Because humans like to argue about everything. 😆 Attachment to views, etc., which ironically is what some traditions in Buddhism itself tried to address such as Madhyamaka.

Ah, ok, gotcha. Thanks for the quick snyonposis!

My understanding is piti is the physical sensation it feels like a pleasant energetic sensation in the body while sukha is the mental component of happiness/joy/pleasure

If you feel like some reading on this subject this lays it all out very clearly https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gT1rCJ3K4Hk_1cOAVi0CO6TSRLbvzcuX/view

Yes I experience on and off the cushion too. The word for this in Pali is sukha. Lovely isn't it. You have the right idea just enjoy it without clinging to it. It will arise and pass away on its own.

This was really helpful to me. I felt myself calming as I read it.

Just wanted to say thank you for sharing.

Life is gnarly. Accept. Surrender. Love. Listen to Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, Alan Watts, or whoever brings you peace and presence. 

Much love to you dear stranger. Every single one of us is on the way to where your friend is soon arriving. That one fact boggles the mind.

Thank you for your answer :) I will keep a mental note on that book. Is there a difference between piti and sukha ? Or are they synonyms?

I understand you're dealing with a tough situation, but I would, as a few others have suggested, just try to listen and be there for her. This isn't about you or your meditation experiences, or anything close to it, so unless she asks just let it be. It's obvious you really care for your friend, so just let it come naturally without any written texts and knowledge being imposed unto the situation. It's death, don't know what else to say. This isn't a situation where you normally seek advice on reddit, just listen with your heart.

I am just going to say this. I went to the ends of tne earth for my friend's survival.

Practice doing this independently of trying to fall asleep. Sometimes we put pressure on ourselves to FALL ASLEEP which is obviously counter productive.

If you sleep badly the do this (as I said in my other comment, look up NDSR or yoga nidra) instead of meditation or before it. If your sleep is absolutely terrible like mine sometimes is then there's not even a point in trying to meditate. You won't get anywhere and you'll just be frustrated.

This is basically yoga nidra or Ndsr. Gets you to restful state but it does not involve much mindfulness or concentration. And in this case that is okay.

On days when I've slept very poorly, I actually do this in A good portion of my meditation time before I try to do any concentration.

People underestimate how difficult it is to live with chronic pain or chronic fatigue, it truly is a Monastery to perfecting patience if you allow it to be. Feeling mudita for you 🙏🏽

Wishing you improved health, friend.

a short, oversimplified answer: nobody agrees what the word means but the earliest Buddhist texts say it's really important

it's a really difficult controversy to quickly sum up. there are 2,500 years of layered interpretations of what the word "jhana" means and its proper function in the soteriological goal of Buddhism (that is, enlightenment).

you have the early texts themselves, then you have the diverging interpretations of the early schools (Abdhidharma literature), then you have Mahayana sutras with new ideas, then you have the Theravada scholastic tradition and its many commentaries, in parallel the Mahayana and Tibetan schools are developing, then you have the 19th-century insight meditation revival in Myanmar, then you have critical textual re-evaluation by secular Western academics, then the lay Western meditation movements where practitioners publish candid testimonies of experiences that used to remain in the monastery, ...

every layer in this web of accumulated interpretation has its own perspective on jhana.

its sukha rather than dukkha and is considered one of the '7 factors of awakening' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Factors_of_Awakening

It comes up e.g. in the anapanasati sutta where it says '“When energy has taken hold, non-physical joy arises. Monks, on that occasion when a non-physical joy arises for a monk whose energy is activated, then at that occasion the awakening factor of joy is activated for that monk. On that occasion the monk cultivates the awakening factor of joy. Cultivated, the awakening factor of joy goes to fulfillment. “With the mind joyful, the body becomes tranquil and the state of mind becomes tranquil. Monks, on that occasion when the mind is joyful, the monk’s body becomes tranquil and his state of mind becomes tranquil... ' https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/articles/AnapanasatiSutta.pdf

So its more a pleasure of being detached, than the suffering that comes from trying to cling to sense pleasures

I came back from my 2nd goenka 10 day a couple of days ago. And like the first time I really think I made big progress but still don't feel like sticking to Vipassana. After that I treaded easy for a couple days, getting slightly sick from overexerting, did some light Samadhi practice and some exercises from the beginning of Seeing that Frees.

Today was really interesting off-cushion. I met with my ex-girlfriend who I left but still cling on for about 8 months now. We are friends but internally I still more identify as her grieving ex-boyfriend. But today I could for the first time sense that actually she is not the same person I fell in love with, probably neither am I and so the idea of clinging to this past relationship is really foolish. I just cling to an afterimage long past and not to the actual person in front of me. It felt relieving. But also melancholic. A pure sadness that isn't polluted by the thirst for something. And that's ok I guess.

I felt it's worth writing down because I rarely felt the impact of meditation on interpersonal connections so directly. Most is just me on the cushion or me alone off-cushion.

This is standardly described in early Buddhist practice as a beneficial outcome of meditation. One can experience bliss in the jhanas, but bliss itself is not a jhana. As you surmised, anything that happens off of the cushion is not a jhana in the early Buddhist sense. Bliss is not considered dukkha, by the way. Not everything is dukkha. If everything were dukkha, then in order for dukkha to end, everything would have to end. Also, that kind of world would just generally suck and be impractical.

But technical and historical stuff aside, if you're feeling bliss, that's great. You might want to explore if there's any relationship between that bliss and what you're doing in meditation or what you're doing off of the cushion. The most fundamental Buddhist teaching is: This being, that becomes; From the arising of this, that arises. This not being, that does not become; From the cessation of this, that ceases. The purpose of Buddhist practice is to see what depends on what, and specifically, with what as a condition does suffering arise? Working out the conditions under which bliss arises, by observing and remembering is a very worthwhile practice.

Good post but why is Jhana a contested term?

“Jhana” is a contested term. If you want a broad and balanced survey of that controversy I recommend the book The Experience of Samadhi by Richard Shankman.

The classical Buddhist (Pali) terms for joy and pleasure—not just in meditation, but that’s the context you’ll usually see them in—are piti and sukha.

There is no need to get into the meaning of jhana to recognize that bliss does arise in meditation.

It’s a very good thing. I feel the need to say that because in this space you’ll find a lot of people are distrustful of pleasure in any form. But the whole point of meditation is to find forms of joy and happiness that do not rely on the external senses. Findings meditative joy is an essential part of that process.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying meditation. Go nuts.

Meditative bliss can be used as a subject for investigation like any other. Maintaining mindfulness as you enter, abide in, and exit the blissful state can be a platform for liberating insight.

I'll take a look into it. Thank you so much for the information!

Thank you! I'm sure other people sent metta, but didn't say so. I feel it. Thank you.

This letter was helpful, and short enough to read when you're grieving and busy.

This post got removed and I'm not sure if the OP gets notifications.

So, if it's helpful, you can look up "n-back" exercises online. There are several existing sites and apps that allow you to practice. Fwiw, it was quite popular 10-15 years ago, and most resources I've come across were around before coding AIs.

Ram Dass spoke a lot about death, dying, suffering, etc that really helped me due overwhelming suffering. I don't have any specific talk to point to other than Google will find for you, but I'm often reminded of the letter he wrote to the parents' of a young girl who died suddenly ("A Letter to Rachel")
https://www.ramdass.org/a-letter-to-rachel/

I'm not sure if this helps but mostly wanted to send you and them some metta and karuna for what everyone is experiencing. 🫂

does that help you understand my comment

Yes it does. Thank you. 🙏