Jhanas Solved? Part V

In part IV, I related that the essential theme of jhānas is the gradual relinquishment or letting go. The whole purpose of the jhānas is to let go so deeply that the mind reaches a state that is more ready and receptive of gaining a transformational insight.

The final stock passage following the four jhānas describes this receptive state of mind:

[T]he mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability.

The idea of a “concentrated” mind being in a state that is “malleable” and thus capable of achieving insight is expressed by the Buddha in the simile of purifying gold:

Just as if a goldsmith or goldsmith's apprentice were to set up a smelter. Having set up the smelter, he would fire the receptacle. Having fired the receptacle, he would take hold of some gold with his tongs and place it in the receptacle. Periodically he would blow on it, periodically sprinkle it with water, periodically examine it closely. If he were solely to blow on it, it is possible that the gold would burn up. If he were solely to sprinkle it with water, it is possible that the gold would grow cold. If he were solely to examine it closely, it is possible that the gold would not come to full perfection. But when he periodically blows on it, periodically sprinkles it with water, periodically examines it closely, the gold becomes pliant, malleable, & luminous. It is not brittle, and is ready to be worked.

This simile compares the concentrated meditator who purifies his mind to a gold smith that purifies gold. Like a gold smith removes all the impurities of the gold, the medidator does so likewise by removing or burning away all mental obstacles or defilements. Once this purification has occurred, the gold like the meditator’s mind becomes “malleable” and “pliant”, the consequence of which it is “ready to be worked.”

The notion of the mind “ready to be worked” indicates a mind that is more under control and more easily used in the sense of easier to cognize without distractions or distortions.

It is important to point out that there is no indication in these passages that the mind is in a suppressed or non-functioning state. As pointed out, the notion of the mind being workable suggests that there the mind is actually in a better functioning state than it normally is and thus actually more receptive and alert to mental activity. This is borne out by the fact that the fourth jhāna description, which directly precedes the the passage of a concentrated mind, describes the mind in a state of “purity of equanimity & mindfulness.”

Given what has been said so far, what is the insight that is usually portrayed in the Pali Canon on reaching such a state? While there are many passages and the details differ, the common theme through all of them is an insight into impermanence.

One such example is in the Anguttara Nikaya where the Buddha addresses one of his chief disciples Moggallāna on various techniques on how to obtain a concentrated mind. At the end of the sutta the Buddha relates (A IV 84-85, translation by Sarah Shaw):

[H]e knows each [mental] state, knowing each state he understands each state. Understanding each state, whatever the feeling he is experiencing, whether pleasant, painful or neither, he abides with regard to those feelings observing impermanence, observing dispassion, observing cessation. When, with regard to those feelings, he abides observing impermanence, abides observing dispassion, abides observing cessation, seeing them a something to be renounced, he does not adhere to anything in the world. Without attaching to things, he does not crave them and without craving he attains, for himself, nibbāna.

As this passage indicates, the attainment of nibbāna, is achieved through an insight that is gained through mindful observation of the experience of one’s current mental states. By gaining an experiential realization of the impermanence of all of one’s mental states this leads to “dispassion” to such states, which in turn leads to the “cessation” of the states which leaves one without craving and thus attains nibbāna.

What is important to emphasize is that the experience of nibbāna is the result of an optimally functioning mind that is observing, judging and capable of eliciting conclusions. The mindfulness or observations that take place is not some abstract state without any objects, but is a state that takes the raw experiential data as objects.

While it is difficult to explicitly describe the actual content of the liberating insight, it appears from this passage that the individual comes to the conclusion that no matter what one experiences it will always pass and thus it is a futile task to crave for those states to be any different than they are or imbue them with anything other than the present experience presents itself.

From the realization of seeing such states as impersonal, inevitable, fleeting processes, there is no longer any incentive to try hold on to them or give undue credence or emphasis. This “dispassion” for such states ultimately involves a letting go of craving which always seeks to permanently change things to one’s bidding. This letting go is thus the end of craving and the subsequent experience of nibbāna.

References

Shaw, Sarah 2006. Buddhist Meditation: An anthology of texts from the Pali Canon. New York, Routledge.