Recommendation
Although I haven’t observed the entire process myself, this appears to be the most concise summary of the key points among everything I’ve encountered so far.
제가 이 모든 과정을 직접 경험해 본 것은 아니지만 지금까지 본 것 중에 핵심을 가장 간결하게 요약된 내용 같아 추천드립니다.
Checklist for jhāna practice
1. INITIAL ATTITUDES AND CONDITIONS
- Guard the mind with mindfulness.
- Establish a stability of mindful attention in the present moment.
- Have a clear intention to focus on your meditation object: the breath.
- Incline the attitude of the meditation toward stability and composure.
- Understand the practice as a refinement of relinquishment rather than an accumulation of attainments.
- Enjoy any opportunity to abandon an unwholesome state or repetitive thought.
- Cultivate mental attitudes that are bright, spacious, and relaxed.
- Temporarily set aside other meditation systems while you are establishing this singularity of focus. Permit your meditation practice to be utterly simple.
- Cultivate confidence that this practice works — jhāna is attainable. For over 2,600 years meditators have used these techniques to discover profound peace. Trust that the practice will work for you too — your mind is no exception.
2. BEGINNING THE FOCUSED MEDITATION TECHNIQUE
- Connect and sustain the attention at the point of occurrence of the breath with diligent penetrating interest.
- Count 1–10–1, 1–10–1 for a few minutes to strengthen the focus on the breath.
- If distracting thoughts persist, count 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, … reconnecting repeatedly as you attend to the whole breath.
- Learn to abandon all unwholesome states.
- Notice mind as it brightens and coheres. Notice the arising of the jhāna factors.
- Infuse the awareness of breath with delight and happiness while steadfastly focusing on the breath.
- Examine the experience of the absence of hindrances to become familiar with the quality of an undefiled joyful awareness.
3. ESTABLISHING ACCESS TO ABSORPTION
- Gladden the mind with the perception of the absence of hindrances; learn to trust your mind by abiding without hindrances.
- Continue to direct attention to breath or breath nimitta. Stay attentive to breath without necessarily perceiving sensation. Let go of the habit of interpreting breath through physical sensation.
- Notice when the physicality of the sensations diminishes and a dominant luminosity arises in the mind: the appearance of the counterpart sign (nimitta).
- Resolve for the growth and increase of the jhāna factors.
4. SEQUENTIAL PROGRESSION
- When the mind is very bright, cohesive, undisturbed by thoughts, and unhindered by desire, aversion, or doubt, insert the resolve “May I enter and abide in the first jhāna.”
- Let the mind rest in the purity of this state.
- Observe the inward quality of mental cohesion in the first jhāna.
- Allow vitakka and vicāra to settle, then focus with rapt interest on the nimitta to attain the second jhāna.
- Become dispassionate toward pīti as it fades in order to shift to the third jhāna. Let the mind unify with the subtle happiness of sukha.
- Relinquish any attachment to sukha to attain the fourth jhāna.
- Follow the single-pointed stillness into a stable absorption characterized by a neutral expression of equanimity.
5. STRENGTHENING ABSORPTION
- Sustain the jhānas gently, with joy, interest, and ease.
- If the seclusion begins to weaken with the influx of a few thoughts, infuse attention with interest to maintain the unification.
- When protecting seclusion, avoid trying to adjust the jhāna. If distractions interrupt the absorption, a gentle equanimous recognition of the breach may restore your dedication to the wholesome state of concentration and usher the mind back into absorption.
- Upon emerging from each jhāna, notice the qualities of stability and clarity, and the presence or absence of the jhāna factors.
- Develop the agility to enter and exit each state without difficulty.
- Jump between the levels of jhāna.
- Rest deeply in each of these pleasant abidings.
- Relax. Trust the concentration to deepen without forceful striving.
6. USING JHĀNA AS A BASIS FOR INSIGHT
- Relinquish the seclusion after each absorption. Let the jhāna dissolve and observe the dissipation of the jhāna factors and the secluded state.
- Upon emerging from absorption, examine the qualities and mental factors that are present and absent in the mind.
- Become mindfully aware of perceptions, sensory experiences, and mental activities as they naturally occur.
- Use each stage as a basis for insight before aspiring to the next level of jhāna.
- Take a moment to consciously bring each meditation session to a close with a dedication toward an altruistic purpose, reflection on the quality of mind during the meditation session, recommitment to your aim, or contemplation of the relevance of the meditative experience for your life.
- Allow the experience of jhāna to consciously inform the decisions that you make and the actions that you perform in your daily activities.