BIF the FIB. Mining for sukha, low hanging jhāna fruit, even rich men need poor man's jhāna

(work in progress. this will take me some time to articulate and explain sufficiently so people can understand, but it's such a great discovery I have to share even the minimal explanation as the article takes shape)

terminology

Definition of low-hanging fruit: the obvious or easy things that can be most readily done or dealt with in achieving success or making progress toward an objective.

Think about the fruit that hang low on a tree, grow close to ground that are easy to pick, compared to the fruit that are high up in the tree, and hard to climb up, have thorns, etc. 

sukha = physical pleasure. The physical pleasure you feel when you eat delicious food, have an orgasm, physical exercise done at the proper dosage and intensity, laughing with friends, etc. 

pīti = mental joy, can be intense mental rapture. The mental joy you feel when doing the same activities as listed for sukha.

Mining for sukha, low hanging jhāna fruit

I discovered another great way to generate some easy sukha for your jhāna enjoyment, especially for those times when you've been meditating a lot, so much that the body feels tight, uncomfortable, restless, trapped energy with blocked or suboptimal energy channels that won't circulate smoothly. 

Similar to how jogging can be tiring, painful, and not easy to motivate yourself to do everyday even though it's good for you, but by approaching it the right way, namely Shake & Bake🏃👨‍🍳🥧, it becomes easy, sustainable, and even pleasurable. Physically pleasurable. Easy sukha for your jhāna.

So the same way shake and bake can transform jogging into a fun, easy to do exercise that primes your body for a stronger jhāna experience, 

I've been experimenting and found that the same kind of principle can be exploited to transform resistive weight training, which one normally associates with body builders who want big muscles for aesthetics,  or professional atheletes who need extra functional strength for their sport. 

Instead of using heavy weights that make you tense, tired, "no pain no gain" mentality, so tiring you can only train a few times per week,

If your goal is to mine for some easy sukha, easy low hanging fruit, you use:

Very light dumbells, high repetitions, high volume, high frequency, done with jhānic level of relaxation.

You'll have to experiment with what weight works best.

I weigh about 140lb, I use a pair of dumbbells ranging from 5lb to 15lb usually, gradually progressing to heavier weights.

I spend 5min to 15min per session.

Just like finding the sukha when you stretch, the same applies here.

If you stretch too hard, your body gives you physical pain (from muscle, fascia tearing).

If you stretch too light, it doesn't give you pain or pleasure.

But if you stretch the right amount,, somewhere between too hard and too light, in what I call the pīti-sukha zone, then you get sukha, physical pleasure as a response. 

That's the biological imperative, your body giving you brain pleasure chemicals to encourage you to do something it wants. 

In the case of stretching, you're opening up blocked an suboptimal energy channels to allow more blood, lymph, qi, to flow through. 

Body rewards you with sukha, endorphins to tell you to keep going.

If you do enough reps with low weight dumbells, or any other kind of resistive weight training like latex bands, barbells, etc., you can mine for sukha in the same way as you do with stretching, or shake and bake, or eating delicious food that contain nutrients your body needs. 

even rich men need poor man's jhāna

The sukha generated by light cardo, correct stretching and hatha yoga, and light weights, I call this poor man's jhāna because everyone can do it whether they're rich (in ability to do actual Buddha's jhāna) or poor (no jhāna skill as of yet). 

Not only does the sukha you generate from intelligent exercise with shake and bake, stretching, or doing light weights give you immediate gratification, it amplifies the sukha you'll get when you sit down to do your quiet sitting or standing posture jhāna.

This is because all three of those exercise modalities stimulate circulation and expand your energy channels, help dissolve blockages.

So for example, take someone whose 'normal samādhi' is fourth jhāna experiences mostly neutral sensation, no pain no pleasure.

By doing physical exercises intelligently in jhānic way with jhānic intent, by opening and expanding your energy channels, that will give you a little drizzle of some sukha the next time you sit, even for fourth jhāna meditators.