When I first pitched a magazine piece about a meditation subculture surrounding the jhanas at the beginning of this year, there hadn’t been any media coverage of the practice yet.
Thank you for doing this! There are just so many basic questions here that no one seems to have bothered resolving or, at least, sharing their answers. In particular, I'm glad you introduced the concept of "deterministic access" as opposed to pretending that it is automatic (which had made me believe that if I could not reproduce my J1, then I couldn't have been to J1 in the first place...).
Did you ask people what people did to focus attention? Reducing stressors (mosquitoes, itches, uncomfortable positions, ...) vs. meditating on them? Is there a balance to be struck here or is one choice definitely better? (I'm talking of mindfulness meditation in particular, as I'm not familiar with the other schools.) These practical issues might be what stands in the way for many people currently on the fence.
Thank you for doing this! There are just so many basic questions here that no one seems to have bothered resolving or, at least, sharing their answers. In particular, I'm glad you introduced the concept of "deterministic access" as opposed to pretending that it is automatic (which had made me believe that if I could not reproduce my J1, then I couldn't have been to J1 in the first place...).
Did you ask people what people did to focus attention? Reducing stressors (mosquitoes, itches, uncomfortable positions, ...) vs. meditating on them? Is there a balance to be struck here or is one choice definitely better? (I'm talking of mindfulness meditation in particular, as I'm not familiar with the other schools.) These practical issues might be what stands in the way for many people currently on the fence.
Thanks! I didn't ask for this specific project, but I am running a different one that digs into these questions - so stay tuned!