Jhana (Advanced Concentrated States) Practices
From the book - ‘Beyond Mindfulness’ by Bhante Gunaratana, Wikipedia, and my own observations/second hand knowledge. This is just an overview. If you are interested you need to read the book. There is a teacher who specializes in the Jhanas - Leigh Brasington. He has a lot of material on the web and does retreats. (He is a software dude also :-) )
What are Jhanas? “States of mental function that can be reached through deep concentration.”
In Concentration one can be absorbed like a rock - hence the term ‘stone Buddha’. In ‘right concentration’ you are unaware of the outside world but are still aware of the inside world. In wrong concentration you lose all feeling. In right concentration there is still, possibly subtle, feeling. Only in the highest immaterial jhana known as ‘cessation of perception and feelings’ do feelings drop away.
Buddha had experienced the highest jhanas before discovering his path of Mindfulness. Not just experiencing the mental states but seeing the ‘marks of existence - impermanence, suffering, and selflessness in them.
Mindfulness and Concentration are complementary, although there has been much more interest in Mindfulness in recent years. Many teachers view Concentration as a way to start Mindfulness and leave Concentration behind once concentrated enough to do Mindfulness. They view the Jhanas as interesting but not transformative. My teachers are of this view and I have never pursued Jhanas. My understanding is that it is hard for the average meditator to reach Jhanas without intense meditation retreats. They are difficult to achieve in a few minutes of meditation per day.
Others, like Bhante Gunaratana, believe that Jhanas are an important, although maybe not required, complementary practice to reach Awakening. They are important to experience incredible joy and peace, some of which which you can bring back into your daily life. They provide encouragement to your practice and can give you a taste of Awakening. They can also help you see the true nature of reality through seeing impermanence, suffering, and selflessness.
Bhante talks of 2 dangers -
A teacher is recommended but it would not be me. I have limited experience with the Jhanas, if any. To prepare one’s mind for this one should follow the Noble Eightfold Path (or Eight Concentric Rings of my teacher) to be moral, etc. It is hard to become super concentrated with a conflicted mind.
There are 5 ‘spiritual faculties’ needed:
Bhante also mentions the attitude of ‘metta’ - loving kindness as being important.
There are also ‘Five Hindrances’ that hinder us from experiencing these states (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_hindrances):
As we talk about Jhanas, words fail us again - particularly in the higher Jhanas that get further and further removed from ‘normal’, everyday experience.
The transition point from non-Jhana to Jhana states is called ‘Access Concentration’. I was taught that one should reach Access concentration and then either go into Mindfulness or into the Jhana states. There are other ‘signs’, but what I was taught to look for was shimmering or flickering light. Also, deep imagery can come forth.
There are different maps of Jhanas and different numbers of Jhanas. I will just list the ones in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhy%C4%81na_in_Buddhism#The_Rupa_Jh.C4.81nas)
Main article: Rupajhana
There are four stages of deep collectedness which are called the Rupa Jhāna (Fine-material Jhāna). For each Jhāna are given a set of qualities which are present in that jhana:[5]
See also: Arūpajhāna and Formless Realm
Beyond the four jhānas lie four attainments, referred to in the early texts as aruppas. These are also referred to in commentarial literature as immaterial/the formless jhānas (arūpajhānas), also translated as The Formless Dimensions, in distinction from the first four jhānas (rūpa jhānas). In the Buddhist canonical texts, the word "jhāna" is never explicitly used to denote them, they are instead referred to as āyatana. However, they are sometimes mentioned in sequence after the first four jhānas (other texts. e.g. MN 121 treat them as a distinct set of attainments) and thus came to be treated by later exegetes as jhānas. The immaterial attainments have more to do with expanding, while the Jhanas (1–4) focus on concentration. The enlightenment of complete dwelling in emptiness is reached when the eighth jhāna is transcended.
The four formless jhanas are:
Although the "Dimension of Nothingness" and the "Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception" are included in the list of nine Jhanas taught by the Buddha, they are not included in the Noble Eightfold Path. Noble Path number eight is "Samma Samadhi" (Right Concentration), and only the first four Jhanas are considered "Right Concentration". If he takes a disciple through all the Jhanas, the emphasis is on the "Cessation of Feelings and Perceptions" rather than stopping short at the "Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception".
The Buddha also rediscovered an attainment beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, Nirodha-Samapatti, the "cessation of feelings and perceptions".[5] This is sometimes called the "ninth jhāna" in commentarial and scholarly literature.[6][7]
Bhante also mentions 4 more ‘Supramundane’ Jhanas. They basically are the stages of Awakening as taught in Theravada Buddhism. Unfortunately they are named in terms of Rebirth but their detailed descriptions in terms of mind can be used as one map of progress in Awakening. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_enlightenment#Once-returner
These are a topic for another day but they are listed as: