Are the formless jhanas without any consciouness of form at all?
Upvote:0
I am not aware of an explanation in the original Pali scriptures of exactly why the terms 'rupa (form) jhana' & 'arupa (formless) jhana' are used.
However, I would guess the term 'rupa' jhana is related to the activity of the nervous system of the entire physical body ('rupa'). For example, just before entering into the 1st (rupa) jhana, the mental stress stored within the physical is completely calmed & the entire bodily nervous system starts to radiate with bliss. Although the physical body & breathing can no longer be felt in the 1st jhana (due to the strength of the rapture-bliss in the brain dominating conscious awareness), the bliss of the entire bodily nervous system is the basis of the bliss of the rupa jhanas. The Pali scriptures state:
He enters & remains in the first jhana...in the second jhana...There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture & pleasure...MN 119.
As rapture (piti) & then pleasure (sukha) subside, the mind becomes purified & completely clear in the 4th (rupa) jhana; without the sense objects (sensations) of rapture & pleasure capturing consciousness awareness. The scriptures state, in attaining the 4th jhana, whatever physical-breathing activity remains is totally calmed:
Having attained the fourth absorption, inhalation and exhalation have ceased. SN 36.11
To gain a picture of what it means for the breathing to be completely calmed/ceased, MN 43 describes it is the same as a dead body (thus a medical doctor would think the body is dead due to no movement of the breathing despite the life-force of the body remaining alive).
~~~~
Therefore, the formless meditations (arupa jhana) are described as solely meditations upon consciousness & mentality, without any breathing & feeling sensations from the bodily nervous system being felt.
The features of the formless meditations are described in MN 111, as follows:
Sariputta entered & remained in the dimension of infinitude of space...the dimension of infinitude of consciousness...the dimension of nothingness. Whatever qualities there are...singleness of mind, contact, (mental) feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, zeal, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity & attention — he ferreted them out one after another.
In the 'dimension of neither perception nor non-perception' (4th formless meditation/8th jhana), the scriptures describe the mental sense objects listed above start to disappear/fade & in the 'cessation of feeling & perception' ('9th jhana') all mentality, including consciousness, completely disappears.
Consciousness disappears in the '9th jhana' because there is no more perception & feeling thus, as taught in the scriptures (MN 38; SN 22.53), consciousness cannot arise without any sense objects.
Note: The '9th jhana' (cessation of feeling & perception) is not Nibbana/Nirvana.
In summary, in Buddhism, there are six avenues of sense consciousness. In the formless meditations (as described in MN 111), mind sense consciousness remains (although eye, ear, nose, tongue & body sense consciousness do not operate).
Upvote:2
I guess words are not enough to describe experiences. I don't know if they exist or how it is to be in a formless jhana, but I can tell you for sure that you will only get frustrated by trying to understand any experience using words or thoughts. See for yourself!
Upvote:3
Formless meditations exist. The eight attainments (atthasamapatti) in meditation (attaining Adhicitta) broadly has two parts - namely, the first four rupa jhanas and the four arupa jhanas. These last four are higher stages of mental concentration – the formless states - enable one to gain super-normal powers.
Even though we see the mind as normally inter-dependent with body, there are levels of existence where only mental phenomena exist, with nothing whatever of rupa. The four 'formless' (arupa) meditative states are attainable from the fourth jhana onwards:
The sphere of infinite space (Akasanañcayatana);
This is attained by transcending any cognition of rupa, by abandoning the metal image that was previously the object of concentration, and seeing that space is infinite.
The sphere of infinite consciousness (Viññaaañcayatana);
In this second state, the focus is on the consciousness that had been aware of infinite space.
The sphere of nothingness (Akiñcaññayatana);
In the third, this object (Viññaaañcayatana) is dropped, and the focus is on the apparent nothingness remaining.
The sphere of neither-cognition-nor-non-cognition (Nevasaññanâsaññayatana). In the fourth, this object (Akiñcaññayatana) is dropped and the mind is in an attenuated state where it is hardly functioning.
SD 24.11 _ Pathama Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Savitakka) Pathama Jhana Sutta. Progressing in the 1st dhyana.
SD24.12a _ Dutiya Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Avitakka) Dutiya Jhana Sutta. Progressing in 2nd dhyana.
SD 24.13 _ Tatiya Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Sukhena) Tatiya Jhana Sutta. Progressing in the 3rd dhyana.
SD 24.14 _ Catuttha Jhana Pañha Sutta or (Upekkhaka) Catuttha Jhana Sutta. How to progress in the 4th dhyana.
SD 24.15 _ Akasanañcayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of infinite space.
SD 24.16 _ Viññaaañcayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of infinite consciousness.
SD 24.17 _ Akiñcaññayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of nothingness.
SD 24.18 _ Nevasaññanâsaññayatana Pañha Sutta. Progressing in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.
More post
- 📝 Body's response to meditation
- 📝 What should I tell other people about giving money to a Beggar?
- 📝 Is it possible to attain stream-entry if one is only following "the 5 precepts"?
- 📝 Union with Brahma, or company of Brahma?
- 📝 do you know consciousness?
- 📝 Is AN 5.191 coherent with the rest of the suttas? Or is it an inserted polemical sutta?
- 📝 How far is attachment allowed?
- 📝 Information requested on Buddhist monks self-immolation mental technique
- 📝 Would 10 days Vipassana a waste of time, if not practised afterwards?
- 📝 Problem concentrating during Vipassana meditation
- 📝 How integral is the synergetic aspect of buddhism?
- 📝 Are there NDE known where Buddha is met?
- 📝 Personal continuity in the absence of a persistent, unchanging self
- 📝 Is it alright to have a leather jacket and still consider myself a Buddhist?
- 📝 How are metta and dana related?
- 📝 Not wanting to meditate = bad karma?
- 📝 What are the paṭiccasamuppāda theory and it's products?
- 📝 Joining and then leaving the monastic order?
- 📝 questions on my meditation practice?
- 📝 What will Most Effect in Next Life Done Good or Bad?
- 📝 Like a fish in a puddle, what joy is there
- 📝 Why does my mind feel slow to think nearly half day after my meditation?
- 📝 A thought-experiment about the importance of Buddhist traditions
- 📝 Infidelity and Forgiveness guidance
- 📝 Bodhisattva Śvetaketu and Gautama
- 📝 Do you have to have certain pastlife karma to use a computer?
- 📝 Do monks not have responsibility towards parents and family?
- 📝 Is Buddha Nature the original state, i.e. Awareness/ Consciousness without Existence?
- 📝 Does teaching Buddhism work?
- 📝 How do you decide when to stick up for yourself and when to let things go?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Are the formless jhanas without any consciouness of form at all?
- 📝 What are any and all of the exceptions to eating after noon if you've taken 8 precepts?
- 📝 Are there any alternative formulations of the five skandas?
- 📝 Are there any references in the Pali canon to the experience of death?
- 📝 How can the idea of reincarnation be true if all the information of who we are is already destroyed
- 📝 The formless jhanas in this world
- 📝 Are there any descriptions of the deathless/unborn in any tradition of Buddhism?
- 📝 Are any of the three poisons considered stronger or more difficult to break than the others?
- 📝 What are all the bhawana (meditation) methods in Buddhism?
- 📝 Are there any detail exposition of Consciousness without surface (viññanam anidassanam)?
- 📝 Are the higher arupa jhanas supernatural states expanding beyond the physical body?
- 📝 What is known about enlightenment before the lifetime of the Buddha? Are there any claims that he was the first?
- 📝 Are there any recollections of past lives in the more grievous realms?
- 📝 Describe all the Jhanas in everyday language
- 📝 What are the ways to be conscious in all situations?
- 📝 Are there any english translation of the Shobogenzo of Master Dogen?
- 📝 Are there any body who achieved Nibbana currently (in the current world)
- 📝 Are there any teachings about how we should censure happiness which arises without right view?
- 📝 Can a person without any of the five physical senses attain arhatship?
- 📝 Are there any exceptions to the first precept?
- 📝 Are there any translations available from the Gandharan Buddhist Texts? When will they be available?
- 📝 Are all of the five aggregates saṅkhāras?
- 📝 Are there any attempts to prove the eternal blissful etc. self?
- 📝 How, if at all, does karma exist in the form and formless realms?
- 📝 Are there any Buddhist suttas in the scriptures about retaining memory?
- 📝 Are there any instructions on the pose of hand during meditation?
- 📝 Does any Theravada Suttas / sources refer to Oozing orifices? What are the Suttas?
- 📝 if the self is an illusion - all my relationships are illusion too?
- 📝 Why are all the Buddhas born in Indian subcontinent only?
- 📝 how many meditations have the word 'sati' in there? what are all the practices that are "great fruit, great benefit"?