Aligning jhanas with Brahmavihara and chakras

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Dream Walker, modified 11 Years ago at 9/13/13 6:29 PM
Created 11 Years ago at 9/13/13 6:29 PM

Aligning jhanas with Brahmavihara and chakras

Posts: 1770 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
I see some possible alignments between the Brahmavihara phases and the jhanas and the chakras...can anyone point to a resource that expounds upon this idea?

something like this?

1st Chakra - May you be safe and secure - 1st jhana
2nd Chakra - May you be happy - 2nd jhana
3rd Chakra - ???
4th Chakra - May you be filled with Loving kindness
5th Chakra - May you speak with compassion
6th Chakra - May you be joyful - 3rd jhana
7th Chakra - May you be equanimous - 4th jhana

Thoughts?
~D
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Nikolai , modified 11 Years ago at 9/13/13 6:36 PM
Created 11 Years ago at 9/13/13 6:33 PM

RE: Aligning jhanas with Brahmavihara and chakras

Posts: 1677 Join Date: 1/23/10 Recent Posts
Dream Walker:
I see some possible alignments between the Brahmavihara phases and the jhanas and the chakras...can anyone point to a resource that expounds upon this idea?

something like this?

1st Chakra - May you be safe and secure - 1st jhana
2nd Chakra - May you be happy - 2nd jhana
3rd Chakra - ???
4th Chakra - May you be filled with Loving kindness
5th Chakra - May you speak with compassion
6th Chakra - May you be joyful - 3rd jhana
7th Chakra - May you be equanimous - 4th jhana

Thoughts?
~D


How is a 'chakra' involved? How does it manifest in experience and thus termed 'chakra'? And how does it relate then to each of those phrases you correspond them with'? Does your attention go there? If so can you play around with where your attention goes at each phrase? Changing the 'chakra' location experience? If so what does that mean?

Nick
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 11 Years ago at 9/16/13 3:11 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 9/16/13 3:11 AM

RE: Aligning jhanas with Brahmavihara and chakras

Posts: 3288 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Hmmmm...

Well, the Brahma Viharas technically can be cultivated to the 3rd jhana for the first 3 and to the 4th jhana for Equanimity.

As to which chakra, I can see what you are getting at, but I would be more inclined to do something less progressive in some ways, at least were one to try to correlate this, meaning that I would actually put the first 3 in the heart chakra (4th), with compassion resonating at the 3rd chakra also, as much real heart-pain like resonance with suffering hits at the 3rd, and metta resonating just a bit at the 1st for exactly the security reason you mention, although viscerally most of them will hit at the heart chakra as a felt experience, at least so it happens for me.

Questions of chakras are going to come up more in the 2nd jhana aspect of each of these, as by the time you get to 3rd you are too wide and diffuse to localize that narrowly.

As to Equanimity, it is really going to be wider than the chakras for the same reason, but in its early, less developed aspect, it is going to be more 6th and 7th, at least for me.

Thoughts?
M N, modified 11 Years ago at 9/16/13 3:38 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 9/16/13 3:38 AM

RE: Aligning jhanas with Brahmavihara and chakras

Posts: 210 Join Date: 3/3/12 Recent Posts
I can relate with Equanimity being related to 6th and the other three much more related to the heart area.
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Dream Walker, modified 11 Years ago at 9/17/13 7:11 PM
Created 11 Years ago at 9/17/13 7:11 PM

RE: Aligning jhanas with Brahmavihara and chakras

Posts: 1770 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Daniel M. Ingram:
Hmmmm...

Well, the Brahma Viharas technically can be cultivated to the 3rd jhana for the first 3 and to the 4th jhana for Equanimity.

As to which chakra, I can see what you are getting at, but I would be more inclined to do something less progressive in some ways, at least were one to try to correlate this, meaning that I would actually put the first 3 in the heart chakra (4th), with compassion resonating at the 3rd chakra also, as much real heart-pain like resonance with suffering hits at the 3rd, and metta resonating just a bit at the 1st for exactly the security reason you mention, although viscerally most of them will hit at the heart chakra as a felt experience, at least so it happens for me.

Questions of chakras are going to come up more in the 2nd jhana aspect of each of these, as by the time you get to 3rd you are too wide and diffuse to localize that narrowly.

As to Equanimity, it is really going to be wider than the chakras for the same reason, but in its early, less developed aspect, it is going to be more 6th and 7th, at least for me.

Thoughts?

Thanks Daniel for the input,
I rethought the idea and looked for Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the chakras to see how they align...then it seems easier to include some phrasing that the Brahma Viharas leave out which was an obvious gap (celibate monks wishing sexual fulfillment for example)


maslow-revisited-the-hierarchy-of-chakras/ <---Cool article

I think you are correct where the jhanas come in...It gets complicated. I don't know if it correlates easily enough to do anything with.
I tend to experience body bliss, happiness, giddiness/2nd jhana in the stomach area but when I get to loving kindness it moves to the heart area. 3rd jhana/mental joy I kinda want to put at the third eye but you are right in that with the diffuseness I may just be intellectually forcing it there and even more so with Equinimity.

My original idea was a practice that was more inclusive and specific in well wishing that had a visceral energetic feel that could also move me thru the jhanas...hmmm... maybe too many birds, not enough of one stone.emoticon

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