The Jhanic Free For All

Hey everybody,
We just did another session and Nick is editing it now. It seemed like it turned out pretty well, no drop outs or glitches and I believe we got a good description of all 11 nanas, the 5 PL jhanas and Nirodha Samapatti. Should have it for you guys sometimes tomorrow.
Stay tuned.

"Hey everybody,
We just did another session and Nick is editing it now. It seemed like it turned out pretty well, no drop outs or glitches and I believe we got a good description of all 11 nanas, the 5 PL jhanas and Nirodha Samapatti. Should have it for you guys sometimes tomorrow.
Stay tuned. "

And here it is!

www.divshare.com/download/12560837-2e6

Please let us know what you think. Thanks again.
-o

Thanks for the recordings. I have a question for your next secession. Can you please talk about compound Jhanas, what are their characteristics, how do they happen, and to whom? Thanks.

Sure. From what I understand, compound jhanas are a side effect of not letting them arise naturally. It might be fun to explore if it is possible to describe what's happening when you try to force it.

On the other hand though, I can re-experience any of the jhanas by recalling them, so I might not be the best person to do that. At this point, they are pretty clear for me. Hmm... I'm kinda stumped with that one. How would we go about that?
Something to ponder.

As a related thing, we might want to talk more about what the process of initial jhana discovery was like, and how we knew when we were sure that it was the real deal and not just scripting and projection. Would that be interesting for anybody?

That would be fun...

"As a related thing, we might want to talk more about what the process of initial jhana discovery was like, and how we knew when we were sure that it was the real deal and not just scripting and projection. Would that be interesting for anybody?
"

Very.

I had been practicing dwelling as the witness for a few years, had some no-self experiences and that. I had gotten into breathing as per mindfulness in plain english and had tried that for a while.

Eventually I got to doing breathing meditation as per Ajahn Chah's instrution. Doing this you breath in and out and while doing so you say buddho (breaking it into two syllables using one on in and one on out). So you are feeling the breath at the nosetip and parking attention there (like a carpenter sawing wood looks at the point on the piece of wood where he is sawing and doesn't follow the saw). While doing so you say say buddho. It's easy but it really works. Eventually the feeling gets very nice and spreads across the face and even the body to the point where it becomes extremely pleasurable.

I remember getting extremely exhilarating feelings of joy and rapture all over (almost orgasmic in a sense), so wonderful it was almost unbearable. I looked around and tried to figure out exactly what it was. I found out it was 1st Jhana. I came across this website as well as Daniel's in looking for more info on the Jhanas.

"
As a related thing, we might want to talk more about what the process of initial jhana discovery was like, and how we knew when we were sure that it was the real deal and not just scripting and projection. Would that be interesting for anybody?
"

Yes. I've been meditating for years, so I know where I've been, I think I know my upper limit, I just don't know how to map the subtleties yet. Not only that, but I am broke, some of the classes I teach have been cut, so I can't afford the personalized tour right now, but I sure benefit from listening to these recordings. You are easing my suffering, Dude. If I can be broke, close to jobless and still smiling, that is a kind of enlightenment, is it not? Well, it only lasts if I meditate. Found that out the hard way! So, you guys do your thing and know that my happiness factor is on the rise. Can't thank you enough. ~Cul

Cul, if you aren't able to do the Dana thing, I'm willing to take instruction every second week if you want to alternate with me.

I'm also willing to donate some of my instruction time to you too Cul. Viva the KFD community!

"Cul, if you aren't able to do the Dana thing, I'm willing to take instruction every second week if you want to alternate with me.

"

I'm not sure how that would work, but I'm gonna do the "chick thing" and say, that is so nice, I could cry.

"I'm also willing to donate some of my instruction time to you too Cul. Viva the KFD community!"

You guys are amazing. I honestly don't know if I should accept, but you're amazing. Thank you.

Cul, I meet with kenneth once a week for a half hour. If it's just me we could split that up and have him schedule me in one week, you the next. He can then give us some pointers or instructions to work on for those two weeks, we can journal about what we are up to and experiencing then he can go over how we did and give us a new set of pointers for the following two weeks.

If Ron wants to pitch in too, Ron and I can meet Kenneth, maybe 3 times out of 4 and you can still keep the bi-weekly schedule.

I think that makes sense, but I am open to other suggestions on how to stagger the scheduling.

I'm really hoping you take us up on this (the more the merrier!!)