Jhanas in the Bodhisattva bhumi system

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jhanapeacock
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Jhanas in the Bodhisattva bhumi system

Post by jhanapeacock »

When is where, according to the bhumi system the bodhisattva acquire the jhanas? i had read that is the third, but this doesnt make sense to me since even a first bhumi bodhisattva can send 100 emanations.
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cky
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Re: Jhanas in the Bodhisattva bhumi system

Post by cky »

There is no direct relationship between Bhumis and Jhanas, as far as I know. If there is, I'd be interested in reading about it, too!

"Jhana" usually refers to a stage of Samadhi, or "one-pointed mindfulness". I think of it more like a skill, a tool, like a magnifying glass, that we can use to enhance and slow down our perception and internal processes. This kind of tool becomes very powerful when it is combined with other types of meditation, like insight.

On the other hand, a "Bhumi" is like a level of accomplishment, actual insight into the nature of reality. I've heard teachers talk about that you'll need at least Upacara Samadhi (a level of Samadhi that occurs before Jhana in that system) to have enough stableness for big time insights like the one that occurs when 1st Bhumi is reached.

All of this spoken from a place of very little knowledge and certainly no personal experience about either of these concepts.

p.s.: There seems to be a relationship between "stream entry" and "1st Bhumi", but thats not what you've asked. :)
crazy-man
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Re: Jhanas in the Bodhisattva bhumi system

Post by crazy-man »

The Five Paths to Liberation & Enlightenment
https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-s ... ightenment

Meditation Instruction: Calm Abiding Represented as a Painting Meditation
https://terebess.hu/english/oxherd27.html

The Bhavanakrama trilogy by Kamalashila.
http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webcl ... t_2=direct

THE BUDDHA ON MEDITATION AND STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS PART IT: A TYPOLOGY OF MEDITATION TECHNIQUES
atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-04-72-02-151.pdf
The first realm [of the nine realms] is the desire realm. The next four are the four jhanas, or the four form-realm meditative stabilizations. And then the last four (in other words numbers 5-9) are the meditative stabilizations or the meditative absorptions of the formless realm. Then each of those [nine realms] has nine grades of affliction. And these grades of affliction are measured in terms of how ingrained they are in the mind. Okay? So what one is doing as one’s passing through the stages on the hearer and solitary realizer path is they are like washing a cloth and, you know, washing out these different grades, okay? So there are 81 grades altogether—nine times nine.
http://thubtenchodron.org/2007/05/five- ... n-grounds/
jhanapeacock
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Re: Jhanas in the Bodhisattva bhumi system

Post by jhanapeacock »

cky wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 12:59 pm
p.s.: There seems to be a relationship between "stream entry" and "1st Bhumi", but thats not what you've asked. :)
A first bhumi boddhisattva has far more merit than a sotapanna since he already course one incalculable aeon of accumulations, he also has powers like sending 100 emanations, things that a stream enter cant do.
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ThreeVows
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Re: Jhanas in the Bodhisattva bhumi system

Post by ThreeVows »

jhanapeacock wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 10:54 am When is where, according to the bhumi system the bodhisattva acquire the jhanas? i had read that is the third, but this doesnt make sense to me since even a first bhumi bodhisattva can send 100 emanations.
I don't think there's a hard and fast rule, but in the Bhumi Chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra (the 26th, also known as the Daśabhūmika Sūtra), it does indeed clearly say that third Bhumi Bodhisattvas will cultivate all of the form and formless jhanas without attachment to the states, will master the siddhis, etc.

I believe that attachment to meditative states, however, is not fully overcome until the 4th-5th Bhumi or so. As I recall, this is from the Samdhinirmocana Sutra.
“Whoever wants to find the wisdom beyond intellect without praying to his guru is like someone waiting for the sun to shine in a cave facing the north. He will never realize appearances and his mind to be one.”
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
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