Something occurred to me regarding meditation for people (like me) who subscribe to a view that jhana is a whole body experience. It is that one can be sidetracked by emphasising the body over the mind rather than letting the body enter the action in its own good time.
Instructions like...
He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal.
"Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman's apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip; even so, the monk permeates, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal...ater, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip; even so, the monk permeates, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal..."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dha ... jhana.html
...point to how the jhana is 'handled' and brought to fullness. They aren't instructions in how to arouse the actual jhana which is a job for the mind.
"For one without regret no volition need be exerted: ‘Let joy arise in me.’ It is natural that joy arises in one without regret.
(4) “For one who is joyful no volition need be exerted: ‘Let rapture arise in me.’ It is natural that rapture arises in one who is joyful.
(5) “For one with a rapturous mind no volition need be exerted: ‘Let my body be tranquil.’ It is natural that the body of one with a rapturous mind is tranquil.
(6) “For one tranquil in body no volition need be exerted: ‘Let me feel pleasure.’ It is natural that one tranquil in body feels pleasure."
https://suttacentral.net/an10.2/en/bodh ... ight=false
And...
"Seeing that the hindrances have been given up in them, joy springs up. Being joyful, rapture springs up. When the mind is full of rapture, the body becomes tranquil. When the body is tranquil, they feel bliss. And when blissful, the mind becomes immersed."
https://suttacentral.net/dn2/en/sujato? ... ript=latin
Only when this rapture has arisen should the body be brought fully into action in order to unify the mind & body.
The reason for this post is to point out that I believe emphasising the body in meditation is a mistake that is easily made and one that I have frequently done.
Bhikkhu Thanissaro's instructions for example are great in themselves but there could be a danger if taken in the wrong way that they become merely a yogic bodily exercise.
Just my thoughts.
A potential sidetrack in practice
Re: A potential sidetrack in practice
Have you ever tried Visuddhimagga and its Tika's instructions (without any editing)?
Or Atthakatha's instructions?
Or Atthakatha's instructions?
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BrokenBones
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