In the EBT suttas, this is the only place I can recall involuntary body shaking being mentioned.
SN 54.7 Kappina: no shaking or trembling in body (or mind). shift to APSS terminology from just APS. Showing that 16 steps of APSS (breath meditation) can not be limited to satipatthana category, but is also samadhi.
What was the solution to the problem? Doing lots of breath meditation cured it eventually.
Note that breath meditation can be done in any posture, especially while walking and sitting, and in this frequently occurring stock passage, you can see the monk from SN 54.7 was probably meditating 10 hours a day, and obviously celibate. Just my guess, the ordained monastic reasonably young and in reasonably good health, probably cured most of the grosser involuntary body shaking within 3 years. But remember it's a continuum, not an off/on switch. Where the movements may be attenuated where it's not visibly shaking on the outside, you can always feel the force of jhana churning inside the body unevenly, some parts vibrating with more pressure where your energy channels are not as clear and smooth.
AN 3.16 Apaṇṇaka: Unmistaken: 3 qualities lead to destruction of āsavā's. 1. guarding sense doors, 2. eating proper way, 3. sleeping and waking properly. While awake, doing walking and sitting meditation, no specific amounts given, so it's implied that one needs to decide according to circumstance how long to do each, and how often to alternate.
Whereas the monastics I'd guess can fix the grosser visible part of shaking within a few years following the Buddha's meditation schedule, a non celibate lay person meditating 1 hour a day, is unlikely to ever make a huge dent on getting rid of that problem.
🔗 involuntary movements in sitting meditation
https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2020/02/faq-how-to-proceed-if-i-get.html
1) they're not sufficiently relaxed, mentally or physically
2) they expended so much PIE (precious internal energy) that powers the force of jhana from a profligate lifestyle of too much sex, partying, thinking worrying, and not enough sleeping, that their jhana battery is weak. You first need to charge up the jhana battery before the forces would be strong enough to cause bodily shaking.
In other words, the moment you stop doing 'meditation' and your mind goes back into 'normal' mode, those pains, discomforts, body shaking from the previous paragraph immediately cease.
Note to beginners: Just because you sit quietly, and you look like a statue of the buddha to the outside observer, doesn't mean you're 'meditating'. If your mind is still operating in normal mode of wild random thinking about irrelevant topics, you won't experience bodily shaking or the jhana battery charging up.
But just as the Buddha advised the monk in SN 54.7, if you live a celibate lifestyle, meditate 6-12 hours a day (correctly) and are persistent, then the jhana battery is going to charge up with enough force, and the blockages will clear and it will feel blissful as AN 5.28 describes. If you only meditate 1 hour a day, then the journey will take a lot longer obviously.
But before one attains a good jhana, where the body feels calm and blissful, often with lots of brain pleasure chemicals, they feel pain, or vibrations, bodily discomfort, or even just a vague bodily restlessness that makes you want to get up and not sit. You can't pin a reason or point to a cause, you just feel restless and don't want to sit and meditate due to strong bodily dis ease or discomfort, even though it's not a distinct or significant pain .
I'll also describe in more detail some very helpful non EBT methods that meditation masters have used to help fix constipation and speed up the process.
zen - using loud noise and physical strikes (accupressure, tap and slap)
zen and mahayana - brisk walking, circle walking, shaolin kung fu and qigong
chanting - vocal vibrations dissolving chest tension
SN 54.7 Kappina: no shaking or trembling in body (or mind). shift to APSS terminology from just APS. Showing that 16 steps of APSS (breath meditation) can not be limited to satipatthana category, but is also samadhi.
What was the solution to the problem? Doing lots of breath meditation cured it eventually.
Note that breath meditation can be done in any posture, especially while walking and sitting, and in this frequently occurring stock passage, you can see the monk from SN 54.7 was probably meditating 10 hours a day, and obviously celibate. Just my guess, the ordained monastic reasonably young and in reasonably good health, probably cured most of the grosser involuntary body shaking within 3 years. But remember it's a continuum, not an off/on switch. Where the movements may be attenuated where it's not visibly shaking on the outside, you can always feel the force of jhana churning inside the body unevenly, some parts vibrating with more pressure where your energy channels are not as clear and smooth.
AN 3.16 Apaṇṇaka: Unmistaken: 3 qualities lead to destruction of āsavā's. 1. guarding sense doors, 2. eating proper way, 3. sleeping and waking properly. While awake, doing walking and sitting meditation, no specific amounts given, so it's implied that one needs to decide according to circumstance how long to do each, and how often to alternate.
Whereas the monastics I'd guess can fix the grosser visible part of shaking within a few years following the Buddha's meditation schedule, a non celibate lay person meditating 1 hour a day, is unlikely to ever make a huge dent on getting rid of that problem.
🔗 involuntary movements in sitting meditation
Jhāna constipation
First jhāna is actually really easy to do. The reason most people won't realize this, is because it won't feel like a proper first jhāna (see first jhana simile of AN 5.28 Pañcaṅgikasamādhi) until you've resolved involuntary body shaking and cleared some of the major energy channels in the body so the force pervades and moves energy around smoothly.First and second jhana, if not properly felt, is due to constriction and blockage in microcosmic orbit
First 45 seconds of video show the pathway of the microcosmic orbit in this 3D model.Lots of beginners don't experience any body shaking at all.
This doesn't mean they've already advanced past that stage and are first jhana capable and ready. The vast majority of beginners who aren't experiencing shaking, is because:1) they're not sufficiently relaxed, mentally or physically
2) they expended so much PIE (precious internal energy) that powers the force of jhana from a profligate lifestyle of too much sex, partying, thinking worrying, and not enough sleeping, that their jhana battery is weak. You first need to charge up the jhana battery before the forces would be strong enough to cause bodily shaking.
Lots of monastics don't experience jhāna (to their knowledge) because
They're following distorted and confused teachings on how the practice is actually done according to the EBT (early buddhist teachings).What does jhāna constipation feel like?
Until the microcosmic channel is open sufficiently and smooth, what you'll experience is involuntary bodily shaking, pains and discomfort only when you make the conscious effort to meditate.In other words, the moment you stop doing 'meditation' and your mind goes back into 'normal' mode, those pains, discomforts, body shaking from the previous paragraph immediately cease.
Note to beginners: Just because you sit quietly, and you look like a statue of the buddha to the outside observer, doesn't mean you're 'meditating'. If your mind is still operating in normal mode of wild random thinking about irrelevant topics, you won't experience bodily shaking or the jhana battery charging up.
But just as the Buddha advised the monk in SN 54.7, if you live a celibate lifestyle, meditate 6-12 hours a day (correctly) and are persistent, then the jhana battery is going to charge up with enough force, and the blockages will clear and it will feel blissful as AN 5.28 describes. If you only meditate 1 hour a day, then the journey will take a lot longer obviously.
Not everyone experiences shaking
Just to clarify, not everyone is going to experience body trembling and shaking before first jhana. Depending on how waves of energy move in the body, it may not necessarily rebound and cause shaking as it does for many meditators.But before one attains a good jhana, where the body feels calm and blissful, often with lots of brain pleasure chemicals, they feel pain, or vibrations, bodily discomfort, or even just a vague bodily restlessness that makes you want to get up and not sit. You can't pin a reason or point to a cause, you just feel restless and don't want to sit and meditate due to strong bodily dis ease or discomfort, even though it's not a distinct or significant pain .
On a future update of this article,
I'll detail some of the specific symptoms I experienced over the course of about 10 years, before I could do a proper first jhana, just to give you an idea of the types of things that you might experience, and shouldn't be discouraged by. But everyone's health condition is different, and the blockages they develop vary greatly according to what they worry and obsess about and how that translates to blockages in various parts of the body.I'll also describe in more detail some very helpful non EBT methods that meditation masters have used to help fix constipation and speed up the process.
zen - using loud noise and physical strikes (accupressure, tap and slap)
zen and mahayana - brisk walking, circle walking, shaolin kung fu and qigong
chanting - vocal vibrations dissolving chest tension
Hello! I’m very happy to come across this concept of jhana constipation, don’t see it discussed much elsewhere. I have recently started practicing standing meditation to help my jhana practice and all the shakes, movements and exhales are happening. And maybe it’s because of this, at night time when I try to fall asleep there sometimes will be patches of very irritating sensations on the body similar to restless leg syndrome. Is this sign of blockages? What can I do about it. Thank you
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