How to enter the first Jhana

[tlowedajuicemayne]

Hey everyone, 

I've been practicing Jhanas recently and I've learned how to enter the first one pretty well. I wrote this guide in my commonplace journal and thought I'd share it for anyone interested in entering Jhanas themselves. In this guide, we'll go over the steps you need to take before attempting to enter Jhanas, as well as the actual meditation.

What is a Jhana?- A Jhana is a state of complete, perfect equanimity and happiness that comes from training the mind to withdraw from automatic responses to sense impressions….well, something like that atleast. Words don't quite do it justice. Bliss state, peak state, whatever you wanna call it. The best way to see what it is, is to see for yourself.

The first thing to remember about Jhana's is that Jhana's are all about happiness. Jhana's begin with happiness, they operate in the domain of happiness, and they leave you happy. You can't enter Jhanas without happiness and because of this, 'striving' for a Jhana won't do. Zen Masters commonly say- when you stop wanting a bliss state, it will arise. This is the case in my experience.

There are 9 Jhanas, all with varying levels of depth and profundity but for this we will only be talking about how to enter the first Jhana. Once you are able to enter the first Jhana and gain some experience with it, you will see very clearly how to progress to the others without my input.

NOTE- Not everyone is going to be able to enter a Jhana on demand. If you don't have a regular zazen practice I'm not 100% sure how well you'll do here, so don't expect a miracle. But do keep practicing and soon, you'll be able to enter Jhana's no problem!

NOTE- this is all based on my own experinece. It might not match up to what you have read in a book somewhere or even to what you might have experienced in your own practice. If this works for you, great! If not, try something else!

 

Step 1- Practice being happy.

 

I know this sounds dumb but hear me out. lol. Happiness is fully surrendering to 'what is'. Surrender is stepping directly into happiness. When you sit down on your cushion, and put your full attention on your practice, you step directly into happiness. This is the first step. Practice being happy.

I recommend that you begin sitting zazen atleast 3 hours daily in one hour long time blocks. This will require some experience with sitting meditation as beginner meditators will have a hard time sitting this long without moving. The hour long sitting will allow plenty of time for surrender to take place and for 'the river' to be perceived (I'll explain more on this 'river' later). So Yeah, begin by sitting for 3 hours minimum each day, one full hour at a time. I recommend that you sit on a zafu (cushion) in a cross legged posture with your hands clasped together. This is important that your hands be holding one another and not separate. You can make the cosmic mudra, or any other hand mudra you like but don't be so fancy, you'll have to hold whatever hand posture you choose for an hour straight. If you have a hard time with these cross legged postures for this length of time, you may sit anywhere you like- a chair, a beanbag, whatever. As long as you are able to keep your back straight, chin slightly tucked and focus on your practice without falling asleep, day dreaming or moving around you'll be okay. Begin to practice being happy while you undertake step 2.

PS- If you sit down and are overcome with thoughts and emotions, do not fight these thoughts and emotions. Don't try to make thought stop, and don’t strain. Just simply return to your practice again and again very kindly and gently. Don't get caught up in trying to get rid of anything. Surrender!

 

Step 2- Practice abstaining from worldly (dopamine) based pleasures.

 

Sex, Masturbation, sweet and savory foods, internet, TV, etc. Try to abstain from these as much as possible. Don't be a tyrant or anything. Take away the top 3 dopamine related pleasures you have and start with that. Do this for atleast 7 days. The reason abstaining from these ordinary sense pleasures is necessary is because dopamine related pleasures are often centered in and arise from a sense of lack. They begin with lack, fulfill that lack for a while, and return you to lack. It is an endless cycle. Jhana's are all about happiness. They begin with happiness, operate in the domain of happiness, and return you to happiness. Therefore worldly pleasures and the sense of longing and lack that they bring aren't needed for Jhana practice. What place does lack have in happiness?

 

Also, Jhana pleasure is un-worldly pleasure. It is not dependent on the body or the world or anything outside of you. As I mentioned earlier, Jhanas take place IN HAPPINESS ALONE. They are not dependent on the condition of your body, your brain chemistry, the circumstances of your life, or any worldly concerns. Jhana's are openly available to everyone despite your conditioning. This is because Jhanas operate in happiness, which is inherent to everyone.

 

It is common for practitioners to expect dopamine related bliss from Jhanas and because of this they spend a lot of time on the cushion waiting to be hit with an orgasm or something. Lol. Don't do this, it is a waste of time. Un-worldly pleasure doesn't operate on dopamine receptors at all. The type of pleasure that I am talking about here takes place on an entirely different set of circuits. One of the main reasons that we (human beings) are so addicted to worldly pleasure is because we don't even know that other forms of pleasure exist. I assure you that Jhanas operate on an entirely different set of circuts in the brain and until you experience it for yourself, you should just take my word on it. When you know it for yourself, you'll see very clearly what I mean.

 

Step 3- Attempting Jhana

 

So you've gone 7 days abstaining from your pet pleasures and sitting for 3 hours each day. By this time you are probably already in a state of deep happiness and don’t even need the Jhana. All of that lack from your sense pleasures is discarded and now we can focus on the meditation without having to fight our craving.

From this point forward, discard your clocks and timers when sitting. Keeping time is not needed for this part of the practice so you can let go of all clocks and timers. When you sit meditation, you will sit happily and focus your attention on whatever your practice is. When you feel like getting up and ending the round, simply get up and end the round. Don't worry about how long you've gone on for. Focus on being happy while you sit. Being fully satisfied. Whether you're doing breath practice, koan practice, shikantaza, whatever it is. Begin focusing on your practice and do so happily.

 

Peripheral awareness and spotlight awareness.

This next step might sound advanced when written out but its actually not I promise, just follow me here.

After a while you'll start to feel good in your body. Your mind might start wandering over to the good feelings and off of your practice. This isn't necessary though. All you have to do from here is put your attention back on your practice and allow your peripheral awareness to open up to the good feelings.

For example, if I am practicing watching my breathing, I will keep my breathing in my focused awareness, and I'll also be aware that I'm feeling really peaceful and happy with my peripheral awareness. So in short, keep happiness and all your good feelings in your awareness while holding your practice simultaneously.

This is not difficult to do and does not require the mind to do. Do not engage your intellect to try to figure out how to do this, you are doing it already just become aware of it.

If you want a practical example of how you're doing it as you read this- focus your attention on your breathing right now and also feel your foot on the floor simultaneously. You see? Easy peezy. The spotlight awareness is on your breathing and your peripheral awareness on your foot. No mind needed.

Your mind may try to enhance the good feelings in your body. Don't spend too much time enhancing anything though, it will do it on its own.

 

 

The river begins to flow.

After a while of practicing, while feeling the good feelings in your body, you will begin to feel a river flowing in your hands or in your feet. Its different for everyone so feel around for it. It shouldn't be hard to miss though. It will feel like, what TV static looks like. If you have ever taken LSD you will be familiar with this static river that is flowing through you. This river will typically flows through your hands. As you are doing your breath practice, become aware of this flowing feeling in your hands. Your hands might feel like they are inside of boxing gloves, or that they are bigger than they normally feel. This is good. Don't try to enhance this or anything just be aware of it for now.

 

Makyo Begins-

As you go deeper into your practice and concentration Makyo will begin to appear Makyo is hallucinations of various sorts which appear when the mind gets quiet. You may see the room in from of you start to black out, various colors float by, you may see the room melt, buddhas coming out of the floor, or whatever. Don’t worry about these and don't focus in on them. Bring your attention back to your practice

 

The river roars-

Eventually, the river in your hands will come to a point where it is steady and fluid. It isn't a small flow but not a big one either. You will be able to clearly distinguish the flow in your hands or feet and you'll easily be able to put your attention on it. Now that it is stable and steady, stop putting your attention on your practice and put all of your attention on the flowing river in you.

 

So to clarify the whole thing- lets make a timeline of a sitting period while practicing Jhanas-

 

1. You sit down and begin focusing on your breath practice or whatever practice you're used to.
2. Each time your mind wanders, bring it back kindly and gently as normal.
3. You'll begin to feel content and peaceful after a while (usually 30-40 minutes for me). Be aware of this but don't make it your primary focus, let it be secondary for the time being.
4. You'll begin to feel some vibrating in your hands or feet or somewhere in your body, like a river is running through you. Become aware of this but don't make it your primary focus just yet. Keep it secondary.
5. After a while the river in your hands (or wherever it is) will become steady and obvious. Once you notice this, put your whole attention on the flow. If the flow disappears or stops when you pay attention to it, this means that it wasn't strong enough to handle your full attention just yet. Go back to your practice and wait for it to recover, or simply try again the next sitting round. If the flow continues as normal or gets bigger when you pay full attention to it, this is a good sign that you can go to the next step.
6. simply make the river the primary object of your meditation and the rest will happen on its own.

 

There you go, enjoy your bliss!

 

 

Some other cool facts and tips about Jhanas.

 

-Since Jhanas begin with happiness, operate in the domain of happiness, and end with happiness- you may have as much of this pleasure as you can take without any negative consequence.

 

-Since Jhanas do not operate in the body nor are they limited to the body, Jhanas may end in a single moment. If you are sitting and you enter a jhana, and the bell rings for you to get up and do walking meditation, you will be able to simply get up and do walking meditation. You will not be slowed down by your bliss. This is different from worldly pleasures such as drugs and psychedelics where you would be bogged down and slowed down by the bliss. Should someone need your help in a dire situation you would have to fight your bliss to help them. With Jhanas this is not the same. You may end the experinece completely in a single moment and simply enter it again later if you'd like to. This way we can live normal worldly lives, and be of use to our communities and experience unworldly bliss in our free time.

 

-Sometimes you may enter the Bardo when attempting to Jhana. The Bardo is the place the soul goes when the body falls away. Sort of like an in-between place. Entering this place can be especially confusing, frightening or incredibly blissful. Don't worry about entering the Bardo should you enter it on accident, plenty of practitioners do this by accident on retreat. If you feel disconnected from your body and get frightened, simply return to the present moment.

 

-Out of body experiences sometimes happen.

 

-Don't try to 'hold' onto a Jhana. If you come to a place where the bliss begins to end, don't try to cling to a jhana or walk around with it in your daily life. Allow it to come and go freely. When it is here, great! When it goes, let it go.