Ajahn Brahm (Brahmavamso)
From Mindfulness Bliss and Beyond by Ajahn Brahm
Page 192
The Landmarks of All Jhānas
“From the moment of entering a jhāna, one will have
no control. One will be unable to give orders as one
normally does. When the will that is controlling vanishes, then the “I will” that fashions one’s concept of future also disappears. Since the concept of time ceases in jhāna, the very question “What should I do next?” cannot arise. One cannot even decide when to come out. It is this absolute absence of will, and of its offspring, time, that gives the
jhānas their timeless stability and allows them to last sometimes for many blissful hours.
Because of the perfect one-pointedness and fixed
attention, one loses the faculty of perspective within jhāna. Comprehension relies on comparison—relating this to that, here to there, now with then. In jhāna, all that is perceived is an unmoving, enveloping, nondual bliss that allows no space for the arising of perspective. It is like that puzzle where one is shown a photograph of a well-known object from an unusual angle, and one has to guess what it is. It is very difficult to identify some objects without looking at them from different angles. When perspective is removed, so is comprehension. Thus in jhāna not only is there no sense of time but also there is no comprehension of what is going on. At the time, one will not even know which jhāna one is in. All one knows is great bliss, unmoving, unchanging, for unknown lengths of time.
Even though there is no comprehension within any jhāna, one is certainly not in a trance. One’s mindfulness is greatly increased to a level of sharpness that is truly incredible. One is immensely aware. Only mindfulness doesn’t move. It is frozen. And the stillness of the superpower mindfulness, the perfect one-pointedness of awareness, makes the
jhāna experience completely different from anything one has known before. This is not unconsciousness. It is nondual consciousness. All it can know is one thing, and that is timeless bliss that doesn’t move.
Afterward, when one has emerged from the jhāna, such
consummate one-pointedness of consciousness falls apart. With the weakening of one-pointedness, perspective reemerges, and the mind has the ability to move again. The mind has regained the space needed to compare and comprehend. Ordinary consciousness has returned.
Having just emerged from a jhāna, it is the usual practice to look back at what has happened and review the jhāna experience. The jhānas are such powerful events that they leave an indelible record in one’s memory store. In fact, one will never forget them as long as one lives. They are easy to recall with perfect retention. One comprehends the details of what happened in the jhāna, and one knows which of the jhānas it was. Moreover, data obtained from reviewing a jhāna form the basis of the insight that leads to Another strange quality that distinguishes jhāna from all other experience is that within jhāna, all the five senses are totally shut down. One cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or feel touch. One cannot hear a crow cawing or a person coughing. Even if there were a thunderclap nearby, it wouldn’t be heard in a jhāna. If someone tapped you on the shoulder, or picked you up and let you down, in jhāna you cannot know this. The mind in jhāna is so completely cut off from these five senses that they cannot break in…”
Compare ⛔ABRJ with ✅☸EBT 3rd jhāna
(STED 3rd Jhāna)
🚫😁 pītiyā ca virāgā
| 🚫😁(with) Rapture ** fading, |
👁 upekkhako ca viharati
| 👁 Equanimously-observing ** (he) dwells, |
(S&S🐘💭) sato ca sam-pajāno,
| (S&S🐘💭) (he is a) Rememberer, (a) lucid-discerner, |
🙂🚶 sukhañca kāyena paṭi-saṃ-vedeti,
| 🙂🚶 pleasure with-the-body (he) experiences, |
yaṃ taṃ ariyā ācikkhanti —
| that those Noble-Ones declare - |
‘upekkhako satimā sukha-vihārī’ti
| “(He is an) equanimous-observer (and a) Rememberer, (he has) pleasurable-abiding.” |
🌖 tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.
| 🌖 third Jhāna (he) enters, dwells. |
And unlike ABRJ, where one is "frozen", in EBT jhāna, one can investigate
STED S&S💭 definition custom built for in-jhāna usage
AN 4.41 third of four exercises, for sati and sampajaññāya
Katamā ca, bhikkhave, samādhi-bhāvanā bhāvitā bahulīkatā
| {and} what, *********, concentration-development, when developed (and) pursued, |
Sati-sampajañ-ñāya saṃvattati?
| (to) mindfulness-(and)-clear-comprehension (it) leads? |
Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno
| Here, monks, a-monk: |
viditā vedanā uppajjanti,
| known (are) feelings (as they) arise, |
viditā upaṭṭhahanti,
| known (as they are) attended-upon, |
viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti.
| known (as they) go to} disappear. |
viditā saññā uppajjanti,
| known (are) perceptions (as they) arise, |
viditā upaṭṭhahanti,
| known (as they are) attended-upon, |
viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti.
| known (as they) go to} disappear. |
viditā vitakkā uppajjanti,
| known (are) thoughts (as they) arise, |
viditā upaṭṭhahanti,
| known (as they are) attended-upon, |
viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti.
| known (as they) go to} disappear. |
Ayaṃ, bhikkhave, samādhi-bhāvanā bhāvitā bahulīkatā
| This, *********, concentration-development, when developed (and) pursued, |
Sati-sampajañ-ñāya saṃvattati.
| mindfulness-(and)-clear-comprehension (it) leads-to. |
Also very clear is MN 111 in how you can do vipassana while in the four jhanas. Even the first 7 perception attainments. It's only in the 8th and 9th attainments where "emerging" from the samadhi is necessary before one can do vipassana.
(clickable hyperlinks here)
MN 111 anupada
- (smd1: 1st jhāna)
- (smd2: 2nd jhāna)
- (smd3: 3rd jhāna)
- (smd4: 4th jhāna)
- (smd 5: infinite space)
- (smd 6: infinite consciousness)
- (smd 7: first 7 perception attainments you do vipassana simultaneously in jhāna/samādhi)
- (smd 8: requires “emerging” from attainment before doing vipassana)
- (smd 9: requires “emerging” from attainment before doing vipassana)
In a forum post defending Ajahn Brahm's redefinition of jhana,
https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/discussing-jhana/12304
Ven. Akaliko wrote:
The fact that it (falsely claiming one has 4 jhānas) is a disrobing offence also shows us that these states were held in very high regard, and were not easy to attain. We should bear this in mind when people talk of enjoying a bit of bliss for an hour and thinking that it is jhana. We should be cautious that people don’t deceive themselves, or deceive others …
...
There are other teachers who have less strict definitions of jhana. One guiding question I ask is, who is it that benefits from a more lax definition of jhana?
my response:
That's a narrative fallacy and confirmation bias. (I will dissect this point in detail in another post if people don't see it).
The guiding question I have is, shouldn't one read the EBT carefully first and check if ⛔ABRJ (Ajahn Brahm Re-definition of Jhāna) even conforms to ✅☸EBT jhāna?
Then we an talk about lax and strict interpretations of jhāna and who benefits.
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