Does Jhana (Lite Jhana/Leigh Brasington) turn the world from endurance to easeful?

[u/tea_and_samadhi]

For a lot of people life really has one large purpose, to endure until consciousness ceases. That's it, to endure.

And that seems like an extremely painful way to exist and leads to short term harmful action solely for the experience of relief. Take food and drug indulgence, or even having children when one can't provide.

My question is, does jhana make life not just easier, not just more endurable...but actually easeful and joyful? Or does it just make life less shit, but it's still a shit that we need to endure? I will obviously have to remove ill health and physical disease as a factor from this question.

Looking for hope here. Looking for motivation. Looking for a real way out not just after death for a better rebirth or no rebirth at all, but looking for a way out of suffering in this very life.

Can the jhanas as taught by Leigh Brasington make one actually happy to be alive? And I really mean that, happy to be here.

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[u/Zestyclose_Mode_2642]

I vote yes. Having a secure source of deep pleasure and happiness that you can 100% allow yourself to relax into and enjoy fully without worrying about whether it will lead to suffering and a closing of the heart is a game changer.

Bonus point that developing this source of pleasure is totally endorsed by the buddha, so whatever this or that person has to say negatively about cultivating jhana shouldn't make much of an impression.

Samadhi is your best friend on the path!

[u/parkway_parkway → u/Zestyclose_Mode_2642]

I also vote yes.

If Samsara is a desert of heat and thirst with a few dirty puddles here and there then the Jhanas are an oasis of, calm and cool and you can drink as much as you want.

Makes a big difference to the overall feel of the landscape even if all the rest of it is much the same.

[u/Adaviri]

I have never heard anyone say that jhānas alone would have brought the kind of insight that would result in a complete or even near-complete reduction of suffering - or an establishment of likewise near-complete joyfulness and happiness.

What truly brings about these things is insight into the 'two wings of the bird of Bodhi': insight into emptiness and insight into compassion, which manifest as equanimity and all the forms of love and beauty, respectively. Emptiness of self, of phenomena, of everything you can name, quite literally. Compassion and love for everything and everyone.

However, jhāna does almost always bring about quite a lot of significant insight. They show that joy and happiness are not in fact states that are in any real sense dependent on external conditions, but states that the mindstream steps into, fabricates.

They show that these states are actually always readily available, even though - as many have here said - it is very rarely viable for someone to keep on generating and manifesting these states all the time. In fact, doing so can be prone to lead to unpleasant symptoms, like headaches and such, especially the first few form jhānas. :)

But this is very insightful, it is very freeing and a happy and joyful thing, for sure! Even though it won't free you completely, perhaps not even close. Jhānas are a huge, huge 'life-hack', of this there is no question, and it's no wonder that they're slowly becoming more and more mainstream.

As they give insight into how the positive is generated and fabricated, how it springs principally from the internal, they also give insight into the converse: that suffering, pain, displeasure and so on are also equally fabricated.

So in conclusion/TL;DR: Jhānas greatly promote happiness, joy, and freedom in life. They give insight into how emotions and energy states, pleasures and pains, are fabricated, and how to manipulate these states at will.

However, they are very unlikely to completely liberate you alone, or bring about lasting happiness that does not require constant mental work. 🙏

Peace and happiness to you, my friend! Be well. :)

[u/DrBobMaui → u/Adaviri]

I really appreciate this post, everything you said really resonates deeply with me.

Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you would suggest a contemporary/modern teacher that I could "follow"? I struggle with TMI as it doesn't seem to resonate/work that well for me. What little I have read of R Burbea's writing I have liked and I have heard that L Brasington might be someone to follow too. But getting a suggestion from you would really be of benefit for my deciding.

Deep thanks for any suggestions, much mettas, and wishes for all the best too.

[u/Adaviri → u/DrBobMaui]

Well, uhh, as they say, false modesty is actually just pride disguised... 😅 All the teachers you mention are ones I have learned from greatly - I studied personally with both Culadasa and Leigh, and though I never met Rob I am very familiar with his tradition. So if you wish, feel free to check my own website. It's on my profile here, and I have openings for new students at the moment.

But of course there are many you can check out. Catherine McGee, Rob's working partner, is a lovely person and a great teacher, the principal teacher of Soulmaking. I've been on two of her retreats and a three-month online course and I can certainly vouch for her. Yahel Avigur, perhaps Rob's principal student, is also a wonderful, insightful person.

Online you can find Tucker Peck and Upāli, of course. I think Nick Grabovac is still teaching, he used to be pretty heavily TMI-based so that might be good. Haven't heard of him in a while though.

Michael Taft is awesome both online and in person, and he would definitely resonate with the vibes and traditions you mention, but I think he's fully booked atm.

There's plenty of teachers available though, no worries. :) Shopping around for the right fit is a very good idea!

[u/DrBobMaui → u/Adaviri]

More big thanks for the quick reply and suggestions! Wow

I will begin by checking out your website and then meditate on everything I see there and everything you said in this post.

More big thanks and big bests of everything good too!

[u/hypercosm_dot_net → u/Adaviri]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write that. I have a question about a specific part, if you don't mind.

Emptiness of self, of phenomena, of everything you can name, quite literally. Compassion and love for everything and everyone.

I watched a video from Thich Nhat Hanh on 'no-self', and can understand this concept. I can grasp that "I" am interdependent, always changing, and ultimately there is no 'unchanging self', at least relatively.

However I've also heard in some pointing, that you want to focus on 'what doesn't change'. To me, this would be awareness/consciousness, no?

My real inquiry though, is how love/compassion are related to emptiness?

[u/Adaviri → u/hypercosm_dot_net]

Hey! And sorry for not getting back to you before. :) I hope this still reaches you!

What doesn't change is Suchness/Tathatā though even that is just an empty name. It can only be gestured at - it's your lived-in experience, nameless, singless, simply thus. Such. 'Tathā'.

Awareness and consciousness are already quite fabricated as concepts. What do you mean by awareness? :) Where is it? What is it? Is it separate from the field of phenomena/Dharmatā (another word for Suchness, equally empty as name/nāma).

Interdependence is a gateway to no-self, yet no-self is most certainly much more deep than interdependence alone. But it also 'depends' - haha - on how deeply you understand interdependence! For the deepest understanding of interdependence does actually plummet one to the depths of anattā, very deep.

But truly understanding interdependence is no small feat, I have to say. :)

My original reply was perhaps ambiguous - the compassion and love were meant to describe the other wing of the bird of Bodhi, insight into compassion. Perhaps this was unclear.

However, now that you asked: love and compassion are actually also very much related to emptiness, in part in how they balance each other - having just one without the other simply does not bring the highest bliss and liberation - but also in how they open each other.

For with love and compassion one has a great refuge, an anchor, against the near-enemies of Emptiness such as nihilism and meaninglessness. Likewise, insight into Emptiness provides equanimity, which balances love, joy and compassion against their respective near-enemies, such as over-attachment, greed, and anxiety.

Furthermore, the practices of love, joy and compassion provide insight into the emptiness of all emotional states - as do jhānas, but with a subtly different focus - by showcasing how the mind fabricates it. Their practice reveals some of the dynamics of the mind and heart, and thereby also their flexible nature - flexibility being, in turn, the crown jewel, the highest gift of insight into Emptiness. 😊🙏

[u/NibannaGhost → u/Adaviri]

What emptiness/insight practices have you and from observations of other people made the most impact after gaining the sufficient samadhi?

[u/Adaviri → u/NibannaGhost]

The field of insight practice is so wide and deep - a true open plain, the Dharmic 'Wild West' - that the question is difficult to answer in great detail. Different practices have different impacts on different folks. This is natural, for everyone's conditioning is unique.

However, statistically we could say that most students seem to get the most initial insight benefit from inquiry into no-self/anattā. Some people greatly benefit from aniccā practice as well, since it can reveal much about both the emptiness of phenomena, of time, and even of causality if deeply applied.

Probing into the whys and hows of their suffering is incredibly healing as well, and opens up both great insight into Emptiness as well as Compassion. Not just contemplating the generalized Four Noble Truths, but instead by using that very same formula applied to particular pains and sufferings: Noticing that one suffers and getting a handle on it; inquiring into the views that the mind holds that beget or mandate that suffering; realizing that, since views are empty, the suffering can cease; and finally pursuing a path of inquiry to help that suffering understand its own emptiness as well. That causes visuddhi/catharsis/purification.

Ultimately the most important facet of Emptiness is the emptiness of views, since all happiness and suffering rests on views. Nothing but views, through and through. All those with deep insight know this. :)

There are a lot of techniques for insight practice, like dozens at least I am aware of. But perhaps this is enough for now! 🙏

[u/autistic_cool_kid]

Lite jhanas have helped me tremendously, my home partner told me I was happy since I started doing that meditation

[u/WideOne5208]

Jhanas are temporary. For the duration of jhana you will not experience suffering, but only bliss, happiness etc, depend on level of jhana. But it will end, you cannot live your life in jhana. Only thing that are true refuge that cannot fail you is awakening, cessation of suffering, until then there will be suffering and unease.

[u/Impulse33]

One angle I've been leaning into is that jhanas train the ability to open and be sensitive to joy, happiness, and peace.

Joy, happiness, peace, even the awe of life itself is all around us. We just have to be open to seeing it. We can just rest and take it in. Jhana helps with opening and being with those positive qualities of the mind/world.

Of course there's suffering as well, but the impermanence of things only make the life that's there more precious.

[u/adivader]

Doing jhanas regularly will keep giving a taste of joy hapiness and satisfaction to the mind. But over and above that it trains the mind and makes it ready to gain liberating Insight.

[u/AngryWater]

It certainly makes you happy whilst you're in it, but you generally can't spend your whole waking life in Jhana. It definitely seems to improve the ability to concentrate in general life, but I don't think concentration practices on their own permanently reduce suffering. You seem to need to do insight work for that.

[u/_rrljr]

Yes, Jhana can bring a profound sense of ease and joy, helping you experience life more fully.

[u/neidanman]

not sure on the jhanas, but i saw an interesting video on kundalini the other day. It was from christopher wallis, a practitioner and scholar who has translated & studied original source texts to trace a history of kundalini terms/practices etc. One things he said is that siddhis in the older texts have more of a general use in terms of 'making life better'. I.e. that its not so much/just 'powers' that can come from developing the energetic side, its more that the energy can be used to make life better/easier. He did also say though that it was seen that if you did that, then it was an 'opportunity cost' type situation, where using energy that way, would make awakening/spiritual progress slower/take more lifetime(s).

from experience of being on a daoist energetics path since 98, i'd say this is how things have developed. As the system clears and purifies and then the qi builds, life overall becomes more easy and less painful. Also i wouldn't say i 'direct energy that way', more that it naturally happens that some energy goes into making life easier, and some goes more into practice/the spiritual side.

[u/OrcishMonk]

No. You're looking for a magical carrot to remove pain and suffering. There's no easy answers. Not Jhana, not even awakening. As Jack Kornfield book title reminds us, "After the Ectasy, the laundry."The Buddha had back pain. U Tejaniya reminds us that to expect only good experiences is not the way of the Dharma.

I don't want to leave you discouraged so I recommend the Eight fold noble path as a holistic approach. Which does includes jhana and meditation. Also look at direct path approaches. I recommend Metta and Equanimity practice.

[u/Decent_Key2322 → u/OrcishMonk]

for physical pain there I don't know.|
but for psychological suffering awakening (dropping all the fetters) is the magical carrot and it exists if you believe the buddha and ppl who achieved it. I think this is what OP is asking about and it is possible.

[u/Acrobatic-Nose9312]

I’d go a step further and say not even Jhanas (ok I guess maybe ultra light) are necessary.

I’ve recently switched my practice so essentially being: activate sati, feel as much joy as possible, repeat.

No jhanas yet but life’s become very joyful indeed (who’d have guessed)!

Good deeds, morality, kindness to others makes live worth living with the remaining dukkah and provides a basis for yet more joy.

Generate joy and share it with others, this way leads to much happiness.

[u/Former-Opening-764]

You make very big generalizations about other people and about life as such.

 Jhana is a temporary state that arises as a "side effect" of certain practices. Practices that are part of a system, a system that can lead to a clear understanding of how suffering works. Suffering as an attitude to life events, suffering as an automatic habitual reaction, this understanding also radically changes the perception of what we call "I". This is not an intellectual understanding of words and concepts, but a direct experience of this knowledge.

Roughly, the processing of suffering can be divided into two levels. The first is about making life "easier", so that the "I" becomes happier, so that life is more "joyful" and less "painful". This part of the work is the territory of psychology and therapy. No matter how cool the meditator is, sooner or later this part must be processed. Depending on the conditions of the individual history, there may be a lot or little work here. A good therapist or good self-help systems (for example, Core Transformation) can be of great help. Of course, practices related to attention and awareness help in this process, but this is not their main task. The essence of this stage is to change "My life is full of suffering" to "I live enjoying life".

 The second level of processing concerns the nature of how the personality ("I") is structured, the nature of how perception occurs. These things are difficult to describe in words. We can say that a radical transformation of self-identification and going beyond the subject-object paradigm is happening. The essence of this stage can be expressed as the disappearance of the usual "I", "live", "happily" or "unhappily". It is to this territory that jhanas belong. 

Achieving such states as jhanas usually in itself requires a certain level of peace and letting go. This is not something that can be simply taken in isolation from the rest of the system. It is like well-developed arm muscles in an Olympic gymnast, yes, his path made his arms strong, but we do not try to become gymnasts to get the same arms. So are jhanas, yes, people who practice them often describe them as extremely pleasant states, but this path is not about states of pleasure.

[u/EightFP]

Ease and joy come from insight. Jhana helps you to gain insight (but it is not the only way to gain insight). For example, my experience is that, with the fruits of insight, ease and joy are available even with ill health and physical disease, even when death is close. You might wonder how that could be possible. If you attain jhana, you will see that ease and joy do not have to be dependent on physical circumstances, and it might be easier to accept the idea of ease and joy in sickness. That, in turn, might make you more interested in investigating what actually causes suffering and ease. What you learn might make it easier to access jhana, and so on and so forth, like two feet walking.

[u/XanthippesRevenge]

Jhana is basically just getting high in meditation. To permanently increase life satisfaction you would want to add self inquiry to the mix

[u/Zimgar]

No. Jhanas is more about concentration. Which is not something that directly helps with your world view.

The other teachings of the path right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right effort are all more likely to help.

[u/Vera_Telco]

Jhana is just a label for a state of mind. Peace comes through unattached awareness.