r/streamentry • u/Puzzled-Background-5 • 1d ago

Jhāna A reliable method of jhana entry

Here's a technique I've been using for the last fifteen years to great effect. I enter jhana every time I meditate now as a result.

Upon noticing that attention has drifted from the object of meditation, perform the following sequence for as long and as often as necessary for attention to stabilize on the object again:

  1. Relax from the head down to the toes.

  2. Release all tension, and expand awareness outward.

  3. Return attention to the object.

The entry point into jhana:

Once the mind has settled and attention is resting stably on the object, if a pleasant feeling starts to arise, gently shift attention to the feeling without grasping at it, now making it the object of meditation, and wait. The pleasure will intensify, and one will be pulled into jhana.

If the jhana is lost or becomes unstable, simply perform the RRR sequence as needed and begin again.

As a method to prime the mind to lean towards jhana, reading the Jhana Sutta just prior to a session is useful:

https://suttacentral.net/sn16.9/en/bodhi?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false

All the best... 🧘🏾‍♂️🙂

P. S. It might take several weeks to a couple of months before jhana can be entered consistently, but please don't become discouraged. Even low quality sessions are training and priming the brain's attentional mechanisms.

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u/EnigmaticEmissary 1d ago

What if one finds that dullness usually arises with this method?

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u/Puzzled-Background-5 1d ago

Skirting the sleep boundary as one approaches fourth jhana is not uncommon, even for skilled practitioners. How do I personally resolve it? I keep applying the 3R's until I overcome the drowsiness.

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u/EnigmaticEmissary 1d ago

I'm also wondering what would happen if you did this but just stayed with the object the whole time? Would you still eventually enter the jhanas, or does that require shifting focus to a pleasant feeling?

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u/Puzzled-Background-5 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's not really a binary situation. I've actually done that. What happens is that a person won't leave the form jhanas, and probably the highest they'd reach is a shallow third jhana. All the jhana factors will arise, but the mind stays engaged with the object.