I want to share an important insight about the development of understanding through Buddhist meditation, which I believe is crucial even though I haven’t heard it discussed by other teachers. Before diving into it, let’s go over some background information.
Traditionally, Buddhist meditation is divided into two main approaches: tranquility (samatha) and insight (vipassana). Tranquility focuses on calming the mind, creating steadiness, and cultivating peace and joy, an experience known as jhana or absorption. Most references to meditation in Buddhist texts cover this approach, with the Buddha referring to jhana as “the path to Awakening.”
Insight meditation, on the other hand, involves a deep examination of our experiences to ultimately see that we do not possess a substantial, permanent self. In early Buddhist scriptures, tranquility and insight aren’t depicted as separate forms of meditation. Instead, they are seen as complementary techniques to be developed together, each supporting the other.
The usual explanation is that we first steady the mind through tranquility so that we can then use insight to observe our experiences more closely. An analogy often used is that of a flashlight versus a laser: a flashlight’s scattered and unfocused beams can’t cut through steel, but a laser’s concentrated light can. Similarly, tranquility helps focus the mind so it can penetrate delusion through insight.
However, I believe this explanation is missing something crucial. Tranquility itself changes how we relate to our being; the experience of absorption is a form of insight practice. When practicing tranquility, we learn to experience jhana by calming our mind and focusing on the body and its feelings.
As we progress, our sense of the body as a solid entity diminishes, replaced by a feeling of energy – a pleasurable tingling. Even physical sensations, like the knees touching the floor, break down into fleeting, twinkling points of sensation. As we delve deeper into absorption, the body’s sense fades, and joy becomes our primary experience, changing our perception of the self.
We then see ourselves not as solid bodies but as an ever-changing array of sensations. This shift makes us question the existence of a stable, permanent self, leading to the revelation that such a self is an illusion. What remains is a joyful sense of freedom as the burden of this illusion dissolves.
Guiding people into the experience of jhana is part of what I do. Jhana is accessible to everyone, not just elite meditators. With the right steps, it arises naturally, even before fully reaching jhana, we begin to sense the insubstantiality of our experience, supporting our insight practice.