Liberation

This is a copy of a talk I gave on November 9, 2023 at the Blooming Heart Sangha

A Key to Liberation: The State of Jhana joy – take three

November 9, 2023

I would like to begin with breathing.

I invite you to experience what it feels like to breathe and become aware of your breath.
Pause to be aware of your breath…….
Experience the breath as known
Feel the joy of knowing your breathing.
Remember how you have experienced other moments of joy, pleasure and delight.

This is what happened to the Buddha

Remember how the young Siddhartha ( who had not yet become the Buddha ) was resting in the shade of a rose apple tree
Sitting there under the tree he spontaneously entered a state of deep concentration, satisfaction and ease.
He would later remember that pleasant experience.
He decided he would cultivate those naturally occurring states as the means for awakening.
He went on to teach his followers how to harness the power of a unified, happy mind.

I want to talk about my practice of cultivating and expanding those moments of joy. Based on breath, the breath as known.

It is the practice of the 5 jhana factors, the precursors and precondition for the deep state of absorption: Jhana
The 5 Jhana factors are the path of deep concentration leading to: Jhana, samadhi.
I first talked about this several years ago, and said I had a 6 month plan to explore the 5 jhana factors.
I’m still exploring. I’m still on the path, I’ve experienced lot, but still practicing. I constantly see and experience the path differently. While this is my current experience, the core approach is the same.

Summary: The 5 Jhana factors are steps along the path to cultivating deep concentration. = samadhi

A path of deepening joy.
I’ve seen Thay refer to Jhana, but I haven’t seen him discuss the 5 steps I’m talking about.
Thay does talk about the factors and about the state of absorption.
I have relied on authors like Shaila Catherine and Leigh Brasington for clearly identifying the path as the 5 steps

The first two steps are the hardest. You already know this.

First Step: Connecting

I direct my attention to a chosen object: the breath as know
Not the breath itself, but the breath as known.
Connecting begins with the intention to know and become aware.
Connecting relies first on relaxed, natural awareness of the physicality of the breath.
Then moves to focus on the breath as known. Focus on the occurrence of breath.
Equivalent: the inviting of the bell.

Second Step: Sustaining

Sustained attention on the chosen object: sustained attention on the breath as known
Starts getting harder
This sustaining of attention allows concentration to deepen
Equivalent: the reverberating bell, the steading hands of a potter.
May often have go return to the first step, Connecting
Good news: Next step is easy: do nothing

Third Step: Rapturous interest

Surrender to entrance of inner bliss; allow it to happen naturally.
Natural feeling of lightness and pleasure when the first two steps occur.
A sign that the first two steps have been taken, success.
I said it is easy, BUT: the first time it happened to me it scared me so much I was in my Doctor’s office the next day talking about the possibility of a stroke.
I’ve decided that this surrender to rapture is a developed skill; I now do it multiple times a day, without fear. It becomes easy with practice.
Not some kind of random rapture; it is rapture out of attention to a specific object (for me: breath as known or some other tactile experience as known: eg. Momentary touching the chair fabric, the top of the desk, the hand of someone next to me, a deep hug)

Fourth Step: Joy

Fifth Step: One-pointedness

A feeling of intimacy that rivets attention
Sets the stage for absorption
Can be experienced by focusing on the breath as known, by focusing on the hardness of the chair, by focusing on the touch of someone near you.
5^th step has a feeling of certainty; stability of concentration.
I think: A summary of all 5 steps in one.

These five are the 5 Jhana Factors

Set the stage, are prerequisites for Jhana absorption……absorption that can support insight or action, but it is not the same as insight or action.
Admission: I still linger on these 5 factors; They are where I am; still working on them, getting familiar with them.
Jhana absorption is mostly out of my reach, though I sometimes think I see it in a distant mist.
My experience of absorption is brief; by definition, now quite jhana
I talked about the five as steps, and some authors, like Shaila, present them that way: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5
In true Thay fashion: I think if you really experience any one of them, you experience them all. All at once. And that is very nice.
Like 5-sided dice.

Wrap up:

The 5 Jhana factors are a way of deep concentration; also a way of deep joy.

They are for me a key to liberation.
Can move me in a couple of directions: Concentration / no content ( samadhi) or insight / content (vipassana)
5 Jhana factors rely on awareness of the breath: the breath as know
In my practice, I add many other tactile experiences that I become aware of as known.
However, for most, the breath is pivotal, the breath is foundational; the breath teaches what it is like to experience breath as known

This is how I use the breath; What about you?