Daily Life Jhāna

People often have the idea that one practices ‘concentration’ to achieve ‘special meditative states of mind’ called jhāna, but Ajahn Sucitto points out that in fact jhāna is a daily life practice of absorbing into the wholesomeness of nature that leads to the embodiment of samādhi – a unified state of the heart.

Transcript

Namo Tassa Bhagavato Rahato Sama Sambuddha Sanna Mota Saba Goa Tora Tosa ma Sambuddha Sanna Mota Saba Goa Tora Tosa ma Sambuddha Saa Udang Dhamang Sangham Namasami So,

Past year or two particularly I've had the blessing to,

Greater occasion to reflect on my life and my actions,

Duties,

Loyalties,

Affiliations,

Connections,

The whole package.

Like just coming off of particular topics,

Details of topics of what I have to do or involve with,

Instead of coming just lifting a little bit and looking at the overall picture and feeling enormously grateful for the overall picture.

The details then start to line up and make greater sense,

The particular projects and things one works with in holy life,

Both in terms of external activities,

Internal activities,

Karma one creates.

And the bad karma one doesn't create,

And the skillful connections one establishes and the unskillful ones one doesn't establish,

And the results of it.

So really quite a beautiful occasion.

And it's just fitting that in,

You know,

Actually I've spent quite a lot of time just thinking slowly,

Remembering things slowly,

Taking time to take the quality of actions in.

And I think that's perhaps the most important thing,

Not to just take the time to really savour the quality of the actions,

The people I know,

The things I've been involved with,

Building monasteries and so forth.

The quality of what's happened,

What happens in all that.

Perhaps just having less occasion to feel a sense of worry or trying to make things work and just appreciate,

You know,

Things do work.

Sometimes they don't work quite as quickly or as particular way one wants them to,

But they do bring forth beautiful things,

Great opportunities for beings to practice and realise.

And this process,

Wise reflection,

Deep reflection,

Wise attention,

Pondering,

Considering,

Yonisoma nisikara,

Giving due attention to that which is skillful,

Which causes skillful qualities to arise.

And for me,

Connecting this very much to the process of meditation,

Of being the often ignored or overlooked aspect of Samadhi practice,

Of Jhana practice,

Meditation practice,

Which people often see much more in terms of a particular technique you do,

A particular thing you do for ten days,

You go on a retreat and do these particular systems of focusing attention or so forth.

And,

You know,

When one looks more throughout the suttas,

You find actually there's none of that there.

There's no technique like that,

It's not there.

But what is there pretty much,

Pretty constantly is the Buddha's recommendation of Jhana.

And the word appears in several ways,

Jhana,

Sometimes translated as meditation or absorption,

Or a particular state or level of absorption or meditation,

And also a verb,

Jayati.

You know,

When the Buddha says meditate,

Bhikkhus,

He says Jayati bhikkhuwe.

It means get absorbed,

Absorb bhikkhus.

Here are roots of trees,

Here are quiet places,

Absorb.

Really get,

Take it in.

Don't waste your time,

Really absorb this.

And so it's very much a verb to take in,

To fully assavour and appreciate and drink in.

And the images that are used for,

As that completes,

Is the image of sort of a sponge.

When you're mixing up powder,

Bath powder and water,

Until the sponge is steeped and drenched in this quality,

This kind of,

There's not one part of that that isn't saturated with this quality of the soap powder.

And so he's saying,

Kind of earthy,

The Buddha,

Saying this is the same quality of the completion of absorbing,

Is that it isn't one part of one's body that isn't saturated,

Drenched,

Pervaded with the pleasure,

The ease,

Happiness,

The lightness of Jhana,

Which is born of Viveka.

Viveka meaning withdrawal from unskillful states.

And saying,

You know,

This is,

This is a kind of,

You know,

This is a benchmark.

And,

You know,

Jhana often is kind of,

Well,

You know,

You can't,

That's kind of a very special practice,

Or perhaps you don't need it at all these days,

Perhaps you just do insight.

We don't really see insight mentioned very much in the suttas at all.

You see wisdom mentioned,

Yeah.

Insight,

Aspect of wisdom looking into things is there,

But not very much.

Jhana,

Much more common.

Naturally people kind of feel a bit uncomfortable with that because we think,

Oh,

We've got to concentrate to get into Jhana,

It means you've really got to shut everything off,

Switch off,

You know,

Focus very hard on a particular point,

Keep going,

Struggle with hindrances,

You know,

Pain in the body,

Keep going,

Keep working on it,

Struggle through,

Eventually,

Bong,

You know,

You land in some sort of place,

Which is a bit sort of spacey,

You're out there,

The sense contact has ceased,

You're out in some special space,

You know,

Okay,

Wow,

You know,

It's going to take some doing,

Isn't it?

And,

But again,

That isn't there.

And the Buddha actually never says concentrate.

So there is something called samadhi,

Which is not a verb,

But a noun,

Meaning the mind is unified,

It's settled,

It's all gathered together in one place.

And so,

Although it's often said,

Well,

You know,

If you do your samadhi well enough and hard enough and strong enough,

You'll eventually get into Jhana.

Actually,

It's more like the more you constantly absorb,

In other words,

The more you develop the jayati experience,

The absorbing experience,

Then this is how you enter samadhi.

So it's the other way around,

Really,

You don't develop samadhi,

Get into Jhana,

You do more and more absorbing,

And then you enter samadhi.

Which is more like a state of unification and composure.

The mind isn't jumping around,

It's settled and it's gladdened,

And it's marked by characteristics such as a quiet happiness,

Which you've withdrawn from seeking gratification through the senses,

And it is marked with firmness.

The mind is settled in that,

Confident in that,

Resting in that,

Really knows that,

It's not just an idea,

Not just a theory,

Not an attitude,

But actually a very grounded experience.

Now,

You know,

Actually this does not preclude thinking,

In fact,

Thinking and reflection are part of that,

A necessary part of that,

Absolutely necessary part of that in the Buddhist presentation.

It's the cultivation of careful thinking,

Careful,

Giving careful consideration,

And not just topic,

But also the thoroughness of it,

Not just a flashy,

Oh yeah,

I got that,

But no,

Get it,

Feel it,

Get what it's pointing at,

How is that?

Vitaka,

Pointing,

Vichara,

Really sampling it,

Getting it,

Till the heart settles in there,

The heart is gladdened by skillfulness.

So that's not,

The thought takes us to perception,

Or impression,

The impression of freedom from remorse,

Settledness,

And there's an emotion,

A movement of gladness,

Though this is the process,

And you absorb into all that.

And through that it's said,

You know,

Gradually the body feels more light,

More spacious,

The mind feels happy,

Because the body is settled and spacious,

The mind is happy,

It is in samadhi,

It just,

You don't have to push it in,

It's there.

And this would seemingly,

Again when we review the presentations and suttas,

This was something new to the Buddha anyway.

He had practiced this out of the body states,

Under various yogic teachers,

Where he'd get into extremely refined perceptions,

Such as the perception as the mental impression of non-finite space,

Measureless space,

Of no-thingness,

Of so forth,

These things that you can,

Well,

You know,

We could talk about them,

But why bother?

Essentially they were kind of like,

Almost like hypnagogic states,

Out of the body,

And then when eventually,

You know,

You come back,

You're coming back into this body and you're back to this again,

And it feels still the same as it was.

There's no real transformation of the experience of being embodied.

We just slip out of it and then come back into it again,

And nothing has really been worked out in terms of this finite physical sensory experience.

We just slipped out of it and then went back into it again,

Come back into it again,

And then he says,

Well,

You know,

I've been doing this for years,

And also upping it by starving the body,

Trying to beat the body down,

Even breathe less,

And then hey,

This is just,

God,

This is not getting me anywhere,

This is painful,

It's ignoble,

It's not associated with skillful actions,

This is harsh.

And why don't I stop?

And then the recollection through this process of wise reflection,

Recollection of the time when he was a little boy,

Image pops to mind,

Comes up to mind.

An image,

A perception arises in the mind of sitting under a tree,

And there's his father ploughing the field nearby,

Sitting under a tree,

Obviously feeling his dad's out there,

Safe,

He's comfortable,

Sitting on a tree in this Indian heat,

He's cool,

And he just feels really settled,

Really nice.

You know,

Things are okay,

I'm here,

Father's there,

Got the screening of the tree,

Fine,

That's okay,

Everything is settled.

Sense of safety,

And nothing to do,

Anything about it.

And then realizing,

Oh,

Well,

That experience,

There's nothing wrong with that,

And there was a quiet happiness that arose from the lack of fear,

The absence of unskillful states,

Pressure,

Obligation,

Fear,

Worry,

Greed,

Passion,

That was all not there,

Because that wasn't there,

And I definitely was sitting here,

Oh,

That was agreeable,

Quite natural.

And then feeling breathing in,

Breathing out,

Which is our basic,

Most natural experience.

You don't have to do it,

It happens voluntarily,

It's a gift,

The body has this gift,

It's an intelligence,

It knows how to breathe in,

And it knows how to breathe out,

And it operates that without us having to think about it.

So it's a very given,

Amazing,

Given,

Just a given.

Could it be this simple?

Could it be this simple?

Yes.

How do you get that simple?

That is often the struggle for people,

To come down from their complexities of their personal lives and their attitudes,

And even the assumption that the more difficult it is,

The better it must be,

Or the more complex it is,

The better it must be better.

No,

This is simple,

This is natural,

This is not a personal thing.

And what it takes to come out of all that,

The trust and the release and the freedom from that personal hunger,

Pressure to achieve,

To become,

To make something happen,

To know,

To understand,

To be good at,

To make sure other people think I am,

Or,

Oh,

You know,

Just go back to the Earth.

Very beautiful.

And we can do that.

The same from this,

As you settle into this,

The happiness of that withdrawal from these unskillful states and inclinations and attitudes and compulsions that run for people,

The mind settled into this state of absorption.

Could this be the path to enlightenment,

Following it up?

Yes,

It is.

So this seemed to be a discovery.

And I think the important thing to recognize is that certainly in the Indian spiritual tradition,

A lot of the emphasis is,

At that time,

Mortification of the body,

Getting out of the body,

And the Buddha is coming back into the body.

But not the body that we understand,

The kind of sensory body that we see with our eyes,

And that we are attracted to or take personally,

But something internal in the body.

The body's energy,

Its intelligence,

Its sensitivity,

Its restiveness,

Its freedom from tension,

Just a natural body.

The body in the body,

The body has experienced itself,

Not the body has experienced through the eyes or through the attitudes or through the comparisons or through all this stuff.

The body simply has experienced itself,

The body you wake up with in the morning.

It's just there,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

And the whole personal world kind of comes wrapping itself around it,

Doesn't it?

But there's that underneath it all,

Coming back into that.

Why this is Jhana,

But also it's not just a kind of meditation thing.

This is really transformative because it does help us to integrate ourselves,

Our personhood,

With nature,

With what's natural,

Rather than contrived,

Rather than human artifice,

Something very natural.

And in that there's a sense of homecoming and,

Oh,

It's just this,

You know.

You don't have to be that anything as a person.

That's an enormous relief,

You know,

For us in our social humans with all the comparisons and the judgments and the measurements and the performance issues and who is good at and who is not good at and who likes who,

All that kind of stuff.

Which gives you a lifetime just rattling around and never get anywhere,

Rewarding in it.

The spider's web of personal personality view,

There's no way out,

You know,

That's it,

To drop through it,

Just to find a place and a situation where you can put it aside.

And the beauty of the ground,

The earth,

This is the place that allows us to do it.

The trees don't care how good you are.

They're not interested in what you look like or what your degree is or they're just not interested.

It's not an issue.

Or they want it just so you can just breathe out into the earth and breathe in,

Recognizing this is your gift,

This is what the embodiment gives you.

And why,

You know,

The Buddha spent his life almost always with trees and with nature.

I go into cities to give a talk,

But they always say to target as before,

Quiet places,

Wooded places,

We could seek roots of trees,

Seek that.

You're getting less of the impact of the contrived human stuff.

Much more just the receptivity of being in nature,

Absorb it.

Forest monasteries,

Absorb it.

Absorb into that.

Learn how to absorb because again,

Absorbing is a slow process.

It's not a,

You know,

It's like being receptive to these simple qualities,

Simple natural qualities.

And as humans,

We have another great advantage is that,

You know,

We also live very much in the realm of our karma,

Of our actions,

The results of actions and the all that entails.

And you can steer that to enhance qualities that are really worthwhile absorbing,

Taking in,

Making much of.

As we all know,

Good karma and it's not just the action,

It's the intention behind it.

And furthermore,

It's the ability to reflect,

To linger in,

To rejoice in the skillful.

Taking in.

And it's huge because it's certainly there are obvious topics,

The precepts and what we do,

But of course,

Characteristically it seems in Buddha Dharma,

Most of it's about what we don't do.

A lot of it is the not doing of the unskillful as if you just begin to just begin to let that drop away,

There is something beautiful is revealed.

And from that we can do good.

We because when you begin to put aside the fearfulness or the greediness or the reactivities or the pressure,

The chitta,

The heart starts to come forth.

You feel happy and it's because of what you put aside and then from the happiness then one can do good and enjoy and rejoice in that.

And so this is an enormous possibility for humans.

Why in fact,

You know,

And that's always possible.

We don't really move through time.

We move through karma,

Through these circling qualities of heart,

Intentions,

Energies,

Inclinations,

Behaviors.

And again,

One of the wonderful things about that is that you start now.

You don't really have to have done good all your life.

In the case of the mass killer in Guli Mala,

Serial killer killed 999 people.

Maybe that's figurative,

But essentially killed a hell of a lot of people.

And,

You know,

Gets the message,

Puts it down and becomes our hunt.

Well,

You know,

So where was all that?

How is it possible that it's possible to actually own,

Understand unskillfulness,

Sense what's happening and you can still come out of it.

The heart can still rise out of that mess.

But it doesn't rise out of it through thought.

We can never think our way out.

We can never,

Oh,

Well,

I was having a bad day so I did actually chop his head off,

But never mind,

You know,

It's a rough moment.

I'll do better next lifetime.

Or it's because of something,

You know,

You can't think your way out of it.

The answer is really coming into embodiment.

Because in embodiment,

We take it as a practice,

Say,

Almost feeling out from your gut,

You know,

Sitting inside this and feeling out where you are and feeling the sense of the tightness,

The restlessness,

The agitations and then behind that,

The breathing.

And beginning to just allow the breathing to come through.

And naturally,

As you get more steady in that,

Then okay,

In your heart,

You do acknowledge,

Wow,

That was really bad.

That was horrible.

That was painful.

That was unworthy.

And you can put it aside,

You can come out of it from the embodied state.

Otherwise,

There would be no way out.

There would be no way out if it wasn't possible to do this.

But the process of doing that is very much in line with what Jhana and Jayati absorbing is about.

You acknowledge,

You find a sense of steady presence,

You hold that steadily,

You don't panic,

You don't get into agitation and thinking,

And you feel those regrets,

Doubts,

The worries,

The agitations.

And behind that,

You feel the sense of the body breathing in and the body breathing out and acquire energy and that's what cleans it,

Openness and cleaning it.

So what is left is the skillful state of unification,

The mind is no longer skipping around,

Putting out fires,

Pushing things aside,

Reaching out for something,

Because it's,

You know,

We've cleared.

So the process of absorbing means also you're beginning to fully understand karma,

Come to terms with it,

Not as memory,

But as actual here and now experience of the results of actions.

You can feel it.

So this isn't just a theoretical analysis,

But a review of what's present for us when there's regret or there's bitterness or there's craving,

You know it,

You feel it.

And you can also feel behind that,

Here is the good,

Here is natural,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Just turn your attention and clean,

Clear that.

This is a day life process.

Again,

Another kind of thing to recollect because,

You know,

We probably would feel that Samadhi and Jhana is a very specialized process that we could only ever possibly do up a mountain,

You know,

In heart somewhere.

Well,

Maybe that's where it can take you,

But really you begin the process,

Daily life.

You begin the process of good karma,

Bad karma,

Understanding it,

Getting it,

Coming to terms with it,

You do that daily.

And you understand it and take it very seriously.

And you begin to recognize things,

Subtle sense such as egotism,

Trying to prove that you are something,

No,

Not skillful,

It doesn't get me anywhere.

You know,

Manipulativeness,

Insensitivity towards other people,

You know,

Cheering,

Mocking,

Stereotyping other people.

You begin to see the perhaps less obvious aspects of unskillful karma,

Movements of mind which are about selfhood,

Claiming I am this,

And taking a personal stance on things.

This also is narrow,

Confined,

Congested,

Painful,

Ignoble and not necessary.

Much nice,

Much more pumped to be open and,

You know,

Just take refuge in citta,

Not in being a person.

So that's workable,

You know.

It means also,

As we recollect death,

You know,

What else is important?

Person doesn't get past death,

Citta does.

In fact,

Citta doesn't die,

It just goes through body after body after body until that process is completed.

Persons,

Every person is marked by separation,

Endings,

You know,

Incompleteness,

Death.

So the movement,

Absorbing in citta,

Understanding citta,

Understanding the heart,

Clearing it,

Taking it,

Making it primary,

And then from there this means we can still act,

Speak,

Enact,

But the whole issues around self are just not relevant.

They just make it more complicated.

So this essentially is clearing away of that,

Is something to absorb into.

So as I said,

It's what we do,

But it's also what we begin to recognize we don't need to do.

And I would say by and large,

Meditation is as simple as that,

It's just what you need to do,

What you really need to do,

Do it fully.

What you don't need to do,

Don't do it at all.

And you just keep running that equation,

You know.

Not just when you're sitting still,

But when you're talking,

When you're doing stuff,

What you need to do.

If you really need to do it,

Do it fully.

Citta,

Virya,

Energy,

Intentionality,

Absorb,

Learn from it.

What you don't need to do,

Don't bother.

Just put it aside.

And the need,

What is really skillful,

Helpful,

What do you want to do that you want to fit?

Yes,

This is something I'd like to absorb the results of.

And you run that equation through and you think,

How much of this is all right,

But so what?

It's just not really.

A lot of action is just distracted nervousness,

Just kind of doing stuff to fill things up.

And it doesn't.

So,

You know,

We do,

And then when we do a complete inaction,

You look at the ending of that.

And then you're in this coming back,

Here's breathing in,

Here's breathing out.

And the piece of karma has acted,

Completed,

And we're back to breathing in,

Breathing out,

As it's happening,

Because it does happen.

And then,

You know,

How much more do you need to make out of it?

Because even meditation can end up being another work project,

Where you create all kinds of scenarios or things one wants to figure out or make it more complex than it really is.

And you look in the siddhas,

You don't find it.

But what you do find is the value,

The primacy of skillful karma,

The primacy of skillful associations,

Of skillful friendships,

The primacy of withdrawal from unskillful,

Useless,

Unprofitable,

Unnecessary,

The shifting of emphasis from the sensory contact to heart,

To kindness,

To embodiment,

To presence,

To awareness,

The shifting.

You find it over and over again.

That is the technique,

You could say.

And the results of it,

Well,

The mind unifies,

Comes into unification.

It's up to us to absorb.

And absorbing is rather like enjoying.

It's a technique for enjoying.

Well,

No,

You just kind of open up and take it in,

Don't you?

Take it in.

And this again is where the whole,

To my mind,

The whole notion of concentration,

What do you do with words?

I don't know.

But to me,

When I concentrate,

I'm generally furrowing my head somewhere,

Furrowing my brow.

I'm generally tightening up to concentrate.

That's what the word means to me.

Maybe it means something different to you.

But when I absorb,

It's different.

It's like I sit back,

I settle in and I drink in,

I take in.

Very different.

One's tightening,

The other's opening.

But that opening is bounded by,

I'm opening to the withdrawal from unskillful self.

So it's not just the kind of careless opening.

It's a grounded opening bounded by discernment and wisdom.

What's worth opening to?

What's worth absorbing?

If it's not worth absorbing,

How much do you want to even be with it,

Really?

You know,

How long are you going to live?

How much unnecessary stuff do you want to really take in?

Yeah.

And so,

You know,

Think it through.

Think it through.

This is recommended,

Definitely.

So there's the skillful states that one encourages.

There's also the acknowledging the unskillful and putting that aside.

And attuning to subtler qualities such as attentiveness,

Inspiration,

Gladness of heart,

Friendliness.

Things that are not exactly things you do,

They're things that happen to you.

As you become less driven,

Less self-centered,

Less I've got to do.

You start to absorb the beauties of a virtuous life,

Of a life where it's set straight and it's balanced,

It's landed on the earth.

It's to be cultivated.

How long have we got?

So as what Basala was mentioning earlier to the monks,

You know,

This bringing Maranusati,

Recollection of death,

As again a daily practice,

It helps to prune away the unnecessary,

The future,

The possible,

The maybe,

The grudges,

The pettiness.

If you're going to die tonight,

What's important?

What's really important?

And so this is another way in which we use skillful reflection to highlight that which we're absorbing into,

Taking it in.

All these aspects and cultivations rightly pursued,

The Buddha said these will always lead to the path,

The path of samadhi.

And from samadhi,

The mind is firm,

It's not pressurized,

It sees things clearly,

It is right for liberation.

So I offer this for your reflection this evening.

Sadhu,

Sadhu,

Sadhu,

Anumodham.

Reviews

Enjoyable talk that helped me better understand the actions and conditions that are necessary for establishing a peaceful mind.

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Amazing!

This is a good dharma talk. Helpful to the idea of being. Thank you.

Excellent dhamma talk about allowing ourselves to absorb (jhana) in daily life and meditation, about cottage and energy.

This talk was enormously helpful to me right now. I know I’ll listen to it again.

Great talk! How to embody Jhana daily. I like the emphasis on practice being also about what we “don’t do.” Stripping away the things that are unproductive, and being
absorbed, and with, the things that are.

Thank you for your words of wisdom 💜🙏

Ajahn Sucitto always is clear, humble in his manner, and just makes sense about how to live a good life!!

So clear. This talk cuts through the clutter of practices. Bowing in gratitude.

So very well explained, the bare essentials and the true sense of meditation. So grateful. Thank you 🙏

Very helpful. Thank you very much.

Very interesting but should definitely be labeled as a talk.

Thank you for your insight and teachings. This has been very helpful.

A most gorgeous reminder to rest relax and let go that which hinders absorption - thank you

Succinct, clear, from the Buddha - straightened out my understanding of concentration & and made the way clear. 10 yrs. of effort, not wasted, but not so skillful either. May the next 1 0 follow his way leading to jhana.

Amazing—cutting through all the misconceptions to simple practice.

This is a Dhamma talk and not a guided meditation, but the talk is wonderful and full of insight!