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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.

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