This is my first interaction with this community, from which I have learned a lot the last couple of months.
Recently (last 2-3 months) I've been focusing on trying to understand sensuality. For this, Ajahn Nyanamoli (from Hillside Hermitage) has been crucial; he is someone who doesn't make concessions to kāmacchanda (which I find is pretty common in buddhist teachings, even from Ajahns, probably because in the west we don't want to know anything about sensuality being an obstacle to spiritual progress). Nyanamoli really puts sensuality at the center of his teaching, and you get the impression that without 8 precepts and sense restraint it is impossible to make progress.
However, since current times make it so hard to give up on sensuality (what Nyanamoli calls the "pressure", that is most evident with sense restraint, is unbearable due to how deeply rooted sensuality is nowadays), I have turned my attention towards Jhana. What I get is that Jhana is especially relevant today if you want to try to give up on sensuality. This is because, without any alternative to sensuality, life would be pretty miserable (sensuality is all we Puthujjanas have). So I want to have a correct understanding of it.
Here is my current understanding of Jhana in EBTs. Following a distinction I've seen in some places in this forums, I contrast Sutta Jhana vs Concentration Jhana:
Concentration Jhana is what was available at the time of Lord Buddha. He mastered all of them while still an unenlightened bodhisatta. Concentration Jhana is what you find in Visuddhimagga. Basically the idea is a forceful subdue of the hindrances by narrowing your attention to an object. From here is where we find Samadhi translated as concentration and Ekaggata as one-pointedness, in the narrowest possible sense. The problem here is that the hindrances are not overcome by understanding, but by suppressing them forcefully. You get your Jhanas, but in a sense they are "artificial Jhanas", since when you get out of your cushion the hindrances are strong as ever, so these Jhanas won't impact your daily life.
Sutta Jhana is Lord Buddha's version of Jhanas. It is his own twist. It is the same experience as the Concentration Jhanas, but the way you get there is radically different: instead of a forceful suppression of hindrances, the idea is that if you work on these by investigation and understanding, Jhanas will come naturally. In this way, you could say these are "natural Jhanas". That's why Nyanamoli has videos with titles like "Jhana is a State of Being", "How Virtue Leads to Effortless Samadhi", "Permanent Jhana Through Perception of Dispassion", "Jhana is a Lifestyle", etc.
I am just starting my way into the Suttas, but one place I find evidence for this is MN107, which is the start of Nyanamoli's recent book "The Only Way To Jhana". Here he have that, only after lots of things have been established with respect to virtue and sense restraint (first 7 instructions), does the Buddha give instruction 8, where he also explicitly mentions that hindrances should have already been abandoned (so their abandonment is not done by concentration).
8) having abandoned these five hindrances—imperfections of
mind that weaken discernment—then, withdrawn from sensual
desire, withdrawn from unskilful qualities, he enters and remains
in the first comprehension: joy and pleasure born of withdrawal,
with thinking and pondering ... the second comprehension, the third
comprehension, the fourth comprehension: purity of equanimity and
recollection, neither pleasure nor pain.
Is this understanding broadly correct? what would you add/change? what other Suttas could justify this understanding?
Any input from people who have also devoted some time in trying to understand Jhana is greatly appreciated.
