(6.5) Theravada - The Practice Guide (Form Meditations)

[Niết Bàn Tầm]

THERAVADA

3. THE PRACTICE OF PARI-AJNA EKAGRATA

3.3. FORM MEDITATIONS (Rūpajhāna)

This section describes the PAE practice on a Fire kasina. Cultivators practicing with other kasinas should be able to apply this in a similar way.

Light up a flame in a dark room and look at this object with your open eyes for two seconds. Then close the eyes, you will see in front of you an image of a flame. This image indicates to you exactly where it will conceptually appear when you meditate (well, this image will not stay in this spot for long. It will disappear.). Perform self-protection rituals and use your breath to relax and clear your mind of your daily job as detailed in the section of preparation steps. Then begin your meditation by focusing your mind in that spot and calling in your mind: 'Tejo' (Fire)... 'tejo'... 'tejo' (spacing one second at a time). After a while, suddenly a flame appears in that spot. This is the vision of your kasina. Look at this image very calmly and repeat in your mind: 'Tejo1' (Fire1)... 'tejo2'... 'tejo3'... (pausing one second in between).

 Comments and advice

▪ When the image of a flame appears for the first time, you will lose the body awareness.
▪ Be patient and relaxed, do not rush, and do not need to compete against anyone.
▪ If you face hindrances, repent (ksamayati) and adhere to sīla as strictly as possible.
▪ It is not until you have reached the Third Jhana that you should trust what you see is correct. Before that level, what you see or experience could simply be deceptive illusions manufactured by the invisible world (see the section on nimittas).
▪ If you feel scared or nervous, do not be afraid of your fear. Use this: 'Good causes yield good results'.
▪ If a flame appears very clear then suddenly multiplies into a 'wild fire', this symptom indicates that in the past you always 'exaggerated an event' to someone. For example, when you lost a little fish you always report to your friend that you lost a big fish. If a flame appears very clean but tilting, it means you are 'not fair' in your judgment. If you see a dancing flame, this suggests you tend to beat around the bush (i.e., you never go straight to the point).
Solution: Do not worry about all these happenings! Just focus on the kasina. Sooner or later, all your bad behaviors will go away!
▪ At any level of attainment concentration (appanā samādhi) there are new comers and old timers. The new comers are those who have reached and experienced that level of concentration only for a couple of times whereas the old timers are those who have fully attained it, i.e. they can enter and exit it anytime and anywhere they want.

3.3.1. THE FIRST (Pathama) JHANA MEDITATION – 12 SECONDS

With great effort and persistence, the PAE practice on your kasina will gradually inhibit gross material pleasures stimulated by the senses and replace them with moral and sublime ones in the state of full concentration.

When you are able to maintain the appearance of the kasina for twelve seconds, you have attained the First Jhana. You will no longer have sensual desires, anger, hatred, restlessness, fear, and doubt about the meditation techniques. You will also sleep less than normal. Your previously wandering, coarse mind now consists of five mental states:
▪ Vitakka: Direct your mind in search of the kasina.
▪ Vicāra: Once the kasina appears, sustain the application of your mind on it for as long as possible (i.e., between one and twelve seconds).
▪ Pīti: Feel pleasure and joy (smiles on your face because you have entered a state of full concentration).
▪ Sukha: Enjoy happiness and feel bodily light.
▪ Ekāgratā: Attain single-mindedness. The degree of single-mindedness is measured by the transparency, clarity, and sustained appearance of the kasina.

If your meditation goes well, you could also see that the surrounding area of the kasina is apparently pitch-dark and very deep.

 Advice

+ Focus and fix your concentration on the tiny dot where you want your kasina appear. Do not wander your contemplation to the surrounding area. It is not until your kasina appears solidly that you could observe other details.
+ Be persistent and perseverant but use roughly 70% of your energy in each session. There is no scientific method to compute this 70% of a person's energy. This can be understood as: Do not exhaust yourself in a single session. Cultivation is a long and hard (but eventually well worth) journey. So, think and practice long term!
+ When the kasina first appears, do not feel so much eager to push yourself excessively. Doing so may result in chest pain or dizziness, which in turn negatively affects your progress. Stick to the 70% mark.

 The First Jhana and noise

When the kasina appears in front of your ajna for at least 12 seconds, you have reached the First Jhana. You may experience some of the following types of noise:
+ A thud or jingle like something dropping on the floor, a calling or a footstep by someone. One solution is to find another practice place that is quieter. Another solution is to ask your family members not to make noise. Or, as in the case of Mr. Sơn [11], 'he clenched his teeth, pressed his tongue harder against the upper palate, and focused more strongly to the kasina.' (In the early period of his meditation practice, his wife, unsure of what he was doing, played the piano every time she saw him sitting/lying quietly with closed eyes)
+ Some sort of fizzling sound in your ears (especially the right ear), which should not cause any uncomfortable feeling to you. This sound stems from the right brain and is made louder in accordance with your cultivation progress. Do not pay attention to this sound because it will hold you back at the level of access-concentration. However, for some people, the brain-initiated sound is relatively noisy (like one from a loudspeaker) and discomforting. The only way to deal with it is either get drunk and sleep or do as Mr. Sơn did above.

 For a prudent cultivator

You can attempt the following to make sure that you are in the First Jhana meditation. When the kasina appears in a very clean and black deep sky and turns itself to a 3D dimension, keep this vision as long as possible and think about [feeling] happy... happy... happy... until you feel that jhanic happiness rising in you from your heart. And in this blissful state, call in your mind:
(1) Brahma Pārisajja: [12] You will see devas with 'black capes' (looking like the Father in a church). Since they all have long hair, you never know if they are female or male. In this plane of the First Jhana, they do not have sex!
(2) Brahma Purohita: They are bigger than the first ones. Their capes are newer and shinier. Their hair is as long as the first ones.
(3) Mahā Brahma: The tallest and happiest of all three planes of the First Jhana. Because of their highest stage of meditation their capes are shining like silk.

3.3.2. THE SECOND (Dutiya) JHANA MEDITATION – 12 to 40 SECONDS

Your effort of culminating in this concentration level has made the detachment of greed, anger, and delusion further affirmed. You now have four mental states:
▪ Vicāra: Hold on to the kasina from twelve and forty seconds.
▪ Pīti: Do not forget to recite the name of your kasina while contemplating it. This will make your mind more absorbed, and help boost your mediation progress.
▪ Sukha: Increase in the feeling of happiness and tranquillity.
▪ Ekāgratā: The kasina has lit up sparkling. You are now afraid of losing the kasina.

If your meditation goes well, you could also see that the kasina becomes smaller and steady.

 Comments

+ At this level of meditation, you may find it difficult to make the kasina appear and hold on to it. This 'hard to find and easy to lose' stage creates a fear of losing it.
+ The kasina starts to light up and appears from twelve to forty seconds. This duration is only approximate. At times, the kasina becomes smaller and farther than it looks like in the First Jhana. However, even at that far distance the kasina is very clear and easy to focus on. So, the important thing at this level is the kasina's brightness quality. Sometimes, you could even understand why it flickers.
+ By continual practicing you will become better and nicer such that even your enemies (if any) will say 'Hi!' to you. The influence you have in the family is great! No more argument! You live in peace. The more you practice the stronger these effects are. This is the most happiness I [Tibu] had ever had when I reached this level.

 The Second Jhana and vitakka and vicāra

The fear of losing the kasina when its appearance is intermittent may become a hindrance to your progress at this level. This is because you force your mind to find and keep it in front of your ajna for as long as possible. Tibu's advice is to say to yourself that the appearance and disappearance of the kasina is as inevitable as those of Dharmas. When you realize the transient nature of things, you will become calmer, more accepting, and not blame yourself when the kasina is lost. Such mentality will lead to happiness and tranquillity. If you continually apply this happiness to the kasina when it appears, you will be even more absorbed in this blissful state. As a result, you may reach the Third Jhana before you know it.

 For a prudent cultivator

Check this out before you leave: Keep this 3D kasina with a powerful emitting light as long as possible, and then in your mind call the following names (spacing one second at a time):
(1) Parittābhā: You will see devas that can emit a little light around them. Their long capes are yellow and when you look around them, you will see that even the cloud is yellow too. Beautiful and peaceful is everywhere!
(2) Appamānābhā: Devas in this realm emit more light than those in the Parittābhā. More peaceful!
(3) Ābhassarā: They emit and change their colors when they 'talk' and you can know it. Wonderfully peaceful!

3.3.3. THE THIRD (Taitiya) JHANA MEDITATION – 40 to 70 SECONDS

The detachment of greed, anger, and delusion is stronger. Worldly happenings do not matter to you any longer. You now have three mental states:
▪ Pīti: You should continually recite 'Joy' until you feel it. Then start or continue with the practice session.
▪ Sukha: Increase in the feeling of happiness and tranquillity (of course, more so than in the Second Jhana).
▪ Ekāgratā: The kasina can be seen easily. Its light and brightness flare towards your contemplation.

 Comments

+ If you do not use a self-protection mudra, you may feel pain, discomfort, or squeezing in your chest (a symptom for a tendency to disembody your soul unexpectedly). Stop and carefully perform the self-protection rituals.
+ The kasina appears from forty to seventy seconds. You should focus more on the degree of its brightness.
+ If your meditation goes really well and you could maintain the kasina for a long time, you could start the kasina changing process described in the Fourth Jhana section below.
+ The tranquillity and purification are absorbed into the Bhavanga stream; as a result, you will feel some vibrations, albeit very lightly. When these vibrations make you feel uneasy or lose concentration, it is the right time to change your kasina to a different one. However, some cultivators do not know this subtle consciousness vibration and misunderstand the feeling of concentration loss as a retro-regression in the meditation practice. If you fall into this group of cultivators, do not feel stressed or disappointed. Rather, you should read your vows and focus even more on the kasina so as to attain a firmly absorbed mind while ignoring all disturbing vibrations.

 The Third Jhana and pīti

When the kasina emits the light blue color (similar to the one from welding), you should know that you have entered the Third Jhana. The appearance duration of the kasina should be between forty and seventy seconds. Surprisingly, the obstacle at this stage is joy. Why? At the Second Jhana the joyful feeling gets stronger and stronger such that your lips always look as if they are smiling (like in the Mona Lisa painting of Leonardo de Vinci). After you have culminated in the Third Jhana, this joy fades away. Your mental states now consist more of non-attachment, one-pointedness, and consciousness. Unknowing of this change, some cultivators may try to search for the lost joy, which means they must return to the Second Jhana for it. Do not get trapped in this back and forth cycle.

At the Third Jhana, tranquillity is widespread and strong in the state of gross consciousness. However, the subtle consciousness (Bhavanga) is still very much active. A Third Jhana cultivator's mind power is strong enough to detect these Bhavanga vibrations, which cause sensations of disturbance, annoyance, and apparent concentration loss. In addition, since the Bhavanga stream is like a movie compiled from a series of the last thought-moments over your past incarnations, one of such past thought-moments could suddenly show up in the kasina spot during a meditation session. Finally, your kasina has done its job in bringing you to this level of concentration. You will need to change to a different meditation object to move on to a higher level.

 For a prudent cultivator

Try this: With a very clean 3D and sparkling kasina, you can keep it in your vision very easily from forty to seventy seconds, and then call the following names:
(1) Parittasubhā: These devas have a little sparkling light. They wear yellow shiny capes.
(2) Appamānasubhā: Their sparkling lights are more steady and bigger.
(3) Subhakinhā: Their sparkling lights are beautiful, bigger and steady.

3.3.4. THE FOURTH (Catuttha) JHANA MEDITATION – MORE THAN 70 SECONDS

The detachment of greed, anger, and delusion is almost complete. Your mind now has two properties left: sukha and ekāgratā.

At this stage, try to endure the dazzling light of the kasina and hold on to it as long as possible. After that, perform the following steps to change to a different kasina.
(1) Visualize a 3D light blue ball of 3cm diameter.
(2) After the ball appears smoothly and easily, focus and continuously apply your concentration right at the ball's center, which will make it smaller automatically.
(3) Once the ball becomes as small as this 'o' (real size), repeat steps (1) and (2) but this time the ball has a different color: red, green, yellow, and white respectively (i.e., visualize a red ball and make it small, then repeat the steps for a green ball, etc.).

 Comments

+ Do not let the kasina disappear by itself before you switch to a different color ball. Visualize it until it is kind of transparent, then make it smaller, and finally change to a different ball by repeating the same process. Also, do not cut corners, i.e., changing to a tiny ball right away. Rather, visualize it as a big ball then make it small.
+ Why do you have to follow the order of colors as described above? It is because sky blue is of yin (–), red is of yang (+), green is for tranquil mind, yellow represents adherence to sīla, and white is the mixture of all seven core colors and also the first color to enter the Formless Realms.
+ Why make it smaller? It is to help with your concentration and absorption, which will result in a sudden fall into the Fourth Jhana as described below.

 What happens

The above visualization and contemplation process + your all-in mind power will lead you to the Fourth Jhana. Below are what will happen:
+ While changing the ball kasinas, all of a sudden you feel like 'free falling' (similar to when an airplane goes through turbulence), the ball disappears, and a vast, lucid, and clean space is now opening up in front of your sight. Welcome to Vehapphala, the first of Fourth Jhana Realms. Alternatively, while in deep meditation, you suddenly find yourself in a different place. However, you do not feel the existence of your body except your vision. It is like you have left your body somewhere else and moved only your eyes to this place. Do not worry, stick to your meditation to proceed to Vehapphala.
+ Once you have entered the realm of Vehapphala, try to stay there as long as possible in each entry. Of course, it will not be easy in the first couple of times. Before long, you will be able to get there smoothly and easily. The longer you stay at that level the more tranquil your state of mind becomes. As a result, you will move to Asaññasatta and then Suddhāvāsa (the realm for pure beings).
+ From now on, the practice seems easier. The next step is to prevent the newly attained appanā from subsiding into the Bhavanga stream. How? Visualize a white TV screen of (3' x 4') or (9cm x 12cm) as clear and shiny as possible, and read slowly in your mind: 'preparation' (parikamma)... 'adaptation' (anuloma)... 'approximation' (upacāra)... 'sublimation' (gotrabhū)... 'one-pointedness' (appanā). Whenever you feel like short of breath, reduce the intensity of your concentration for a while before going back up again. Be absolutely patient at this step, and practice it again and again before moving to the insight meditation (Vipassanā), which is explained in a later section.

Note: The above words represent the five Javana thought-moments. So, read them slowly and calmly in order to be fully absorbed in their meanings.

 The Fourth Jhana and breath

In order to enter the celestial realms of the Fourth Jhana, you need to somehow forget your breath (which effectively is your ego, self). No one could fight his/her breath directly (i.e., Could you stop your breath forever? No.) Rather, use an indirect approach. Here is an example. Use an analog wind-up clock which makes loud tick-tock sounds while running. Sit and listen to its tick-tock sounds until they are very clear. Move the clock a bit further away from your place and try to hear the sounds again (until they become clear). Then move it away a bit more, and listen... Until when the clock is so far that it is really hard to hear the sounds. Do you notice that while striving hard to catch the tick-tock sounds your breath happens to slow down and stop at times? The above process of changing kasinas and making them small yields the same effect, i.e., to unconsciously forget your breath and fly into the Fourth Jhana.


Endnotes:
[11] Mr. Sơn has attained arhatship while alive.
[12] Note that 'Brahma' in kasina meditation does not have the same meaning as 'Brahma' in Hinduism.