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A Critical Analysis of the teaching of Jhana

By Dhammaccariya Jhanananda (Jeffrey S, Brooks)
155th day of summer solo wilderness retreat
Inyo National Forest
September 30, 2005

(copyright 2005 all rights reserved)

Someone recently ask this contemplative for his opinion of the other teachers of jhana.  Thus this document was composed for the benefit of others.

First let us say before we give that opinion that it is believed that it is very important for dialog on and about jhana to take place, no matter how misinformed that dialog may be. This contemplative practiced, studied and sat many retreats from 1973 to the present and did not once hear the word 'jhana' or a description of the meditative absorption states until 2001 after he was asked to leave a 10-day meditation retreat because his head bobbed slightly during meditation.  Thus this contemplative believes it is very important to engage in dialog on and about the meditative absorption states so that meditation teachers stop being naïve and learn to not only recognize meditative absorption (jhana) when it occurs among their students, but even learn to honor and respect it, and not to dismiss, marginalize and demonize their students for their success in arriving at meditation absorption (jhana) (DN 16).

Thus we are very happy that Leigh Brasington, Jason Siff, Mettavihari, Ayya Khema, Ajahns Chah, Amaro, Brahmavamso, Chandako, Dhammarato, Bhantes Gunaratana and Vimalaramsi and Bhikkhus Sujato and Thanissarro and Pa Auk Sayadaw et al are writing on the subject of jhana.  However, We must also have critical thinking regarding the spiritual path, otherwise we will never find a path that leads to freedom.  Thus it is essential that we evaluate the teaching of each and every person we consider studying from who claims to teach meditation and a philosophy of enlightenment, such as Buddhism and the jhanas.

Ayya Khema and Leigh Brasington:

The late Ayya Khema was one of the first Buddhist teachers in the last 30 years to write on the subject of jhana.  So, we owe her a debt of gratitude for being the first to 'break the ice ' so to speak in the Buddhist community.  Before her jhana was a forbidden word to speak in Southern, or Theravadan Buddhism.

In 1996 Ayya Khema died and made Leigh Brasington one of her designated dharma heirs. During the summer of 2003 we attended a 9-day 'Jhana Meditation' retreat that was led by Leigh Brasington.  During that retreat we found Leigh Brasington dealt with jhana as if it was nothing more than positive thinking and creative visualization, as if one could just pop in and out of jhana at the snap of a finger, and move through the jhanas back and forth and up and down, as if the jhanas were a cognitive jungle gym.  We have also read some of the late Ayya Khema's books, so we are not surprised that he has that idea, because his teacher believed that as well. To their credit the 5^th century commentary, the Visuddhimagga, speaks of jhana in this way. 

We can only say from over 30 years of experience with the meditative absorption states (jhanas), as well as from reviewing numerous case histories from contemplatives who have found meditative absorption, they are not a case of mental projection or creative thinking, nor are they merely a case of concentration, because meditative absorption is not a product of volition. In fact one will find the aggregates of cognition are removed as one goes deeper into them.

For this contemplative meditative absorption is an altered state of consciousness that arises as a consequence of concentration, not the act of concentration itself.  It is not surprising that Leigh Brasington thinks so, because up to the time of attending his retreat (2003) Mr. Brasington admitted that he had not yet even developed a daily practice of meditation.  This contemplative has found jhana requires a daily practice of meditation, as well as learning to sit for long periods of time, such as an hour or more at each sit.  Thus it is unlikely that Leigh Brasington has given rise to jhana, only positive thinking and creative visualization.

Bhante Vimalaramsi of Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center:

This contemplative met Bhante Vimalaramsi at Leigh Brasington's 'Jhana Meditation' retreat in 2003 (mentioned above).  We had a number of conversations with Bhante V, while he smoked cigarettes outside of his cottage in the evenings. During those conversations we found he had nothing kind to say about Leigh Brasington.  While we found we had to agree with many of Bhante V's criticisms, his method of criticism seemed rather ungracious considering he was a guest of Leigh Brasington, thus to eat a hosts food then say nothing kind about him seemed disrespectful.

During our conversations with Bhante Vimalaramsi we found that he was very dogmatic about his point of view. He also took little interest in what we had to say about jhana.  At that time the Jhana Support Group (JSG) had just been started, so we invited Bhante Vimalaramsi and Leigh Brasington to join us there.  Leigh Brasington never made himself known on the (JSG), if he ever even looked it up.  Bhante Vimalaramsi signed on about a month after the retreat and made such a row we had to ban him from the list within only days of his arrival.  His disciple Lou Overstreet has been on the JSG three times and each time we have had to ban her within about a month of her arrival, because each time she has instigated considerable trouble as well. 

With this criticism said, I find more to agree with Bhante V than almost any person claiming to teach jhana today.  He tends to emphasize the suttas over the commentaries, and his emphasis upon relaxation we find is quite good, however, he tends to think he is the only one who has figured that out. However, he believes there is a 'tight fist' of tension just in the head. He does not seem to recognize that people store tension all over their body.  Some store tension in the jaw and other places in the head, and others store tension in the lower back, or legs, etc. 

In conclusion we find he seems to adhere to dogmatic attitudes and rigid thinking, thus we can hardly imagine that he has arrived at jhana, because; canonically, in our experience, and from examining case histories; an environment of non-objectification and letting go is essential for jhana to arise.  In our experience people who are saturated with jhana are often quite peaceful and even a bit passive. He also seems to depend too heavily, in our opinion, upon teaching through guided meditation. We have found those who rely heavily upon guided meditation as a teaching aide often have control issues. We prefer to guide gently and by example instead of hypnotizing people into jhana.  Guided meditation tends to make people subservient and submissive, which we do not believe are necessary or desirable qualities in a contemplative.

Achan Dhammarato of Wat Greensboro:

Achan Dhammarato joined the JSG in the first week or so of its existence.  At first he seemed like a great friend, however, he gradually became dogmatic and combative then eventually outright offensive. At first his attacks seemed to sway back and forth between kindness and then brutality.  We tried to accommodate these strange mood swings as long as the JSG could tolerate it, but eventually he had to be banned from the list as well.  After dialoging with other list owners about him and having received a remarkable number of truly offensive emails from him, we have concluded that Achan Dhammarato is most probably mentally ill with a bipolar disorder.  Since that time, we have also found that Dhammarato is obese and therefore may have an eating disorder as well.

The Pali term 'Jhana' is said to literally mean 'to burn.'  Since we have found from personal experience that the aggregates of cognition as well as the fetters and hindrances are consumed by saturation in meditative absorption, then it seems reasonable to speculate that the burning reference in the term 'jhana' is related to its ability to consume, by the fire of ecstasy, the aggregates of cognition, as well as the fetters and hindrances. Thus it seems reasonable to speculate that those who have jhana most likely do not have obsessive-compulsive personality disorders, such as an eating disorder, or dogmatic attitudes, or control issues, or for that matter addiction to mind altering substances such as caffeine, alcohol, drugs or tobacco.  It seems also reasonable to speculate that mental illnesses such as: bipolar disorder; depression; paranoia and even schizophrenia; could be consumed by the purifying fires of meditative absorption.

Bhante Gunaratana of Bhavana Society:

Bhante Gunaratana, the author of The Jhanas In Theravada Buddhist Meditation, certainly takes credit for being one the early authors on the subject of jhana.  However, his premises come from a study of Abhidhamma and the Visuddhimagga in clear contradiction to the Discourses of the Buddha (Sutta Pitaka).

We did everything we could to promote the work of Leigh Brasington and Bhante Gunaratana, who were the first names in jhana we encountered when we first became aware of the term 'jhana' in 2001.  At that time we were on the board of a large southwestern USA vipassana meditation center where we hoped to put jhana on their menu of options.  The effort was, however, unsuccessful, because of how demonized jhana is in the dry insight community.

Through the JSG we promoted a 9-day meditation retreat that was led by Bhante Gunaratana in the spring of 2004.  Due to our promotional efforts 9 of the people attending that retreat, which was more than half of the full-time attendees there, were either students of ours or members of the JSG.  We also happened to have served him and his monastic attendant during that retreat.

Considering how much work we did to promote the work of Bhante Gunaratana one would think the Bhante would have been at least a little gracious toward us at that retreat, instead when this contemplative went to his first interview with the Bhante, we requested to enter into the Bhante's ordination program.  He became offended by the request, perhaps due to a language barrier, even though he seems to speak and understand English quite well, otherwise we could not see anything offensive in the request or how it was delivered.  Later during that same retreat a second interview was granted in which this contemplative confided in the Bhante what occurs during his typical meditation experience. 

Gunaratana's only response was, 'You are so arrogant.'  He said it with quite some emotion as well. 

This contemplative did not know how to respond to him, so he just said, 'Thank-you Bhante G,' and got up and left.

From listening to the Bhante's dhamma talks at that retreat it became clear that Bhante Gunaratana subscribes to the Visuddhimagga as his source on jhana.  On his suggestion some years earlier this contemplative had read the Visuddhimagga and found it not at all helpful or informative regarding jhana. The fifth century commentary seemed to only offer myth not the actual experience of meditative absorption.  It is not surprising because Buddhaghosa, the author of the Visuddhimagga was not even a Buddhist, but a Brahman scholar who was hired by the King of Sri Lanka to compose a work that would support the premises of the dominant dry insight community while paying lip-service to the smaller moist jhana community. The Suttas, on the other hand, spoke to this contemplative's experience of meditative absorption.  The conclusion that must be taken is Bhante Gunaratana is nothing more than a scholar-monk who has no real experience of jhana, and that is most probably why he was offended by this contemplative's personal experiences with jhana.

Jason Siff of the Skillful Meditation Project:

Shortly after this contemplative started the JSG we received a posting from someone who was a student of Jason Siff.  They posted his website, so his site was explored a little.  A few emails were exchanged with Jason, but he never took an interest in the JSG, and we fell out of contact. At one point Mr. Siff was kind enough to invite this contemplative to one of his talks, unfortunately due to a conflict in schedules one could not attend it.  One cannot say much is known about him, other than he seems like a very likable person. but considering that he has not taken much interest in furthering a dialog with the JSG, or this contemplative, one can only guess that he feels we have some fundamental difference in philosophy.  If there is, it is most probably because he subscribes to the Visuddhimagga as his philosophical source.

Mettavihari of DAYA:

'Matt' was encountered on his Yahoo Group back when the JSG was just starting.  He has always been kind, and it seems we share much in common, and he was once an active member of the Discourses of the Buddha and the 4^th Wheel.  For some reason he never took an interest in being active on the JSG.  Based on dialogs with him on the other GWV lists we can say that he subscribes to a belief in dry insight and jhana coexisting as separate but equal practice strategies.  This is a concept presented in the Visuddhimagga.  The problem for this contemplative in such a premise is the Suttas do not present either insight (vipassana), nor meditative absorption (jhana), within the context of a practice strategy (magga).  Instead they are both seen as fruits (phala) of the contemplative life (DN 2).

The Buddha presents meditation within the single context of 'sati' (DN 22, MN 10, 118, 119), which is simply the cultivation of concentration with the express result of giving rise to all of the fruits of the contemplative life (DN 2), not just meditative absorption (jhana) or insight (vipassana) as its goal.

Perhaps our falling out was over a particular issue.  His teacher proposed one could test whether one had authentic jhana, or enlightenment, simply by stopping the practice of meditation.  Matt's teacher postulated that if the feelings of bliss (piiti), joy (sukha) and ecstasy (jhana) stopped after the cessation of a mediation practice, then one could be sure that one did not have authentic jhana or enlightenment.  It was a test that Matt's teacher routinely tested his students with.

The premise for this argument depends upon a belief in enlightenment being a single moment in time, such as the Buddha's night under the Bodhi tree.  The problem with this premise is the Buddha never stopped his daily meditation practice from the time of his enlightenment until his death.  According to the record in the Discourses of the Buddha (Sutta Pitaka) Siddhartha Gotama meditated several times a day every day for the remainder of his life.  There is also no record in the Discourses of the Buddha where the Buddha proposed testing a student's enlightenment by suggestion he or she stop meditating. 

It seems we can thus conclude that the Buddha did not propose a practice strategy that one followed to fruition (phala), then stopped to sit back and enjoy ones attainment (phala), but a lifestyle (magga) for one's whole life which is necessary for sustaining the 7 factors of enlightenment.  If that was the case, then if the Buddha had stopped meditating, his enlightenment, which is the sustaining of the 7 factors of Enlightenment, would have come to an end.  Considering that he meditated several times a day every day including the day he died we can consider accepting that the Noble Eightfold Path is not just a practice strategy (magga) but a lifestyle that supports attainment (phala).

Ajahn Chah:

Ajahn Chah is the late preceptor for Ajahns Amaro, Brahmavamso and Chandako.  He was a Forest Tradition monk in Thai Land who taught in the mid-20^th century.

Ajahn Brahmavamso The Buddhist Society Of Western Australia (BSWA)

We have read Ajahn Brahmavamso's book The Jhanas.  While we found his book very informative we found he subscribes to many concepts presented in the Visuddhimagga that conflict directly with canonical references.  From reading his book it is clear that he has had some experience with jhana, however, his interpretation does not match the Buddha's discourses.  Instead he leans heavily toward the Visuddhimagga interpretation.  We believe if he were to think more deeply upon his experiences and examine the Sutta Pitaka more closely he would find that his 'beautiful breath' is a very articulate description of the first jhana which is nothing more than the arising of pleasure (piiti) and joy (sukha) from the practice of meditation (DN 22).  However, instead he dismisses the experience as 'mere' 'Access Concentration'.  Too bad, because his book could be quite useful if he did not dismiss almost every aspect of the signs of absorption (jhana-nimitta) as 'mere' Access Concentration.

The concept of 'Access Concentration' is a non-canonical concept that first emerged in the Abhidhamma.  We believe it was intended to bring the Buddha's discourses into concert with the Vedas and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, who used the Sanskrit term 'dhyana' from which the Pali term 'jhana' is derived. In the Vedas and Yoga Sutras the Sanskrit term 'dhyana' means meditation technique, not meditative absorption.  It is one of many differential uses of terminology that separate Buddhist philosophy (dhamma) from Vedic philosophy (dharma), which must be clearly understood when studying both systems.

Ajahn Amaro of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery:

This contemplative's only encounter with Ajahn Amaro was the monks of his monastery boycotted a summer long retreat that was to be led by Jeffrey S. Brooks at Bell Springs during the summer of 2004.  Due to the boycott by the monks of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery against the work of this contemplative we have taken no further interest in studying their teachings.

Ajahn Chandako:

We have not yet read Ajahn Chandako's A Honed and Heavy Axe: Samatha and Vipassana in Harmony.  It might be a promising book or could simply be one more effort to further the non-canonical belief in two separate practice strategies Samatha and Vipassana.

Bhikkhu Sujato:

Bhikkhu Sujato, author of A Swift Pair of Messengers may also be promising, however, again this contemplative has not yet read his book.  We did have the pleasure of reading a dialog between him and a member of the JSG.  While his comments were in concert with our premises it is rather confusing why he or Ajahn Chandako have not joined the JSG or become friends.

Pa Auk Sayadaw

A student of Pa Auk Sayadaw posted messages and invitations on the JSG when Pa Auk Sayadaw came to teach in the USA in 2004.  From reading some of the material it seems this meditation teacher represents yet another distinctly different point of view on jhana.  His premise is the phenomena of meditative absorption are the work of devas.  While a fresh point of view is often welcomed, proposing the signs of absorption (jhana-nimitta) are the work of devas seems like yet another way to dismiss the experience altogether as fairy worship.  Thus his premises have been rejected.

Thanissarro Bhikku (Tan Geoffrey) of METTA FOREST MONASTERY

Thanissarro Bhikku is quite well known for his many translations of the Buddha's discourses, which are very accessible via the web at ACCESS TO INSIGHT.  He is especially known for his creative and controversial usage of language, which is often successful and sometimes not so.  While many contemplatives depend upon his translations, his writing tends to support the commentaries and less focused upon suttic references for its foundation.  It is also somewhat worrisome that he has not made an effort to align himself with the JSG, which is the largest dialog on jhana on the web.  From analyzing his translations he appears to be a scholar-monk in the dry insight model, who may have a small amount of personal experience with jhana in his deep past.

Jhanananda (Jeffrey S. Brooks) of the Great Western Vehicle:

This contemplative has apparently raised the ire of almost every school of Buddhism and is pretty much disregarded as unworthy to even express his point of view in public, thus there is a boycott by many Theravadan schools of Buddhism, and none of the Jhana schools pay much attention to what he has to say.

This school is a suttic school that rejects both the Abhidhamma and the Visuddhimagga as merely attempts by the orthodoxy of Buddhism to appropriate, subvert and obfuscate the Buddha dhamma.  They hold the premise that meditative absorption (jhana) is not difficult to attain, but requires leading a lifestyle, represented by the Noble Eightfold Path, to give rise to it, as well as to sustain it.  They also propose that many of the Christian, Jewish, Sufi and Hindu mystics had arrived at the same phenomena, because they generally described their experiences within the context of bliss, joy and ecstasy, as did the Buddha.  Since the Buddha also described his experience within this same context, then the members of the GWV consider the Buddha a mystic, much like Saints: Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and the Sufi mystics like: al Hallaj, Rumi and Kabir, and the Hindu mystics, such as: Patanjali, Sañkhara and Ramakrishna.

Jhanananda leads the largest dialog on the World Wide Web that is dedicated to Jhana.  It is called the Jhana Support Group and is a peer-level community of people who have the direct experience with meditative absorption (Jhana).  He also posts a bi-weekly personal journal about his experiences with jhana, and he has built the largest website that is dedicated to the subject of jhana.

Conclusions:

We can only say from over 30 years of experience with the meditative absorption states (jhanas), as well as from reviewing numerous case histories from contemplatives who have found meditative absorption, they are not a case of mental projection or creative thinking, nor are they merely a case of concentration, because meditative absorption is not a product of volition. In fact one will find the aggregates of cognition are removed as one goes deeper into them.

Thus all of those traditions of Buddhism that subscribe to concentration being the definition of the 8^th fold of the Nobel Eightfold Path have only worked to ignore, or reject meditative absorption, such as the Dry Insight and Zen communities.  They have thus not even arrived at right understanding, because the Buddha defined the 8^th fold of the Noble Eightfold Path in terms of meditative absorption or jhana (DN 22).

Maha-satipatthana Sutta (DN 22.21)

"And what is skilful meditation (sama-samadhi)? There is the case where an aspirant -- quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental) qualities -- enters & remains in the first absorption (jhana)"... (through fourth jhana).

MAHå-PARINIBBåNA-SUTTANTA (DN 16)

"The growth of the bhikkhus is to be expected, not their decline, so long as they ...(remain) favorable to meditative absorption (samadhi)...'

The Fruits of the Contemplative Life

Samaññaphala Sutta (DN 2)

"Quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, he enters and remains in the first absorption (jhana): bliss (piti) and joy (sukha) born from withdrawal, accompanied by applied and sustained attention (vitakka and vicára). He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the bliss (piti) and joy (sukha) born from withdrawal. Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman's apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder -- saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without -- would nevertheless not drip; even so, the monk permeates... this very body with the bliss (piti) and joy (sukha) born of withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body not pervaded by bliss (piti) and joy (sukha) born from withdrawal.