Hi Morning Mist,
morning mist wrote:Initially , but there are instructions to let go of it and develop insight after you attained jhana.
Buddha clearly discouraged the passion for jhanas in MN 138 and other suttas:
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 60#p118466" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Buddha did not say not to attend to nimitta or not to practice jhana because it is pleasant.
Yes, there's nothing wrong with the pleasure of jhanas, if it doesn't become addictive.
In the Pasakika Sutta, the Buddha distinguished what is wholesome pleasure ( Four stages of Jhanas that is Samma Samadhi ) and what is unwholesome pleasure ( worldly sense pleasure ).
'' These are the four modes of being attached and devoted to pleasure, Cunda, which conduce absolutely to unworldliness, to passionlessness, to cessation, to peace, to higher knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. What are the four ? " The four jhanas. - Pasakika Sutta
There's no Pasakika sutta.
In the Pasadika sutta (DN 29), Buddha says (in translation of Ven.Bodhi):
"There are, Cunda, these four kinds of life devoted to pleasure which are entirely conducive to disenchantment, to dispassion, to tranquillity, to realisation, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. What are they? Firstly, a monk, detached from all sense desires, detached from all unwholesome states, enters and remains in the first jhana..."
Buddha would never praise attachment to pleasure.
One is always awake and aware just not of the outside world.
As Brahmavamso writes, in his jhanas one does not comprehend what's going on.
Also , there is no support for the claim that one goes beyond the 5 senses only in the arupa states.
This is described, for example, in Potthapada sutta (DN 9):
‘‘Puna caparaṃ, poṭṭhapāda, bhikkhu sabbaso rūpasaññānaṃ samatikkamā paṭighasaññānaṃ atthaṅgamā nānattasaññānaṃ amanasikārā ‘ananto ākāso’ti ākāsānañcāyatanaṃ upasampajja viharati. Tassa yā purimā rūpasaññā, sā nirujjhati. Ākāsānañcāyatanasukhumasaccasaññā tasmiṃ samaye hoti, ākāsānañcāyatanasukhumasaccasaññīyeva tasmiṃ samaye hoti. Evampi sikkhā ekā saññā uppajjati, sikkhā ekā saññā nirujjhati. Ayampi sikkhā’’ti bhagavā avoca.
"Again, by passing entirely beyond bodily sensations, by the disappearance of all sense of resistance and by non-attraction to the perception of diversity, seeing that space is infinite, he reaches and remains in the Sphere of Infinite Space. In this way some perceptions arise through training, and some pass away through training."
For more detailed discussion, see:
http://dhamma.ru/forum/index.php?topic=367.0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the Therigatha there are examples of a lay woman entering the form jhana and when someone tried to pour hot oil over her in order to kill her and take her husband, it did not hurt her.
I don't see the connection of this with the matter at hand, and I don't remember such story in Therigatha. Perhaps it is from the Commentary?
Metta, Dmytro