Day 5 - The Jhanas (stages of meditative absorption)

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 somebody is used XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

to refer to the final awakening
or the final merging

like summer camp or a Nerva kalpa.

But other times they divide up

all these different societies,
and when you get into that,

then it's the same as these
these stages of

of genre absorption.

So I have patanjali's teaching here

and, and even in Christianity,

the Christian mystics have,

they call it
sometimes the religious ecstasies.

So these are there are energetic unfolding
in these these join.

So if you 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 there are these
these different stages that unfold.

And they don't all exactly correlate. But.

But you get a sense, you know, that

it's the same landscape,
it's the same phenomena unfolding.

So in Patanjali's teachings

and the the last three limbs of yoga

are essentially
what we're doing here in this retreat.

And so this this is called Sam Yama,

which is so there's Darna,
which is concentration

Diana, which is the meditation.

And then somebody which is

sort of the fruition of that practice.

So so what he says,

Darna, as we spoke about

previously,
Darna is the fixing of consciousness

on one point or one region,
which is concentration.

You know, so focusing on one point

then diyan 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 somebody.

So you you become one
with the meditation object.

So your your concentration and attention

becomes so focused,
so single pointed that the distinguish,

the distinguishing between subject
and object falls away.

That duality falls away.

So there's just the breath

and and it's it's you essentially

or there's just
whatever that meditation object is.

So and

so this is, you know, pointing towards

the john as this,
this absorption, meditative absorption,

you becoming absorbed
in the meditation object.

So the first,

John, is,

you know, we start out in meditation
and the mind we have the monkey mind,

it's, it's busy
and we have these hindrances

that are coming up,
which we've been talking about.

And so the first, Jonah, 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 so we're starting
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 and there's a
and so there's what they call pity

in, in the poly starts to arise,

which is an energy. So,

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

so we we

start to go deeper and and so the darker

at the beginning that unsatisfactory in

because of the hindrances
is starting to fall away

and then this satisfactory
ness starts to grow.

So this is called Sokka.

So we have Docker
and Sokka so and so the Sokka

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,
know they get, they get an

wouldn't shins and young calls
stuck in a good place.

So there's

this this

satisfactory ness that comes.

And what what happens is we can start
to play this this game of sensation.

So so with the

the hindrances,

we can learn to surrender.

We're not we're not, you know,
labeling our pain as pain anymore.

We're just,
you know, being upon us with what is.

And then we we find that it produces
this this kind of bliss

or satisfactory ness. And

and so we can start seeking that.

We can.

We can, you know, so the so the good
blissful feelings will be there and then

will, you know,

they'll subside, and then we'll be craving
to get them back again.

And, and there's this,
this game of sensation.

So there's this,
this subtle seeking in the mind

of wanting that state or that that bliss.

And so

we don't progress beyond the second Jana

until we really

have no preference towards that soccer

until we're willing to let that phenomena
come and go.

So, so even that, that bliss
that is born out of

you know, progress,
it's progress in our in our meditation

where we're really surrendering,
if that's coming.

But yet it can just become another prison
or another attachment.

And so we have to even let that go.

And so the next stage,

then the third stage
is really being a quantum us.

We're really being sort of grounded
in equanimity,

having no preference of any phenomena
that's coming and going.

And and it's with this, this equanimity.

And if we 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 not as true single point oddness.

That's the true
single point us 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 was talking about
that continuous attention

that leads to somebody and

you know so so these so

that that will lead into the fourth

genre which, which is,
you know, it's sort of characterized

by this feeling
that you can meditate forever.

There's there's just this, this feeling
that there

there's, there's, you know, total

focus, total presence. And,

you know, just this
this energy is present because the

the energy now is single pointed
or the focus a single point.

And so that that energy, you know,
all of that energy that's normally going

into the conditioned mind becomes present
and it's somehow

supports this

this single pointed

presence with your meditation object.

So there's so
this is the point at which that

that merging starts to happen
or that somebody state happens.

And I'm going to read

this is

from the Buddha himself.

So this is on on his
his night of enlightenment.

And he's he's talking about the dryness.

He's talking
about how he he's going into the dryness.

And so he's at this point where he says

tireless energy was aroused
and be and unrelenting.

Mindfulness was established.

My body was tranquil and untroubled

and my mind concentrated and unified,

quite secluded from central pleasures,

secluded from unwholesome states.

I entered upon
and abided in the first John.

The second John. The third. John.

The fourth.

And so on.

So he he talks about how,

you know, this is this is his his big,

you know, sitting under the body tree,
you know, really going for it.

He he had that
that absolute determination.

You know, the story goes that he

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.

And you know what?

What really stands out to me is, you know,
unrelenting mindfulness was established,

you know, tireless energy was aroused.

You know, So so this is the dryness.

Yeah.

So as as we go

deeper in our practice,

you know, we we,

we have these capabilities,

you know,
the attention, concentration, equanimity,

these, these literally get
wired in to this avatar and

so we can, you know,

it's like our baseline of,

you know, meditative capacity

just gets increased as we

as we progress through the dramas.

So one of one of the things, you know,
that is described

in the teachings
of the mystics is that we're,

you know, as we progress

on the path, you know, and every stage

there's this sort of dropping off of mind,

you know,
and there's there's an increase in

sort of the benefit of that dropping off.

So we we go deeper into these

feelings of joy or

energy or ecstasy, rapture.

And the deeper we go, you know,
the more beautiful these experiences are.

And and simultaneously,
the more sticky they are, because,

you know, the more beautiful,
like when the real rapture

starts to come, you know, the
these non dual experiences of,

of being one with God, you know, these,

these are everything in our being wants
to stay there.

And so to be a quantum us with that as a

as a temporary state is

is challenging
it's it's very challenging. So,

so it's like the

the stakes get higher
as we as we go further with the dryness.

It gets, it gets very

difficult for the mind to not be attached.

So indirect inquiry, you know, we

you know, we intend to directly experience
our true nature.

So we're not
you know, it's always in the now we're not

we're not progressing
through these these different stages.

And and when we awaken, you know,
we we find,

you know, a peace and a joy and happiness

that is not contingent on
anything on anything external.

So and so in all of these genres,

all of the experiences that come and go

are temporary.

You know, they're all contingent on,

you know, this this

practice that we're doing, you know, this

letting go and this dropping off of mind.

But eventually,
you know, when we when we go

to the end of

the john, as you know, like
the first for John is are

what they call the material genres,

which are pretty equivalent
to the Salva culpa.

Somebody you know, sometimes it's called

somebody with a seed.

So there's a seed of of form,

there's a seed of pattern there.

So so it's temporary.

So it's, you know,
the pattern will grow back.

Basically, the seed is still there.

So the the there are

so they call those the
the in the the material Johnny's

you know, material having to do with form

and the material genres are,

you know, when we when we enter into that
Sarva kalpa somebody state so we,

we merge with our meditation object,

then there can be the dropping away

of, of the mind and body
and we enter into the immaterial genres.

So there are

four immaterial genres
and I'm not going to really talk

about those because they're,
they're not really good to talk about.

They're their best left for,
for direct experience.

But I'll just say what what they're,
what they are.

So the, the first one is

infinite space.

So there's, there's, there's
still a sense of infinite space

and then that will drop away.

And there's there's a sense

that that infinite space is infinite.

Actually, infinite conscious ness.

And, and that infinite consciousness drops

away into this even more subtle,
no thing thinness.

And that no thinness drops away

into what they call
neither perception or non

perception, you know,
So it's getting pretty abstract here.

And and, you know, these

and these are you know,
you don't have to learn these things.

These are just,
you know, phenomena that that unfold

naturally as as a result of practice.

And so so,

you know, hanging out in either perception
or non perception.

Then the final sort of

realization in that genre

progression is what they call

neuro, the summer party, which is

that's what the Buddha experience.

So it's a very rare phenomenon where

the the being that

that enters into that it's when they

they're able to meditate
for an insanely long periods of time.

So they go into essentially
a meditative state for four weeks

and basically burn off
all the rest of their karma.

So nobody does.

So it's like it's very rare, but it's a
thing, you know, it's a it's a thing.

And some of the the great,

you know, masters
have, have experienced that.

Yeah.

So, so the convergence of,

you know, it's in its not total

dropping off of mind and body

and you know it's realizing
what remains in that state

and no one can tell you what remains
in that state and you have to realize it.

So, so this is where, you know,
the direct path

and the Jana path converge
is in that final realization.

They're both
they're both coming to the same place.

So it ultimately doesn't

really matter if you are just sitting
you know, if you're just sitting,

you're going to go through all this stuff
anyway.

You know, whatever's in the unconscious
is going to present itself.

Energy will be freed.

These these stages of bliss
and all this stuff.

And, you know, some people experience it,
you know, really strong energy

and other people,
you know, have different phenomena.

They have different different
learning goals or,

you know, different ways

that that letting go of pattern
will manifest

in experience.

So so not everybody, you know,

there is this in Buddhism,
they call it the dry path.

You know, the the inside path
where you don't

necessarily
go through, you know, rapture and,

you know, this,

this unfolding of Kundalini
and all this stuff.

It's possible
for this flip to happen in a in a

just a more direct way
without this unfolding.

So it's kind of mysterious.

I'm not sure why that is.

Some people

know they have all, all the bells
and whistles

on them, on the path and, and

this, this whole unfolding of genres
and for other people

it's it's not necessarily

yeah so any questions

about that before we

move on,

I have a question about.

Mm hmm.

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.

No, but everything that we're doing,

all this purification
of Sam scars, this is all

you could say.

Purifying or becoming free of karma.

Yeah, of course. Yeah.

To me, that's.

That's all.

It's all what we're doing every time
we're we're seeing,

you know, a big mind pattern
and we're able to let it go.

We're.

Yeah, we're becoming free of that karma,
you know?

And there's an interesting thing
with karma, you know, for me, like.

Like when we finally have that flip
to awareness,

you know, where we realize, like,
I'm actually not this, this character

that is going through this whole process.

You know, the crazy thing is
that awareness

was never bound at all by karma.

It was never touched by karma.

So so yeah, so,
so the whole thing with karma

is kind of a red herring,
you know, like it's, it's like it's

seems like there's something to do there,
but yet when that flip happens,

it's like a awareness
was was never bound in the first place.

So, you know, who does karma belong to?

It belongs to the character.

So it's, it's kind of ridiculous,
you know,

the whole the whole worry about karma.

And, you know, there's this whole thing
in Buddhism about about one's returners

and, and, you know, like, you know,
coming back and like, who comes back?

You know, it's it's all awareness
playing hide and seek this one awareness.

So to me, it's a it's a little bit of a,

a non-issue, you know? Yeah,

yeah.

Good.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah.

In the military 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.

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.