EEG Study of Buddhist Jhāna Meditation (2019)
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In samatha you do a thing with your attention.
Your attention is basically your root sense. The sense behind your seeing, thinking, hearing, smelling etc.
Your attention is usually all boggled and agitated, so it doesn't see so good.
In samatha you de-agitate your attention. Make it calm. When it's calm you see better. Much better. Stuff that was invisible becomes visible.
Samatha is a refined form of concentration. All of the people here are pretty familiar with concentration and what it's good for. So in samatha you just take it further.
We basically have 2 kinds of meditation.
1) Concentrate on a thing for a while.
2) Watch sensations come and go while refraining from moving your attention in reaction to what you're watching.
I did the first for a few years. Then I did both for a few years. Now I only do the second.
Both deliver the calm but they do it differently. They also do some other stuff.
The second is trickier than the first.
This sounds like standard "mindfulness" meditation, to me.
However, when you learn vipassana from a religious lineage, the various teachers and monasteries have slightly different techniques and progressions of the practice from what we'd consider "standard mindfulness".
1. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Right-Concentration-Practical-Guide...
2. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-Bliss-Beyond-Meditators...
Leigh Brasington reports that people he's spoken to who have studied kundalini yoga say the strong piti of the first jhana is the same as awakening the kundalini, so there's a bit of an "all roads lead to Rome" about these practices, which is encouraging.
Both authors are on dharmaseed. Worth checking them out. They're both great teachers.
I further think that Brasington and Ajahn Brahm differ meaningfully, in that Ajahn Brahm in his "preliminary" steps actually sets a pretty high bar.
For me, either of them would be an improvement over my normal waking state, so I'm not too concerned. But yeah, it's good to be aware of both perspectives, that's why i suggested them.
There are some great conversations and resources on r/streamentry on Reddit as well
Also this is a good video interview about the neuroscience of jhanas: https://www.youtube.com/live/G6UBx95TJbQ?si=32XvUfFwp2lVRYnm
But in a few meditation center, first jhana needed to be attained to switch to Vipassana ( Thel inn guu and Paa Out traditions) . In one rare meditation tradition (Maung Htaung Myay Sinn), all four Rupa Jhana is trained till attained first and paractioners are given exercises and experiment with Jhana (45 days 8 hr a day meditation retreat with 30 days are full on Samahta and Jhana practices, then moves to Vipassana).
Reasons for not going fully into jhana in traditions like mahasi is because Jhana practices have addicting qualities and paractioners will be dwelled unto that. And those with addictive personality would not let go of jhana and won't practice Vipassana.
It also has an uncomfortable track record at getting to psychological facts before psychology does; probably that head start.
Edit: fixed url
It was nice, a good way to relax.
Then one day I wondered, could I visualize a lit red candle so vividly that my brain responded as if I were actually seeing it? Not in the amorphous form of imagination but as if the nerves in my eyes were transmitting the image of the candle to my brain.
And I found that I could. Its terrifying at first, but you get used to it.
Then I wondered, if I can meditate so hard that if I can make my eyes see something that is not there, can I meditate so hard that I can make my ears hear things that are not there?
And I can.
And it is far more terrifying. Do not recommend.
It's much harder to control.
The last thing you want when you are alone in your room, deep in meditation and your whole body is humming with the fundamental note of the universe trying to summon a phantom orchestra is to hear someone say things.
That will straight up make you think you are crazy.
Just to be clear, I did check, I don't see things or hear things when I am not trying to make myself see or hear them, and otherwise I am sane enough to operate in modern society.
Those are called Nimitta (sign) and if your samadhi is stable enough you can focus on those signs and start manipulating them. Here is how:
Focus your mind upon it and then try to change color, turn it into nearest color of the sign you are seeing. For example if it is yellow, try to make it paler or whitter, redder, etc.
If it is successful and you can turn to any color as you will, try to make it bigger and bigger, or then make it smaller, and turn into nearest shape.
If it is circle turn it into oval, to square, etc. then zoom it into more and more till it cover whole visual scape.
There you will start experiencing the effects of jhana and otherworldly experience that can only be described by the experiencer.