DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post

**citicroego** · 05-20-2012, 02:55 PM

Greetings to all,

I have some questions I am hoping you might be able to help with. I was reading about the Arupa Jhanas in a book by Dean Hayson and then I did a search on Jhana and found your site. I decided to post here rather than in the meditation section as my questions relate to the Theravada Nikayas. My apologies in advance if you have already discussed these points.

Reading about the progression of the jhanas, the different levels of absorption, in AN 9.35, i have the impression that there is (referring to Samatha Jhana practice) the cessation of concepts/conceptual thinking in the 2nd Jhana and then in the 8th Jhana the awareness of perceptions seems to be fading out "neither perception nor non-perception" and then in the 9th Jhana there is the cessation of percepts/perception.

My initial questions are about whether i have understood these jhana experiences correctly:
Is the 8th Jhana a twilight of perception where the meditator finds it hard to tell whether he/she is perceiving?
Is the 9th Jhana's "cessation of perception" a mind without conscious activity aka blank?

Regards,
Troy Asher

05-20-2012, 02:55 PM	#1
citicroego Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 405 Senior Member	Please help with some Jhana questions Greetings to all, I have some questions I am hoping you might be able to help with. I was reading about the Arupa Jhanas in a book by Dean Hayson and then I did a search on Jhana and found your site. I decided to post here rather than in the meditation section as my questions relate to the Theravada Nikayas. My apologies in advance if you have already discussed these points. Reading about the progression of the jhanas, the different levels of absorption, in AN 9.35, i have the impression that there is (referring to Samatha Jhana practice) the cessation of concepts/conceptual thinking in the 2nd Jhana and then in the 8th Jhana the awareness of perceptions seems to be fading out "neither perception nor non-perception" and then in the 9th Jhana there is the cessation of percepts/perception. My initial questions are about whether i have understood these jhana experiences correctly: Is the 8th Jhana a twilight of perception where the meditator finds it hard to tell whether he/she is perceiving? Is the 9th Jhana's "cessation of perception" a mind without conscious activity aka blank? Regards, Troy Asher
	Quote