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the true connection between the eightfold path/ethics on one hand, and jhanas on the other.



(from an Article by William Chu)

I've always wondered the true connection between the eightfold path/ethics on one hand, and jhanas on the other.

If jhanas are something neutrally concentrative, which can in theory be equally developed by staring at a nimitta, focusing on a mantra, and practicing calligraphy, the all-important ethical-behavioral dimension is left out.

To the Buddha, jhana always carries with it an ethical dimension, an intention-molding/sloping teleology, a habit-changing-behavior-shaping conditioning effect, a task tied to each of the noble truths...

If pressed, the following is how I would characterize jhanas:

--the mind firmly resolved on disenchantment, dispassion, and/or cessation (can be on some facet of them), always moving in that direction, all the while experiencing the confidence, joy, pleasure, equanimity, or serenity that invariably comes from the mind moving in that direction

--the heightening and balancing of the seven factors of awakening, for the purpose of cultivating disenchantment, dispassion, and/or cessation (e.g. mindfulness--remembering the Dhammic mission, the why and how of inducing disenchantment etc.; be ablaze and passionate and ardent about such a task and goal, all the while keeping the blaze steady and potent...)

--not allowing the mind to distract from a samana's abode: cultivating non-carnal enjoyment to replace household resolves, concerns, memories; wholeheartedly and consistently savor contentment, seclusion, Dhamma passion, shedding off of burdens...

--approximating and duplicating a liberated samana's min, which is: vast, unobstructed, not burned by passion, signless (free from canker-inducing impressions), empty (not dwelling on me and mine), unwrinkled, unstuck, bright, alert, discerning [for the purpose of Dhamma]; approximation is one of the best ways to unlearn/decondition habits/addictions, and is not a lesser practice or being a mere preliminary to the so-called "vipassana practice"; the cultivation of citta, the removal of hindrances is not simply a strictly samatha practice. According to the suttas, it is the liberative path in its own right.

--all of the above are detailed in the sixteen steps. The sixteen steps need not be linear. They are situational, dynamic, open-ended, and can fluidly move from one step to the other. Jhana is the steadying, fluid transitioning, situational resilience, undistracted execution...of any and all the 16 steps

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