Wisdom Notes on Spirituality

My Early Jhana Riding

The links in the table on the left take you to sub-headings on this page.

In my notation, I use a hyphen, instead of a space, to designate which jhana I am referring to. So "jhana 1" becomes "jhana-1".

My initial experiences were mainly limited to jhana-1 and jhana-2, with just an occasional visit to jhanas 3 and 4. Soon my episodes of jhana-1 bliss became quite short, lasting only a few minutes, and for the next six months I spent most time in jhana-2 bliss. I assume that this was because I am too much of an individual, and so my social side (jhana-2) needed building up. 

After that time I began accessing the other two jhanas regularly as well. Since these states of mind were new to me, it took me some time to learn to identify each one, which meant that in my early days I sometimes misunderstood which jhana I found myself in. To put this another way: I was learning new experiences and I didn’t know the “signposts” that indicated the new moods. When I can put a name, or signpost, to some inexplicable feature of reality, then I feel better.

The experience of going up and down the jhanas, I call  jhana riding. Each jhana represents a specific frame of mind, or a mindset. Moving between jhanas is accomplished by changing your mindset to that of the jhana you wish to experience. For example, the mindset of jhana-2 centres on mellowness. The mellowness softens “hard” beliefs and enables the person to cultivate broad-mindedness. If you are in jhana-1, that mindset is ecstatic bliss. If you then change your mindset from ecstatic bliss to mellow bliss, you arrive in jhana-2

The Characteristics of Jhanas

All four jhanas contain two mind stages: a lower stage and an intense stage. The lower stages of jhanas 1 and 2 are joy. However, neither jhanas 3 and 4 contain joy and bliss, so generally I call the lower stages of all four jhanas by the Buddhist term sukha, and the higher stages by the term intense. To use jhana-1 as an example, sukha is the joy state (narcissism in vanity mode) and ecstatic bliss is the intense state (narcissism in love mode). To facilitate moving between jhanas, I note the main characteristics, including emotions, of each jhana mindset that I have discovered.[¹]

Jhana-1
Jhana-1 is based on narcissism. Jhana-1 sukha is based on narcissism (in vanity mode), whilst the intense state is narcissism (in love mode).  The regular experience of joy and bliss slowly increased my self-confidence in daily life, after all the years of distress and turmoil that I have known. The experiences of joy and happiness have increased my feelings of self-esteem. 

Jhana-1 bliss contains excitement, which produces muscular tensions in the face (such as the rictus grin). If I maintain the excitement, I stay in jhana-1. If I relax my face muscles, I thereby relax the excitement and lose the rictus grin, and then I go to jhana-2. The last muscles to relax are the eye muscles. 

Jhana-1 bliss has an important function. When making contact with the Divine, the bliss ensures that the person loves himself or herself, thus temporarily neutralising any self-hate and guilt. An important characteristic is the desire for freedom, to be who one wants to be.

Jhana-2
Jhana-2 is based on jealousy. Jhana-2 sukha is based on jealousy (self-pity mode), and the intense state is jealousy (love mode). The mellowness makes me easy-going and enhances my broadmindedness. My feelings of self-worth increase. Relaxation is a major feature of the jhana, though full relaxation is not attained till jhana-4 is reached.

Jhana-3
Jhana-3 is based on pride. Jhana-3 sukha is based on pride (mode of vanity). Its characteristics include contentment, toleration of all views, self-command, and gratitude. Contentment means that I am completely content with my life, no matter how “good” or how “bad” it has been. The bad bits of my life have been as valuable as the good bits, from the point of view of learning about life. 

Jhana-3 intense is pride (mode of hatred). It characteristics include detachment and asceticism. When I enter the state, my eyes slightly narrow their focus (because of the hate factor). Detachment produces a cooling of the mind, though it may not always be detectable. This cooling obviates the heating effect of righteous anger, which is sometimes felt in ordinary pride (mode of hatred). Detachment means not letting anything get to you; the person is not interested in hearing about other people’s sorrows and joys. The person is a watcher, and does not get involved with other people. He prefers solitude. 

Jhana-3 correlates with the throat chakra. The sukha state is the point of stability in the person’s character. This stability is achieved by self-command/self-mastery. It temporarily signifies that there is no influence of guilt in the person’s psychic life, and hence he has cleansed himself of compulsion. The stability denotes that the person has finally found himself. Unless you are content with your life, you cannot find yourself. The key to finding yourself is to feel contentment with your life. The aim for Aquarius is not to give up the ego but to find oneself. Finding oneself is the key difference between Pisces man or woman and Aquarius man or woman. For an holistic approach to enlightenment, finding oneself should precede enlightenment.

Jhana-3 can pose problems that the seeker is not aware of. The sukha state is fine, since it is based on the vanity mode of pride. However, detachment can hide a lot of issues, since it features the hate mode of pride. The hate mode can induce the desire for a hard ascetic morality, and even induce paranoia and violent thoughts about other people. I handle this by bathing the throat chakra with love, in order to induce a soft morality, one that focuses on broadmindedness. 

Sometimes, when jhana-riding, it can be very difficult to know which jhana you are in, especially when the state seems intense. It is usually either jhana-2 mellow bliss or jhana-3 sukha (jhana-3 detachment is less likely). So I use the test of happiness. If happiness is felt, then I am in jhana-2; if no happiness is felt, then I am in jhana-3.

Jhana-4
As noted above, there is no happiness in jhana-4. The sukha state of mind is based on equanimity, and the intense state is peace. The characteristics of equanimity are acceptance and trust; in this state of mind, my Earth life is unimportant; it’s only what I learn that matters. The attitude to my psychological experiences is it doesn’t matter, irrespective of whether they are good or bad. Hence all valuations of my life cease – I no longer see my life as episodes of either goodness or badness. I accept everything that has happened to me and learn from my experiences. When peace is felt, nothing ruffles the person. He has complete trust in God.

An historical example of equanimity is the behaviour of Socrates in ancient Greece. He was charged with moral corruption and impiety by the Athenian court. When confronted with the court’s decision that he had to die, he calmly accepted it, drank the hemlock and died, instead of fleeing the country.

Intensity in the Jhanas

In the higher jhanas I sense rather than cogitate. When I went up the jhanas quickly, I detected (sensed) the transition from one mindset to the next one, as I changed jhanas. When I sense an intense state, I rely on intuition to tell me what that state is. The intensity in the four states is variable, ranging from moderately intense to being overwhelmingly intense. All cogitation ceases at the overwhelming level, and all I can do is to feel it passively.

I sum up the notation that I use.

For jhana 1, the intense state is jhana-1 ecstatic bliss, and the sukha state is jhana-1 exciting joy.
For jhana 2, the intense state is jhana-2 mellow bliss, and the sukha state is jhana-2 mellow joy.
For jhana 3, the intense state is jhana-3 detachment, and the sukha state is jhana-3 contentment.
For jhana 4, the intense state is jhana-4 peace, and the sukha state is jhana-4 equanimity.

My Procedure for Jhana Riding

Jhana riding is not an automatic process. I got answers to my questions and desires because I pursued wisdom.I am not really seeking happiness. For someone not pursuing wisdom, the response is likely to be different from what I attained. Similarly, meditators who can access jhana states, but are not seeking wisdom, do not necessarily access the flow.

I give my early procedure for reaching all four jhanas. I begin with my opening ritual. For the first couple of months I used a smile or the feeling of being transgender as my way to getting to jhana. Then the identification of love as a factor of happiness changed my contemplation procedure. Now I imagine opening my heart to love, which means opening the heart chakra. I give my love to my higher self. As a potential mystic, I easily opened my heart chakra. I didn’t realise that I could explore the upper jhanas and chakras regularly till my throat chakra started opening a little in late 2022.

My hands are open and at shoulder level. After opening the heart chakra and sending love to my higher self, I feel the love from my higher self flowing into me. Sometimes my fingers tingle and my head feels bathed in the love. Usually the love is of only moderate intensity, but occasionally it can feel just as overwhelming as the bliss is.

a). First I imagine opening my heart chakra. I experience happiness and bliss. Then I have my moment of communion with the divine, as I send love to it.  Then the divine sends love to me; I feel wrapped in love and experience loving bliss. I share the loving bliss with my God, my higher self, my spiritual friends, my family, and my close friends. My face has the rictus grin of jhana-1. 

b). After a few minutes of ecstasy my hands grow a bit heavy and I drop them to my lap, where they stay for the rest of the session. I relax all my face muscles and feel most of the tension drain away. Now I’m in jhana-2 mellow bliss. I love all of me: my body, my identities, my minds (conscious and subconscious), my ego, my higher self. I become love, wrapped in love from the divine. I have faith in God. 

c). Then I release the bliss and happiness. I also release sorrow as well. I release all striving to attain anything. My face relaxes even more. I think of contentment and toleration and tolerance to all views. Now I am in jhana-3 sukha. Then I think of detachment. I feel my eyes narrowing their focus, and I enter jhana-3 intense. This can be something of a cool state. 

d). Finally I release the hate within jhana-3 intense, and think of trust and acceptance. I trust my God. My face seems to feel warmer, as I enter jhana-4 equanimity. Then I think of peace, and enter jhana-4 intense.

After a lot of practise, the time it takes me to get from jhana-1 to jhana-4 is about a couple of minutes. If any interesting information occurs to me, I drop down to jhana 1 or 2 in order to write it down; then I go through the procedure again to get back to jhana-4. 

To worship God, it is not necessary to bow down. Instead, all you have to do is to open your heart chakra and ask for love. The love of God is non-sexual. However, it is usually confused with the love modes of narcissism (I love myself ) and jealousy (I love another person). Since I am mystically-inclined, asking for love was natural; anytime I did not ask for it, I did not receive love. Perhaps this is why love does not feature in Buddhist accounts of jhana: if the seeker does not ask for love, he does not receive it. Divine love is not given to the seeker against his will. 

A person may become an ascetic and make severe attempts to purify his character, but it is only opening the heart that really matters.

The Quality of One’s Life

The intense jhanas are a set of mind states that can control the quality of one’s life on Earth. As I experience them: 

Jhana-1 ecstatic bliss sets up happiness, which is over-the-top. 
Jhana-2 mellow bliss controls happiness. 
Jhana-3 intense detachment controls mellowness. 
Jhana-4 intense peace controls detachment.

The jhanas can also be distinguished by what they are free from. I give my view. 

Jhana-1 ecstatic bliss is free from fear, the fear of any traumatic incidents buried in the subconscious mind. 
Jhana-2 mellow bliss is free from self-pity. 
Jhana-3 intense detachment is free from guilt. 
Jhana-4 intense peace is free from bitterness.

The hardest issue for a mystic to resolve is that of bitterness. In my 30s I had a dream which showed me a huge mountain that had to be resolved. It could not be by-passed. And it was a mountain of bitterness towards God. This bitterness led to my relationship with God being a love-hate one, with periods when I loved God alternating with periods when I hated God. 

Jhana-4 peace resolves bitterness. Once I am in deep peace, I accept everything that has happened to me, whether good or bad. I accept my karma. Who is there to forgive me, apart from myself ?  Peace is the antidote to the turmoil of the world. When I am distressed and open the heart chakra, I aim for peace. Then when no longer distressed, I can aim for any jhanic mood I like.

Repeated exposure to jhana riding had a very significant effect on me. My self-confidence gradually increased. As my self-confidence increased, I became more confident with people in social situations. I define this effect as the true mark of spiritual healing. Psychology can handle ordinary upsets, but psychic upsets, such as childhood trauma, remain impervious to it. The way to handle psychic upsets is to increase one’s self-confidence, which is very hard to do when one has experienced trauma in childhood, but becomes easy when one does frequent jhana riding.

A person has two identities: an individual identity, based on narcissism, and a social identity, based on jealousy. This idea leads to the following deductions.

Jhana-1 bliss is the summit of individuality (narcissism), which is his or her individual identity: such identity is individual bliss.
Jhana-2 bliss is the summit of social identity (jealousy): such identity is social bliss.
Jhana-3 represents detachment to identity – the seeker is free from identity.
Jhana-4 represents a resolution in identity – the seeker accepts his identity, and all joy and suffering are resolved and cease.

Love and Sexuality in the Jhanas

Sexuality has traditionally been frowned upon in the higher states of mind, with the exception of a few female mystics who had erotic visions. I give my views on sexuality and the jhanas.

The Ways of Love
Vanity is the carrier wave for ideals (all ideals, whether materialistic or spiritual, are empowered by vanity), whilst love is the carrier wave for happiness. Love is the next stage beyond acceptance. A person cannot truly love till he has accepted everything. 

In my early days of jhana riding, I was interested in sexual ideas. Hence sexual phantasies often took centre-stage. Then as I changed under the impact of regular experiences of the jhanas, I gradually lost interest in sex. Nowadays sexual phantasies make me laugh, and so jhanas 1 and 2 are usually free from sexual themes.

The ways that love influences the person depends on the moods of jhanas 1 and 2. With narcissism, love encourages adventure, holism, and courage. With jealousy, love encourages care and consideration of other people, and charm.

Opening the Heart Chakra
The ideas above are not usually found in Buddhist descriptions of jhana. Why is this?  In my view, it depends on the way that the heart chakra is opened.

In meditation, I assume that the throat chakra opens before the heart chakra. This establishes purity as a dominant theme in consciousness. Once purity is made dominant, then this restricts the opening of the heart chakra. Hence the heart is never fully open. Ideas of extravagant love and sexuality are restricted, even repressed. Whereas, in mysticism, often the heart chakra opens before the throat chakra, leading to sexual ideas underlying and interpenetrating mystical ideas. So by opening the heart chakra first, the idea of purity becomes more soft and gentle.

In general, for a meditator, the will opens the throat chakra before the heart chakra. So the will restricts the opening of the heart, thereby restricting love. In mysticism, the heart chakra opens before the throat chakra, so enabling love to expand its influence on the person. The heart is fully open. Hence the basic difference between mysticism on the one hand, and all other methods of spiritual development on the other hand, lies in how the heart chakra is opened – whether by love or by will.

Sexuality in the Jhanas
Now I turn to the sexual effects produced by love in the jhanas. The sexual effects are due to the arousal of the kundalini power. Kundalini handles the sexual desires of the person, and is a well-known force in the East. It can be either beneficial or malevolent. I have experienced both effects. When jhana-riding, kundalini has always been benign to me. I will explain the malevolent effect when I eventually add my book on mental disorders to my psychology section.

Kundalini seems to be responsible for the bodily effects experienced when jhana riding. When I feel my fingers tingling, and even my whole body tingling, this is a kundalini effect. Kundalini has another significant effect: it intensifies the sexual phantasies in the mind. Kundalini stimulates sexual desires, usually in jhana-1. When kundalini is activated, sexual ideas float through the mind, giving a sexual flavour to both worldly ideas and spiritual ideas. 

The repression of “undesirable” thoughts from kundalini activity helps to create the subconscious mind, and hence influences the content of abreaction. It is the barrier of fear that keeps the subconscious mind “subconscious”. When some part of the fear is released, “forbidden” thoughts can now float through the mind. The fear requires a mood of narcissism in order to be released. So when the “forbidden” ideas rise to consciousness, they flavour the sense of narcissism, and become exciting,

When the influx of love activates kundalini, body symptoms like tingling are felt. Then the sexy thoughts appear. However, as the months of jhana riding went by, I gradually lost interest in sexy thoughts. The result was that kundalini was rarely activated again. 

When kundalini is stimulated by narcissism, then this will explain why mystics sometimes have sexual reveries but meditators don’t. The mystic often starts from a mood of narcissism, whilst the meditator starts from a mood of pride.

Psychological Therapy in Aquarius

In future, deep psychological therapy will include how to ride jhana. The repeated exposure to love will soften a person's fears and guilts. This opens the door to psychic healing, by inspiring the person to create more spiritual ideals. For “complete” healing, the person has to access both the flow of ideas and the intense jhanic moods. Traditional mysticism only represents half of a complete healing: the need for intellectual development is not realised. 

Psychology plus jhana riding will become an acceptable rite of passage to spiritual wholeness in the Age of Aquarius.

The number in brackets at the end of each reference takes you back to the paragraph that featured it. 

[¹]. I have three articles on Emotion on the Home page. [1]

The articles in this section are :

The Flow of Ideas

Birth of the Thinking Ego

Love and Happiness in the Jhanas

Early Jhana Riding

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