/lit/ - Literature

reminder on how to get jhanas thru anapanassati (not his claim about awakening) :
http://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/3722283
The Technique:

People tend to dichotomize meditation between 2 types, insight, and concentration. Only now have I realized that this is unnecessary. The meditation that I used to obtain such a rock solid Jhana my first time meditating, was a combination of the 2 practices.

People when doing insight meditations often just note every sensation that arises, without concentrating on anything in particular. When people do concentration meditations, they often just continually bringing the awareness back to the object of meditation, and don't pay much attention to arising thoughts. When doing this, the result is thoughts/emotions will still arise, but they are just being ignored while you are focusing singularly on the object of meditation. This can lead some to get distracted easily.

Now, it's very simple. Simply combine the 2. Focus on your breath, keep bringing your attention back to your breath, but when a thought, emotion, or distraction arises, LABEL IT, become aware of it, do an insight practice towards it. Hold the distraction in your attention for a brief moment until you feel you have it, no more than a second or 2, then let go of it and focus back on the breath.

That's it. Repeatedly doing this will result in a number of things:
-Concentration will increase, leading to a growing absorption.
-Mindfulness and insight will also increase due to the power of concentration. This will allow you catch thoughts or emotions as they arising before they can have any effect on you. You will be able to catch arising sensations and stop them in their tracks.
-The more absorbed you get, the less frequently sensations/thoughts/emotions will arise as you will become increasingly aware of that region of your mind.
-After a certain point thoughts/emotions/sensations will stop arising all together and the Jhana will be instantly solid.

Doing this technique there is no soft Jhanas, only pure, Hard Jhanas, with no thoughts. You will simultaneously be practicing both insight and concentration meditations.