Are metta jhanas mentioned in the suttas?

[Maarten]

I am practicing metta and am thinking about making this my main type of meditation. I read in some books about metta jhanas. I think that if you can get into Jhana with it, you can get enlightened with it. So is there any mention about metta Jhana in the suttas or is this a later addition?

With metta!

[bodom]

Samadhi Sutta: (Immeasurable) Concentration
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sankhitta Sutta: In Brief
(Good Will, Mindfulness, & Concentration)
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The two suttas above show that metta meditation can lead to concentration and the jhanas.

[amtross]

Thanks for those links Bodom. Here is another Sutta that talks about metta in realation to Jhana's and as a vehicle leading all the way to full liberation.

Metta Sutta:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

[daverupa]

The Samyutta Nikaya connects the four brahmaviharas as well as anapanasati with the seven factors of awakening. Altogether, the seven factors almost seem like a way of summing up Samadhi:

Mindfulness (sati)
Keen investigation of the dhamma (dhammavicaya)
Energy (viriya)
Rapture or happiness (piti)
Calm (passaddhi)
Concentration (samadhi)
Equanimity (upekkha)

Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration all seem to be included; the only trick is that we have discourses showcasing how anapanasati fulfills satipatthana, but I'm not aware of there being an explicit connection like that between the brahmaviharas and satipatthana, although karuna is closely allied with efforts to suppress the hindrance of ill-will.

[Maarten]

Thank you everyone! This is enough for me to study for a while.

[Hanzze]

The two suttas above show that metta meditation can lead to concentration and the jhanas.

Maybe it is good to add that metta as a kasina (object of meditation) is also used as vehicle for concentration. If we say that metta can lead to concentration, it could be wrong understood.
Additional:

Absorption in the first three jhanas can be realized by contemplating the first three brahma-viharas (metta, karuna, mudita). However, these meditations cannot aid in attaining the fourth jhana due to the pleasant feelings associated with them. Conversely, once the fourth jhana is induced, the fourth brahma-vihara (equanimity) arises.

wiki: Kammaṭṭhāna

[fig tree]

I am practicing metta and am thinking about making this my main type of meditation. I read in some books about metta jhanas. I think that if you can get into Jhana with it, you can get enlightened with it.

In the Sankhitta sutta (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html) the monk is advised to contemplate eight objects, eventually "with equanimity", and four of them are the brahmaviharas, metta and the other three. The monk is also described as succeeding with this.

Fig Tree

[Sylvester]

I mentioned the Mettasahagata Sutta, SN 46.54 here previously -

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... ad#p133953" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some pretty interesting things emerge from that sutta. Firstly, the ascetics from the other orders too claimed to practise metta in the same way as the Buddhists, ie the standard pericope of radiation of metta to the 6 directions. The Buddha suggests that what makes the Buddhist development of metta different from the other ascetics was how metta is integrated into the Awakening Factors, and with some specific outcomes -

“And how, bhikkhus, is the liberation of the mind by lovingkindness developed? What is its destination, its culmination, its fruit, its final goal? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu develops the enlightenment factor of mindfulness accompanied by lovingkindness … the enlightenment factor of equanimity accompanied by lovingkindness, based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in relinquishment. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive and in the repulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive and in the unrepulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘Avoiding both the unrepulsive and the repulsive, may I dwell equanimously, mindful and clearly comprehending,’ then he dwells therein equanimously, mindful and clearly comprehending. Or else he enters and dwells in the deliverance of the beautiful. Bhikkhus, the liberation of mind by lovingkindness has the beautiful as its culmination, I say, for a wise bhikkhu here who has not penetrated to a superior liberation.

The outcomes in red are part of the abilities of the "noble one with developed faculties" set out in MN 152. I suggest we do not aim that high, since the ariya in this case appears to be referring to Arahants!

For those who are still plodding along, the outcome in blue seems like a more realistic attainment.

Ven Analayo identifies the "deliverance of the beautiful" with the 3rd Vimokkha of "subhanteva adhimutto hoti, ayaṃ tatiyo vimokkho" (Deliverance by Being Resolved on the Beautiful). Given how the other 3 brahmavihāras appear to lead to the formless attainments in this sutta, the implication seems to be be that the "deliverance of the beautiful" refers to the 4 Jhanas.

I suspect this aspect of meditation is just putting kusala sankappa (wholesome resolves) into how we meditate, rather than a specific "metta" meditation. At this stage, does one stomp on the defilements, or does one relate to them with non-ill-will and non-cruelty?