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How to do the jhanas

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Re: How to do the jhanas

#91

Post by jackdawipper »

3l3ktr4 wrote: post #2

I've been meditating pretty consistently for the last year 20 min meditations or more every day and though I've put way more than the time the OP put in trying to achieve jhanas I couldn't even reach the first one. I wonder what I'm missing!

I spent two decades following this approach. I didnt know that I didnt know what meditating was until I did a 10 day silent Vipassana retreat. But even a decade into learning Vipassana I couldnt get the jhanas and took me two years pretty heavy practise for it to click.

some of us just take a lot of work to get there. monkey brains maybe.

Re: How to do the jhanas

#92

Post by jackdawipper »

swayvil wrote: post #89
0x1ceb00da wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's no real difference between you, me, and Mr. Gautama in mental structure. This is just not true. There are athletes with sub 100ms reaction time. The average person is over twice of that. It only makes sense that there are meditative athletes whose abilities surpass those of the average guy.

The ancient meditation wizards of yore preferred to recruit those with "habitual one-pointed attention" (these days we call them aspergers etc). Because they are uncommonly good at concentration.

lol, aspergers et al, are the opposite to good at concentrating.

Re: How to do the jhanas

#93

Post by jackdawipper »

stoniejohnson wrote: post #25

On one hand, my brain kinda shuts off when people start applying structure to spirituality. On the other hand, doing an extensive search amongst possible head spaces you can occupy is a no-brainer for a consciousness implemented on a primate.

yea, intellectualised spiritualism is just intellectual meanderings

Re: How to do the jhanas

#94

Post by jackdawipper »

ergonaught wrote: post #33

> But with just over 20 hours of practice, I progressed through all nine jhanic states. This is simply not true. It would be silly to deny that the author had some particular experience(s), but author absolutely did not have the described (quoted) experience. This "words have whatever meaning I decide they have" world goes absolutely nowhere productive or useful. I'd love it if you all would stop doing it.

exactly. I was a decade skilled in Vipassana and thought I could do the jhanas in an afternoon. took me two years. This guy is talking baloney if he says 20 hours and he nailed them. but this is normal in todays culture of instant gratification. people like to claim expertise while selling dog sheet dressed up as cat sheet.

Re: How to do the jhanas

#95

Post by jackdawipper »

alecst wrote: post #45
ergonaught wrote: post #33

> But with just over 20 hours of practice, I progressed through all nine jhanic states. This is simply not true. It would be silly to deny that the author had some particular experience(s), but author absolutely did not have the described (quoted) experience. This "words have whatever meaning I decide they have" world goes absolutely nowhere productive or useful. I'd love it if you all would stop doing it.

I dunno. I heard a story about Ayya Khema that she basically just stayed up all night for a while just committed to learning the jhanas. One of the problems with all the stuff is that it's very hard for us to know what other people have experienced. So who knows. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Let's not be so closed-minded about it. People are different.

"heard a story" her whole life was dedicated to meditation practice so I doubt it happened in a night. a lot more context required to make that claim. and if you look at her history she did the long yards in retreats. no short-cuts, much as people want to think there are.

Re: How to do the jhanas

#96

Post by swayvil »

jackdawipper wrote: post #92
swayvil wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ancient meditation wizards of yore preferred to recruit those with "habitual one-pointed attention" (these days we call them aspergers etc). Because they are uncommonly good at concentration.

lol, aspergers et al, are the opposite to good at concentrating.

That is incorrect.

Re: How to do the jhanas

#97

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

3l3ktr4 wrote: post #2

I've been meditating pretty consistently for the last year 20 min meditations or more every day and though I've put way more than the time the OP put in trying to achieve jhanas I couldn't even reach the first one. I wonder what I'm missing!

For me a game changer was reading: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha

https://www.mctb.org/mctb2/

I moved from Transcendental Meditation (which I had learned previously) which doesn't quite get you into these states to concentration and insight according to this book and it got me there.

Re: How to do the jhanas

#98

Post by murftown »

wayoverthecloud wrote: post #22

Oh spirituality. The only thing that I spent years of life trying to understand and ended up realizing that there's nothing to understand. It sounds corny and cliche but there's no other way I can put it. I have/had meditated for almost 5 years of my life for almost 2 hours a day(unless I am traveling/or sick etc), so I think I am experienced enough to help beginner meditators. Also being from a Sanskrit-derived-lang…

I love your advice for beginners (last 3 paragraphs of your comment). It definitely rings true that the attainment of desirelessness can become a desire in itself, just another dragon to chase.

I like your comment so much I was tempted to share it with my FB friends. Would you be ok with that? No worries if not. If so, would you like to be mentioned by your username?

Sorry if this is not an appropriate thing to comment here. I would have messaged you privately but HN doesn't seem to provide a way to do that, and I don't see an email address for you. Cheers

Re: How to do the jhanas

#99

Post by axkdev »

__rito__ wrote: post #64
alecst wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno. I heard a story about Ayya Khema that she basically just stayed up all night for a while just committed to learning the jhanas. One of the problems with all the stuff is that it's very hard for us to know what other people have experienced. So who knows. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Let's not be so closed-minded about it. People are different.

I have never come across a Buddhist source saying that some people are inherently more advantaged than others. But I did come across some interviews of great Tantric gurus, and they all say that some people are more in inherent advantage over others in terms of spiritual progress.

>Then, understanding Brahmā’s invitation, the Buddha Vipassī surveyed the world with the eye of a Buddha, out of his compassion for sentient beings. And he saw sentient beings with little dust in their eyes, and some with much dust in their eyes; with keen faculties and with weak faculties, with good qualities and with bad qualities, easy to teach and hard to teach. And some of them lived seeing the danger in the fault to do with the next world, while others did not. It’s like a pool with blue water lilies, or pink or white lotuses. Some of them sprout and grow in the water without rising above it, thriving underwater. Some of them sprout and grow in the water reaching the water’s surface. And some of them sprout and grow in the water but rise up above the water and stand with no water clinging to them.

This is from Digha Nikaya 14. There is another one, but I don't remember which sutta, where Buddha says that for some people the path is long and hard, while for others it's short and quick.

Re: How to do the jhanas

#100

Post by __rito__ »

axkdev wrote: post #99
__rito__ wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never come across a Buddhist source saying that some people are inherently more advantaged than others. But I did come across some interviews of great Tantric gurus, and they all say that some people are more in inherent advantage over others in terms of spiritual progress.

>Then, understanding Brahmā’s invitation, the Buddha Vipassī surveyed the world with the eye of a Buddha, out of his compassion for sentient beings. And he saw sentient beings with little dust in their eyes, and some with much dust in their eyes; with keen faculties and with weak faculties, with good qualities and with bad qualities, easy to teach and hard to teach. And some of them lived seeing the danger in the fau…

Oh, this. I knew of this.

I interpreted this as being in a better place due to entirely one's own background after their birth- i.e. upbringing, education, work, mindset, intelligence, etc.

Where the tantric gurus say that some people are ahead of other people from their birth - in a very clear and unambiguous way. In a very "the force is strong with this one" vibe.

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