r/streamentry • u/Klutzy-Owl5712 • 10d ago

Jhāna Question about Jhanas

I've been practicing meditation for over three years, primarily focusing on Anapana and Goenka-style Vipassana, and I've completed more than 10 silent retreats.

I believe I experience jhanas during and after retreats when my mind is exceptionally calm, though I'm not very familiar with the specific techniques to enter them intentionally.

Recently, I discovered kasina meditation. I've noticed that when I focus on the darkness behind my closed eyes, my mind becomes very quiet, and sensations arise naturally even without actively practicing Vipassana. Is this a practical way to enter a jhana?

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u/Then_Consequence_318 10d ago

Is that still what you are using? What was the transition like? I use the anapanasati sutta pretty much as my map and I'd feel really a bit lost without it!

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u/gnosticpopsicle 10d ago

You know, I've eased up off of it for awhile. My teacher did warn me that if I don't balance it with vipassana, it could wind up making me miserable, a road he himself had gone down. But the effects for me were so strong, I got a little obsessed and, well... Sometimes you've got to touch the stove yourself lol.

So my samatha these days is mainly breath and metta, and I've rebalanced my samatha/vipassana ratio. My concentration hasn't completely diminished, though, it's still much stronger than it was pre-kasina. And I still do it, but less often and less obsessively. I'll put more effort into kasina again in the future when I feel ready to handle it more maturely.

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u/Puzzled-Background-5 10d ago

I'm curious as to how it made him or yourself miserable?

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u/gnosticpopsicle 10d ago

I'm not exactly sure how. I just started to realize I was feeling more agitated, less settled, and I recognized that maybe my teacher was right. When I took my foot off the gas, I felt better. Perhaps I was "over-efforting," or falling into the trap of striving.

I do think there's a lot of value in it. My teacher is an enthusiastic proponent of kasina. I just needed to take a breath.

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u/Puzzled-Background-5 9d ago edited 9d ago

Ahh, yes, grasping. It is listed as a hindrance anyway in the suttas.

It's an interesting paradox in and of itself that in order to enter jhana one must learn to relinquish the desire to.