Overview
With Detailed Table of Contents
This chapter is part of Vipassanā in Jhāna: A Personal Narrative and Practical Guide, by Gary Buck.
New readers: Go to Overview | Table of Contents | PDF Download
Navigation: Next Chapter | Glossary | References
Overview
This project, namely the book you are reading, Vipassanā in Jhāna: A Personal Narrative and Practical Guide, has slowly evolved into a practical, self-help guide on how to develop jhāna, and how to integrate that jhāna into a normal vipassanā practice.
Like most meditators in the Theravāda tradition, I had been taught that there are two types of meditation: samatha-bhāvana, aimed at developing altered states of consciousness, called jhāna, and vipassanā-bhāvana, aimed at developing insight into the nature of reality, through the observation of mind and matter. And further, I had also been taught, both by the popular authors I had read and also by the teachers I had worked with, that these are two quite separate practices, and since insight into reality cannot developed through the practice of jhāna, then vipassanā meditators do not, indeed should not, attain jhāna.
However, to my utter astonishment, jhāna unexpectedly arose during the course of a 20-day silent vipassanā retreat. And then, to my further astonishment, I found that I could practice vipassanā in exactly the same manner I had been doing for many years, but while in the state of jhāna. And even more astonishing, it was clear that vipassanā while in the state of jhāna was far more powerful, far more effective, than it had been previously without jhāna. That happened a long time ago, and from that time, over the course of many years, over the course of a significant number of 30-day and 10-day silent retreats, over the course of many years of daily practice, I have learned to incorporate jhāna into my normal practice of vipassanā-bhāvana.
Without a doubt, the incorporation of jhāna into my vipassanā practice has been extremely beneficial to both my meditation practice itself, and to my daily life. This has led to deeply profound spiritual experiences that have significantly impacted my understanding of the Buddha’s path, deepened my confidence in the Buddha and his teaching, and moved me forward along the Buddha’s path in ways that are hard to describe. I now understand, through my own experience, that the Buddha intended us to practice vipassanā while in a state of jhāna.
However, although this has been a wonderful journey, it has not been so simple. It is not at all obvious how we should practice vipassanā, and we all need the benefit of help and advice. Of course, first and foremost, we depend on the insights of the Buddha, as the foundation of our practice, and his teachings will always remain the main source of advice and inspiration. But apart from that, we can all benefit greatly from the advice of a teacher, or at least a more senior meditator, to guide us through the process. I did not have such advice. Without a teacher to guide me, without any advice I could rely on, I blundered around, trying to figure out what these jhānas were, how we should practice them, and how we should integrate them into our own practice of vipassanā. I made many mistakes, and wasted much time.
For a variety of reasons, I felt my experiences would not be welcomed by my vipassanā colleagues, and so for many years I told no one about this part of my practice. I am now eighty-years old, and I have decided to share what happened and what I learned. Through this project, it is my earnest wish that other vipassanā meditators might get the same benefits I did. My hope is that I can help other vipassanā meditators get the wonderful benefits of attaining jhāna, and then of practicing vipassanā while in states of jhāna; hopefully without them making the same mistakes and wasting as much time as I did.
My initial idea was that I would simply describe what I did, and the experiences that followed, and make that available to other vipassanā meditators. I started by writing a detailed narrative of my experience over six, silent retreats: the initial one of twenty days and following that, five silent retreats of thirty days each. This personal narrative has become Part One of this book.
Part One has three chapters.
Chapter 1 provides some background information, about myself and how I came to practice the Buddha’s teaching, and more importantly, the predispositions I bring to my practice.
Chapter 2 describes the first time jhāna arose, on a twenty-day silent retreat. I describe what led to jhāna, my thoughts and reactions as I experienced them, and my struggle to understand what was happening. This chapter also includes my attempts to fit these experiences into the teachings I had received, and into my own personal understanding of the Dhamma—both practical and theoretical.
Chapter 3 then describes a series of five 30-day silent retreats, in which I worked with these four jhānas, learning how to incorporate them into my practice.
This was not a simple linear process. I had both great success and dramatic failure, and it took me a number of years, and hundreds of hours of meditation, to learn how to manage these states and incorporate the into my vipassanā practice. This is a personal narrative, and events are described with as much clarity and detail as I can, so that those who read this can know what I did and what resulted from that, and can then compare their own experiences to mine.
Of course, over the course of those six retreats described in my narrative, as well as over the course of the many years that have followed, I have come to understand more about both the jhānas themselves, as well as the benefits they bring. It seemed natural to add my thoughts and conclusions to the narrative, and these insights slowly evolved into Part Two of this project.
Part Two has six chapters.
Chapter 4 describes the considerable benefits to me personally that have resulted from working with the jhānas. The experience of jhāna—these incredible states of altered consciousness—has been a life-changing experience, and has had a considerable impact on both my meditation practice itself, as well as on the quality of my daily life. I am a significantly changed person because of this.
Chapter 5 is really the “meat” of the whole project. In this chapter, I attempt to explain how I believe others can attain and use jhāna, based on my own experience. This starts with a discussion of the nature of jhāna and how the experience of jhāna seems to vary from one person to another. There is then a section describing what aspects of my practice changed, and how these changes led to jhāna, along with a discussion of how others can make similar changes and attain jhāna themselves. The third part of this chapter then describes how to incorporate these jhānas into a daily vipassanā practice.
Chapter 6 addresses the issue of why anyone should believe what I say, or accept my advice. It explores what historical vipassanā teachers have said about the practice of jhāna and its relationship to vipassanā. The discussion starts with the teaching of the Buddha as presented in the Pāli Canon, and then examines the most influential historical teachers leading up to the modern, global, lay vipassanā movement.
Chapter 7 examines the writings of a number of practicing scholar monks, as well as other lay scholars, who address the topic of jhāna and its importance in the practice of vipassanā.
Chapter 8 then summarizes what these experts say. This summary makes it clear that the Buddha told his monks to practice vipassanā while in a state of jhāna. The evidence for this is overwhelming. It is also clear that most of the historical vipassanā teachers that provided the foundational practices of the modern global vipassanā movement acknowledge the benefits of jhāna in the practice of vipassanā. However, these teachers also tended to de-emphasize jhāna, since their main aim was usually to promote vipassanā among the lay community, who generally lacked the time, the facilities, and possibly the motivation, needed to attain jhāna. My contention is that now, since many lay practitioners have the opportunity to sit longer retreats, in ideal conditions, they can revert to practicing vipassanā in the same manner the Buddha taught his monks of old.
Chapter 9 addresses a number of thoughts directed mainly at practitioners in the U Ba Khin tradition, my close peers, although I believe that much of what I say is relevant, and generalizable, to other vipassanā traditions. I first discuss my teachers and their achievements—this is essentially an expression of my deep gratitude to them for their contribution to the current, world-wide vipassanā revival. I then address how we should talk about jhāna, both to those lay people taking longer retreats, and also among ourselves. Finally, I talk about the long line of teachers who preserved vipassanā from ancient times.
On the question of the generalizability of my experience, and how this applies to other meditators, some people may argue that my experiences are unusual. However, I disagree. I do not believe that I am unique; not in any way. I know that other vipassanā meditators also attain jhāna on long retreats: perhaps more than we realize. Further, there are also other meditators, and other meditation traditions, that regularly use jhāna. So I believe jhāna is accessible to those serious meditators who are prepared to make sufficient effort.
However, my experience does suggest that without guidance, such experiences can be very disconcerting, especially when they are unexpected. I believe that at the very least we should offer a few simple warnings and guidelines that would enable meditators to avoid the confusion I suffered when these powerful states of altered consciousness unexpectedly arose. But I also believe that we should go much further. I believe we should encourage all vipassanā meditators to work towards jhāna, if possible. The benefits are far too important to ignore.
I understand that many of my vipassanā colleagues will feel uncomfortable with what I have to say. My ideas are likely to appear controversial to many. That seems quite natural to me. Skepticism is a healthy attitude, and is something I think we should encourage. The main reason I have described everything in such detail is so that others can replicate my experience, compare them with their own, and then judge themselves whether the conclusions I have drawn are reasonable or not. The Buddha taught that one of the characteristics of the Dhamma is ehipassiko—“come and see for yourselves.” To my peers, my colleagues in Dhamma, I simply say: “Try jhāna, and if you find it beneficial to your practice, then use it, and if not, then keep practicing as you are now.”
Finally, a note on Pāli.
The oldest Buddhist texts are about 2,500 years old, and are preserved in an ancient Indian language called Pāli. This language has evolved into a very precise vehicle for the expression of Buddhist ideas. Many words relevant to Buddhist meditation have precise definitions in Pāli, whereas their English translations are usually both imprecise and misleading. Therefore, most serious meditators in the Theravāda tradition, regardless of their native language, tend to use these Pāli terms. I have continued this practice, since I would not know how to discuss these issues without using the Pāli terms.
In order to make this comprehensible to those not familiar with these terms, I have tried to provide the best English equivalent alongside any Pāli word, and also to provide an explanation when it seemed helpful. I have also provided a Glossary of terms at the end, so that readers can remind themselves of what these terms mean.
End of Overview
If you wish to begin reading online, then please click this link:
If you would like more information about the sections within each chapter, you can see the detailed table of contents below.
Detailed Table of Contents
Getting Established
A Taboo Topic
Chapter 2: My First Experience
How We Practice
The First Jhāna
After Vipassanā Day
My Theoretical Research
The First Enemy
The Third Retreat
The Arūpas
The Second Enemy
The Last Retreat
Chapter 4: How Jhāna Changed My Life
Benefits to My Life
Understanding of Dhamma
Chapter 5: What This Means for Other Meditators
Can We Generalize?
The Nature of Jhāna
The Importance of Effort
Impediments to Success
Maintaining Jhāna in Daily Life
Summary Advice on Using Jhāna
Chapter 6: What Historical Vipassanā Teachers Say
The Need for Cross-Validation
The Buddha
Buddhaghosa
Medawi Sayadaw
Ledi Sayadaw
Mahasi Sayadaw
U Ba Khin
Other Meditation Teachers
When Jhāna is the Default
Chapter 7: What Modern Scholars Say
Ajahn Ṭhānissaro
Ajahn Sujato
Bhikkhu Anālayo
Modern Lay Scholars
Chapter 8: A Summary of All the Experts
Chapter 9: What This Teaches About Conducting Long Retreats
My Gratitude
The Organization
Guidance for Conducting Long Retreats
Challenging the Taboo
An Ancient Tradition
Thank you for reading Gary Buck’s Substack. Everything here is free. I do not accept donations. You are free to copy or distribute the content, as long as you give credit, and for noncommercial purposes only.
Public comments are turned off. But feel free to message me privately, in confidence, if you wish. And if you find any typos, or mistakes, kindly let me know.
Feel free to share this post with anyone you think might be interested.
If you Follow me, you will be informed of any new posts. If you Subscribe, you will get a complete list of links, to all content, plus any new posts, sent to your email address.