Jhanas on Chakras

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Avi Craimer, modified 10 Years ago at 3/31/14 3:51 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 3/31/14 3:50 PM

Jhanas on Chakras

Posts: 114 Join Date: 10/29/13 Recent Posts
Hey,

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the concentration category or the energy practices category, it's really a bit of a cross over.

Lately, I've been noticing that my mind can become naturally absorbed into various points in or just beyond my body. They pretty much seem to correspond to chakras or acupoints. I'm curious about this because there isn't much talk in the Theravada tradition about jhanas on chakra points themselves. Generally, one observes some mental quality at a specific point such as the breath at the anapanasati point, or the B.V. states at the heart point. However, when I've been going into these point based jhanas I am not consciously cultivating a specific quality of mind. It seems like I'm just taking the awareness of the point itself as a jhana object. I've been able to take several of the points through medium-hard jhanas 1-8.

My first question is, is it really possible to take the bare chakra as as jhana object, or does there always need to be some simple mental quality as the base object? If the latter, then how would I figure out what mental quality I'm unconsciously using as the base object?

Taking the chakra points through 5th jhana or higher seems to really relieve a lot of the habitual mental contraction around these points. Stable formless jhanas on these points also seem to provide excellent staging grounds for healing work connected to issues, blocks, etc., at these points. One problem I faced earlier on is that I allowed my attention to collect in 1st jhana at a chakra and then sort of got stuck there, which often left me with a tight grasping attention at that point after the meditation, which could be very unpleasant.

So my second question is more aimed at creating a conceptual map between traditions. Taoist and yogic traditions pay a lot of attention to clearing and opening various points in the body, while Theravada focuses on other things. Is it possible that taking a chakra into the formless jhanas is synonymous with "opening a chakra" in these other systems? Perhaps opening a chakra is something more permanent, not just a single temporary jhana on that chakra but something more like a habitual ease with entering and exiting the formless realms of that chakra at will. This would also help make sense of that the fact that it seems like there are many levels of chakra openings, and the chakras can seem to be open, but then be blocked again, etc, etc.

Finally, a word of caution. If you want to try this yourself, I'd recommend avoiding doing any intense concentration practice on the crown chakra, it can lead to huge crashes and imbalances. Probably the foot chakras and palm chakras are the safest to start with. That said, I didn't always follow this advice, and the results were various degrees of physical, emotional, and spiritual roller coaster; I don't regret it because the wisdom that it produced was valuable.
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sawfoot _, modified 10 Years ago at 3/31/14 4:07 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 3/31/14 4:07 PM

RE: Jhanas on Chakras

Posts: 507 Join Date: 3/11/13 Recent Posts
Some relevant links/discussion

http://jaytek.net/KFD/KFDForum/page/A%2BTechnique%2Bfor%2BAttaining%2BPure%2BLand%2BJhanas.html

http://kennethfolkdharma.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/MST_v1.0.swf?null

http://awakenetwork.org/forum/103-general-dharma-discussions/4707-chakras-and-insight-practice

http://kennethfolkdharma.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=75

http://dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/86706

alexgrey.com
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Avi Craimer, modified 9 Years ago at 4/1/14 10:55 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 4/1/14 10:55 PM

RE: Jhanas on Chakras

Posts: 114 Join Date: 10/29/13 Recent Posts
Cool thanks for the links Sawfoot. Very interesting stuff. The connection between the pureland jhanas and pressure in the third eye is really interesting. I'm still just wetting my feet with those, but there's definitely some awesome points of connection.

However, my questions about doing regular jhanas at chakra points remain unanswered.
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Nikolai , modified 9 Years ago at 4/2/14 4:18 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 4/2/14 4:18 AM

RE: Jhanas on Chakras

Posts: 1677 Join Date: 1/23/10 Recent Posts
Avi Craimer:
Cool thanks for the links Sawfoot. Very interesting stuff. The connection between the pureland jhanas and pressure in the third eye is really interesting. I'm still just wetting my feet with those, but there's definitely some awesome points of connection.

However, my questions about doing regular jhanas at chakra points remain unanswered.


Maybe related.

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