Skip to main content

Want first jhāna? NWBH


Want first jhāna? Then Details matter.
NWBH.

NWBH: Not WHAT but HOW


You can try hard
Don't mean a thing
Take it easy, greasy
Then your jive will swing

Viryia-sambojjhanga: Vigorous energy and right-effort (samma-vayamo)  on its own, without getting the technique of "how" correct, will not yield successful results.

But if you get both the WHAT and the HOW correct, then "your jive will swing" means you will be pleased with the success and favorable side effects that results.

Samadhi is the HOW. You do it with undistractible-lucidity (samadhi), with remembering & lucid-discerning (S&S), with equanimous observation (upekkha-sambojjhanga). Samadhi is the secret sauce that makes everything taste orders of magnitude better. Until you learn the knack of samadhi, it in itself is a "WHAT" you're shooting for. But once you have it, then the "WHAT" is 'realizing nirvana." If you indulge in samadhi for pleasure, it's like sharpening a sword that's already sharp, instead of swinging it and using it to end defilements. 

"Take it easy, greasy", means one must do passadhi-sambojjhanga correctly. Passaddhi = Pacification of body and mind. The same as the "relax" of taiji. Taiji students spend decades being told by their teacher to "relax, relax" all the time. They think, "why do they keep telling me that?Why won't they stop saying that?" It's because they're not doing it right, not relaxing all the way, not relaxing fully. There are still blind spots of physical and mental tension. So the students think they're relaxing, but they're not. So the teacher patiently keeps exhorting them. It ain't what you do, it's the way how you do it. NWBH.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Advice to younger meditators on jhāna, sex, porn, masturbation

Someone asked: Is porn considered harmful sexual.activity? I don't have a sex life because I don't have a partner and I don't wish to engage in casual sex so I use porn to quench the biological urge to orgasm. I can't see that's it's harmful because nobody is being forced into it. The actors are all paid well and claim to enjoy it etc. The only harm I can see is that it's so accessible these days on smart devices and so children may access it but I believe that this is the parents responsibility to not allow unsupervised use of devices etc. Views? Frankk response: In another thread, you asked about pleasant sensations and jhāna.  I'm guessing you're young, so here's some important advice you won't get from suttas   if you're serious about jhāna.  (since monastics are already celibate by rule)   If you want to attain stable and higher jhānas,   celibacy and noble silence to the best of your ability are the feedstock and prerequiste to tha

illustration of Buddha Gotoma where he looks like a human being

Illustration by Bhikkhu Vimalo from a BPS postcard wishing a happy vesak   More images where Buddha looks human: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2021/02/where-are-buddha-images-and-statues.html Buddha and Arahant images that look like real humans

1min. video: Dalai Lama kissing boy and asking him to suck his tongue

To give more context, this is a public event,  * everyone knows cameras are rolling  *  it's a room full of children * the boy's mom is standing off camera a few feet away watching all of this * the boy initiated contact, he had already had a hug with Dalai Lama earlier and then asked Dalai Lama for another hug which triggered this segment  17 min. video showing what happened before that 1 min. clip and after, with some explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT0qey5Ts78 16min talk from Ajahn Acalo with his thoughts on Dalai Lama kissing boy, relevance to Bhikkhu monastic code, sexual predators in religion in general, and how celibate monastics deal with sexual energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2m0TcUib0 The child's comments about the incident in a filmed interview later https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/04/18/643eba5d46163ffc078b457c.html The child: It's a great experience It was amazing to meet His Holiness and I think it's a great ex