Thanks all for your tips. To your questions:
@fivebellsBy focus I mean fixation on an object of attention. When I'm in (what I believe is) 4th jhana, the breath is in the background, and deep calm and peace are in the foreground. So, switching to insight from there, what I try to do is to investigate a part of my experience by trying to watch the individual sensations that make it up.
As I have no idea how to investigate deep calm and peace, my mind picks other objects: if there's physical pain or an itch that's an easy one to fixate on. When there isn't I try to do body scanning or return to the breath. When doing insight starting from this state, I find vibrations in the pain, the itch, the contact between my ass and the cushion, etc. but I can't stay focused on any single one as so much doubt arises as to whether this is the right thing to focus on. Of note, if going directly to dry insight from non-jhana, the same things seem solid and I don't feel any vibrations. Thoughts?
@Christian VladThe quick-and-dirty 2nd jhana was equally rapturous but nowhere as solid as the usual well-prepared versions. Let's say it was 30% as solid, then the 3rd jhana that followed was 50% as solid, and the 4th was 70% as solid as their well-prepared counterparts. The insight part that followed was pretty crappy, and that's all that really matters to me, so I don't think I'll mess around much with "instant jhanas" except for pure fun.
The hard work to attain jhanas 1-3 was basically changing my usual pattern of "gently let thoughts arise and pass away" which had been great for insight and indeed helped me cross the A&P, to a more bossy "be vigilant for thoughts arising and smack them hard on the head". Either because of or despite that, I started getting access to 1st jhana in one of every three sittings, even progressing to 3rd once. The technique itself was mindfulness of breathing, at the nostrils, trying to solidify the sensations there, no breath counting.
My current technique is a bit different, and jhanas arise more consistently (100% of the times I had slept more than 7 hours the night before) which could be because I'm in EQ now or because of the technique, or some combination of both. I state my goal for the sit (e.g. get to 4th jhana, stay 10 minutes there, then switch to insight and do it for 20 minutes), I sit, I consciously ask myself what my levels of
mindfulness, of
energy and of
motivation are that day, take 3 deep breaths, close my eyes, count 3 sets of 10 outbreaths, then count 3 sets of 10 inbreaths (restarting a set whenever I lose count), then drop the counting. When I drop the counting I'm usually already at access concentration, and 1st jhana ensues between 10 and 20 minutes later. Faster times correlate with higher mindfulness levels, higher solidity of jhana correlates with higher energy levels, quality of insight is usually a combination of energy, mindfulness and motivation.
@Tommy M
Based on your descriptions, it's more likely you're actually getting to 2nd jhana rather than 4th.
Could you describe the way your attention seems to move in what you think is 4th jhana?
It's useful to question my beliefs. I believe I'm attaining 4th jhana because of the factors. That's my way of identifying them, and nothing else. So when I'm in 1st jhana, I feel all its factors, and conscious effort is in the foreground. When I'm in 2nd jhana, I feel all its factors, and rapture is in the foreground. Now let's get more detailed:
- Then I make a conscious decision to drop the rapture. And rapture drops, but bliss is still there. I feel calm and tranquility in the background but what's more apparent is the bliss. Bliss isn't physical pleasure, it's more of a feel-good quality of the mind. Sometimes I purposely wander outside the solidity of the jhana to focus on an object (e.g. an itch) for a minute or so, and then come back. Focusing is rather easy, staying focused is easy as well, and I can feel the object changing, like the itch or pain getting duller or maybe moving an inch on the body. Verbal thoughts still arise but it's easy not to get involved. I call that 3rd jhana.
- Then I make a conscious decision to drop the bliss. And bliss drops, and all is deeply peaceful. Outside noises now appear in my radar, but I feel removed from them, like they are very far away. Initially verbal thoughts still arise, but after 5 or 10 minutes in that state, and if it's solid, I feel as if the left hemisphere of my brain got switched off, and then I
don't can't have verbal thoughts anymore, even if I want to. I like that feeling, and the first times I got there I tried to consciously formulate verbal thoughts like "What am I doing? --> Meditating" or "What's 2+2? --> 4" and I couldn't even formulate the question, but only a dim shadow of it. I usually bask in that profound peace for some more 10 minutes and then decide to do something useful of it, namely insight. I call that 4th jhana.
Does it sound to you like 4th jhana, or rather like 2nd?
Personally, I have no idea what you mean by "auditory cues of early DN" or "visual cues of the A&P fireworks" so would you mind describing this a bit more?
During my passage through A&P territory, I used to visualize very defined white energy waves for the last half of the sitting. The last time it happened was the night of my A&P event, when all these white waves condensed at the center of my attention-space and made an incredibly bright white flame that made me cry when I looked at it. That, I call the visual fireworks of A&P. Obviously this will vary from person to person.
Then moving on to the DN, early in that territory I heard a drum-like 5-8Hz sound of the sort described in MCTB under the 7th ñana, for a few minutes in two of my sittings. After that, I went on to hear
this sound initially when sitting, but then to my surprise it persisted for 4 days, very subtle and low-volume, but I heard it all throughout the day.
It's good not to have to worry about the formless realms for a while. Thanks for the tip.
Alright, I'll try to become friends with the uneventful sits. It's harder when you have many of those in a row. I haven't had sex with the universe for a while, and even though 2nd jhana kind of feels like that when it's solid, deep inside is so unsatisfying. A&P felt better.
It's hard not to have the mind track my progress while I sit. At least I managed for the verbal commentary to stop, but the background non-verbal leaning of the mind (non-verbal versions of "good stuff! keep going" or "don't you see this isn't getting you anywhere?") is trickier. Any advice to make this easier is welcome.