For and Against Jhana-Seeking
When you know for yourselves that these qualities are skillful...then you should enter & remain in them.
Originally, this post was titled “Against Jhana Seeking,” but after some thinking, I’ve come around to the notion that there is also a case for them.
Jhanas are absorption states, often deeply pleasurable, that sometimes happen during meditation. Depending on who you ask, they can be achieved within a week-long workshop, or they are rare states that are touched only after years of practice. They go back to the foundations of Buddhism, and were described by the Buddha himself, but they have also recently gained popularity in tech-adjacent circles in the West.
I won’t go into exactly what they are or what it takes to achieve them, but rather, should they be sought out?
The Case For
Seeking awareness, stillness, and an ability to concentrate are good, and insofar as working towards Jhanas accomplishes this, that is good.
Buddhism is essentially a monastic practice; there are behavioral expectations for lay people, or “householders,” but meditation is not among them. Most people in Buddhist countries, raised Buddhist, have never meditated.
Meditation is something for monks who have devoted their lives to the path of Enlightenment. For householders, your hope is that you’ll be a good person in this life and may be reincarnated as a monk in the next, when you will have a shot at Enlightenment.
The Western approach is to be a “householder” while integrating meditation into your life to enjoy its benefits. Some of these will be instrumental (better focus, less reactive, happier, etc.) and some will be spiritual (peace, self-knowledge, insight, etc.).
Jhana-seeking because it feels good is maximally instrumental, but if the only way to get there is to skillfully meditate, then you are learning something valuable. The Jhana-seeking might be the initial impetus, but if it gets you on the path, that is good.
It doesn’t seem worse than those who start meditating to help with anxiety, anger, or any other “bad” thing. After all, in Buddhism, it’s a known mistake to see pleasant and unpleasant sensations differently; you should neither cultivate desire nor aversion.
The Case Against
Craving, sensation seeking, and encouraging desire are bad, and insofar as working towards Jhanas accomplishes this, that is bad.
Imagine your leg falling asleep.
If you have meditated even a bit, this will have happened to you. If someone said, “I won’t meditate because my leg sometimes falls asleep,” you could say that they were misunderstanding meditation.
A key aspect of meditation is that you notice, but don’t necessarily obey or inhabit sensations and feelings that arise. While you should not disregard injurious sensations to meditate, much like life, certain discomforts are part of the experience.
Both choosing not to meditate because your leg falls asleep and choosing to meditate because you’ll get Jhanas are similarly missing the point. Both are side effects of the practice that should neither be craved nor feared. Practicing craving or aversion is anti-meditation.
What Works For You
However, one of the most interesting aspects of Buddhism is the belief that you should find what resonates with you, rather than merely following traditions, scripture, or clever arguments:
When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in them.