Actual Jhana and Uprooting the Sense of Self

[@StanleyFamilyFun]

It blows my mind!!! Why is no one else in the early Buddhism sphere teaching like this???

[@stefanvidenovic5095]

I'd like to say that they simply don't know. But HH has been teaching for 10 years now and there isn't an infinite number of buddhists (specifically monks)... Math doesn't add up... And if it's just too hard to accept because of whatever stuckness in views... F**k views, it still does not quite make sense because why would you not help yourself to freedom from suffering, especially if you're already in the robes which is such a rare play of choices, events and circumstances... Really, I still don't get it. It's like being a monk (or a follower of the Buddha in general) is just a hobby for a lot of them, so they like to take it easy. Freedom from dukkha is not on the menu.

[@stefanvidenovic5095]

This (interpretation of Jhāna) is so broad and comprehensive and all-encompassing, and makes so much sense in so many ways (especially if you understand some neuroscience)... I can't even... It could not possibly be otherwise! Absolutely no room for it to be otherwise. The "healing" for "Jhāna" fits it so well (conceptually), almost tempted to start translating it so (as in "First Level of Healing", "Second Level of Healing", etc). But, even to just properly imagine this, one has to "peek" a bit beyond sensuality, taking into account all of depth, breadth and subtlety associated with it, as far as one can see it at any current level of development.

[@zephyrr108]

The world is corrupted by many ideologies.. and this includes most of.buddhism..this buddhism of HH is a breath of fresh air...

[@CD-kl1dn]

Thanks for this great series

[@fk0ff-y9j]

Would be nice to listen to an uninterrupted lesson of ajahn Nyanamoli again

[@hamasammay]

🙏sadhu sadhu sadhu

[@Spiritualjourney259]

Thanks Venerables.

[@cwilkinsonwck]

I have a dream, and sometimes it is slightly different, but I am climbing a ladder with my daughter on my shoulders, I am thinking how difficult and hard it is. Then I look down behind me and I am literally being carried by an unseen force, I get to the top, but as I realized I am being carried, the force subsides and I begin to fall. Only to barely hold on... very vivid and gives me chills thinking of this.

[@josephoutward]

Interesting.

[@felasfa1]

How does one work on the burden of shame from past mistakes and acts?

[@gravityfalls8439]

Regards Venerable Sir, Sense Restraint and your videos (especially about Right Endurance and NOT taking up the body) have helped me strengthen my mind. I have learned to endure things by keeping the body down now such that there is pain but it doesn't hurt anymore. But I take up the body sometime later out of habit. I wanted to ask is it a good idea to get involved in something that is anxiety provoking(and I don't like it as much because it is outside my comfort zone) to completely overcome anxiety. I am a medical student and I have a choice to make regarding my career and I have 2 options. One is Internal Medicine(3 years Post Graduation degree) which is very anxiety provoking for me as it involves dealing closely with serious patients that may die ,longer work-hours, very physically demanding(involves walking a lot in the hospital), lesser sleep(around 4 hours -5 days/week and 1-3 hours -2 days/week). All of this for atleast 1 year. In 2nd and 3rd year the workload decreases to humane levels. The other one is Radiology which is only intellectually challenging, like a desk job and it involves reading Medical Images.(Xray,USG,CT and MRI). I like Radiology more but I was thinking of choosing Internal Medicine as it is anxiety provoking for me(and I don't like it as much because it is outside my comfort zone) to train the mind. Is this a good decision? I have seen Internal Medicine Residents cry often because of the work. In some of the top Hospitals few have even committed Suicide(I have heard 2-3 cases over 3-4 years) because of the stress and toxic seniors/consultants around them(I don't plan on choosing these hospitals). Most don't leave because they have already spent 5-6 years in Medical school(Under-Graduation) and feel stuck because they have to pay a huge amount of money( which would be a financial burden for a few years) to leave and they may not be able to practice Medicine as they would have to give PG-Medical Entrance test again(which is difficult and very competitive) and repeat the 3 year Post Graduation(PG) course. Its like basically you are stuck in for 3 years in the hospital. Is this a good decision?

[@HillsideHermitage]

No, that does not sound like a good decision. Firstly, you will not overcome anxiety by provoking it in such a manner. The provoking needs to be done in a subtler and more controlled way, grounded in a lifestyle safeguarded by uninterrupted precepts. It should also ONLY be done when the mind is complacent, not when agitated. What you are describing sounds very different from that, as not only will you lack much input and control over the "provoking" aspect, but you will also quite likely compromise the lifestyle, balance, and environment that are genuinely more suitable for practice. For example, things could become so stressful and overwhelming that you would constantly think about work issues and be unable to separate yourself from them, even if you wanted to. So, instead of proliferating in such risky directions, it would be better to find something calmer and less aggressive as your vocation. In the meantime, you should begin addressing the attitude you briefly mentioned at the start: "...but I take up the body sometime later out of habit..." Addressing those "habits" now will bring you closer to uprooting your anxiety than lifetimes spent "provoking" it in various horrible environments.

[@gravityfalls8439]

@HillsideHermitage Thank you Venerable Sir, for the answer. I thought the way to deal with pleasant feelings was to withdraw from sensuality so the way to deal with unpleasant feelings would be to push towards it. But, I was wrong. It's to endure it on a subtle level and to do that I need to be in a suitable, calmer environment. Many Meditation apps and teachers blame the person for being stressed in their life and so the burden is on the person to improve their situation by being strong and learning their techniques but nothing is said about the environment they are in. Your answer makes more sense that the environment is also important to train the mind. McMindfulness (like the fast food company McDonald's)is the term used for superficial, secularised(not addressing the Buddhist perspective) and commercialized practice of mindfulness used by modern people nowadays.

[@ognjenjosifov126]

Summary: Jhana is not a mystical, lofty state but a natural outcome of sustained mental purification and discipline. It involves seclusion, sense restraint, and freeing the mind from hindrances, which relieves mental burdens like debt or imprisonment. Practicing jhana is not merely concentration on an object but involves contemplation, reflection, and the taming of the mind. Misconceptions in Modern Meditation: Modern interpretations often reduce jhana to mechanical concentration practices aimed at achieving blissful states. These views overlook the broader context of mental purification and ethical grounding described in the suttas. Physical and Mental Relief: The pleasure of jhana arises from mental clarity and freedom from hindrances, not from physical sensations or fabricated experiences. The relief experienced can physically pervade the body, serving as evidence of the mind's unobstructed state. Integration of Practice: Activities like sense restraint, ethical conduct, and developing right views are part of the jhana practice. Pervading the body with the mental clarity of jhana helps delineate the mind (citta) from the physical body, further reducing the attachment to self. Culmination of Jhana: Jhana is not an end but a method to recognize and relinquish attachment, leading to liberation. Advanced stages involve seeing even the purified mind as a burden and turning away from all attachment, leading to complete freedom. The overarching message emphasizes the importance of discipline, ethical grounding, and correct understanding in meditation practice, moving beyond superficial techniques to the deeper transformative potential of jhana.

[@hometest-1579]

For what it’s worth, it’s medicus and meditari - etymologies of “medication” and “meditation” are different.

[@Sinistral-c5g]

Hi, Im somewhat confused about how the 6 senses relate to death. Is death like the 5 senses going away with the mind sense remaining? So is it like an extreme form of sensory deprivation? I think that is what AN has said. Can this state last a long time?

[@fk0ff-y9j]

I think it's because of dependency on the senses, lack of sensory input = death, because everything we are depends on the pleasures we engage in

[@stefanvidenovic5095]

You always have 6 senses, even during dying and in between bodies (though probably in some faded and weird form). You are still experiencing things. However, normally, your body shapes your entire reality and even the mind to a great extent, far more than you realize (assuming you're an average person), and to that you are addicted since birth and beyond. Body provides you with a type of stability of experience, without it, it can probably get extremely chaotic and maddening, and this might very well be behind the pull to associate with another body after the previous one fails. And beings are not really "in" the body, but rather "with" the body (associated, entangled). To get an idea, take a look at certain dreams or when someone takes a "heroic" dose of some strong psychedelic, how chaotic those can be, even traumatizing... And there you still have a functional body, just working at a slightly lesser capacity (certain brain regions being offline, at least partially) or simply working in an unusual way. Imagine how much more when the whole body starts failing and irreparably so, and you've been bound to it for so long. The reason Buddha said dying was so supremely horrible is precisely because your core sense of stability gets thrown completely off... The physical pains are not the real problem, they end relatively quickly. Everything after that can last arbitrarily long or short and can go in who knows what directions, depending on the quality of the Mind, previous deeds (kamma) and development of virtue. This is why it is important to strengthen the Mind through the long term cultivation of virtue while alive - the better your virtue, the more you'll be able to take it. And if you develop virtue to the level of some stage of liberation, than you don't suffer at all or very little.

[@hometest-1579]

If Jhanas are progressive degrees of healing though, all Arahants would always be in the 4th Jhana, or wouldn’t be able to enter the 1st one.

[@xeruli]

how does the practice of jhana correlate with the achievement of the first stage of enlightenment?

[@jinlin4326]

It is as if you don't listen to what is being taught instead just jump on your preconceived notion when you see the word jhana

[@noonespecial4171]

Investigate!

[@SBCBears]

Jhana chips away at hindrances. Keep in mind that jhana practiced BEFORE the first stage will be corrupt because of the lack of Right View, so be careful to not cling too strongly to whatever insights that occur. Look for cooling as a general indicator.

[@anka2361]

Ease of jhana, it remains story of ven. Bhaddiya (ud 2.10) ... The Lord then said to him: “Is it true, Bhaddiya, that on going into the forest … you utter, ‘Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!’?” “Yes, revered sir.” “But, Bhaddiya, what do you see that prompts you to do so?” “Formerly, revered sir, when I was a householder and enjoyed the bliss of royalty,... But, revered sir, although I was thus guarded and protected, I lived fearful, agitated, distrustful, and afraid. But now, revered sir, on going alone into the forest, to the foot of a tree or to an empty place, I am fearless, unagitated, confident, and unafraid. I live unconcerned, unruffled, my needs satisfied, with a mind become like a deer’s. Seeing this, revered sir, prompts me, on going to the forest … to utter constantly, ‘Ah, what bliss! Ah, what bliss!’ 🙏🙏🙏 thanks for this teaching - like a bringing lamp in a darkness

[@StanleyFamilyFun]

Very good morning my dear Dhamma family

[@Seeker7891]

You could say that this false sense of attainment is like buying fancy things with a credit card. It gives the illusion of wealth, meanwhile you are in greater debt then before.

[@VeritableVagabond]

This is a beautiful take, but Leigh Brasington’s path and the jhanas he teaches are also valid and practical.

[@simonsays525]

I bet Ajahn would disagree.

[@philalethes216]

These interpretations are mutually excluding of each other so that can’t be right

[@jinlin4326]

Depend on what's your goal, is it more of pleasure seeking or is it about freedom from dukkha

[@emperorpalpatine9841]

Leigh Bresington is a materialist annihilationist who claims the Buddha was lying about rebirth as skillful means. I wouldn’t take anything he says about dhamma seriously. Even if you disagree with the ajahns, at least they try to understand the dhamma honestly and do their best at interpreting the texts.

[@andreashofer5494]

no, he describes them as kind of mythical states that are only there when you meditate. if you read the suttas you see that the buddha says that these states are constant in daily life.

[@metamurk]

suttha cherry picking and misinterpretation

[@raajuuteddd2202]

Please elaborate

[@Dukkha-Bhavana]

I'm sure any sincere questions or specific criticisms would be addressed directly. This statement is hard to work with.