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jhana?
I've been reading up a liittle bit on the jhanas, and i'm not sure if i've experienced it. I've been attempting to, focusing on a pleasent sesnsation after obtaining access concentration, and I had a somewhat interesting experience tonight. I was focusing on this spot in my stomach that felt kinda nice. It mostly increased over time, sometimes it would decrease for a little bit. Anyways, after a while the spot that felt good kind of expanded. Like, it didn't feel like different spots were necessarily getting the good feeling but rather that the good feeling was spreading. My whole body had this very strange feeling I really haven't had before, and it was nice. This just happened, and i'm left feeling extremely happy and my body feels incredibly light.
If it was a jhana, it was perhaps less intense than I expected, but still nice nonetheless. Also, does the jhana continue after finishing meditation? Cuz as I said I just feel really happy and light.
If it was a jhana, it was perhaps less intense than I expected, but still nice nonetheless. Also, does the jhana continue after finishing meditation? Cuz as I said I just feel really happy and light.
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The things I'd been describing in that other thread were induced by me first quieting my mind for however long it took. Then once it was really quiet and pretty relaxed I'd find something to massacre my concentration with. Perhaps an imaginary spot in the center of my vision, or where my third eye is said to be, I'd sometimes observe my eye movements knowing that if they moved or even crossed slightly I was thinking subconsciously, and I'd need to stop both that and the mere acknowledgment itself. At first the concentration is often demanding, like a strobe light, then it fades into a barely discernible existence. I just exist. Once that happens I ride it out struggling not to think about it while still massacring my concentration like before but at this point it's not a massacre, it seems like I don't exist, I just fall into it slowly like it's intuition. If I have bouts where I manage to seriously stop thinking for moments at a time this instant feeling of infinitude will hit me. The first 10 times or so this happens you may get overexcited, if you over-acknowledge it you'll ruin it and sadly, for me at least, once ruined it is next to impossible to come back during that session. If you ride it out and sink deeper into not thinking sometimes for me I experience a rapid spinning sensation or sometimes an orgasmic feeling. That's typically as far as I can get.
Websites usually say to focus on the feeling at that point, I try not to too much because in my experience, like I said, over-acknowledging it will ruin it, as the very nature of it was forgetting your mundane responses and thoughts. Beyond this point I will rest very happy and grinning, very deep in meditation that easily lasts for an hour and a half. I can't go further. And that might not be a jhana again.
I know what you mean about "just being" though. You get so focused during meditation. It's wonderful how you can be doing nothing and yet be doing something at the same time. I don't even notice the time going by, as i'm so into what i'm "doing" that i'll just open my eyes at some point(though I could go a lot longer. I haven't been plagued by boredom or restlessness). The session described in OP was 50 minutes, but as I said could have gone longer. I'm also very new to this whole thing. My first time meditating was maybe a month ago or so, maybe a little longer. When I start things though, I go all in. I study buddhism a ton and have been trying to meditate daily.
I hope you get help because it's going to help me too.
I forgot to say another thing that I meditate on is concentrating on the "present", it sounds lame but works pretty well. If you're in the present there's not much to mentally gossip about.
And I don't know about you but when I say I could do 1.5 hours that's not typical. Usually 15-30 minutes is average.
It may also be worth mentioning that the sort of concentration these exercises achieve eventually becomes intuitive and I never typically continue to think about the nature of the exercises themselves throughout the duration of the meditation, it's precisely for the beginning to sharpen my intuition of this particular extreme concentration.
I'll stop spamming your thread
I'm finding this useful to crystallise my own ideas and experiences.
To clarify on my last post, last night when I said I had a new experience that wasn't concentration based like usual, what had happened was suddenly I had this perception that all my thoughts were like a rapid succession of spontaneous fabrications so to speak. Like a strobe light of thoughts struggling to project themselves. It's the first time it'd ever happened and it came to me, I wasn't thinking on any obvious level. Since I'd read about such things I had this sudden moment of Buddhist conviction and bam! jhana.
All I can add is that if the feeling was an overwhelming body orgasm-like feeling of absolute bliss like a swelling of euphoric energy then that's what I'm describing. And what I'm describing will easily over-excite you to the point of losing even access concentration and leave you lying restless in preliminary concentration. For me, when access concentration draws itself to the final point immediately before merging with the object of concentration the so-called feeling of bliss comes to you, there is never a point you say to yourself, "yes, it must be time to focus on the good physical feelings" for you will certainly know when, and from there it's all very intuitive the only struggle is resting in it without having lost the initial one-pointedness from excitement of obviously achieving jhana.
good luck to you.
may somebody will more experience help us both!
Floating.
Dangerous.
There's a Cheyenne name you might like: Vaiveahtoish -- He who alights on the cloud. That randomly came to mind reading your response.
I used to spend maybe 10-15 minutes first calming the mind to the best of my ability, and then would find a pleasant sensation and keep my awareness on that sensation while the mind slowly magnified that feeling to the exclusion of everything else, eventually changing the entire mental paradigm from what was still relatively normal to something completely outside of normal experience and more powerful than drugs. Then comes the point where effort is no longer needed, concentration is full and complete without trying (able to completely let go and experience without effort), and there... there I'd float. Sometimes for several hours, not a care in the world, unable to possibly imagine a more pleasurable activity (just... impossible).
I don't do that any more.
I know I know, still doesn't sound all that bad. If you think about it for a while though, ya might change your mind. I do recommend cultivating these states for what they do have to offer, which is further clarity of how the mind works, but steer clear of attachment or jhana-abuse!
What is the other?
fuck.
are you saying if i become like jesus. if i become a saint, i'll be enlightened. that's all it is? no profound meditation, just seeing the mirage for a mirage.
*sigh*
that's hard.
mediation is easier than being a saint.
I was actually pointing out how there's a clear path where everything comes together. Dunno how you took that wrong.
to me there's nothing so inherently difficult about insight meditation because i enjoy philosophy and psychology so much. in fact, i'm typically always in some state of insightful inquiries because i'm so introverted by nature.
jhana doesn't require intellect. that's hard for me.
i'm also an asshole.
thus, i see insight meditation as easier than jhana meditation, i see ridding an asshole like myself of all mental defilements as supremely difficult hence and Another high and low of mine is my obsessive drive. Maybe I'll break stream entry one day.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an09/an09.041.than.html