So I'm going to talk about the Jhanas.
The stages of meditative absorption.
And I want to kind of put them in context.
So these stages of absorption are something that come from very
ancient traditions. So this is sort of pre sectarian Buddhism
from the Upanishads you know, long time ago.
So a lot of modern Buddhism, is now about insight meditation.
There are still people teaching the Jhanas,
And often these things are taught separately.
As if there are practices for the Jhanas and practices for insight meditation.
Practices, for direct inquiry or the non dual practices.
And I see them all at a certain point converging
and I want to kind of point in that direction.
That's where I'm going in this talk, and I want to kind of make it clear that
these are all facets of what unfolds, when we start to really inquire
or meditate, or whatever you want to call this process we're engaged in here.
And so this is part of the landscape or part of the phenomena.
And I'm going to go into the Theravada sort of framework
of the Jhanas, just because it's very thorough and complete.
But I don't consider it to be like a map.
I don't considered to be definitive.
People have awakenings without encountering any of this stuff.
But I think it can be helpful for some people,
especially when we're really going into a meditation practice.
You know, the Jhanas are really related to practice.
So as we're cultivating concentration, attention, equanimity,
there are these stages that seem to unfold.
So, we can also completely forget about all this stuff.
And as Dogen said, we just sit. Just sit and just be
and we can end up awakening through that path as well.
So again, it always comes down to this 'Always being Buddha,
always becoming Buddha'.
This is a developmental process, so it's unfolding through time.
So it's pertaining to the self structure,
but yet we can wake up from the self structure at any time.
So with these Jhanas in our practice,
as we cultivate these meditation skills, then we can,
jump into these different stages of absorption more easily.
So the more advanced we are in our practice,
the later the stages we can just jump into.
So we don't have to go all through them in every sit.
These are found in all different traditions.
So, Patanjali talks about these in the Yoga Sutras,
sometimes when people are talking about stages of samadhi,
they're talking about the Jhanas, basically. It's just different terminology
But sometimes Samadhi is used to refer to the final awakening or the final merging
like Savikalpa or a Nirvikalpa.
But other times they divide up all these different Samadhis, and when you get
into that, then it's the same as these stages of of Jhanas absorption.
So I have Patanjali's teaching here,
and even in Christianity, the Christian mystics have call it sometimes
the Religious Ecstasies. So there are energetic unfolding in these Jhanas.
So if you listen or read the works of Saint Teresa of Avila or Saint John of
the Cross or Saint Francis of Assisi, you find these
these religious ecstasies as they go deeper into prayer.
And there are these different stages that unfold.
And they don't all exactly correlate. But you get a sense that
it's the same landscape, it's the same phenomena unfolding.
So in Patanjali's teachings, and the last three limbs of yoga
are essentially what we're doing here in this retreat. This is called Samyama,
there is Dharana, which is concentration Dhyana, which is the meditation,
and then Samadhi which is sort of the fruition of that practice.
So what he says, as we spoke about previously, Dharana is the
fixing of consciousness on one point, or one region, which is concentration.
So focusing on one point.
Then Dhyana is the continuous flow of attention towards the same point or region
So that continuity through time is the attention span.
And then he says, when the object of meditation engulfs the meditator appearing
as the subject, self-awareness is lost. and this is Samadhi.
So you you become one with the meditation object.
So your your concentration and attention
becomes so focused, so single pointed, that the distinguishing,
between subject and object falls away. That duality falls away.
So there's just the breath, and it's you essentially
or there's just whatever that meditation object is.
So this is pointing towards the Jhanas, this absorption, meditative absorption,
you becoming absorbed in the meditation object.
So the first Jhana is...
you know, we start out in meditation and we have the monkey mind,
it's busy, and we have these hindrances that are coming up,
which we've been talking about.
And so the first, Jhana, is when that monkey mind is settling down,
the hindrances are not a problem anymore. We sort of move beyond the hindrances.
And we're not necessarily continuously
present with the meditation object, but we're starting to really stick with it.
And so the monkey mind is settled down,
and we're generally staying with the object.
So there's at this point, still thoughts arising from time to time,
But generally you're you're doing something that really looks
like meditation at this point. You're actually sticking with it.
And so there's what they call Piti, in Pali, starts to arise, which is an energy
So the energy that was going into these old patterns starts to become present.
There's this feeling of of energy and a generally feels good.
It's it's a good feeling at this point.
And so we start to go deeper and so the Dukkah at the beginning,
that unsatisfactoryness, because of the hindrances, is starting to fall away.
and then this satisfactoryness starts to grow. So this is called Sukha.
So we have Dukkha and Sukha. So this Sukha also sort of comes and goes as well.
Sometimes it'll be there, sometimes it isn't there.
And so this is a really important point.
A lot of people really stall out, they get what Shinzen Young calls
'Stuck in a good place'.
So there is this satisfactoryness that comes.
And what happens is we can start to play this game of sensation.
So so with the hindrances, we can learn to surrender.
We're not labeling our pain as pain anymore.
We're just, being equanimous with what is.
And then we find that it produces this kind of bliss or satisfactoryness.
And so we can start seeking that.
So the so the good blissful feelings will be there and then they'll subside,
and then we'll be craving to get them back again.
And, there's this game of sensation.
So there's this subtle seeking in the mind of wanting that state or that bliss.
We don't progress beyond the second Jana
until we really have no preference towards that Sukah.
until we're willing to let that phenomena come and go.
So, even that bliss that is born out of progress in our meditation,
we're really surrendering, if that's coming, can just become
another prison or another attachment.
So we have to even let that go.
And so the next stage, the third stage, is really being equanimous.
We're really being sort of grounded in equanimity,
having no preference of any phenomena that's coming and going.
And it's with this equanimity, if we can really be okay with whatever
is coming up in our practice, this equanimity kind of goes hand in hand
with the next thing that arises, and that is true single pointedness.
That's the true single pointedness, where you're really there continuously
with your meditation objects. So there's there's no more break.
So it's like what Patanjali was talking about, that continuous attention
that leads to Samadhi.
So that will lead into the fourth Jhana, which it's sort of characterized
by this feeling that you can meditate forever.
There's just this feeling that there's, total focus, total presence,
just this this energy is present, because the energy now
is single pointed, or the focus is single pointed.
So that energy, all of that energy that's normally going into the conditioned mind
becomes present and it somehow supports this single pointed presence
with your meditation object.
So this is the point at which that that merging starts to happen
or that Samadhi state happens.
And I'm going to read,
this is from the Buddha himself.
This is on his night of enlightenment, and he's he's talking about the Jhanas.
He's talking about how he's going into the Jhanas.
So he's at this point where he says
'Tireless energy was aroused in me, and unrelenting mindfulness was established.
My body was tranquil and untroubled, my mind concentrated and unified,
quite secluded from central pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states.
I entered upon, and abided in the first Jhana, the second Jhana, the third Jhana,
the fourth, and so on.
So he talks about how .... This is his big sitting under the bodhi tree,
really going for it. He had that absolute determination.
You know, the story goes that he decided he was he was going to sit
under that tree, until he got to the truth.
Whatever happened,, he was going to be unrelenting in that.
What really stands out to me is, you know, unrelenting mindfulness was established,
tireless energy was aroused. So this is the Jhanas.
So as we go deeper in our practice, we have these capabilities,
the attention, concentration, equanimity, these literally get wired into this avatar
It's like our baseline of meditative capacity just gets increased
as we progress through the Jhanas.
So one of the things that is described in the teachings of the mystics
is , as we progress on the path, at every stage there's this sort of dropping off
of mind, and there's an increase in the benefit of that dropping off.
So we go deeper into these feelings of joy or energy or ecstasy, rapture.
And the deeper we go, the more beautiful these experiences are.
And simultaneously, the more sticky they are, because, when the real rapture
starts to come, these non dual experiences of being one with God,
everything in our being wants to stay there.
So to be equanimous with that as a temporary state is is challenging,
it's very challenging.
So it's like the stakes get higher as we go further with the Jhanas.
It gets very difficult for the mind to not be attached.
So in direct inquiry, we intend to directly experience our true nature.
It's always in the now, we're not progressing through these different stages
And when we awaken, we find a peace and a joy and happiness
that is not contingent on anything, on anything external.
So in all of these Jhanas, all of the experiences that come and go are temporary
They're all contingent on this practice that we're doing,
This letting go, and this dropping off of mind.
But eventually, when we go to the end of the Jhanas,
you know, the first four Jhanas are what they call the material Jhanas,
which are pretty equivalent to the Salvikalpa Samadhi.
Sometimes it's called 'Samadhi with a seed'.
So there's a seed of form, there's a seed of pattern there.
So it's temporary.
The pattern will grow back, basically. The seed is still there.
So they call those the material Jhanas. Material having to do with form.
And the Immaterial Jhanas, are when we enter into that Savikalpa Samadhi state.
So we merge with our meditation object, then there can be the dropping away
of the mind and body, and we enter into the immaterial Jhanas.
So there are four immaterial Jhanas, and I'm not going to really talk
about those, because they're, not really good to talk about,
they're best left for direct experience.
But I'll just say what they are.
So the first one is infinite space.
There's a sense of infinite space, and then that will drop away,
and there's a sense that infinite space is infinite consciousness.
And that infinite consciousness drops away into this even more subtle nothingness.
And that nothingness drops away into what they call neither perception,
nor non-perception. So it's getting pretty abstract here.
and you don't have to learn these things.
These are just phenomena that unfold naturally as a result of practice.
And so hanging out in either perception or non perception, then the final sort of
realization in that Jhana progression is what they call Nirodha Samāpatti,
which is what the Buddha experienced.
So it's a very rare phenomenon, where the beings that enters into that,
they're able to meditate for an insanely long periods of time,
they go into essentially a meditative state for weeks,
and basically burn off all the rest of their karma.
So nobody does that.
So it's like very rare, but it's a thing, you know.
And some of the the great masters have experienced that.
So, the convergence is in that total dropping off of mind and body,
is realizing what remains in that state.
And no one can tell you what remains in that state, and you have to realize it.
So, this is where, the direct path
and the Jana path converge is in that final realization.
They're both coming to the same place.
So it ultimately doesn't really matter if you are just sitting,
if you're just sitting, you're going to go through all this stuff anyway,
whatever's in the unconscious, is going to present itself.
Energy will be freed, these stages of bliss, and all this stuff.
And, some people experience it. Really strong energy,
and other people have different phenomena.
they have different 'letting gos' or, different ways that
letting go pattern will manifest in experience.
In Buddhism they call it the dry path, the inside path, where you don't necessarily
go through rapture and this unfolding of Kundalini and all this stuff.
It's possible for this flip to happen in just a more direct way,
without this unfolding.
So it's kind of mysterious, I'm not sure why that is.
Some people have all the bells and whistles on their path,
this whole unfolding of Jhanas, and for other people it's not necessary.
Yeah. So any questions about that before we move on?
[QUESTION] -----CLARIFICATION------- I have a question about karma
Disturbing to hear you say that the current gets burned off very,
very end instead of is there no
processing and working with karma
along the path along the way or.
[DAN ANSWER] -- OK -------- Yeah, but everything that we're doing, all this purification of Samskaras,
this is all, you could say, purifying or becoming free of karma.
INAUDIBLE
Yeah, of course. Yeah.
To me, that's all what we're doing every time we're seeing a big mind pattern
and we're able to let it go, we're becoming free of that karma.
And there's an interesting thing with karma.
Like when we finally have that flip to awareness, where we realize,
I'm actually not this character that is going through this whole process,
the crazy thing is that awareness was never bound at all by karma.
It was never touched by karma.
So yeah, the whole thing with karma is kind of a red herring,
it seems like there's something to do there, but yet when that flip happens,
it's like a awareness was never bound in the first place.
So, who does karma belong to? It belongs to the character.
So it's kind of ridiculous, you know? The whole worry about karma,
And there's this whole thing in Buddhism about once returners
coming back... And who comes back?
It's all awareness playing hide and seek' Its ONE awareness.
So to me, it's a little bit of a non-issue
Yeah, yeah,
[QUESTION CLARIFICATION] In ---------- go quite deep in,
in our meditation practice more easily
because we're like stuck in the retreat and you know, it's no escape for the mind.
Mean all that.
And as, as the retreat progresses,
the mind is quieter and quieter,
so it goes further in communication.
My question is,
when we get out of this retreat, like I meditate,
it's interesting when our enough is
it is it going to
is this death, this profound
experience?
Is this can we
just in an hour a day and then, you know, all the rest of your life going on?
You have all your worries?
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
It's that's the question that always comes up. And.
Yeah, so, you know, the truth is
and, you know, this is something we talk about all the time.
You know, it's it's,
you know, we have
awakenings, you know, we put ourselves
in these conditions of no escape and then go back to life.
And like, the truth is, it doesn't always get easier.
It actually, you know, we get very sensitized to the pattern.
We can see the patterns so clearly, you know, like
so when you know who you are, you know, you're not that conditioned mind.
But yeah, there's still some scars or so patterns in play.
There's just still, you know, like, like the
the character goes back to life. So,
so it becomes very, very clear that those patterns are there
and we feel them fully when we go back to life.
So in some ways,
you know,
I always say it's the beginning of a,
you know, a really accelerated purification process.
And when we go back to life because we feel and see whatever
is remaining to be purified and it'll it'll be more obvious.
It'll come up more clearly.
So but at the same time, like,
you know, so the key for for coming
to, you know, a practice like this
and doing this and finding out the truth, you know, that
that conditioned mind that was seeking and doing something
isn't you and that it can't do it,
it has to drop away and essentially fail.
So so the main difference
is the end of seeking you know, there's no more seeking.
You don't need to be seeking anything when you go back to life.
You don't need to be
searching for who you
are because who you are is always right here.
You know, it's it's got that fundamental delusion
of the mind that it has to do something.
You know, or, you know, that the the piece that I'm feeling in this,
you know, meditation retreat, you know, the mind will always go, it's so sneaky.
It will just say, how do I keep it?
How do I hold onto it?
You know, the mind is saying that always, you know, like how do I hold it?
How do I integrate it?
You know?
But that's the delusion of the mind, right?
Like the mind can't do it.
There's nothing the mind needs to do.
So we can we can go back into life and and
operate the same way we're operating in this retreat.
Just let it happen.
Just let it unfold.
You know that that purification is going to happen
just by you being you just by being.
Yeah, yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
So, you know, the truth is, it's it's not an easy ride always.
You know, we we go back, we fall, fall, and, you know,
we get snagged over and over, you know, we fall into a pattern,
you know, we then, then we realize who's falling into pattern or what's,
what's happening and yeah, and it's and this is part of that purification process.
And, you know, by coming back into being over and over,
there's this purification that happens
and eventually the outer life
will, you know, will rearrange in
as a reflection of more true expression of who we are.
Yeah.
So the quest to change the perspective is to know where you are.
Just.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that.
And that
and that and that energy, you know, that is alive as well.
Like that sensitizes you to you know like the, the, a lot of the,
the big patterns that need to shift in the outer world become so obvious
that you can't put you know you can't go back in that box
right like the energy is is out now and it's free
so it's like it's really obvious and so it's not even a choice anymore.
You know, it's it's like the energy is is has made the choice for you.
Yeah.
Thank you.
It's very, very helpful.
Extremely helpful.
Thank you.
You remembering your this
film of your hand and my hands here.
Yeah, yeah, about that.
Because I was asking the same question.
It's like, yeah, saying that is fine by me
because everyone is like thinking I'm asking,
you know. Yeah.
And as I remember that, I love that
the filmmakers of the story itself,
the a disappointment or,
you know, the the battle took in on that
he went to the end in that game
just didn't and
didn't buying the piece and all the other time
like going right by that kind you need to be in America
you need to be in this piece calls for it because
you need to.
You got them like in the end,
because he wasn't a kid,
because he was doing his lessons in a normal life.
Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah. Where they can
become like them.
And is this the same question?
So just sharing.
Yeah.
This film's beautiful and experience completely.
And how could you have.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
And explain completely this part of being the, you know, the things.
Yeah, yeah, that's it.
That's it.
So it's different for everyone, you know, the that
flowering of the, the lotus or whatever you want to call it, you know, it's like
he, he listen to that direction, you know, he knew something in him
was saying he had to go to America and that was clear,
That was his path and he he listened he aligned with that energy.
And and that's that is enlightenment. Yeah.
When we aligned with that inner direction that, uh, yeah.
Whereas for somebody else,
maybe it is going in that cave, you know, maybe that's their, their path, Right.
So we just never know, you know, or it could be absolutely anything,
you know, it could be, you know, being an artist where we, we, you express
what's coming through in, you know, or a musician or whatever, you know.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's just that willingness to
just follow and trust that inner guidance.
And it's so simple.
It's just what excites us.
That's all it is.
You know, It's very childlike, really.
It's not, you know, it's sometimes people, you know, at the end of the retreat,
they'll, they'll be like, okay, I know who I am, but what's my purpose?
You know, and, and, and it's it's like, you know,
that's that's such a burden to have a purpose.
You know, it's like a projection into the future.
Right. Again, that's the line.
That's the trap of the mind. Like, what's my purpose?
Like what a what a heavy burden to have,
like some mission that you have to fulfill, you know?
So to me, it's more like
in, you know, like people, people look at my,
my website like a wake in the world dot com and think, oh,
you've got some big mission, you know some big purpose or something.
But it's that that moment to moment, you know, following
your excitement is is it, you know, like Joseph Campbell said Yeah, yeah.
Follow your bliss. That's it.
Yeah.
And it's, it's, it's
very you know like a little kid doesn't, doesn't say what's my purpose.
You know, they don't they don't try and figure out their mission in life.
They just go and play
with the next toy or, you know, they're just excited naturally.
And it's that that feeling that is our compass.
Yeah, they're all just kind of
Joseph Campbell.
Yeah.
He, he, he's famous for that that phrase.
Follow your bliss. Yeah.
Yeah.
Compass.
Yeah,
yeah.
All right.
So yeah, I will take a short break and then
come back for a meditation.