Last January, I practiced jhanas 1-4, and I have (what I think is) a somewhat more balanced perspective.
The jhanas are kind of controversial within Buddhism. There's a sutta/story where the Buddha describes mastering jhanas 5-8, concluding they are not very useful, and then remembering jhanas 1-4 and realizing they are very important for progress toward liberation. However the Zen folks don't use them at all and your mainstream Vipassana people have always been a little skeptical of them.
First jhana is basically MDMA. You can find several people who advocate MDMA as absolutely life-changing, everyone should be on MDMA, etc.
If you believe that about MDMA, believe it about first jhana I guess. I will say the first time I did first jhana (with poor technique but hey), I did have the feeling "oh my god this is what I've needed, so much!" Better than really good, mindblowing sex? Well, different anyway, if the love and acceptance feeling is what you lacked before.
Personally I found both first jhana and MDMA to have a rocky comedown, which put me off repeating them. They are really high energy and I crashed hard afterward. However, I may try the jhanas again and I'm optimistic they won't always cause that crash. Maybe my opinion of them will improve!
Dropping into fourth jhana (via 2-3) was really life-changing. I would not have believed I could personally experience a state like that. Deep quiet, feeling physically sitting at the bottom of a well.
Doing the jhanas, and then comedown, got me meditating seriously and consistently for the first time ever, and it's basically slowly solving all my problems (therapy helps).
Last January, I practiced jhanas 1-4, and I have (what I think is) a somewhat more balanced perspective.
The jhanas are kind of controversial within Buddhism. There's a sutta/story where the Buddha describes mastering jhanas 5-8, concluding they are not very useful, and then remembering jhanas 1-4 and realizing they are very important for progress toward liberation. However the Zen folks don't use them at all and your mainstream Vipassana people have always been a little skeptical of them.
First jhana is basically MDMA. You can find several people who advocate MDMA as absolutely life-changing, everyone should be on MDMA, etc.
If you believe that about MDMA, believe it about first jhana I guess. I will say the first time I did first jhana (with poor technique but hey), I did have the feeling "oh my god this is what I've needed, so much!" Better than really good, mindblowing sex? Well, different anyway, if the love and acceptance feeling is what you lacked before.
Personally I found both first jhana and MDMA to have a rocky comedown, which put me off repeating them. They are really high energy and I crashed hard afterward. However, I may try the jhanas again and I'm optimistic they won't always cause that crash. Maybe my opinion of them will improve!
Dropping into fourth jhana (via 2-3) was really life-changing. I would not have believed I could personally experience a state like that. Deep quiet, feeling physically sitting at the bottom of a well.
Doing the jhanas, and then comedown, got me meditating seriously and consistently for the first time ever, and it's basically slowly solving all my problems (therapy helps).