Jhanas Solved? Part III

In part II, I discussed the first jhāna and the argued that it was unlikely that the Buddha as a young boy experienced the first jhāna as described in the stock passage in the Pali Canon. While it is quite possible that the young Gautama did experience a happy state by withdrawing from the frivolities around him, it is dubious he did so by meditating cross-legged and entering some absorbed state as the text implicitly conveys.

Moving on to explicating the second jhāna, we fortunately find more textual information to draw upon.

In the Maha-Saccaka Sutta, the Buddha describes the second jhāna:

With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, I entered & remained in the second jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance.

Of interest in this passage is the continuation of pleasure and rapture from the first jhāna but with the explicit absence of “thought & evaluation” and the new key element of “unification of awareness” (cetaso ekodi-bhavam).

But what is this “unification of awareness”? Looking at the Pali derivation of ekodi-bhavam, the word ekodi is composed of eka, meaning one or single, and udi, meaning arising or movement. Thus ekodi can be understood as movement to oneness or singleness. With the accusative of bhava, bhavam, which means “being” and the genitive singular ceta or mind, we can understand the phrase cetaso ekodi-bhavam as a mind of moving into a state of oneness.

Given this new understanding, we can tentatively describe the second jhāna as a meditative experience of bliss characterized by a lack of thought and a unification of the mind into a state oneness.

While this description appears to be fairly detailed, it is still, however, rather abstract and begs some further questions as what exactly is this “rapture & pleasure” and what does this “movement of mind into oneness” really describing?

One way to help remove this ambiguity is to examine the testimony of those who have avowedly experienced such states. Being unable, of course, to be able to verify such private, personal experiences, we should take them with a degree of skepticism but not to the point of refusing to lend the descriptions any credence when there is a strong semblance between the descriptions and the key Pali passages.

In Ajahn Brahmavamso’s book, aptly titled The Jhānas, we are provided a detailed description of what the experience of jhāna is like:

When the breath disappears and delight fills the mind, the nimitta usually appears. Nimitta, in the context used here, refers to the beautiful "lights" that appear in the mind. . . .

ENTERING JHANA

When the nimitta is radiant and stable, then its energy builds up moment by moment. . . . If one can maintain the one-pointedness here by keeping one's focus on the very center of the nimitta, the power will reach a critical level. One will feel as if the knower is being drawn into the nimitta, that one is falling into the most glorious bliss. Alternatively, one may feel that the nimitta approaches until it envelops the knower, swallowing one up in cosmic ecstasy. One is entering Jhana. . . .

NO THOUGHT, NO DECISION-MAKING, NO PERCEPTION OF TIME

From the moment of entering a Jhana, one will have no control. One will be unable to give orders as one normally does.

Of interest in these snippets is the mentioning of “falling into” and “envelop[ing] the knower” which seems quite similar to the translation I offered of cetaso ekodi-bhavam as moving into a state of oneness.

Another similarity is the mentioning "NO THOUGHT" and "NO DESCISION-MAKING" which is clearly similar to the “stilling of directed thoughts” as described in the stock passage of the second jhāna.

While we have these two concrete similarities with the stock passage, we encounter the quite obvious difference of the nimitta or “lights” as mentioned by Brahmavamso. As indicated in the section of his book quoted above, the nimitta is described as acting as a gateway or launching point into jhāna.

If this passage is to be interpreted as being congruent with the early Pali passages, it is important to find corresponding Pali passages that also mention this light or nimitta as acting as a threshold for entering jhāna.

In the Upakkilesa Sutta the sutta begins with Anuruddha expressing difficulty in obtaining jhāna (translation by Bhikkhu Bodhi):

‘Venerable sir, as we abide here diligent, ardent, and resolute, we perceive both light and a vision of forms. Soon afterwards the light and the vision of forms disappear, but we have not discovered the cause for that.’

Note Anuruddha here experiences light (obhāsa) and vision of forms (dassanam ruanam) which is quite similar to the qualities of the nimitta that Ajahn Brahmavamso describes as "beautiful 'lights'."

But is this a nimmita? In the next passage the Buddha confirms that these lights are indeed a nimmita when he replies to Anuruddha by saying, “Nimittam pativvijjhitabbam”, which can literally be translated as Bhikkhu Bodhi notes, “You should penetrate that sign.” While this has often been translated as “understanding” that sign, if we take the more literal interpretation of “penetrating” the sign then it appears we have another similarity with Ajahn Brahmvamaso’s description of “being drawn into the nimitta” or “envelop[ing] the knower” and also the element in the stock passage cetaso ekodi-bhavam that I translate as moving into a state of oneness.

These similarities are suggestive that Ajahn Brahmvamaso could be accurately describing the state of jhāna as expounded in the Pali texts. If this is indeed the case, it behooves us to examine his descriptions of the other elements of jhāna.

Of course, one of the most important elements of jhāna is this “rapture & pleasure” which Ajahn Brahmavamso describes as a feeling of “cosmic ecstasy” or “great bliss.” If this is indeed the case, then this “rapture & pleasure” appears to be of a stronger nature than the “rapture & pleasure” in the first jhāna, which from my discussion in part II, is more of a gentle, relaxing nature.

From this discussion, it can be summarized that the second jhāna is a meditative experience of ecstasy where thoughts come to a conclusion and the mind is absorbed into a light.

Having elucidated the second jhāna, what about the third and fourth jhānas?

That is for part IV.