Meditation

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DreBay
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:18 pm

Meditation

Post by DreBay »

Hi

I became a buddhist last june and then i also started to meditate
I've been meditated 30min twice a day and barley missed a day since

So to the question, i've never experienced i jhana jet (a few times i feel like i'm starting to get into one, but it disappears quick)
is this normal? Cause i've read that can get into it instant, but normally it takes time it can take a month.
I've been mediation for 6-7 months and still nothing :thinking:

Where i live there's no temples or buddhist communities that i can ask so i hope that somebody here can help me :) thank you
Like one who picks and chooses flowers, a man who has his mind attached to sensual pleasures is carried away by death, just as a great flood sweeps away a sleeping village - Dhammapada 47
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Goofaholix
Posts: 4030
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:49 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Meditation

Post by Goofaholix »

Some people have quite a natural ability to get into jhana whereas others don't.

For most people intensive full time retreat practice for several months is required, and then they'd probably need to be quite mature in their practise to start with, so 30 minutes twice a day is not likely to do it.

Most non monastics emhasise vipassana in their practise rather than jhana as the time taken to get results with the former is much quicker than the latter and lay people find it difficult to set the necessary time aside.
Pronouns (no self / not self)
“Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.”
― Ajahn Chah
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SarathW
Posts: 21306
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:49 am

Re: Meditation

Post by SarathW »

Hi DreBay.

Welcome to Dhammawheel.

The quickest way to experience Jhana is to.
a) Observe minimum five precepts. Preferably higher precepts
b) Practice Brahama Vihara.

Hope this may help you.
:)
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Babadhari
Posts: 459
Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:23 pm
Location: lalita ghat

Re: Meditation

Post by Babadhari »

hi drebay

i have read many experienced instructors and teachers say that jhanas should not be viewed as something to be attained, but rather that they are a by-product that arises from purifying the mind . strong concentration does need to be developed. :namaste:
Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion.
Aflame, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs ......
Seeing thus, the disciple of the Noble One grows disenchanted. SN 35.28
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culaavuso
Posts: 1363
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:27 pm

Re: Meditation

Post by culaavuso »

kitztack wrote: i have read many experienced instructors and teachers say that jhanas should not be viewed as something to be attained, but rather that they are a by-product that arises from purifying the mind . strong concentration does need to be developed. :namaste:
Jhana Not by the Numbers
Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote: This was why, as long as your awareness was still and alert all-around, it didn't matter whether you were in the first or the fourteenth jhana, for the way you treated your state of concentration was always the same. By directing your attention to issues of stress and its absence, he was pointing you to terms by which to evaluate your state of mind for yourself, without having to ask any outside authority.
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