a few thoughts on first jhana
There's only one thing you need to get an authentic taste of genuine first jhana. Passadhi - pacification/relaxation, the 5th step before the 6th step samadhi in the 7 awakening factors.
Everyone can do this. You have to use that skill to fall asleep. Or enjoy lying on a sandy tropical beach.
It's really that simple. The trick is, until you've put in enough time to melt your energy blockages, you won't get a full body pervasion of piti & sukha (rapture and pleasure) as described in AN 5.28.
The hard part, is during the ice melting phase and charging up of your jhana battery, meditation can be unpleasant and/or even painful. Depending on health, age, previous accumulated credits from virtue and meditation, this can take anywhere from weeks, to months before you've gotten a strong enough taste of pleasure to convince yourself that a full first jhana of AN 5.28 is possible.
One of my dreams is to help form a jhana society of practitioners who can competently do, and lead meditation sitting groups to help others learn the skill of first jhana. At the minimum though, IMO, meditators would need to at least commit to a daily practice at least as much as Transcendental Meditation (TM) meditators follow. Two twenty minute sessions per day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon.
And another commitment, and this is really important, is to train samadhi 24/7, even while you're working, following the principles of ✴️MN 20 Vitakka-saṇṭhāna. Even when you're working, you should be a master of thought,
ayaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, bhikkhu
This (is) called, **********, (a) monk
vasī vitakka-pariyāya-pathesu.
(who is a) master (of) thought-order-pathways.
yaṃ vitakkaṃ ākaṅkhissati
The thoughts (he) wishes,
taṃ vitakkaṃ vitakkessati,
those thoughts (he) thinks.
yaṃ vitakkaṃ n-ākaṅkhissati
The thoughts (he does) not wish,
na taṃ vitakkaṃ vitakkessati.
those thoughts (he does) {not} think.
What do you guys think? Am I just a crazy dreamer, or is it feasible to form a society of jhana meditators who can commit and do this?
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