↓ Guided Jhana Meditations ↓
↓  Jhana Meditation Posture ↓ 
↓ How To Begin A Jhana Meditation Practice ↓
↓ Jhana Meditation: A Simple Technique With Profound Benefits ↓
↓ Jhana Meditation Verbiage↓
↓ Jhan Mediation Foundation And Provenance ↓ 
↓  Establishing a Jhana Meditation Practice ↓ 
↓ Karaniniya Metta Sutta ↓

Guided Jhan Mediations

JHANA MEDITATION POSTURE

There is nothing magical or mystical about a meditation posture. The typical meditation posture of seated on the floor with legs folded against the torso is simply a way to sit comfortably during meditation. The meditation posture should be stable, relaxing and support a quiet and alert mind. It should provide a reasonable amount of comfort, avoiding physical distraction for the meditation period. At first, any posture may prove uncomfortable, and the posture described below will become more comfortable with time. It is preferable to sit on the floor supported by a zafu (pillow made for meditation) placed over a zabuton (a larger, flatter mat to support the legs). The zafu should be from 6 to 8 inches thick and is often filled with cotton, buckwheat, or kapok.

When sitting on the zafu place your sit bones on the front third of the zafu and allow your hips to drop in front of you. With your legs straight in front of you, bend your right leg at the knee and place your right foot under your left thigh and near your left buttock. Bend your left leg at the knee and place your left foot approximately in the crease formed by your right thigh and calf, resting on your calf. For more support you can place yoga blocks or a rolled towel under your knees. This posture may be uncomfortable at first, but with time and patience this will prove to be a stable base with which to build a meditation practice on. This is known as the  half-lotus or Burmese posture.

If you are particularly nimble, you may want to sit in the full-lotus position. The full-lotus is the same as the half-lotus except for placing the right foot on top of the left thigh and the left foot on the right thigh. Again, there is nothing advantageous about the full-lotus over the half-lotus unless it affords you more stability and comfort.

From this stable base, keep your back straight but not stiff, not leaning forward or back. Align your ears with your shoulders and your nose with your navel. Place your left hand on top of your right palm with the thumbs tips lightly touching forming an approximate egg-shape with the thumbs and forefingers. Again, there is nothing magical or mystical about this hand placement. When done consistently it leads to quicker relaxation and lessens physical distraction.

An alternative to sitting on a zafu is to use a low bench called a seiza in a sitting-kneeling position usually over a blanket or zabuton.

If sitting on the floor proves too uncomfortable, it is acceptable to sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, your back straight but not stiff, ears aligned with your shoulders and nose aligned with your navel. Lying down is the least effective regular meditation posture as it will usually lead to drowsiness. If lying on your back is the only choice due to injury or illness, make the best of it and avoid drowsiness. If drowsiness ensues, stop meditation and begin again when refreshed.

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How To Begin a Jhana Meditation Practice

Jhana Meditation is a simple technique with profound and transformative results. It is a technique that anyone can integrate into their lives. Jhana meditation only requires being mindful of the pure sensation of the breath in the body.

It is in its simplicity that Jhana meditation will focus a distracted mind and end the feedback loop of self-referential views. Within the framework of the Eightfold Path, Jhana meditation will develop the introspective insight necessary to abandon confused and discursive thinking.

Developing trance-like states, mindless chanting, distracting imagery or visualizations is not the purpose of meditation.

The purpose of Jhana meditation is to develop gentle and unwavering concentration. From a well-concentrated mind introspective insight into the arising and passing away of all objects, events, views, and ideas will develop. Distracting thoughts originating in clinging, craving, desire, and aversion, will fall away.

The initial difficulty for many beginning meditators is boredom. Boredom is the conditioned need for continual distraction. As the practical benefits of meditation develop, joyful enthusiasm overcomes boredom.

Maintaining mindfulness of the breath brings a gentle focus to meditation, developing concentration. Chasing mystical experiences or ego-driven “insights” is avoided.

Initially, short periods of meditation are effective in establishing a meditation practice.  Long meditation sessions will often further condition thinking rooted in ignorance. Unrealistic methods and expectations will often develop without the guidance of the Eightfold Path.

There is no need to struggle with long periods of meditation. A few minutes of well-intentioned gentle practice is enough to begin to incline the mind towards Jhana.

Deepening concentration is the “goal” of meditation, not length of time. As gentle concentration deepens, the length of meditation sessions will naturally increase. Using the breath as a point of focus interrupts following one thought immediately with the next. As the mind quiets, concentration increases.

The insight that develops through the Eightfold Path is not a distracting craving-after-insight into all mundane phenomena. A well-concentrated mind supports skillful introspective insight into the clinging relationship between ignorant views of self and impermanent phenomena resulting in stress and suffering. Skillful insight may occur during Jhana meditation. The Satipatthana Sutta shows that skillful insight more commonly occurs outside of formal meditation through mindfulness of the Eightfold Path supported by the concentration developed during meditation.

Rather than an aspect of direct inquiry into ordinary phenomena during Jhana meditation, skillful introspective insight is more a product of a quiet and well-concentrated mind framed by the entire Eightfold Path being mindful of the path moment-by-moment as life unfolds.

As seen in the Yuganaddha Sutta, developing tranquility and insight in tandem is for “developing the Eightfold Path so that the shackles of self-referential views are abandoned and self-obsessions destroyed.”

The Buddha taught that what is held in mind determines experience. This is why quieting the mind and gaining insight into the nature of stress and clinging is so effective in developing awakening.

The purpose of the Buddha’s teachings is to recognize and abandon craving and clinging rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths.  It is craving and clinging rooted in ignorance that creates the feedback loop described in the Nagara Sutta.

Skillful introspective insight into the Three Marks Of Existence and craving and clinging develops the refined mindfulness necessary to recognize and abandon all wrong views. Within the framework of the Eightfold Path, Right view develops as wrong views are recognized and abandoned.

Jhana meditation returns the mind to a tranquil state not subject to reaction caused by conditioned thinking. Conditioned thinking causes continued wrong view which causes continued unskillful reaction. This reaction creates further conditioned thinking. This is another way of describing the feedback loop the Buddha describes in the Nagara Sutta. The insight developed into this process makes it possible to interrupt the cycle of discursive thinking.

This simple technique avoids the distraction common in modern hybrid mediation methods of compulsively analyzing impermanent mental objects. This would only continue ignorant views. The Buddha describes these views and what these views support as "like foam on the water."

It is foolish and unskillful to use meditation to further ignorance in this manner. Simply recognize distraction and return mindfulness to the breath. No further analysis of reactive thoughts or feelings is necessary or effective in interrupting this feedback loop.

Analysis of conditioned thinking during meditation will only strengthen conditioned thinking. What is held in mind will determine experience. A meditation practice alone, without the guidance and framework of the Eightfold Path, will strengthen conditioned thinking while substituting more "acceptable" but still ignorant views. This again is another example of being stuck in a feedback loop of self-referential views.

Having the intention to engage in a meditation practice to fix a broken or flawed self is not skillful use of meditation. Using meditation to realize a  hidden Buddha-Nature is not skillful use of meditation.  Using meditation to seek pleasant mind states or mystical experiences is not skillful use of meditation. Using meditation in this way will create more self-referential conditioned thinking.  [7] Vipassana - Introspective Insight

One can spend eternity in these distracting pursuits. Concentration supports the refined mindfulness necessary for recognizing and abandoning all wrong views.  Concentration supports the refined mindfulness necessary for integrating the Eightfold Path as the framework for developing profound Right View

Jhana meditation will develop a non-distracted quality of mind. This brings the ability to recognize and abandon all conditioned mind states.  Ineffective “meditation” practices are abandoned.  As stated in the introduction, the Buddha practiced and mastered the most “advanced” meditation techniques of his time - still practiced today - and rejected them as “not leading to the goal” and “not supporting unbinding.”

The Buddha likened establishing a meditation practice to taming a wild elephant. In order for a young elephant to be useful, it must be able to focus and follow direction. To tame a young elephant, a strong rope would be tied around the elephant's neck and to a strong post or tree. The elephant would immediately begin thrashing around, flapping its ears, stomping the ground, and making loud grunts and bellows, very unhappy to not be able to wander around, aimlessly engaging in any distraction that arose.

The more resistant the young elephant became, the stronger the rope held. Eventually, the elephant would put aside its desire for continual distraction and sensual fulfillment and it would settle down.

In this metaphor, an untrained mind is the young elephant, the rope is mindfulness of the breath, and the strong post or tree is the breath.

As one begins to establish a meditation practice, the mind is often thrashing about, resistant to settling down.  Thoughts insist on wandering aimlessly with strong desire to continue distraction by following one thought with another, continually describing their own self-created reality.

As mindful awareness of the breath develops the mind calms and concentration deepens. By utilizing the simple technique of Jhana meditation it becomes possible to quiet a constantly distracted mind. With sustained gentle practice guided by the Eightfold Path, clinging, compulsive thinking settles down.

Returning to the metaphor, once the elephant has learned to remain mindful of the post, the rope is loosened and the elephant is finally free. Once tranquility and concentration deepens, the need to describe reality based on desirous thoughts driven by attachment and aversion is interrupted, and useful and skillful insight arises.

As concentration increases, integrating The Eightfold Path begins to clear "fetters" or "hindrances." Fetters are agitated mind states which can make quieting the mind much more difficult if not impossible. As practical insight into Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, and Right Mindfulness develops, fetters subside and Right Meditation becomes increasingly more effective.

In this way it is quickly seen that Jhana meditation is one aspect of a complete path that develops profound wisdom, pure virtue, and unwavering concentration necessary for ending ignorance and for Becoming Buddha.

Jhana Meditation: A Simple Technique With Profund Benefits

• Remind yourself that now is the time for meditation. Now is the time to place mindfulness on the breath-in-the-body and do Jhana
• Take a few slow, deep breaths, exhaling fully.
• Breathing through your nose, notice your breath entering and exiting your body. Be mindful of both your inhalation and your exhalation, your breath arising and passing away.
• This is a direct experience of the impermanence of all phenomena. Do not attempt to regulate your breathing in any way. However your body wants to breathe, place your mindfulness on the pure sensation of breathing.
• Notice that feelings and thoughts arise and pass away. Return your awareness to your breath.
• As feelings and thoughts continue to arise and pass away return your awareness to your breath.
• Gently put distractions aside, not following one thought with another thought, and place your mindful awareness on your breathing.
• Gently put distractions aside, not following one thought with another thought, and place your mindful awareness on your breathing.
• This is being mindful of the breath, holding in mind your breath in your body.
• This begins to establish the process of deepening concentration and unifying mind and body.

Jhana Meditation Verbiage

• Find your relaxed meditation posture.
• Sitting erect, gently close your eyes, gently close your mouth.
• Remind Yourself "Now is the time to meditate."
• Now is the time to set mindfulness on the breath-in-the-body and do Jhana.
• Holding yourself softly, gently, lovingly.
• Allow yourself to settle into your room, settle onto your seat, settle into your body, and settle into your mind.
• Notice the sensation of breathing in your body.
• Become mindful of your inhalation and your exhalation, your in-breath, and your out-breath.  
• While remaining mindful of your in-breath and your out-breath, notice that feelings and thoughts arise and pass away.
• We are sensitive and conscious beings. The purpose of Jhana meditation is to increase concentration by not being distracted by the arising and passing away of feelings and thoughts. 
• Notice the arising and the passing away of your breath in your body.
• When you find that you are distracted by feelings or thoughts gently acknowledge the distraction and return mindfulness to your breathing.
• Relaxing your thoughts, remaining mindful of the arising and the passing away of your breath in your body.
• We will continue to meditate for ??? minutes, with call-backs every 5 minutes.

CallBack: 

• Noticing the arising and passing away of feelings and thoughts while remaining mindful of the arising and passing away of your breath in your body.

Final Five-Minute CallBack:

• Noticing the arising and passing away of feelings and thoughts while remaining mindful of the arising and passing away of your breath in your body. 
• And we’ll continue to meditate for five more minutes.

Ending Jhana:

• Notice the quality of your mind. Be at peace with your mind. 
• When you are ready, you can gently open your eyes.

This is Jhana practice – being mindful of the breath in the body while thoughts and feelings flow without notice or distraction. Remember that a trance-like state or the forced elimination of all thoughts is not a goal of meditation. We are conscious beings – thoughts and feelings should be flowing. The purpose of meditation is to increase concentration and not be distracted by thoughts and feelings. When you find that you are distracted by your thoughts and feelings, return mindfulness to the sensation of breathing-in-your-body.

As thought constructs or physical feelings arise, dispassionately remain mindful of them for a few moments. Acknowledge the thought or feeling as impermanent and return your mindfulness to your breathing.

You are developing concentration and spaciousness between thoughts. By experiencing your feelings and thoughts while remaining tranquil, you are directly interrupting conditioned reactions and conditioned thinking. By remaining tranquil as feelings and thoughts arise and pass away, you are training your mind to accept the people and events, including yourself, as they are. Dispassionate acceptance of feelings and thoughts as they arise and pass away interrupts conditioned thinking.

It is the reaction caused by conditioned thinking that creates perception of any event. Understanding now reveals the means for freedom and liberation from suffering. Let everything that arises go and return your mindfulness to the pure sensation of breathing-in-your-body..

As Jhana meditation practice develops, the insight and spaciousness realized in sitting practice will become more and more apparent in your life off of your cushion. You will find that you are more peaceful and less reactive. You will find you are more present and mindful of who you are in the present moment. You will find ever-deepening concentration.

Remember that you are not seeking a trance-like or blank mental state. Concentration cannot increase in a trance. Jhana meditation interrupts compulsively following one thought with another thought by being mindful of the sensation of breathing in our body.

If unpleasant thoughts arise, put them aside and return to the sensation of breathing in your body. If pleasant thoughts arise, put them aside and return to the sensation of breathing in your body. If visions arise, pleasant or unpleasant, grand or mundane, dispassionately put them aside and return to the sensation of breathing in your body.

Whatever arises during meditation practice is simply part of what is to be recognized as impermanent and insubstantial and are to be put aside while returning mindfulness to your breathing-in-your-body.

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Jhana Meditation Foundation and Provenance

Jhana means concentration or non-distraction. Jhana is the word the Buddha used to describe the purpose and scope of meditation. When directing followers to meditate he would consistently say: “Find the root of a tree or an empty hut (establish physical seclusion) and do Jhana.” 

Jhana refers to the single purpose of meditation – to develop profound concentration that can support the refined mindfulness necessary to integrate and develop the entire Eightfold Path. (Reference Yuganaddha Sutta and many others.)

Rather than encourage an unstructured hybrid meditation method, in the context of the Buddha’s Dhamma Jhana meditation supports true and useful vipassana. Vipassana refers to developing the very specific introspective insight into Three Marks Of Existence – Anicca, Anatta, and Dukkha. Here is an article on the meaning of vipassana in the context of the Buddha’s Dhamma:

Here is a link to our Vipassana Structured Study

As concentration increases the mind naturally calms providing the internal environment for true and useful introspective insight.

Here are Dhamma articles on Jhana:  Right Meditation

Two thousand six hundred years ago a human being known as Siddartha Gotama became, in his words, “rightly self-awakened.”  He was thirty-five at the time of his awakening. He would spend the next forty-five years of his life teaching all that were interested how they could do the same. [1] The Noble Search For The Noble Path

Siddartha awakened to the profound understanding that it is ignorance of Four Noble Truths that leads to all manner of confusion, deluded thinking, and ongoing disappointing and unsatisfactory experiences. [2] Nagara Sutta - The Buddha Describes His Awakening

What Siddartha discovered is a simple truth: Ignorance of Four Noble Truths is the originating condition that confusion, deluded thinking, and ongoing stress and suffering are dependent on. [3,4] Dependent Origination - The Paticca Samuppada Sutta  |  Four Noble Truths - The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Now a Buddha, he taught Jhana meditation as one factor of a complete path to becoming rightly self-awakened. The path the Buddha taught is known as the Eightfold Path. [5,6] Right Meditation - Samadhi - Jhanas  |  Eightfold Path - The Magga-Vibhanga Sutta

It is through the Eightfold Path that one is able to develop skillful vipassana - introspective insight into Three Marks Of Existence.  [7] Vipassana - Skillful Insight

Jhana means concentration or a non-distracted quality of mind. Jhana meditation is the only mediation method taught by the Buddha. He taught this singular mediation method for a singular purpose - to deepen concentration. The Buddha understood that a mind rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths will fabricate subtle but powerful strategies to compulsively continue to ignore ignorance. The Buddha understood that only deep and penetrative concentration could provide the skillful focus to support the refined mindfulness necessary to integrate the Eightfold Path as the framework for an authentic and effective Dhamma practice.

It is by integrating the Eightfold Path that the concentration developed in Jhana meditation can be applied in a focused and skillful manner to recognize and abandon all manner of ignorance.

The instructions below provide the guidance for establishing an effective meditation practice as the Buddha instructed. The foundation for Jhana meditation is established in the beginning section of the Satipatthana Sutta, the primary sutta on Four Foundations Of Mindfulness. [8] Satipatthana Sutta - Four Foundations of Mindfulness

When directing those in the original sangha to meditate, the Buddha would say “Go find the root of a tree or an empty hut and do Jhana.” This was simple instruction to find a quiet and secluded place for meditation. Jhana is a word from the Pail language that means meditative absorption or concentration. This statement is clear and simple guidance on establishing the proper environment for Jhana meditation and the proper purpose - to develop ever-deepening levels of Jhana.

It is most effective for beginning meditators to start with short meditation sessions and gradually extend the meditation sessions. There is nothing to gain from uncomfortably long meditation sessions as the purpose of meditation is to deepen concentration.  What is most important is consistency and the right method. Short periods of meditation practiced consistently within the framework of the Eightfold Path will bring a calm and peaceful mind.

Long meditation sessions engaged in only occasionally and without the proper framework will have little ongoing usefulness and can often continue conditioned views rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths.

Incorporating Metta Intentional Meditation into a meditation practice can help end distracting negative thoughts towards oneself or others or towards worldly conditions.

The importance of developing Jhana as the focus of meditation is taught in many suttas including the Kimsuka Sutta and the Yuganaddha Sutta. [9,10] Kimsuka Sutta - A Swift Pair Of Messengers  |  Yuganaddha Sutta

The Buddha taught the Four Foundations of Mindfulness to stabilize the mind by avoiding ordinary distractions. In this sutta, the Buddha further teaches how to apply the refined mindfulness that is supported by the concentration developed in Jhana meditation.

In the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha uses the example of senior monks to describe how meditation is practiced, applied to the overall Dhamma, and experienced by those with understanding of the Heartwood of the Dhamma - the Eightfold Path. [11] Anapanasati Sutta

Meditation is best practiced with a Sangha well-focused on the Buddha’s teachings. If you are not in the Hunterdon County, New Jersey or Bucks County, Pennsylvania area, or you do not have a well-focused Sangha in your area, you can join my classes and our Sangha online Streamed Live.

If you are new to meditation or the direct teachings of the Buddha, you may find benefit from the page for New Visitors.

Here are additional articles and talks on meditation: Meditation Article and Talks

A comprehensive presentation of the Buddha’s teachings is available in my book Becoming Buddha - Becoming Awakened.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Above all, be gentle with yourself and enjoy the Buddha’s Dhamma!

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Establishing a Jhana Meditation Practice

The second and sixth factors of The Eightfold Path, Right Intention and Right Effort, greatly support meditation practice. The strong resolve of Right Intention is to recognize and abandon craving and clinging. Being mindful of Right Effort will provide the framework needed to develop and maintain a meditation practice.

Perhaps the most difficult challenge when beginning a meditation practice, and often as practice develops, is organizing life for practice. The busy-ness and nearly constant distractions of life are always creating the illusion that we are just too busy to practice. The irony is that we often find that we have more time for the most important aspects of our lives when we do make the time for meditation practice.

Being mindful of Right Intention and Right Effort, make a commitment to practice. Put aside set times, preferably twice a day, for meditation practice. It is most skillful to sit as soon as possible after waking before becoming distracted or sidetracked by a daily routine. Simply doing this begins to diminish conditioned mind’s desire to avoid quieting down.

Right Effort is keeping in fit physical, mental and spiritual condition as well. Getting enough rest, eating healthy, and physical exercise are all a part of Right Effort.

Any exercise is a support for meditation practice. Walking "meditation" is a very skillful way to combine exercise and meditation. Walking "meditation" is not a substitute for sitting meditation.

Nothing will bring the mind to a state of quiet receptivity necessary for insight to arise as will an effective sitting practice.

When doing walking “meditation,” walk slowly with hands folded in front of your abdomen or behind you. Avoid extremely slow walking - this is a modern form of asceticism. Maintain mindfulness of your breath and your walking, being aware of each step as your foot touches the earth. Please note that walking “meditation” is not useful as a concentration practice and is best seen as pleasant mindful walking. There is no substitution for sitting quietly twice a day while engaging  in Jhana.

Qigong is a very effective exercise that combines slow movements and mindful breath awareness. Qigong increases peaceful energy and builds flexibility, strength and well being. Some forms of yoga (asanas) can also build flexibility, strength and overall well-being though the underlying philosophy often contradicts the Buddha's teachings.

Once a decision to begin a meditation practice has been made, organizing Ife for practice is the first step in establishing an ongoing practice. Committing to meditation twice a day and, within reason, keeping to this schedule is itself part of practice. The most skillful time to practice is when aversion to sitting arises. Meditating, when aversion to meditation arises, diminishes the effects of conditioned thinking, including the conditioned thinking of aversion to practice.

As stated previously, meditating upon arising in the morning is usually the most effective time to schedule a first sitting session. If possible, meditating approximately 12 hours later in the day will provide a skillful balance to practice. If the only other time for practice is just before bed, be mindful of drowsiness. If it is at times difficult to maintain alertness, try to adjust your schedule to earlier in the day.

If it is possible to set aside a room solely for meditation, keep the room clean and clutter free. The room should also be well ventilated and seasonally not too hot or cold. A candle to light during meditation and perhaps a small statue of the Buddha as a mindful reminder of awakening can be an initial point of focus, but are not necessary. If it is not possible to designate an entire room to your practice, a corner of a room that can be maintained as above will work just as well.

Developing a routine of place, time, posture and technique will greatly enhance commitment to practice and help subdue conditioned mind’s desire to avoid the peaceful refuge of practice.

It is best to begin a meditation practice with just a few minutes of sitting at a time. By initially sitting for two or three minutes at a time you will not become disappointed or conclude that meditation is too difficult. As you become comfortable with two or three minutes of practice, gradually add a minute or two to your meditation time. Stay at this length of meditation practice until you are comfortable and feel it is time to lengthen your meditation practice again.

It is most skillful not to push yourself too hard and too fast, and also not to avoid increasing your practice time when appropriate. If you have a teacher or someone who has some experience in establishing a meditation practice, seek their counsel as well.

Establishing a mediation practice will be much more effective if done daily for short periods of time rather than long periods of meditation only occasionally.

Meditation practice is not an endurance test and should not create more stress by having too high expectations of your self and your practice. The strongest impediment to establishing a meditation practice will prove to be your own judgments of your practice.

Joining a regular meditation group that stays focused within the framework of The Eightfold Path is a great support to meditation practice.

If you are following the instructions, putting aside thoughts as they arise, not following a thought with a thought as best as you can, and returning your awareness to the sensation of breathing in your body, you are establishing a meditation practice.

Avoid judging yourself or your practice harshly. Always be loving and gentle with yourself and others and enjoy your practice.

Peace.

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Provenance:

Introduction To The Buddha’s Dhamma – Noble Searches

Greetings, I am John Haspel. My search for understanding and authentic Dhamma is described here:

ABOUT JOHN HASPEL

What Is Taught Here – Why – How To Find It

Becoming-Buddha.com has more than 300 Dhamma articles, 500 videos, and 600 audio recordings on the original and direct teachings of an awakened human being. The recordings are from our live-streamed Dhamma classes from Cross River Meditation Center in Frenchtown, New Jersey.

Site-wide, buttons of various colors and all Blue Text are links for further study (except here). Primary site-wide navigation is linked at the top of every page that will return to the Becoming-Buddha.com home page.

I have structured Becoming-Buddha.com to support developing the Buddha’s Dhamma as he intended. The Buddha often said “Ehipassiko” which means “Come and See For Yourself.” The Buddha is telling us that his dhamma is not rooted in magical fabrications or mystical speculations. It cannot be “transferred”magically from one confused mind to another.

Understanding Four Noble Truths cannot be developed through distracting rituals, magical endowments across non-physical “realms”or painful deprivations.

The Buddha’s Dhamma avoids any fabricated “dharma” that would distract one from what is occurring in life as life unfolds. Speculative and fabricated modern “dharmas” can only further ignorance of Four Noble Truths.

On each page is a drop-down menu called “Dhamma Articles And Talks By Topic.” This is the complete archive, of all texts and audio and video recordings, organized by subject. These links will return a category page with links for further study. This is helpful for studying a single subject with links providing additional context. From top to bottom is a skillful way of reading through or listening to a few suttas at a time. This will develop a thorough and effective understanding of the Buddha’s Dhamma

On the Becoming Buddha Home Page below the menus are links from our 16-week, 32-class Structured Study of true Vipassana, introspective insight into anicca, anatta, and dukkha, Three Marks Of Human Existence, as taught by the Buddha. This study resolves all confused views of self and an impermanent world – the defining theme of the Buddha’s Dhamma.

The suttas further below provide the authentic foundation and over-arching context for understanding what the Buddha originally taught and how to effectively and directly develop his Dhamma. They can be read in any order though may be most effective when read from top down.

The Buddha’s Dhamma is to be directly experienced by all well-informed and well-focused Dhamma practitioners. How do you know if you are developing the Dhamma as intended? “Ehipassiko,” come and see for yourself.”

Of course, “seeing for yourself” through direct engagement with the Buddha’s Dhamma requires finding a still-pure Dhamma and a skillful Dhamma teacher who has actually studied and developed the Buddha’s Dhamma. This is the only way to develop an awakened human being’s authentic Dhamma.

The context and foundation for all that I have studied, developed, and teach is found only in the Sutta Pitaka, the second book of the  Pali Canon.

The most significant, remarkable, and practically applied base of knowledge on the true reality of human life that I have found continue to be the direct and un-embellished Dhamma of an awakened human being.

If you are new to Buddhism or  a modern Buddhist practitioner who has grown increasingly confused and disappointed by modern Buddhism-By-Common-Agreement  or other speculative beliefs or “dharmas,” you are as fortunate as I am to have discovered an awakened human being’s Dhamma! Here you will only find teachings that an awakened human being actually taught as preserved in the Sutta Pitaka. The Buddha’s Dhamma quickly develops mindful focus and gentle contentment.

It is the Sutta Pitaka that preserves an authentic account of the forty-five-year teaching career of this extraordinary man, Siddhartha Gotama.

THE BUDDHA'S NOBLE SEARCHFOR A NOBLE PATH

An article and recorded talks on the authenticity of the Pali  Canon and the remarkable story of how authenticity has been maintained is here:

AUTHENTICITY OFTHE SUTTA PITAKA

Included in this article is an explanation of how the many modern Buddhist “religions” developed from craving rooted in ignorance rather than wisdom rooted inFour Noble Truths..

Most of modern Buddhism has been adapted, accommodated, and embellished to fit a fabricated need for continued ignorance of Four Noble Truths. This fabricated “Wrong View” is maintained by unskillful associations and clinging to the modern Buddhism-By-Common-Agreement movement and adapted, accommodated, and embellished  modern “dharmas.”

Much of modern Buddhism relies on fabricated teachings that often contradict what an awakened human being taught. When legitimized by the “Buddhist” label this leads to further confusion, deluded thinking, distraction, and continued stress and suffering.

MODERN BUDDHISMA THICKET OF VIEWS

If you have found modern Buddhist teachings irrelevant, difficult to understand, or practically apply and integrate into your life, you will find the Buddha’s direct teachings entirely relevant, easily accessible, and immediately practical.

What The Buddha Taught – What The Buddha Did Not Teach

Siddartha Gotama, a human being, left his life of luxury, wealth, privilege, and power at the age of twenty-nine seeking understanding of the cause of human disappointment, discontent and conflict.

Over the next six years, through his own effort, Siddartha developed a profound understanding that ignorance of Four Noble Truths is the initiating condition that all manner of individual craving, aversion, confusion, conflict, and ongoing stress and suffering are dependent on.

The Buddha awakened to the profound understanding that the nature of all human discontent, confusion, greed, aversion, and ongoing deluded thinking is rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths

This often misunderstood and often intentionally misrepresented foundational teaching is known as Dependent Origination

The Buddha’s very first Dhamma teaching established these Four Noble Truths as the context and clear direction for anyone interested to accomplish precisely what Siddhartha Gotama accomplished – become Rightly Self-Awakened, Become Buddha.

The entirety of the Dhamma is to bring understanding of Four Noble Truths. The Buddha taught the Noble Eightfold Path as the direct and only path human awakening.

DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANA SUTTAFOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

Every teaching the Buddha presented during his forty-five-year teaching career was taught in the context of Dependent Origination and Four Noble Truths.

The Eightfold Path develops profound introspective insight into, and release from, the common human condition arising from ignorance of Four Noble Truths described as Three Marks Of Existence.

The intended purpose of the Buddha’s entire teaching career is to resolve ignorance through vipassana – introspective insight. Rather than a popular hybrid meditation method, vipassana in the context pf the Buddha’s Dhamma is introspective insight into the clinging relationship between impermanent phenomena and individual ignorance and the stress and suffering that follows

VIPASSANAINTROSPECTIVE INSIGHT

What Siddhartha Gotama Discovered

Siddhartha Gotama discovered the Noble Eightfold Path through his own search for understanding. Here is an article that describes the importance of recognizing and abandoning ignoble searches that lead to more ignorance:

BUDDHA'S NOBLE SEARCHFOR A NOBLE PATH

The Buddha, finally engaging in a Noble Search, discovered a Timeless Eightfold Path to end all confusion, deluded thinking, and self-inflicted suffering.

Requisites For Understanding – The True Foundations Of Mindfulness, Concentration, and Profound Wisdom

Jhana Meditation – The Buddha’s Only Meditation Method

Jhana meditation is the meditation method the Buddha taught as the eighth factor of the Eightfold Path. Practiced within the framework of the Eightfold Path, Jhana meditation will develop a tranquil and well-concentrated mind supporting the refined mindfulness necessary to integrate the Eightfold Path into one’s life.

The Buddha taught meditation for a single purpose – to increase concentration.

JHANA MEDITATIONRIGHT MEDITATION

Instructions for beginning a Jhana meditation practice and guided Jhana meditations of varying lengths are here:

GUIDED JHANA MEDITATIONSAND INSTRUCTION

The Four Foundations Of Useful Mindfulness

The Satipatthana Sutta initially teaches the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. This is the foundation that Jhana meditation rests upon. This foundation provides the direction to recognize and abandon distracting feelings and thoughts which supports deepening concentration. This is the primary purpose of meditation as the Buddha teaches meditation. The balance of the Satipatthana Sutta explains what to hold in mind, what to be mindful of, as concentration increases and understanding of the Buddha’s Dhamma becomes integrated.

SATIPATTHANA SUTTAFOUR FOUNDTAIONS OF MINDFULNESS

Anapanasati Sutta – An Example Of Authentic Dhamma Practice

The Anapanasati Sutta is a sutta where the Buddha uses the example of accomplished Monks to describe the results of a properly integrated Dhamma practice.

You may have heard the word “Insight” with regard to Buddhism. Most modern Buddhist practices teach a very broad and overly analytical form of insight  lacking the context, guidance, and purpose of Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. This often encourages further distraction and avoids addressing ignorance of these Four Truths.

The Buddha’s Dhamma develops specific introspective insight into what follows from ignorance of Four Noble Truths. This specific insight brings direct understanding of “Three Marks of Existence.”

ANAPANASATI SUTTAEXAMPLE OF AUTHENTIC DHAMMA PRACTICE

A Practical, Direct, And Consistent Dhamma

The Pali Canon is a somewhat difficult read. What does become apparent after a careful study is the consistency of the Buddha’s teachings and how every teaching the Buddha ever presented was presented in the context of Dependent Origination and Four Noble Truths. When this is held in mind even the more obscure or seemingly difficult to apply teachings become useful and applicable.

The Buddha consistently describes his deeply profound teachings in very simple terms: “I teach the arising of suffering and the cessation of suffering, nothing more.”

Buddhism is often characterized as pessimistic or nihilistic. This view is a wrong view rooted in ignorance of the purpose and scope of the Buddha’s Dhamma. The Buddha taught that by understanding suffering and its origination anyone could abandon self-created confusion, delusion, and suffering and develop a life of lasting peace and happiness. The Buddha describes the process of ending ignorance and developing a profound understanding of the true nature of human life as becoming ”Rightly Self-Awakened.”

What I Discovered

I struggled for many years, becoming increasingly frustrated and confused about “Buddhism,” until I found the Sutta Pitaka and studied only what the Buddha taught as a path, an Eightfold Path.

My Dhamma practice, including teaching, is framed and guided by what I have integrated from developing The Eightfold Path. As such, I encourage all visitors to make use of the resources available here for the benefit of all human beings. What the Buddha taught was that the most loving and compassionate effort any human being can engage in is the Right Effort that develops self-awakening and the cessation of ignorance.

The word “Noble” as it applies to Four Noble Truths” defines the timeless nature of these truths. Nobility implies superiority and continuance. In an impermanent, ever-changing world, these Four Truths remain true and endure while relative “truths” arise and pass away.

For example, “The sky is blue” is at times a true statement. That it is at times true does not make a blue sky or the belief in a blue sky relevant in any way to the Buddha’s Dhamma.

“I feel angry” is also, at times, a true statement. Introducing “feeling-worship” through misguided “mindful” analyzation does not establish temporary feelings (or thought) as a worthy aspect of Dhamma practice. This only serves to develop additional fabrications and continue distraction. 

Another significant example is the fabrication of modern “dharmas” that contradict an awakened human being’s Dhamma. Though widespread, I have found that with gentle and patient Right Effort, clinging to fabricated views and unskillful associations is overcome and a useful and effective Buddha’s Dhamma becomes established.

Through all impermanent worldly phenomena, the Four Noble Truths remain true:

1. Stress and suffering – Dukkha – occur.
2. Ignorance originates and perpetuates individual Dukka.
3. Cessation of ignorance is possible.
4. The Eightfold Path is the path for developing profound wisdom and the cessation of ignorance.

Important Considerations For Dhamma Practice

The Buddha consistently and often emphasized the importance of wise associations in developing his Dhamma. Here is an article on the singular importance as a Dhamma practitioner of associating with others who actually developed the Buddha’s Dhamma and remain well-focused on the Dhamma:

AN ADMIRABLE SANGHAUPADHA SUTTA

A group of like-minded meditators, a sangha, well-focused on the Buddha’s original teachings, will prove to be an invaluable support. All conditioned views will eventually fall away from a mind gently focused in the present guided by the framework of the Eightfold Path.

If you are in the Frenchtown, New Jersey area, please join us at one of our twice-weekly classes.

CLASSES AT CROSS RIVERMEDITATION CENTER

My classes from Cross River Meditation Center in Frenchtown New Jersey are streamed live and recorded. Here is information on my streaming and recorded classes:

LIVE STREAMINGAND VIDEO ARCHIVE

 AUDIO ARCHIVEAND PODCAST

If you would like to deepen your understanding through individual instruction there is additional information on individual instruction in Frenchtown New Jersey here or via video chat:

 INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION

You can be notified of our classes, retreats and the posting of new articles and recordings by subscribing to my newsletter:

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS

Information on my book Becoming Buddha – Becoming Awakened and a ten-week personal Dhamma study and correspondence course, The Truth of Happiness,  is here:

JOHN'S BOOKS

If you find this website helpful in developing your understanding of the Buddha’s teachings, please consider a donation to help support the cost in time and money to maintain this resource and provide donation-based Dhamma teaching.:

SUPPORTJOHN HASPEL

Finally, if you are new to Dhamma practice or are re-establishing your practice, take your time, be gentle with yourself and your practice. There are difficulties that arise in developing an understanding of the Four Noble Truths and they are all difficulties rooted in ignorance and impermanence.

WHEN DHAMMA PRACTICEIS STRESSFUL

With a bit of time and gentle patience, you may find what the Buddha actually taught as effective today as it was 2,600 years ago in recognizing and abandoning all fabricated views and fabricated “dharmas” while developing profound understanding of the true nature of human life and a calm and peaceful mind.

Please take your time in reading and listening to this material. When engaged with through gentle determination, you will quickly deepen concentration and a calm and peaceful mind. Over time, you will develop refined mindfulness supporting the integration of the Eightfold Path leading to the cessation of ignorance of Four Noble Truths and becoming “Rightly Self-Awakened.”

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or wanting some encouragement.

EMAIL JOHN

John Haspel, December 23, 2019, Peace.

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↓ BBCRMC Sangha Guidelines - Patimoksha ↓

BBCRMC Statement Of Purpose

Becoming Buddha Cross River Meditation Center preserves and presents a human Buddha’s Dhamma initially recorded as the second book of the Pali Canon, the Sutta Pitaka. Our practice is informed from over 300 curated suttas restored by John to their original intent and practical focus. Our practice is empty of imagined "insight", magical thinking, mystical grasping-after, and unfounded speculation.

Our teachers and students remain focused on these suttas to develop a direct mindful experience of establishing a well-concentrated, supple, and conflict-free mind through the Eightfold Path. It is the Eightfold Path that Siddartha Gotama taught over the last forty-five years of his life with the sole purpose of abandoning self-inflicted stress and suffering through ending ignorance of Four Noble Truths.

BBCRMC Sangha Guidelines - Patimoksha

Patomoksha means "towards liberation." These guidelines support a well-informed and well-focused Sangha and establish the most effective environment for Dhamma Practice always focused on liberation from ignorance.

• Becoming Buddha Cross River Meditation Center is a true Refuge from the chaos in the world and ideological contradictions and foundational confusion prevalent in modern Buddhism-By-Common-Agreement.
• Our practice is framed by the Eightfold Path which establishes a skillful balance of Jhana meditation, Sutta study, Sangha participation, and daily individual Dhamma practice.
• When gathered for Dhamma class we refer only to the Buddha’s Dhamma as restored by John and presented by our teachers.
• When gathered as a Sangha we accept responsibility for maintaining the gentle integrity of our Sangha.
• When gathered as a Sangha we are free of grasping after magical, mystical, and speculative concepts and fabricated experiences.
• When gathered as a Sangha we practice Wise Restraint. Questions or confusion about verbiage or arising from comparisons to other modern Buddhist practices, modern Buddhist teachers, or what they are teaching are not a part of our Dhamma classes or Sangha discussions and should be addressed directly to our teachers outside of Dhamma class.
• Individual class suttas are linked in our newsletter for home study prior to class. 

As a general rule, wise Dhamma practitioners incorporate the following five precepts as a basis for personal behavior:

 FIVE BUDDHIST PRECEPTS

• Refrain from killing or taking life. Act with goodwill and loving-kindness. This includes abandoning character assassination and hate speech typically arising from gossip and idle chatter.
• Refrain from stealing or taking what is not freely given including taking or manipulating others' emotions. All-ways be generous.
• Refrain from false, unnecessary, misleading, harmful, or impatient speech. Speak with kindness, honesty, and mindfulness.
• Refrain from sexual misconduct or using sex in a selfish or harmful manner. Be content and giving.
• Refrain from the use of intoxicants so to be mindful and thoughtful.

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April 28 to May 1, 2022

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Essays and Commentary on the Buddha’s Dhamma, Modern Dharmas, and a World Aflame

Introduction

↓ Skip Introduction if previously read ↓

These are essays and commentary on the timelessness of the Buddha’s Dhamma and the appropriate application of this Dhamma amidst the fabrications, contradictions, and distortions of modern Buddhism, New-Age philosophies, and ever-changing and often chaotic worldly events. 

The necessity of clearly describing and understanding the contradictions between what an awakened human being actually taught and the adaptations, accommodations, and embellishments attached to a Buddha’s pure Dhamma is the central theme for teachers and practitioners of his Dhamma. 

Recognizing and abandoning the compulsion for following fabricated views of self in relation to the people and events of life is the true vipassana or true and useful introspective insight into Three Marks Of Existence. It is the fabricated relationship between wrong views of self and the people and events of ordinary human life that is to be recognized and abandoned as Wise DShamma Practitioners. For most of human history, the establishment of non-physical, non-human realms as the resolution for the confusion and suffering internet in human life has been the primary strategy minds rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths cling to maintain ignorance. 

Siddartha Gotama awakened to the profound understanding that it is individual and institutionalized views of self and the people and events of the world are rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths. He described the results of human ignorance in the Loka Sutta as ” a world aflame with the fires of passion (for continued self-establishment).”

Awakening or developing full human maturity by recognizing and abandoning all foolish and immature views rooted in this specific ignorance while developing a profound understanding of Four Noble Truths is the sole purpose of a Buddha’s Dhamma. Any religious, spiritual, or philosophical belief that resolves in a speculative, magical, and non-human self-existence is contrary to what the Buddha taught. 

It is through clinging to these fabricated views that continue this specific ignorance. Powerful and subtle strategies are continually fabricated and established as “spiritual practcie.” Now, this “practcie” itself becomes the distortion from understanding these Four Noble Truths. This is practicing ignorance. This practice continues to perfectly entrench one in fabricated wrong views of self.

It should not surprise or distress the well-informed Dhamma practitioner that it is individually held and collectively-supported fabricated views that is at the root of stress and suffering. 

Siddhartha Gotama awakened to the profound understanding that it is ignorance of Four Noble truths that results in all manner of confusion, greed, aversion, and ongoing deluded thinking. This manifestation of ignorance in the world is known as Dukkha, or stress and suffering. Recognizing and abandoning the individual fabricated views resulting in Dukkha is the Dhamma.

Fabricated views used to legitimize religions, Buddhist “lineages,” and spiritual or philosophical concepts are as common and widespread now as they were during the Buddha’s time, perhaps even more so.

Developing the Buddha’s Dhamma as originally presented abandons all magical views and establishes an awakened human being in this present life.

For a complete understanding of what the Buddha actually taught, please read “Foundations Of The Buddha’s Dhamma” further below.

• A Prince Becomes Buddha
• The Authenticity Of The Sutta Pitaka, The Second Book Of The Pali Canon
• Modern Buddhism – A Common Thicket Of Fabricated Views
• Dependent Origination and the Non0Dual Myth
• Dependent Origination and Conditioned Mind
• Salvation-Free Buddhism
• Emerging From Lockdown – Freedom, and Safety Of The Middle Way
• Abandon All Violence – The Dandavagga
• Online Forum Comments – Dhamma and Modern Buddhis Practice

• Authentic Dhamma – Fabricated Dharmas
• Karma And Rebirth Explained
• Acting To Awaken – Karma Sutta
• True Vipassana And Not-Self
• Shunyata – Emptiness – Three Suttas
• Timeless Wisdom – Three Suttas
• The Non-Dual Myth – Interdependence – Interconnectedness – Inte-being
• Dependent Origination Flow-Chart
• Fabrications Explained
• Five Clinging-Aggregates
•  Common Hindrances To Authentic Dhamma Practice – Two Suttas

The suttas and commentary linked below are fundamental and foundational to developing a skillful understanding of what the Buddha actually taught.

• An Auspicious Handful of Leaves – Two Defining Suttas
• Nothing Personal – A Buddha’s Analysis Of Self
• The Buddha’s  Noble Search For The Noble Path
• Nagara Sutta – The Buddha Describes His Awakening
• The Meaning Of Becoming – What Is Awakening – Three Suttas
• Karma, rebirth, and Intentional Becoming Structured Study
• Paticcasamuppada Sutta – Dependent Origination – Ignorance of Four Noble Truths
• Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta – Four Noble Truths – Context For Dhamma Practice
• Sacca Vibhanga Sutta – Analysis Of Four Noble Truths
• Magga-Vibhanga Sutta – Analysis of The Eightfold Path
• Satipatthana Sutta – Four Foundations of Mindfulness
• Athangara Sutta – The Single Quality For Awakening
• Anapanasati Sutta – Properly Integrated Dhamma Practice
• Vipassana  – Introspective Insight – A Structured Study

Introduction

↓ Skip To Studies If Previously Read ↓

Linked below are five Structured Studies developing deep and profound understanding of key themes of the Buddha’s Dhamma. Providing a structure to developing the Dhamma avoids the grasping-after all things loosely-labeled “Buddhist” of modern Buddhism-By-Common-Agreement prevalent today

The True Vipassana Dhamma Study is focused on the key theme of the Buddha’s Dhamma and the purpose of true Vipassana – skillful introspective insight into The Marks of Human Existence.

The Buddha taught a simple and straightforward method of understanding the truth of lasting peace and happiness. The path leading to lasting peace and happiness is The Eightfold Path. Jhana meditation is one factor of The Eightfold Path.

The Local Knowledge – Uncommon Dhamma Study includes lesser-known suttas revealing the profound though entirely practical depth of an awakened human being’s Dhamma.

The Dhammapada Structured study includes all 26 charters of the Dhammapada restored to its original intent and clear focus.

The Truth of Happiness Dhamma Study provided a comprehensive foundation for authentic Dhamma practice. 

Becoming Buddha Cross River Meditation Center’s
Structured Dhamma Studies

• True Vipassana, True Introspective Insight Structured Study
• Jhana Meditation – Mind and Body United – The Buddha’s Meditation  (In Progress)
• Dhammapada Structured Study
• Local Knowledge – Uncommon Dhamma Structured Study
• Truth Of Happiness Structured Study
• Karma, rebirth, and Intentional Becoming Structured Study

These suttas show the importance of developing Right Meditation as taught by the Buddha. Jhana Meditation is the only meditation method taught by the Buddha. he taught Jhan for one reason: To deepen concentration. It is from a well-concentrated mind that supports the refined mindfulness necessary to hold in mind the Eightfold Path as the framework and ongoing guidance for authentic Dhamma practice.

• Right Meditation – Jhana Meditation

• Satipatthana Sutta – Four Foundations Of Mindfulness
• Anapanasati Sutta – An Example Of Authentic Dhamma Practice
• Pamadaviharin Sutta – Dwelling In Mindfulness
• Right Mindfulness And The Development Of Authentic Dhamma

• Articles And Talks  Archive  – Newest First
• Theragatha and Therigatha – Poems Of Awakened Monks and Nuns
• Key Disciples
• Truth Of Happiness Dhamma Study Talks
• Online Forum Comments