Practicing the first jhana

[@jeffdocherty]

Thank you Beth. I lived as an anagarika in a Buddhist Monastery Sri Lanka in the 1990’s and since then do about 6 meditation retreats a year. I remember encountering the first Jhana in 1992, I recall it clearly because it is a v distinct experience! Yes there is a refining of the these mental factors but there is significantly more energy, buzz, uplift, the sense of applying effort disappears and there is an overwhelming sense of effortlessness, there is just Jhana running itself, you can’t help but be engaged because the experience is so highly energetic you are engulfed in it. The second Jhana moves from this body sensation based experience and gravitates to the Heart. This is now feeling based and the level of Joy is heightened again, the feeling in the heart exquisite. Thereafter the rapture modifies into a more pervasive happiness that is just there, it is the nature of things. So if you encounter Jhana it is very noticeable!

[@KungFuLandau]

Pure gold, as always! Thank you Beth!

[@altruistx]

The first Jhana is incredibly intense. You'll notice it.

[@TheMarcusrobbins]

ikr - the first Jhana is utterly unmissable.

[@lilbatty]

Guys when im doing mindfulness of breathing should i be focused on the breath alone or should i have a more open awareness with the breath

[@pear-zq1uj]

I heard it takes 6 straight hours of meditation to get to the first jhana, is this true?

[@Truthofstillness]

@@pear-zq1uj no. It’s simple about the conditions. If the conditions are present, it will simply blossom..and fairly immediately. 🙏🏽

[@gideonros2705]

​@pear-zq1uj It took me about three months meditating cca 1 to 1.5h in the morning and evening. I didn't have any guidance just the inspiration from a book from Tina Rasmussen. The first obstacle is the tendency to become sleepy. This I later came to realise is a good sign because your training to be aware in the theta state just bordering detla state. For me it took 2h of straight meditating in later stages to enter really deep peace. You want to enter as often as you can a state of inner peace and quiet where you don't perceive the outside, or barely. The body will feel airy and weightless. There will be moments when you feel as though you are in your breathing from the concentration. Then the moment will come when you'll perceive nothing not even your breathing. The darkness in frot of your eyes will suddenly become even more intense, and all the phosphene you might have seen up till then will dissappear into clear velvet blackness. Now you just rest in that void and soon enough you'll experience a nimmita. For me it was a bright star with bluish electric patterns. It's was so intense. My mind felt like I had decades of orgasms concentrated in a laser beam. The intense feeling that is indescribable because instead of experiencing an object of senses you are literally the feeling, subjectivity without the object. I foolishly abandoned my practice but now ten years later I want to go deeper. I hope you have good results. And don't get discouraged by all those stories that you need years of practise or some karmic capital like paramis that they all talk about in South East Asia Buddhist communities. It just religious nonsense overlay and has nothing to do with spiritual practice.

[@wtfgeis]

Thank you so much for making this video and all the rest of your jhana videos especially! Extremely helpful and much appreciated.

[@cynthiaboshelle4229]

Thank you, Beth! Does anyone know if there are meditation retreat centers who offer in-person experiences in developing Jhana meditation?

[@bethupton1286]

Yes. There are several places in Myanmar, most obviously any of the Pa Auk centres. You could also try Na Uyana in Sri Lanka or Ajahn Brahm's monastery in Australia, to name a few.

[@thekarmafarmer608]

Hi Beth. I`ve had a deep interest and a regular practice routine for some time but would really value a retreat early next year. Can you recommend a reputable UK centre with Jhana instruction, please?

[@jonassourlier4690]

Gaia House. Yahel Avigur, student of late Rob Burbea, is leading a Jhana retreat in May 2024. I will be there 🤗

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

Thanks so much for sharing!

[@bethupton1286]

Happy you found it helpful!

[@TheWizard10008]

Thank you Beth. So grateful for your instruction. 🙏

[@u_Vajiradhammo]

Namo Buddhaya 🙏🙏🙏 I live in Russia alas, I'm alone yogi and as I sad couldn't to come in near Buddhist country to practice under teacher's guidance. So, how I can attain jhana if I live alone, just supporting mother. How? (

[@u_Vajiradhammo]

I understand that one should to overcome for some obstacles to attain unification of the mind. I mean, what more favorable kammathana object for alone yogi (brahmacari)?

[@u_Vajiradhammo]

I forgot to say that I struggle with deep depression and anxiety (has now), fearing to lose one dearest human in my life, mother. I have nobody in my life.

[@bethupton1286]

Hello, please feel free to book an appointment with me so that we can discuss the details of your situation and how to build a practice that works for you.

[@u_Vajiradhammo]

@@bethupton1286 I'm so happy for your answer ven. Beth. I would like very happy for your spirit support.(corrections in my practice ) 🙏🌹🧖‍♂️

[@u_Vajiradhammo]

@@bethupton1286 please tell me ur book, I can't to find it (I'm sorry,)

[@kheylemiquekheylemique3247]

Thank you

[@sampleart1]

Does TM put you in the 1st Jhana?

[@VISHAL000re]

Hey sis, whenever I kept my awareness between my eyebrows while lying down before sleep, continue to be aware until sleep take over me then in the dreams I always dreamt flickering colourful light dots,foggy haze, glow, colourful rains,moon and sun with intense vibrations, But nothing can be experience by me while meditating, everything that I experience is only in dreams

[@a6hiji7]

That is the thing - everyone wants experiences, whereas meditation was expected to be just being!

[@shao8614]

It is hard to let go of worries over this body and mundane life. I am transgender, I used to hate my body, it was easier to meditate, and in fact, I'd try to reach jhana on a daily basis, now I like my body more and I get stuck worrying about its health, it is way harder to meditate.

[@dunner079]

You need to stop identifying the body as a self. You even refer to the body as "it". Worrying about its health is more self making.

[@TheWizard10008]

Beth, quick question. Currently at retreat. What is the optimal area to focus attention with the breath in order to cultivate a nimitta? A) Below the nostrils above the upper lip? B) Around nostrils? C) At the tip of the nose? D) Whole body breath awareness? E) At the belly? What do you recommend? Or which is most commonly used for best results? Thanks in advance.

[@kheylemiquekheylemique3247]

In Pa Auk, to reach the jhanas, one should not concentrate on the breath of the abdomen, but one should concentrate on the breath passing through the upperlip or the end of the nostrils. In this area (upperlip/tip of the nostrils), you have to concentrate on the breath passing through there. In this region, try to find the place where you feel the breath more easily; for example, if you feel the breath more easily at the upperlip, then focus on the breath passing there, but if you feel the breath more easily at the entrance to the tip of the nostrils, then focus on the breath more easily at the entrance to the tip of the nostrils. Another important point is not to focus on the details of the breath, but rather to focus on the breath in a global/general way (i.e. on the concept of breath). I have expressed this last point very badly. That's why I advise you to read this article, which explains this point extremely well: americanmonk.org/concept-meditation/ .

[@nyanavamsa]

Transcription for this video is available at: samathavipassanabhavana.wordpress.com/2024/05/12/practicing-the-first-jhana/

[@FaradayNorton-i5d]

Volkman Rapid

[@camillabartlett9128]

🙏🙏🙏

[@channelforgood9523]

I have attained the first jhana, you need to do a lot of merit which helps concentrate the mind, practice the precepts, be celibate, if you live an active sexual life, will be impossible, when you enter first jhana you notice it as an overwhelming joy that feels as a great smile in the face, so great smile that if someone sees you will think you are mad, so do it in solitary, then you just focus on the feeling of one pointedness. But prior to this upacara samadhi needs to be achieved, which is a calm state of the mind and onepointedness. The 8 precepts are a good day to do it, i usually attained it in 8 precepts day. Avoid bad toughts of cruelty, hate, disrespect, or lust. This will destroy the possibility of reaching it. Just use metta. When you reach the jhana and you feel is fading then just use pañña or thinking to contemplate the key concepts, or even anicca dukka anatta. You can contemplate whatever topic in buddhism and solve any problem, while doing the jhana.

[@user-fg3fv9hl3b]

Not true at all on sex life preventing jhanas. It helps to avoid but not a necessity.

[@user-fg3fv9hl3b]

Honestly if one can avoid sex and relationships I think that's better anyway. Definitely harder while in those two modes. Just not an absolute requirement

[@nganvo840]

Plz add friend with me

[@nganvo840]

Hey

[@channelforgood9523]

@@nganvo840 hello :)

[@thefivefrogs]

🙏😊

[@mdsalsm27469]

❤️

[@geoffy8245]

You’re so pretty, like the tree trunk.

[@zvonkojuric5675]

You are beautiful 😊

[@helperboy5020]

thank you. although i havent even reached any form of samadhi in my entire life. 🥲

[@SB-me6lg]

You can do it ! You have all the capabilities same as everyone I promise youlll get there !

[@helperboy5020]

@@SB-me6lg thank you.

[@Truthofstillness]

I’m happy for that moment, that’s coming for you. 🙏🏽