Jhāna

(a cheatsheet)

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THIS IS Jhāna

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Jhāna (from jhāyati) - Sk. kṣiyati (root kṣi) = to be diminished, decrease, waste away).
What is "to be diminished" or "waste away", is bolded and red.

These "decreases", lead to the ensuing state, which are the "perception and thinking upon" what we should be perceptive in that state — Here we have jhāna as jhāna (from jhāyati) - Sk. dhyāyati (root dhī) = to perceive, think upon, meditate over).

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Rūpa

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First jhāna

- Vivicceva kāmehi
- (separating oneself from objects of sensual pleasures)

- Vivicca akusalehi dhammehi
- (separating oneself from unproper states)

 

Notes:

1. Vivic (in our case = vi-√vic = separate from) , is not to be confounded with vici (vi-√ ci = discern, distinguish, as in the dhammavicayasambojjhaṅga in SN 46.53).

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2. Let say you love the taste (rasa) [external field of sensory experience/bāhira āyatana, in the saḷāyatana nidāna,] of fish & chips, in your mouth (jivha) [internal field of sensory experience/ajjhatikka āyatana]. 
Let say that you have this vehement desire (rāga) for fish & chips. 
In the first jhāna, you should stop eating it, (vivicceva kāmehi
- (separating yourself from this object of "mouth/oral" sensual pleasure)). 

ENTER FIRST JHĀNA

Vitakka
(abstract thoughts)
Vicāra
(concrete thoughts)

 

(Thoughts about those two inauspicious states - viz. objects of sensual pleasures & unproper states). 

 

Note:

Abstract and concrete thoughts are verbal co-actions/determinations, leading to speech/word (vaca).

Vitakkavicārā vacīsaṅkhāro. (MN 44, also SN 41.6). 

See below "the successive restraints on co-actions (saṅkhārā)" - SN 36.11.

Pīti
(propitiatory pleasure (pīti = contentment with oneself) — born of the separation from those states). 

Sukkha
(Add serenity/confidence (passaddha/pra-śrabdha) to pīti, and you have sukkha— born of the separation from those states). 

Does not follow the pleasure born of the separation from those states (viveka)

Second jhāna

- Vitakka
- (near total cessation - [Skt. vy-upa-śama])
- Vicāra
- (near total cessation - [vy-upa-śama])

(Of thoughts about those two inauspicious states) 

Note: you should have no thoughts about "fish & chips", any longer. 

ENTER SECOND JHĀNA

Ajjhatta sampasādana
(inner tranquillity (reconciliation with oneself - sam+pasādana ))

Cetaso ekodibhāva
(transcendence of ceto)

(That is to say the beginning of the establishment [samādhi] of citta.) 

(Here, liberation FROM ceto (cetovimutti) through metta (for all beings), might be of a great help). 

Pīti
(propitiatory pleasure — born of samādhi)

Sukkha
(propitiatory pleasure + serenity/confidence — born of samādhi)

Does not follow the pleasure born of samādhi. 

Third jhāna

- Pīti
- indifference towards this propitiatory pleasure.

ENTER THIRD JHĀNA

Upekkhako

- Pali: Disinterested (by the lower level of the ceto (citta+mano) , that has just been transcended). 

 

- Skt: (From upa-√ īkṣ) 

. Upa= down, under. 

. √ īkṣ = to see in one's mind - (in this case, to see in one's citta - a liberated citta which  looks down on the transcended lower level of the ceto (citta+mano) ). 
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Sato
Sati has two meanings:
* First meaning: from the Vedic smṛti स्मृति (√ smṛ), meaning "thinking upon" (calling to mind, ~"mindful") [TĀr. ChUp. MBh.]. It can be being mindful of (thinking upon) the breath. Or being mindful of not letting the external akusala get in, etc.

* Second meaning: from सति sati = साति sāti = सन्ति santi = gaining , obtaining , acquisition (RV.)
Sati as "obtention", "acquisition".

sanskritdictionary. com

If cetaso ekodibhāva is the transcendence of ceto (the polluted citta by mano), sato is the cognitive process of acquiring (coming back into the possesion of) the unpolluted, pristine citta.

 

Sampajāno
(clearly discerning - (正智 correct cognition) )

Sukhañca kāyena
(propitiatory pleasure + serenity/confidence with the body)
Here the body does not refer to the physical body, but to the kāya in the kāyasaṅkhāro of the saṅkhārā nidāna ( that is to say the in-breaths and out-breaths).

(Does not follow the pleasure born of upekkha)

Fourth jhāna

- somanassa - domanassa
- (vanishing of comfortableness (somanassa) and difficultness (domanassa) [of the mano/manas])

- dukkha - sukha
- (giving up of pleasure (sukha) and pain (dukkha))

ENTER FOURTH JHĀNA

Adukkhamasukha
(neither-pain-nor-pleasure)

Upekkhāsatipārisuddhi
(purity of the obtention (sati) [of citta], due to upekkha)

Does not follow pain, or pleasure.

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Arūpa

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Fitfth attainment
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- rūpasaññānaṃ samatikkamā
- (complete transcending of perceptions of Form (matter))

- paṭighasaññānaṃ atthaṅgamā
- (vanishing of perceptions (based) upon the organs of senses - (sensory āyatanāni))

- nānattasaññānaṃ amanasikārā
- (not turning the mano towards perceptions of manifoldness (lit. (what is) different than one)

- ananto ākāsoti
- (aware that space is not-internal)
Note: From now on, one "sees" with the free citta - not with the organs of senses any longer.

ENTER THE FIELD OF NOT-INTERNAL (INFINITE) SPACE

(Note: here, "internal" (anto) refers to the "within" that takes place in "the world of senses".
Anta also means "limit" — Therefore the two underlying meanings of "not internal" (viz. outside the world of senses) ; and "limiteless" (viz. infinite).

Anañca (√ अञ्च् añc) means not-bending (viz. towards the internal space - see ‘ananto ākaso' SN 36.19)
In the time of Buddha, space was considered the revealer of nāmarūpa".
When one reaches the sixth field/attainment - that is to say the external space (aka the non-internal space, that is not revealing the nāmarūpa in the world of senses any longer) - then this external space is just revealing the nāmarūpa of the nāmarūpa nidāna - that is to say the rūpa loka.)

Sixth attainment

- ākāsānañcāyatanaṃ samatikkamma
- (completly transcending the field of the not- bending space)

- anantaṃ viññāṇanti
- (aware that consciousness is not-internal (yet infinite) — viz. no more sense-consciousness).

ENTER THE FIELD OF THE NOT-BENDING (INFINITE) CONSCIOUSNESS

Seventh attainment

- viññāṇañcāyatanaṃ samatikkamma
- (complete transcending the field of the not-bending Consciousness)

- 'natthi kiñcī’ti'
- (aware that ‘there is nothing' (to crave for))

ENTER THE FIELD OF NOTHINGNESS

In the late Vedic litterature, nothingness is what has no manifested name and form (nāma rūpa).

Eighth attainment

- ākiñcaññāyatanaṃ
- (complete transcending the field of Nothingness (to crave for))

ENTER THE FIELD OF NEITHER AQUIESCENCE NOR NON-AQUIESCENCE

(Sañña/saṃjña (also) means agreement , acquiescence TBr. ŚBr. — namely not to agree (be in harmony) any longer, with what has been transcended, in everything that was stated above - yet to agree with reaching the next transcending stage towards nibbāna (without remnant)).

Ninth attainment

nevasaññānāsaññāyatanaṃ samatikkamma
- (complete transcending the field of neither-aquiescence-nor-non-aquiescence)

ENTER THE CESSATION OF EXPERIENCE AND AQUIESCENCE (of these experiences)

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Then, bhikkhu, I have also taught the successive restraints on co-actions (saṅkhārā).

For one who has attained the first jhana, speech has been restrained (nirodha — ni-√ rudh*), (and subsided and has been tranquillized).
Note that nirodah doesn't always mean cessation, but can also take the meaning of "restraint".

For one who has attained the second jhana, vitakka and vicāra have been restrained, (and subsided and have been tranquillized).

For one who has attained the third jhana, propitiatory pleasure has been restrained (and subsided and has been tranquillized).

For one who has attained the fourth jhana, in-breathing and out-breathing have been restrained (and subsided and have been tranquillized).

For one who has attained the base of the infinity of space, the perception of form has been restrained (and subsided).

For one who has attained the base of the infinity of consciousness, the perception pertaining to the base of the infinity of space has been restrained (and subsided).

For one who has attained the base of nothingness, the perception pertaining to the base of the infinity of consciousness has been restrained (and subsided).

For one who has attained the base of neither-perception-nor-nonperception, the perception pertaining to the base of nothingness has been restrained (and subsided).

For one who has attained the cessation of perception and feeling, perception and feeling have been restrained (and subsided and have been tranquillized).

For a bhikkhu whose taints are destroyed, lust has ceased, hatred has ceased, delusion has been restrained (and subsided and has been tranquillized).

SN 36.11

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It is not by the inferior that the prominent is attained;

rather,i t is by the prominent that the prominent is attained.

Na, bhikkhave, hīnena aggassa patti hoti.
Aggena ca kho, bhikkhave, aggassa patti hoti
SN 12.22

 

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This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’
‘Taṁ netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti.

Seeing this... 

They understand: ‘… there is no return to any state of existence.’”

Evaṁ passaṁ …pe…

nāparaṁ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.

 

SN 22.15

 

Yathābhūta (according to what have become) 

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nāparaṁ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti
Literally: 
na (not) apara (in the future) itthatta (in this world) āyā (arrive/attain) pajānātī (he discerns from what comes before - pra-√ jñā). 

 

We have already seen how paccayā was very wrongly translated as "condition" — when it should be properly translated as "the answer/the return to the enquiry from". 

 

Moreover, an accurate grammar should be applied to the part of the series (paṭiccasamuppāda) below.

Indeed, paccayā is the instrumental. singular. of paccaya,

 

Viññāṇapaccayā nāmarūpaṃ
Nāmarūpaṃ (nom. sing. nt.) is the feedback of/return to the enquiry from viññāṇa.

Nāmarūpapaccayā saḷāyatanaṃ
Saḷāyatanaṃ (nom. sing. nt.) is the feedback of nāmarūpa.

 

Knowing that logically, the khandhas populate the nāmarūpa nidāna (https://justpaste.it/9rusd), and that Buddha tells us in SN 22.33 that the khandhas are "not ours" — (the other meaning of anicca, apart from "impermanent", being "not one's own" ) — how can the answer to the enquiry from the nāmarūpa nidāna, from  any experience within the saḷāyatana nidāna, be something else than "not one's own", and dukkha? 

 

And when death is the answer to the enquiry of birth, how can that be blissful (like the Self/self) ? 

 

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Friend Koṭṭhita, aging-and-death is not created by oneself, 
nor is it created by another, 
nor is it created both by oneself and by another, 
nor has it arisen fortuitously, being created neither by oneself nor by another.
But rather, aging-and-death is the answer/feedback to the enquiry from birth. 
Na kho, āvuso koṭṭhika, sayaṅkataṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ, 
na paraṅkataṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ, 
na sayaṅkatañca paraṅkatañca jarāmaraṇaṁ, 
nāpi asayaṅkāraṁ aparaṅkāraṁ adhiccasamuppannaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ.
Api ca jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇan”ti.
SN 12.67

Indeed, it all starts with ignorance (avijjā) 

 

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On Jhāna, the higher achievements,

Also on paṭiccasamuppāda*, 

And the understanding of the Unborn/Ajo (Self/selves). 

 

* In fact, the long underlying meaning of Paṭicca-Samuppāda is:
What springs together [flows out & perishes] (samuppāda/samutpāda), to (appear and) be understood (paṭicca/pratītya).

Indeed the "cause" is found in samutpād, the causative of the "active" samutpad.
And if samuppāda is the "active-causative" (what causes) ; samuppana is the "passive-"effected"" (what has been produced").

 

There is no "dependant origination" in paṭicca-samuppāda.

This erroneous paradigm must be forever rejected. 

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