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From a chemical point of view, there has to be an after effect of the amount of joy and happiness one feels, right ?

In a spiritual point of view, I know one should be aware of attachement to jhana.

I am wondering because I experienced first jhana for the first time this week, and my natural tendency was to repeat this experience as much as I could in the following days. Is it advisable ?

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Absolutely not! Go for it! (Assuming when you say first Jhana, you actually mean first Jhana and not something else).

"There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal.

"Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman's apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip; just so, the monk permeates, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal...

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  • Yes, this description fits exactly !
    – abernard
    Sep 21, 2018 at 7:25
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It is unlikely the mind experienced jhana because, if it did, there would be no doubts in the mind. 'Doubt' is one of the five hindrances that exist when jhana has not been reached.

This said, the Pali suttas say jhana is a pleasure not to be feared. This is because real jhana arises from letting go. Therefore, there is no reason to not abide in jhana. Since jhana is the 8th factor of the noble eightfold path, why would there be a reason to not abide in it?

I thought: 'So why am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities?' I thought: 'I am no longer afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities.

MN 36


There is the case where a monk, a disciple of the noble ones, making it his object to let go, attains concentration, attains singleness of mind. Quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, he enters & remains in the first jhana...

SN 48.10

The Pali suttas (SN 36.11) also say speech ends with the 1st jhana. Therefore, there is not a reason to not practice jhana however there is a reason to not talk about jhana. It seems the questioner is confused here about the difference between practising jhana and talking about jhana. Jhana is something to be practised but is not something to be talked about.

When one has attained the first jhāna, speech has ceased.

SN 36.11

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  • " It is unlikely the mind experienced jhana because, if it did, there would be no doubts in the mind. 'Doubt' is one of the five hindrances that exist when jhana has not been reached. " In first Jhana the 5 hindrances are paused, but not yet destroyed. Doubts may still arise in mind when not in jhana. Why is jhana something we shouldn't talk about ? ( Put aside the fact that we lack words to describe it ). Pali sutta ending with first jhana doesn't seem like a convincing argument.
    – abernard
    Sep 21, 2018 at 6:51
  • Perhaps you are talking about first supramundane jhana while I am talking about first material jhana, hence the confusion.
    – abernard
    Sep 21, 2018 at 6:56
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    I think what Dhammadhatu is getting at is that there is utterly no doubt that one has achieved jhana. It's an experience that is unmistakable.
    – user14100
    Sep 21, 2018 at 12:09
  • I didn't state that I had any doubt about that in my question.
    – abernard
    Sep 23, 2018 at 16:19
  • This would be a good answer without the weird statements about "doubt" and "talking about jhana" which doesn't make any sense
    – abernard
    Sep 24, 2018 at 6:36

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