Focussed Awareness on Pleasure in the Body: The Jhanas
The jhanas are a series of deepening states of meditative absorption. They start by noticing and then amplifying the sensations of pleasure and joy in the body. In that sense, they start with the Focussed Awareness/shamatha technique of focusing on an object and then adds in an additonal step (which is switching from focusing on the object to focusing on the pleasure and joy that arises in the body).
Michael Taft explains the process of entering the first jhana in this video.
This Michael Taft video leads you through a sit based on the first jhana.
Other Useful Jhana Resources
- Deconstructing Yourself Podcast with Leigh Brassington: Diving Deep into the Jhanas
- Lions Roar website: Entering the Jhanas by Leigh Brassington
- Dharma Seed: Practicising the Practising the Jhānas retreat talks by Rob Burbea
| First jhana: PLEASURE-JOY | Focus on pleasure in the body (piti), with joy (sukha) in the background |
|---|---|
| Second jhana: JOY-PLEASURE | Focus on joy in the body, with pleasure in the background |
| Third jhana: JOY | The afterglow of joy in the body |
| Fourth jhana: BEYOND JOY | Quiet stillness |
Brassington speculates on the relationship between neurotransmitters and the different points of focus in the jhanas: pleasure in the body may be connected to dopamine breaking down into norepinephrine, and the feeling of joy may be connected to endorphins.