J Cum:
No I did not know either of those facts you wrote about, though that would all be consistent with my intuition on this matter. And thanks for the links. And lastly, do you have any personal commentary on such from your own sadhana?
i trained in the jhanas by developing bliss and tranquility via the refinement of subtle bodily, and then mental, sensations. by the time i was encouraged to try kasina practices by someone proficient in them, i had already gotten my jhanas as hard as i needed them to be, and as i had by then also learnt how to enter jhanas directly (by entering directly into their factors), i lost interest in learning alternate methods of arriving to them.
J Cum:
Further clarification: Due to yoga practices, a ring or dot appears during meditation. Now, after reading Practicing The Jhanas I question the utility of doing all the various kasina practices with various kasinas. If there is some benefit above and beyond just continuing the naturally occurring imagery, I would embark on all of that, but would need to get some encouragement from you as to the benefit of all of that. After reading Daniel's book, Practicing the Jhanas, and The path of Serenity and Insight, I conclude that I have been entering the material and immaterial jhanas for many years, with daily Nirodha meditative state as well. So would the formal series of kasina meditation/visualizations be of any particular benefit?
they would be of benefit if you want to learn how to make your jhana harder, better, faster, stronger.