A short note on jhana meditation and intention

 

 

 

I have included the jhanas as part of my meditation practice for over three years, in part because I was researching meditation practices and experiences, and also because the Buddha described them as an important part of awakening or realising enlightenment. I wrote a bit about this in an earlier blog, which you can find at https://herethewaking.blogspot.com/2023/04/what-are-jhanas-and-how-can-they-help.html

I wanted to write this updating note because of a recent change in my experience of jhana meditation, in case it is helpful to others who also include it as part of their practice.

For the past three years I have ‘followed the book’ when it comes to the procedure for jhana meditations, the book being ‘Right Concentration’ by Leigh Brasington (citation in Sources below). By this I mean following each step Brasington describes to get to each stage, from access concentration, to the first jhana and so on through to the eighth, or as far as I felt was possible in that session. As I’ve said before, it’s quite a ‘busy’ meditation. The practitioner has plenty to do within and between each of the steps.

This morning, however, I noticed that access concentration just arrived without the associated, intentional practice. Then access concentration flowed into the first jhana and so on until the fourth jhana experience, usually called ‘equanimity,’ was reached, all without having to engage in the usual practices to move from stage to stage. Suddenly it was no longer a busy meditation, but a quiet, peaceful meditation that simply flowed along!

Usually, once I become established in the fourth jhana I would move on to the practice to take me into what are often called the immaterial jhanas (five through to eight). Today that didn’t happen so I simply sat with the experience of equanimity until I felt that the meditation was over.

I should make it clear that I didn’t intend to make any change to this practice and nor had I heard of them happening to others who engage in jhana meditations. So it seems unlikely to me that they could be the result of expectations, for example.

At the moment I don’t know if this change is of any significance or not, so I think I’ll take it as a positive sign of jhana meditation becoming more firmly established 😀 And if anyone else here uses the jhanas, I would love to hear what changes you have experienced.

Source

Brasington, L. (2015). Right concentration: A practical guide to the jhanas. Boston and London: Shambhala.

Key words

awakening, Buddha, enlightenment, expectations, intention, jhana, meditation

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Link

https://herethewaking.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-short-note-on-jhana-meditation-and.html

Location: Great Malvern, Malvern WR14, UK

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