The first jhana

[Tibetan_Ice]

Ichigo,

Thanks for posting your experiences.

I have had a good day with first jhana by just going back to practicing vitakka and vicarra.

The formula is "point, sustain and monitor". When off, repoint, sustain and monitor.

Right now it is taking me 20 seconds to get into first jhana, complete with a star nimitta and bliss... Using the point in the right nostril. Although, today I have practiced two one hour sessions beforehand... So there is a cumulative effect..

[Ichigo]

Ichigo,

Thanks for posting your experiences.

I have had a good day with first jhana by just going back to practicing vitakka and vicarra.

The formula is "point, sustain and monitor". When off, repoint, sustain and monitor.

Right now it is taking me 20 seconds to get into first jhana, complete with a star nimitta and bliss... Using the point in the right nostril. Although, today I have practiced two one hour sessions beforehand... So there is a cumulative effect..

Sounds great Tibetan!! I don't think I ever saw a nimitta as a star, only as greyish cloud like, or very bright whitish almost like looking directly at the sun... but I always use the bliss as the object to enter Jhana and not the nimitta, since it appears to me that the nimitta fuses in me? or with the breath? by itself if I keep sustaining my attention at the breath or the bliss.

 

 

Yeah, I noticed that once you experience bliss through meditation, the next time you practice the chances for it to come up is almost instantly.

 

I have been continued to practice this technique, and I must say it brings damn fast results!!! I am experience bliss as much as I want as long as I continue to focus on the breath and being aware of every distraction that arises, and I can also use the bliss as the object, and do the same thing with the distractions, this way the bliss becomes sooo intense!!, I guess the distraction technique works both on the breath as object and also as bliss as object!

 

I used to have success with only putting my attention on the breath and ignoring distractions with force, but that is now only a hit or miss for me and kind of uncomfortable because I feel I am trying to hard, but the current technique you can't go wrong with it! you can't say "oh what a shit session! so many distractions and couldn't stay on the breath!"

 

NO, in fact the more distractions the better I noticed! being close to jhana or actually entering it the thoughts and chatter mind fades away by itself, all you are left with is awareness and catching the thoughts that arise even faster

 

Thanks for sharing! hope to hear more of your awesome experiences!!!

Edited October 26, 2015 by Ichigo

[Tibetan_Ice]

Sounds great Tibetan!! I don't think I ever saw a nimitta as a star, only as greyish cloud like, or very bright whitish almost like looking directly at the sun... but I always use the bliss as the object to enter Jhana and not the nimitta, since it appears to me that the nimitta fuses in me? or with the breath? by itself if I keep sustaining my attention at the breath or the bliss.

 

 

Yeah, I noticed that once you experience bliss through meditation, the next time you practice the chances for it to come up is almost instantly.

 

I have been continued to practice this technique, and I must say it brings damn fast results!!! I am experience bliss as much as I want as long as I continue to focus on the breath and being aware of every distraction that arises, and I can also use the bliss as the object, and do the same thing with the distractions, this way the bliss becomes sooo intense!!, I guess the distraction technique works both on the breath as object and also as bliss as object!

 

I used to have success with only putting my attention on the breath and ignoring distractions with force, but that is now only a hit or miss for me and kind of uncomfortable because I feel I am trying to hard, but the current technique you can't go wrong with it! you can't say "oh what a shit session! so many distractions and couldn't stay on the breath!"

 

NO, in fact the more distractions the better I noticed! being close to jhana or actually entering it the thoughts and chatter mind fades away by itself, all you are left with is awareness and catching the thoughts that arise even faster

 

Thanks for sharing! hope to hear more of your awesome experiences!!!

Hi Ichigo,

I have noticed that the location on which you fixate will turn into a pale white light cotton ball just after the background brightens up. However, there is also another light that appears off in the background. Since Nimitta is a generic term meaning "sign" I will bring in two terms which are often used to analyze breath meditation. The pale white cotton ball like light is sometimes called "the learning sign". It is a mental representation of the object of meditation. The star, or the sun that is very bright is called "the counterpart sign". That is the light of the still mind which appears in the background. It is like looking at your mind in a mirror.

What happens is that you concentrate on the point at the nostrils, you keep at it until it becomes like the cotton ball of light. At that point, the mind is not still... The star is in the background, moving around. If you keep concentrating on the cotton ball, the star will become brighter and move closer and closer to the cotton ball. If you keep focusing on the cotton ball, the two (the learning sign and the counterpart sign) will join, occupy the same space and sort of fuse together. For me, this process happens quickly but I'm having lots of "wobbles" lately, going in and out, in and out...

[Tibetan_Ice]

Well, learn something new every day

 

I've been studying Daskalos, a Christian Mystic Healer. 

Here is a book about him:  http://www.amazon.com/Swimming-With-The-Whale-Researchers/dp/1477139699 

 

Anyway, in this book it describes the importance of visualization. One of the meditative exercises described is to visualize a whitish blue sun at the solar plexus area. You visualize it streaming out light blue light into your body. Then, upon successful 'creation' of this white-blue sun/star that is radiating light, you merge or project yourself inside the sun and remain there.

 

After a few days of performing this type of meditation (twice a day for 50 minutes), I discovered a few things:

1) the practice produces heat in the body. The heat commences at the top of the head and slowly works its way down the whole head, into the shoulders and upper chest.

2) There is a time warp. What was a 50 minute meditation seemed like 5 minutes (a few times)

 

The interesting thing to me is that the manipura chakra is supposed to be yellow (Hindu), but here it is envisioned as light blue. Being blue, it resonated with the Kunlun practice of imagining one's self floating in the blue sky, sitting on a lotus flower and performing 'qi' gathering through visualized breathing..  Light Blue Sky.  Further, it reminded me of the thogal practice of sky gazing. Again, it is a method of submersing one's self in a light blue, sky blue field. So, there is some significance to the color of 'light blue'. 

 

According to Daskalos: "If you have a person who does not believe in God, in the Absolute Super-intelligence, or in men or in love, and who is living most miserably, you flood this person with the blue colour. The blue colour is giving to this person such vibrations as piety and concentration to something higher, to God"

 

So what does this have to do with first jhana? 

 

Yesterday, for the first meditation of the day, I envisioned a light blue circle at the manipura chakra (solar plexus). Being that my concentration was pretty good, I kept a pretty steady focus quite easily. I was getting to the point where I was going to merge into the center of the circle when, to my surprise, I went into first jhana.

 

 Just before going into first jhana, the position of the light blue circle changed, and it seemed to be directly in front of the third eye.  Now, I know you can pull up chakras and examine them using the third eye and when you do, they appear to be at the third eye level instead of in a physical local, so this is not so strange. The strange part is that the whole practice reminded me of what is written about kasina practice in the Visuddhimagga.

 

  http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf 

 

Instead of using breath or 'the sensation of the air on the tip of the right nostril' you can use a visualized circle of blue light. (you can, as indicated in kasina practice, use other colors too..  that is another topic I have yet to explore).  

 

Realization: you can go into first jhana by using a visualized circle of color. 

 

The key seems to be stable, sustained, directed focus involving relaxed willpower.  The other component, which I have discovered lately, is 'interest'.  It is possible to ramp up 'interest' in something. The first few times when you discover something new, there is great interest in the new found phenomenon. However, as it becomes more familiar and less intriguing, interest wanes.  However, I've discovered that 'interest in something' is something that is controllable through willpower. 

 

Edited December 22, 2015 by Tibetan_Ice