Second and Third Jhāna

As you continue practicing for a length of time, the sense of fullness and pleasure in the body becomes greater. Ekaggatā – interest and absorption in your one object – becomes more intense because you have seen the results it produces.

The mind becomes steady and determined, focused with full mindfulness and alertness, thoroughly aware of both body and mind, and thus you can let go of your thinking and evaluating, entering the second jhāna.

The second jhāna has three factors. Ekaggatā : Keep the mind with its one object, the breath, which is now more subtle and refined than before, leaving simply a feeling of pīti, fullness of body and mind. The sensations of the body don’t clash with one another.

The four properties – earth, water, fire, and wind – are properly balanced. The mind and body don’t interfere with each other, so both feel full and satisfied. The body feels pleasant (sukha) – solitary and quiet. The mind, too, feels pleasant and at ease – solitary and quiet.

When you’re mindful, alert, and adept at doing this – entering, staying in place, and withdrawing – side-benefits will result. For example, knowledge of certain matters will arise, either on its own or after you’ve posed a question in the mind. Doubts about certain issues will be put to rest.

As the sense of bodily pleasure grows stronger, the sense of mental pleasure and ease grows stronger as well, and thus you can let go of the sense of fullness. Awareness at this point becomes refined and so can detect a subtle level of the breath that feels bright, open, soothing, and spacious. This enables you to go on to the third jhāna.

The third jhāna has two factors, pleasure and singleness of preoccupation.

The pleasure you’ve been experiencing starts to waver in flashes as it reaches saturation point and begins to change. You thus become aware of another, subtler level of sensation, and so the mind shifts to a sense of openness and emptiness. The breath grows still, with no moving in or out, full in every part of the body. This allows you to let go of the sense of pleasure. The mind enters this stage through the power of mindfulness and alertness.

Awareness is tranquil and still, bright in the present, steady and independent. It lets go of the breath and is simply observant. The mind is still, with no shifting back and forth. Both breath and mind are independent. The mind can let down its burdens and cares. The heart is solitary and one, infused with mindfulness and alertness.

When you reach this stage and stay with it properly, you’re practicing the fourth jhāna.

This reflection by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo is from the Thai Forest Ajaans book Basic Themes: Four Treatises on Buddhist Practice, “The Path, VIII. Right Concentration,” pg. 80-85, translated from the Thai by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.