How To Reach Deep Jhana (Visuddhimagga Jhana)

Buddhagosa outlined a path to the deep jhanas that few have heard of and fewer still have tried. Even fewer have actually experienced what it was he was talking about.

Here is my shortened Step-by-Step path for helping you enter the deep Jhanas.

First Step to Deep Jhana

1. Micro focus on the breath at the nose. The focus area should be around the size of a small coin. Not your whole nose or anything larger.
2. When you can focus with 100% clarity on 50 breaths, without interruption by the mind to take you away from that focus, you have reached the first step

Second Step to Deep Jhana

1. Let go of the focus on the breath and focus on nothing. You can stay in this state for entire sessions. Just sit in stillness. Nothingness.
2. The mind will usually not let you sit in nothingness for too long. It is still somewhat active and will produce a mind image for you to look at. This is usually visual, but I often had tingling hands or feet or body as well.
3. Focus on whatever the mind creates. Go into it – focus totally on it.
4. It grows, it encompasses you. You tingle. You don’t feel the body. Your mind is very limited in what it can do.

Third Step to Deep Jhana

1. Remain in that state. Is there anything good there? Happy? Joyful? Blissful? Feels nice? Focus on THAT.
2. Totally focus on that positive feeling.
3. Eventually in this or subsequent sessions, the feeling of joy grows. It is as if you are the joy. It is welling up inside you.
4. Focus on the joy growing. It grows more.

Some sessions will produce profound states of bliss and ecstasy. Other times, the 1st Jhana will be muted and not too crazy. Experience it with many sessions and then follow the same pattern… Let go of whatever you are experiencing (the bliss). It dissipates. It settles to a good feeling. You slip into 2nd Jhana.

You experience that for a while. Maybe many sessions.

At some point in later sessions, you let go of even that good feeling.

You stabilize. You slip into 3rd Jhana.

And so on.

Yes, there’s more to it. There are more things to say about it to help you experience it. I cut out a lot.

Still, I think anyone can experience it.

Surely, by the time you reach 100% concentration on the breath where it becomes effortless to count to 50 complete in and outbreaths, you will be motivated to continue.

The problem is, almost everyone quits before then.

Nearly every single person.

Monks quit.

It’s a real mind game that is not exactly fun to play. The fun comes later.

🙂