General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
Viscid wrote:
How important is it really to identify whether or not one's meditative state is actually jhana? 'Is it jhana yet?' seems to be to be a modern obnoxious Western mantra. What should be emphasized about the jhanic state is not its particular content but its result: equanimity, dispassion, insight, etc.
[url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/jhananumbers.html]Jhana Not by the Numbers[/url] by Ven. 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. And, as it turns out, the terms you can evaluate for yourself — stress, its cause, its cessation, and the path to its cessation — are the issues that define the four noble truths: the right view that the Buddha says can lead to total liberation.
Spiny Norman wrote:Thanks. The name of the sutta ( Samadhi Sutta ) perhaps supports the idea that it's jhana which is being referred to?
The Samadhi Sutta of AN 4.94 actually explains how correct meditation practice consists of the development of both insight and tranquility (which involves jhana absorptions). The theme is also reflected in the other Samadhi Sutta at AN 4.41 which describes the four developments of concentration.
Yes, thanks - I'd forgotten about the other Samadhi Sutta!
someguysomeguy wrote:I read in Bikkhu Bodhi's translation of the Nikayas that Concentration levels of 1st Jhana is sufficient to attain Nibbana through Insight meditation.
I have few questions:-
a. Can Nibbana be obtained by just Insight Meditation (without attaining even 1st Jhana?).
b. Lets say a person obtains Nibbana without reaching 4th Jhana - will he not have these powers on attaining Nibbana ?
- Divine eye and ears
- Power to see the passing away and birth of beings
- Power to see one's own previous lives?.
It is possible that a monk attain Nibbana before attaining jhana.
It is possible that a monk attain Nibbana before attaining the divine eye and divine ear, and the ability to recollect past lives, but the basic knowledge that what is subject to birth is subject to death is helpful to gaining the insight to attain Nibbana.