Review: Practicing the Jhanas: Traditional Concentration Meditation as Presented by the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw
Practicing the Jhanas by Stephen Snyder and Tina Rasmussen is a typical, practical meditation guidebook with a unique (for many modern English-speaking practitioners) set of instructionsthe ancient Samadhi practices of absorption meditation or the jhanas. In the foreward to this book, the well-known Pa Auk Sayadaw writes that this book he hopes will be a bridge to both the teachings of the Buddha and the famous commentary, the Visuddhimagga, as well as his own book Knowing and Seeing. The authors, Tina and Stephen, write from the perspective of expert practitioners of the method of Samadhi meditation as taught by Pa Auk Sayadaw. They write of their experiences of a two-month retreat in 2005 with Pa Auk Sayadaw in Middletown, Connecticut. Their aim of this book is to share with you pointers from our direct experiencethe experience of two contemporary American practitioners who completed the entire samatha path (4).
Stephen and Tina start off by explaining the importance of the jhanas in the Buddhas life story, as well as the importance of jhanas before the Buddhas time. For those modern Buddhists who want to follow the Buddhas teachings and his path of practice, they argue, jhana plays an essential role. They recount the Buddhas experience with jhana as a young boy, as an ascetic, and before his death.
After recognizing the significance of jhana and samatha practices, Practicing the Jhanas becomes a handbook for understanding and cultivating these deep absorption states. From the beginning of basic anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) practices to access c! oncentra tion and the jhana states this is a complete look at the path of practice of the samatha meditator. They outline how to get into a jhana state while acknowledging the main purpose is always to purify the mind before undertaking vipassana (insight) meditation practices. The beginning chapters outline the foundational understandings of samatha and jhana practice within the larger milieu of Buddhist meditation
After the foundational understandings and the basics of developing the first jhana state, the book progresses further to show how to cultivate further jhanas states from second jhana through until the eighth jhana. These are difficult concepts and experiences to put into language. Tina and Stephen manage to do this in an accessible way through relating it directly to their experiences. The reader is often told directly that Tina found entering a jhana one way to be effective while Stephen used a different method. They give the reader confidence, through their obvious knowledge and experience, that it is possible to sit in a jhana state for 3 hours and to attain mastery of the state by being able to enter it at will.
This is both a book that draws on traditional and pre-Buddhist teachings and one that is particular to the method of the current teacher Pa Auk Sayadaw. For this particular teaching, he requires meditators to master each jhana before being able to move onto the next one. This is done for all eight jhanas including additional practices all before vipassana meditation. This is an incredible amount of samatha but Tina and Stephen show the reader how these deep concentration states are important and vital for purifying the mind before vipassana. Pa Auk Sayadaw also states that cultivating all eight jhanas gives one a stable base for a thorough vipassana practice.
With the popularity of the Mahasi Sayadaw method in Burma and abroad, as well as the Ajahn Tong method where I live in Chiangmai, which both use the vipassana-only techniques, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaws focus on samat! ha is re freshing and provides a balance. Stephen and Tinas presentation of this path of samatha before vipassana is a needed and welcome addition to meditation guidebooks.
