeing this video when it came out, going to watch it again to refresh.
When i see "thank you", my heart, the chest area goes warm.
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retrofuturist
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Re: Has anyone here mastered any of the jhanas?

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

This topic is now closed, and replaced by the newly created...

Let's help each other develop jhanas (take two!)

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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