6.6. The Four Jhānas and the Four Arūpajjhānas

[Full title: Distinctive Issues of the Five Nikāyas and some Important Buddhist Terms Relating the Study; (6): The Four Jhānas and the Four Arūpajjhānas]

Jhāna ‘trance, absorption’ is a state of deep meditative absorption characterized by lucid awareness and achieved by focusing the mind on a single object that is called as ‘one-pointedness of mind’ (citta-ekaggatā). A prerequisite for jhānas’ attainment is the elimination of the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa) that are sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. When one eradicates these five primary obstacles to meditative development, his mind experiences a state of calm and unification that enables him to enter upon and abide in the four jhānas gradually. These jhānas are profound states of concentration in which the mind becomes fully absorbed in its objects.

The Pāli Canon in general describes the four jhānas by the same formulas, from the first to the fourth; each more refined and superior than its predecessor.

(i) Having abandoned these five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures and unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion. He makes the rapture and pleasure born of seclusion drench, steep, fill, and pervade this body, so that there is no part of his whole body unpervaded by the rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.^[1]

(ii) With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the second jhāna, which has self-confidence and singleness of mind without applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of concentration. He makes the rapture and pleasure born of concentration drench, steep, fill, and pervade this body, so that there is no part of his whole body unpervaded by the rapture and pleasure born of concentration.

(iii) With the fading away as well of rapture, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in equanimity, and mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, he enters upon and abides in the third jhānas, on account of which noble ones announce: ‘he has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful’. He makes the pleasure divested of rapture drench, steep, fill, and pervade this body, so that there is no part of his whole body unpervaded by the pleasure divested of rapture.

(iv) With the abandoning of the pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the fourth jhāna, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. He sits pervading this body with a pure bright mind, so that there is no part of his whole body unpervaded by the pure bright mind.

(Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 39.15-8, 59.7-10, 77.25-8; 119.18-21, etc.)

These four jhānas are conditioned and volitionally produced, and therefore transient, subject to cessation. The noble disciple, hence, when having entered and abided in each of these four jhānas, needs to further his insight into his arising and vanishing factors. Even if he does not adhere to those jhānas, he has to direct his mind towards the deathless elements that are peaceful and sublime, the stilling of all formations, the relinquishing of all attachments, the destruction of craving: the nibbāna. Standing upon that, he attains the destruction of the taints, and endeavour to become an Arahant. But if he has not yet attained the destruction of the taints through these four jhānas, due to the delight in the Dhamma, with the destruction of the five lower fetters, he can still become a non-returner (see Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 52.4-7; 64.9-12).

Although the jhānas are not necessarily regarded as indispensable to the attainment of enlightenment, their contribution to the intrinsic perfection of the path and the deep concentration, thus, induce and provide a solid base for the cultivation of insight. For that reason, “while still mundane the jhānas are the ‘footsteps of the Tathāgata’ (Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 27.19), and foretokens of the bliss of nibbāna that lies at the training’s end” (Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli & Bhikkhu Bodhi 2009: 36).

From the fourth jhāna the meditator can develop four deeper meditative states which continue to offer the mental unification established by the jhānas. These four meditative states (arūpajjhānas) described as “the liberations that are peaceful and immaterial” like the jhānas, of course, are mundane. However, they are more subtle and transcendent than the four previous ones. Unlike the four previous jhānas which are assigned to the rūpa-dhātu, the Form Realm, these four later attainments are assigned to the arūpa-dhātu, the Formless Realm (see Dictionary of Buddhism by Damien Keow, 19 & 240). They are therefore called the immaterial or formless jhānas (arūpajjhāna).

The four arūpajjhānas are described in the Majjhima Nikāya as an addition to the four jhānas to constitute the eight stages of jhāna.

i. With the complete surmounting of perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of sensory impact, with non-attention to perceptions of diversity, aware that ‘space is infinite’, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the base of infinite space.

ii. By completely surmounting the base of infinite space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite’, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the base of infinite consciousness.

iii. By completely surmounting the base of infinite consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing’, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the base of nothingness.

iv. By completely surmounting the base of nothingness, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the base of neither perception-nor-nonperception.

(Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta number 25.16-9, 26.38-41; 59.11-4, etc.)

Addressing an area of interest to various scholars, the meditational pleasure in the four ārupajjhānas is said to be loftier and more sublime than the pleasure in the four jhānas. It is, however, not the utmost pleasure and joy that beings experience, because there is another kind of pleasure loftier and more sublime than that pleasure. That is the meditative state of the cessation of perception and feeling.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

At the first jhāna there are five factors to be abandoned and five factors to be possessed. The five factors abandoned are the five hindrances and the five factors possessed are applied thought, sustained thought, rapture, pleasure, and unification of mind.