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The following talk was given at

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the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood

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City, California. Please visit

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our website at audiodharma .org.

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Hello and welcome

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to this

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Monday beginning of

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the week

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continuity, continuation of

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Samadhi, the theme of

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Samadhi. And today,

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this week, we begin

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the fourth jhana,

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which is in some

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ways of understanding

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the deepest of the

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jhanas. Sometimes there's

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a list of eight jhanas,

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but in the teachings of the

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Buddha, the

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final four He

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calls the four

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bases, the

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four kind of

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fields, maybe.

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And what's called jhana

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is reserved for just

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these first four. But

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then colloquially, people have, because

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these are the next four,

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even deeper states, that

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they call them all four

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jhanas, all eight of them

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are called jhanas. But

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we come to a very

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significant step in the

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Buddha's teachings around the fourth

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jhana because it's a

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time when the mind is

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most malleable, most ready, most

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at ease

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so that It's

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not, there's

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no lingering clinging

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anymore. There's

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no lingering resistance

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or pushing

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or preoccupation. And

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so the mind has gotten very equanimous,

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very peaceful, and

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it sets the stage

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for being able to

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have deep insight and

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for that insight to

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be liberating. Now

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there's very little filters

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of concepts, ideas, stories

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with which we

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experience ourselves. There's

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a lot of equanimity and

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a lot of ease with

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how we are. And

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that combination allows for insights

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to happen. And

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the mind is just ready

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to just kind of receive

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that in a

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dissolving, opening way, so

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that all clinging in some

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radical, deep way can let

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go. And

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that deep letting go

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is the ultimate purpose

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of going through these

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jhanas. The purpose is

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not the jhanas themselves. So

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want to be a little bit careful

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not to overvalue the importance of these. They

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serve a purpose,

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and the purpose is freedom. And

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that freedom can be

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attained other ways besides the

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jhanas. So it's a

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little bit important not to over -prioritize.

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I feel like we have to

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experience these. But

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the same time, it's remarkable

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that these are part

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of our human potential. And

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then they create a tremendous feeling

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of beauty. The fourth genre is considered

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to be the most beautiful of

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it all. So

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the experience, probably one of those beautiful

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things we can experience in life. And

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it provides phenomenal

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peace and a

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reorientation, a healing,

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quite a wonderful

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experience to be

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had. So on one hand,

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we don't want to strive for it.

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We don't want to measure ourselves by

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it. That spiritual success is only had

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by attaining these things that then work

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somehow, you know, the best meditator on

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our block and we can get lots

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of status for it. So we don't,

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that's, that's all extra. And at

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the same time, we don't want to

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dismiss them as unimportant or that they

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don't exist. I remember when I was

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many years ago, when I was, uh,

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graduate student in Buddhist

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studies. There were

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professors who didn't believe

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in Jhanas. They thought

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that literally the language

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coming from borrowing from

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a Buddhist scholar from

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the 1930s, that Jhanas

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were the overactive fantasies,

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imagination of starving ascetics.

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And so it just

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seemed so far -fetched from

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what they could imagine

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was humanly possible. But

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it is possible to dip

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into these jhanas, it is possible

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to experience them, and they

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are far from imagination. In

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fact, these are almost

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the opposite of imagination,

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is when imagination drops

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away. Sometimes

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they're called, in the old

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school of translators, they're

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called trances. And these

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are not transes. These are almost like

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the opposite of trans. This

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is when the mind wakes up in

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a lucid and clear way. And

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there's very little that the mind is

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aware of in these states. So

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that can give impression. Maybe it's a

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kind of a trans, a disconnection. But

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actually it's more of

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a, we're more deeply connected

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to life, to the

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experience of being alive. then

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we are, when we have a

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lot of thoughts and ideas in

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which we're navigating the ideas, the

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thoughts, and some people

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who are living a very active

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life in the world are mostly

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living in their imagination. And

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that's where imagination can

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get interfere with our

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experience of freedom, of

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deep spirituality. And

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so these jhanas, where the

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imagination quiets down and stills

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and there's very little thinking,

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the mind becomes

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illucid, kind of a

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lucid awareness. And now

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where very little else is going

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on, partly because we're not

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focusing on our sense stores,

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we're not focusing on hearing and

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listening and hearing and smelling

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and tasting and all this. And

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even to some degree, we're not focusing on

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sensing the body. There's

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no focus. There's no tightening

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of the mind, narrowing the

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mind to focus on anything

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in particular. It's

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more like we're floating in this

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vast sea of the lake or

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the third jhana, but

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where now even the

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water disappears. And

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we'll see tomorrow the metaphor

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of the fourth jhana. is

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someone sitting

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meditating in the

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open air

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in this particular

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way. So the

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softness and the refreshment of water

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is even falling away. And

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in some ways you just

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feel so free and light to

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be in the open air

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now in this deep meditative way.

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And even that, so even the sense of

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the body in this is not there in

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the usual way. So

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it's a kind of elusive

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awareness that's very equanimous,

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very peaceful. And

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in both the third and

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the fourth jhana, there

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is

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equanimity.

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But it seems that in the third

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jhana, the equanimity has a little bit

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more substance, its own thing. In

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the fourth jhana, Awareness

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and equanimity are almost the

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same thing, just about the

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same thing. It's like a

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compound word. Aquanimous

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awareness, aware

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equanimity. It's just this, there's

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no texture, there's

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no flavor, there's

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no substance to

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either the awareness

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or the equanimity.

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And you can almost not say it's a thing. It's

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almost like what's left in

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the absence of great space.

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Can you say that the

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sky is a quantumist, as

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a bird flies through it? I

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mean, we don't attribute consciousness

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to the sky, but

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the mind doesn't react to

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it, but the mind holds it.

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It's like you don't that

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equanimity. it's not a thing that is

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done, it's just that

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there's no movement of reactivity

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whatsoever. So

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it's called Aquanimous

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Awareness, Aware Equanimity. So

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I'll read to you

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the description. And

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the description of the

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fourth jhana and the metaphor

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are shorter than the

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earlier three jhanas. And that's

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maybe appropriate given that There's

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so little happening now, so little

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to describe. So

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letting go of

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pleasure and pain. How

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do you let go of pleasure and pain?

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That's a koan. That's like a what? That doesn't

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make any sense. You either have pleasure and

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pain, but if you have pleasure and pain, can

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you let go of it? Well,

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certainly the mind can

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let go of its orientation,

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preoccupation with it. letting

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go of

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pleasure and pain

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with a

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disappearance of mental

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happiness and

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mental suffering. So

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this is something very different

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is going on here. There's

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no pleasure and pain, no

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mental happiness and suffering at

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all in this state. When

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enters and abides, in

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the purity of equanimous awareness

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of the fourth jhana. And

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so the only description

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of the fourth jhana

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is the absence of

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happiness, mental happiness and

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mental suffering, a

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phenomenal state to be in.

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There's no suffering whatsoever. And

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there's no pain and no

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pleasure. Now this

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can seem like very dull, you

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know, there's nothing But

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this is one of the

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most sublime, peaceful feelings of well

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-being that is possible for human

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being. And so the

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description, maybe it doesn't, you have to almost

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experience to see, oh, this is good. One

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abides in the purity of

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equanimous awareness of the fourth

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jhana. once it's pervading

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this body with a pure,

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clear mind so that no part

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of the entire body is

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untouched by the pure, clear mind.

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So the word pure here, some

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people don't like to use

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it in their spiritual life. It

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could also mean clean. So

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once it's pervading

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this body with

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a clean, clear

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mind, And here,

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mind means more like awareness. And

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so the whole body becomes

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almost like a field of

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awareness. It's what it

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is. And it's a feeling

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of being very clean, very

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pure, and

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clear, this clear awareness.

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So I like to call the

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awareness here lucid awareness, a

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field, a state of vast

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clear awareness. And what's the

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characteristic of this field of clear

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awareness that spreads through the body?

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It's equanimous and

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it's clearly

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aware. And

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so that's the

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kind of classic

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description. And

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the, so we'll go

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spend this week kind

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of going into it

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with a little bit

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more detail. look

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at the metaphor and so forth.

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And my hope is

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that having done

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these now over 50

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day sessions on

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Samadhi, that as we go into

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the fourth shana, not expected to

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go into it, but maybe

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there's some way that you

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can kind of feel the

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edges of it or kind

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of feel some qualities of

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it that give

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you a sense of what this might

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be when it's complete and full. And

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if not that, I hope

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it's at least inspiring that this

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is a potential for each

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person's heart and mind. So

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thank you very much

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and look forward to

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continuing.