So Much To Do, So Little Time!

We had a lively Wise Action discussion prompted by a question posed by one of the students which boils down to: How do I make time for everything I want to do in life?

We are a group of women of a certain age, who, having led busy lives between work and family, are now, for the most part, at a time in our lives when we are able to choose the things we really want to do. Most of us have a lighter load of the things we feel we have to do, thanks to retirement, an empty nest, husbands taking on a greater role around the house, etc. Of course, some of us have more responsibilities, taking care of loved ones who are ill, reaching out into the community, etc. But in general, we feel more empowered to choose our actions and activities.

Perhaps because women are inherently multi-taskers (to keep the toddler from drowning in the river while we gather berries and firewood), we often find that our thoughts during any activity include a little anxiety about something else we should be doing instead. This keeps us from being fully present in the moment to enjoy what we are doing and to do it well.

One way to bring full mindfulness to every activity is to organize our day as if we were on retreat. Vipassana meditation retreats are quite structured, which we might think would create limitations, but actually creates freedom. When it is time to sit, we simply sit, and don’t feel we should be elsewhere. Likewise, when we are doing a walking meditation, eating a meal, or resting.

Part of every retreat day is a designated period where we do our yogi job. This is a voluntary chore of cleaning or food preparation that helps keep the retreat running smoothly. During that period we do our work mindfully, noticing the arising of misguided motivations (‘This will be the cleanest shower anyone’s ever seen! I’ll be the best yogi ever!’ or ‘Why on earth did I pick this yogi job? I bet sweeping the terrace would be a lot better.’) We might notice unskillful effort: striving too hard with our thoughts only on the goal instead of living the activity; or sloughing off, doing the least we can ‘get away with.’

This sense of a yogi job, that we do to the best of our ability with mindfulness and wise effort for a set amount of time during the day, works very well for doing household chores, bookkeeping and errands. Without that boundary-setting of a limited time frame, we have a running To Do list in our heads that keeps us on a never ending treadmill of feeling we are not doing enough, when we may very well be doing too much.

One thing that several students and I found was that email and online activity gobbles up time in a way that is quite unnerving. I liken my circling round to check email as having the same addictive quality I have felt at times in my life when I have mindlessly circled round to the refrigerator. If it feels like an addiction, then we can either go cold turkey by not having this technology at all, or we can set limits.

Limits might be as simple as using a timer. Make a note of what we originally wanted to accomplish on the computer/smart phone beforehand, then do that first before opening email and getting off track. This sounds easier than it is in practice, but I am setting the challenge for myself to see if it can be done.

A Surfeit of Options

One student said she imagined that at this time of life she would have SO much time and yet she sees that she doesn't, that she has to pick the top three or four things she wants to do and let go of the rest.

When it comes to the surfeit of options we are so fortunate to have, we all expressed our great gratitude for the wondrous opportunities, but having stuff doesn’t create wisdom, so we can still be incredibly unskillful and cause ourselves suffering. How do we make wise choices?

How can we determine what we can let go of? What is beneficial and what is just filling time, or dragging us down? Try this exercise:

Bring to mind something you do during an average day or week.

Now ask the following questions:

- What is my intention with this action?

If you feel motivated by having something to prove rather than something to give, then this isn’t Wise Action. Remember Wise Intention is to be fully present with lovingkindness.

- Who am I doing this for?

Sometimes we get our signals crossed. We think we are doing something someone we love wants us to do. But our assumptions are not based in fact. Time to have a conversation!

- What benefits come from this action?

Make a list. and then ask:

- Is this true?

This is where the rich exploration really begins. When we question our assumptions we breathe new life into our actions.

- When I think about this action, what do I feel in my body?

If a lightness, a sense of enlivening, then I know that this action is nourishing me and no more needs to be explored. I have my answer. This action stays!

If there are any sensations of tightening, deadening, pressure, heaviness or dread, then ask:

- What are the thoughts that prompt these feelings?

- What are the fears I have about this activity?

Within each exploration, every time you make a statement, ask again, ‘Is this true?’

The result is an inner dialogue that effectively determines the value of the action. Then you can decide whether the activity is a valuable part of your life, or discover perhaps that you were doing it for the wrong reasons, or it no longer fits, etc. You can make adjustments to the activity, instilling it with Wise Intention and Wise Effort, or you can let that activity go.

- Is this my job to do, or is there someone else who could do it?

Sometimes we forget that there are other people in the world who might enjoy and appreciate the opportunity to do what it is we are doing. If we are able to hire someone to do a chore we find tiresome, certainly we are contributing to the economic well being of our community by doing so. If this is not financially feasible, hire yourself! What payment would you like? Equal time with a good book? A day at the beach? A walk with a friend? It’s yours!

If you find through this exploration that any of your activities are not Wise Action, then the wise course of action is to make a change in as mindful and compassionate a way as possible.

11/12/13 P.S. I just received a link to a post on TinyBuddha that totally fits into this discussion and offers more valuable questions we can ask ourselves when we are looking at all we have to do.

The Five Precepts Create Freedom

An exploration of Wise Action would be incomplete without a look at the Five Precepts, the vows we take at the beginning of a meditation retreat. These five vows are a part of a longer list of vows taken by monks and nuns. They prescribe wise action when living in community.

Depending on the teachers on the retreat, you might experience a call and response of the Precepts in the original Pali language. (You will not be expected to know them, just to repeat what the teacher chants. We did this in class and everyone agreed it was very easy.)  If you would like to hear how these Pali words are pronounced, here is a video of Ajahn Amaro at Spirit Rock leading the chant. The Five Precepts (in Pali and English)

1. Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I vow to refrain from harming or killing living creatures.

2. Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyamiI vow to refrain from taking that which is not freely given.

3. Kamesu micchacara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I vow to refrain from misusing sexuality.

4. Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I vow to refrain from false and harmful speech.

5. Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I vow to refrain from consuming intoxicants which lead to carelessness.

By taking these vows to refrain from unskillful actions we create freedom for others and thus freedom for ourselves. Freedom might not be the word we automatically think of when we promise not to do something. After all, haven’t we narrowed our options? Haven’t we limited our freedom? Well, let’s apply the question we asked last week to this enigma: What if everybody did it?

If everybody followed the Five Precepts, what would the world be like? We all would feel free from fear of being harmed by others. We would not feel we had to constantly protect ourselves and our property from those who would violate us in one way or another.

The retreat experience is an experiment in this level of trust. Together we create a sense of freedom within what from the outside looks like constraints. The more earnestly we follow the heart of the Precepts, the more freedom we find. If you doubt that the Precepts can create freedom, consider this: What do any of these precepts keep you from doing?

If you look at these things closely, these things you are reluctant to give up, you might see that the desire to do them comes from the murky mire of mindless motivations.

Let’s look at some examples.

• If I have the urge to hurt someone, if I want someone to suffer, what is my motivation?
• If I have the urge to steal something, what is my motivation?
• If I use my sexuality in a way to gain power over someone, what is my motivation?
• If I want to get drunk or high, what is my motivation?

These questions take us back to Wise Intention. If we are in the present moment and compassionate to ourselves and others, then we see clearly what’s really going on when we feel anger arising. We see the fear that creates the reactionary impulse.

These questions also bring us back to Wise Effort and to Wise View. If these terms are new to you, look back over the past months of posts and follow along. We have spent more than a year studying the Buddha’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness. 

We are nearing the end of this focus, but in fact there is no end to the experiential investigation of the dharma, because it lives on in our lives, and we are given so many opportunities to see it in action.

Wise Action, Well Planet

In the last dharma talk I offered a way to investigate whether an action we did was wise. Even the simple question of whether something is a wise action brings our attention to the present moment, modifying the impact of mindlessness, which is the chief cause of unskillful action.
The other cause is feeling disconnected, separate and therefore lacking in a sense of compassion, for ourselves and others. When we looked at Wise View, we saw why it is that we feel separate when in fact that sense of separateness is simply a convenient shorthand to get things done -- handy but if we buy into it too much, we cause suffering for ourselves and others. [Read more.] But we have other ways to investigate an action to see if it is wise. We can ask, ‘What if everyone did this?’ This challenges any sense of personal entitlement we might have mindlessly lurking in our murky motivations. If we can honestly answer that if everyone did this action there would be no negative outcome, then perhaps it is not so unskillful. Another question we might ask is what impact this action could have not just on our children or grandchildren but on down to the seventh generation of our descendants, a wise consideration imparted by native American traditions. Understanding the long term implications of our actions, even small ones, is increasingly important as our population increases and our resources are depleted. To a degree, we as a species have become more mindful, have taken steps to modify and correct our previously mindless behavior with recycling, composting, increases in alternative technologies, etc. But we are far from where we need to be in order to say we are doing our best.

  I am happy to say that the Buddhist community is increasingly committed to Wise Action in this regard. And this week, Buddhist meditation teachers have been asked to talk about the importance of environmental awareness to their students. How perfect when we are studying Wise Action!

Notice how this feels. What comes up in your thoughts? What happens in your body when I say this will be our topic. Is there an eagerness or a sense of unease? Whatever you are feeling, be compassionate. This is not a scolding, but an exploration of what is true and what, with mindfulness and balanced effort is possible. Take your time and answer these questions for yourself: To what degree does the well being of the air, water and land play a role in your daily decisions? If everyone did what you are doing, what kind of world would this be? This is such a great question because it speaks to our collective humanity, our community. It reminds us that we are not isolated. Yay! But also that everything we do has ramifications. How can we be conscious without becoming strident? How can we be in relationship with the earth and all beings who inhabit this planet in a way that is compassionate, caring, joyful and responsible. Can we do this without proselytizing and fueling an 'us against them' mentality that is so disruptive and counterproductive? We are not just all in this together; we are one pulsing energetic system of life! Try this practice right now: 

• Set the intentions to be present, anchored in physical sensation and to be compassionate with yourself and others. 
• Bring to mind your relationship with all beings and the earth itself. 
• Notice how this feels in the physical senses, if there is a sense of ease, discomfort or tightness arising.
• Practice some metta, lovingkindness: May I be well. May I be happy. May I be at ease. May I be at peace....See how that feels, this sense of giving and receiving lovingkindness. Then: May all beings be well. May all beings be happy. May all beings be at ease. May all beings be at peace.

Sit with the gifts of this simple practice, staying present with physical sensation, being compassionate when the mind tugs like a puppy on a leash, wanting to leap into the past or future. Simply come back to this moment, anchored in physical sensation. Rest in this place a bit, this natural relationship. If there is tightness, you might imagine a furry animal coming and nestling against that area, offering compassion, companionship and warmth, a sense of shared aliveness.

Coming into a tender heartfelt relationship with our planet and its inhabitants is a lovely gift. From that state, what is Wise Action? Do your actions or lack of action reflect your understanding? Or is there a disconnect?

This is where the Eightfold Path is so very useful. It helps us to see what that nagging discomfort is within us. Knowing this, we can take Wise Action, based in Wise Intention, Wise Effort, Wise View, Wise Mindfulness, attended by Wise Concentration. 

What would Wise Action be for you?
For me, I took my commitment to the well being of the planet to another level when I switched to Deep Green level of the Marin Clean Energy program. If you live in Marin County, CA and would like to know that your electric bill buys 100% wind power, rather than a combination of nuclear and other sources, it's easy to switch.
Again, if you live in Marin County, you might find the Green Up! page on the Marin Group Sierra Club website useful. (I am the volunteer website administrator, and that page is my baby. I am always interested in feedback on how to make it better, so please check it out.)

Wise Action

As you can see in the illustration, Wise Action, Wise Speech and Wise Livelihood arise like steam out of Wise Mindfulness.

This is not the traditional way these three parts of the Eightfold Path are taught. Usually these three virtue or sila practices are taught sooner than some of the others we have explored. But the teacher is always advised to consider the needs and nature of his or her students. For most of the past 2500 years, these teachings have mostly been offered to boys and young men in their training as monks, and to a lesser degree girls and young women training as nuns. They needed basic instruction in right and wrong. My students are women of a certain age. They not only know the difference between right and wrong, they have taught it to younger generations. My students are women with wisdom earned the hard way, through life experience. They consistently try to do the right thing. Even so, things don’t always turn out right, do they?

Say, for example, you put together a family gathering, try to make everyone happy, but then one of your adult children or a husband says, ‘Just relax, you’re stressing us all out.” Sound familiar? You might think ‘Why that ungrateful...After all I’ve done, this is the thanks I get?” or “You lout, if you had any clue to how much work and planning is involved to make something like this come out so you all can relax!” Oh yeah, you’re bound to get a little huffy. You’re exhausted and your feelings are hurt.

Exhaustion and hurt feelings are clues for us to recognize that something about this was not Wise Action. But what? This is where the Eightfold Path is so handy.

If we look back down the Cooking Pot Analogy to that little flame of intention, we can probably see that we were so focused on this future event, we forgot about the intention to stay present. And in doing so there were certainly times when we weren’t compassionate with ourselves or others. What were our motivations then? Were we fueled by fear that we would get the reputation as inept, slovenly or somewhat less than the hostess with the mostest? Quel horreur! Perhaps we can smile at our human foibles instead of defending or indulging them. With awareness and compassion, we can realign with Wise Intention.

When we look at the balanced campfire logs of Wise Effort, we can see that we got out of balance by striving too hard to make everything just perfect. As if perfection ever caused happiness! And, just so we’re clear, it isn’t balance to strive mindlessly for weeks and then after the event took to our bed for days. Balance is alive in every moment.

We can question if we were holding Wise View. Answer? Probably not. Probably we were mindlessly seeking that infamous Kodak moment, trying to prove something to ourselves or others, and finding fault with everything that didn't measure up, including or most especially ourselves.

Here are some simple steps to understand Wise Action:

1. Recognize an unskillful action, your own or someone else’s.
2. Note the intentions, motivations, urges or impulses that prompted the action. Were they Wise Intentions to be mindful and kind?
3. Note the effort used. Was it Wise Effort, balanced and anchored in Wise Intention and Wise View? Or was the action tense, fear-based, striving, over-efforting; or half-hearted, sloughing off, not really making much of an effort at all?
4. Note the view from which this action arose. Did you believe you needed to shore up your separate sense of self in order to prove your worth, your right to take up space on the planet? Was it to grasp and cling at something, hoping to control life and create permanence?
5. Note your state of mind during this action. Did this action come from a lack of Wise Mindfulness? Would a little more focused Wise Concentration have made a difference?

We all have plenty of examples of unskillful actions to work with: our own, someone else’s, or ones we see in books and movies. We can use them to learn what is skillful, what is mindful, what is wise. With compassion and clear attention we can see where things went wrong and why.

We will look at Wise Speech and Wise Livelihood in the coming weeks, but we begin with Wise Action, a huge subject that we will divide up into smaller pieces. In class I had the students call out the many areas in which we have action, starting with our bodies. Here are the areas we came up with:

Body-Mind

Nutrition, sleep, rest, exercise, posture, mental stimulation, meditation, stress release, grooming, health maintenance, addictions, thinking, expressing emotions, dream, amusement, song, playing a musical instrument, creating art, play, moving in space (walking, driving, running, swimming, dancing, etc..)

Communities

Creating and recognizing our various communities of family, friends, neighbors, nature/animals, groups with shared interests, spiritual communities/sangha, ancestors & descendants, compatriots, fellow humans, government/politics, volunteers, fellow drivers on a shared road, fellow travelers, residents of places we visit while traveling, the Earth, the visible and invisible life force.

Looking at communities brought up a very interesting exploration when it came to people we don’t know. So I asked, ‘If you saw someone driving poorly and you (reacting out of fear for the danger they cause to you) have some negative inner commentary going on, and then you see that the driver is someone you know and like, does the inner commentary change?

Think about this for yourself before reading on.

Several students commented that yes it would change their view. Why?

One answered, “Someone I don’t know I see only this one behavior and I assume that is how they are, whereas someone I know, I see this as only one incident. I know so many more facets to who they are, so I am more likely to be forgiving.”

How did you answer this question? Question your answer: Is this true? How do I know this is true? It makes for an interesting investigation. If you are up for a discussion, please comment below.

(Many readers of these posts do not notice the little pencil symbol below, which is an opportunity to comment. Comments are always welcome, and in this exploration  discussion, to share examples of unskillful action and try out using the practice to see how things went wrong. In this particular post, here’s an opportunity to share your own inner investigation.)

Next post we will continue this investigation.

Wise Concentration - The Four Jhanas

“Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise.  When we ignore it, it disturbs us.  When we listen to it, we find it fascinating.” -- John Cage

Now in the Cooking Pot Analogy we are using to explore the Buddha’s Eightfold Noble Path, mindfulness isn’t like a stew you can just leave on the back burner to simmer while we go off and attend to other things. It’s more like a pudding or risotto, that we need to stir. The spoon we use to stir mindfulness is Wise Concentration.

If you meditate you have probably practiced a number of different concentration practices. You have focused on the breath or other physical sensations. You may have experimented with silently repeating a mantra, a sacred word or phrase, or chanting. Perhaps you have done a listening meditation as we did in this week’s class.

We sat outside on a warm September morning, closed our eyes and listened to all the various sounds as if they were made by a variety of instruments in a symphony. The instruments in this particular symphony were all manner of vehicles passing by on the road below, songbirds chirping and squawking jays chasing each other around in the trees, a helicopter, and a neighbor’s rhythmic hammer. We listened with fresh ears, allowing ourselves freedom from wishing that sound would stop or that other one would continue. We simply sat and listened to the symphony, unique to that moment in time.

You may be familiar with John Cage, the composer best known for his composition 4’33. At a performance of this piece in 1952, a pianist sat in silence for four minutes and thirty three seconds (with one break where he shut and reopened the piano!) The audience was left with their own thoughts, judgments and -- if they were listening with the full attention they would have given the music of the piano -- a symphony of sounds -- shuffling of bodies, clearing of throats, coughs, whispering, etc. in the audience.

Were they being made fools of? Was this composer making a joke? As meditators we see clearly that he wasn't. In fact John Cage was a student of Zen, so we know that at least one of his purposes in this composition was to show that life itself is a symphony if we are present to listen. In our habituated state of distraction, we are unlikely to experience it in that way, however, unless we pay for a ticket in a concert hall. When we practice wise concentration, fully present in the moment, we discover the symphony of life! And that’s how it was for us, sitting on the deck last Thursday.

Listening is one possible concentration meditation, but we can also use a visual focus.One meditator chose to keep her eyes open and focus on Mount Tamalpais. This is a good meditation, whatever the chosen visual focus, especially for those who tend to get groggy in meditation.

There are many varieties of concentration practice, but one needn't be a ‘concentration connoisseur’. Experiment if you want, but find your main practice, most likely the reliable and portable breath focus, and stick with it. Beyond your regular practice, you will find many opportunities to sit and quietly observe the beauty of nature or a crowd of people; or you can shut your eyes and listen to the rain, the ocean, a babbling brook or city sounds as you sit at a cafe table or on a park bench. Focus on a candle flame or a campfire. Meditate on the stars. But let these activities be in addition to your regular practice. Why? Because there needs to be someplace we can go in our mind activity that we are not caught up in endless choices, where we can set our intentions to be present and kind, and simply sit, relaxed and alert.

The Four Jhanas

A jhana is a meditative state wherein the mind is fully absorbed in the object of concentration and is completely permeated with a quiet, spacious, joyful non-attachment.

Very rarely do teachers talk about what experiences one might expect from meditation practice. Why? Because it would probably set up expectation, goal-setting and comparative mind. We all have enough of that without the added pressure of hearing of bliss states we might attain!

But most of us have been studying together and meditating together for quite some time, and as we come upon this exploration of Wise Concentration, we are given these four meditative states the mind might find itself in, not as a taunt or a goal, but as a way to understand what we may be experiencing.

If you have experienced these states, then it is helpful to learn about them, to recognize them. And if you have not experienced them, let learning about them help you to reset your intention to be fully present in this moment, and compassionate with yourself when you are not.

If you have studied the Eightfold Path before and have been following along in this year-long investigation of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, you may find that your understanding of the Eightfold Path is deepening.

For example, when we studied the Awakening Factors, we looked at concentration and the other arising mental qualities of mindfulness, energetic attunement, joy, tranquility, equanimity and insight. And now we see them again.

Let’s go through the Four Jhanas one by one:

The First Jhana is the enveloping joy that comes from ‘withdrawal from chasing sensual pleasures.’

In our lives we are given so many options, choices and distractions. What do you want for dinner? What movie do you want to see? What do you want to watch on TV? How about another drink? There’s ice cream in the freezer, what harm would another little bowl do? Oh, look at that cute pair of shoes! What I wouldn't give for a beach vacation, a good night sleep, a romantic interlude, etc. etc. You get the drift. Whether we are in dire circumstances and dream of riches, have an addiction or a ‘weakness for’ something, or are wealthy and healthy but find it challenging to navigate all the options available, we as humans have an ingrained knack of creating suffering for ourselves!

Buddha’s teachings to the rescue! When we meditate, we experience a delicious release from the constant fray of seeking out the next excitement, the next entertainment, the next distraction. Letting go of all else but this, we experience the First Jhana. Ah! Bliss!

This becomes especially apparent on a retreat where things get very quiet and very simple. You take a vow to abstain from sensual indulgences, perhaps with a bit of trepidation, but then discover a quality of freedom you may never have known before.

Remember that the Second Noble Truth is about the causes of dukkha, suffering: Craving and aversion. When we purposely withdraw from that unending wheel of desire, we are liberated. This liberation combined with the regular practice of meditation, gives us access to an unqualified sense of joy. You might say that in this state you have fallen in deep love with this very moment, become enthralled with it. There is a quality of being so fully permeated with this quality, this jhana, that there is no room for anything else.

The Second Jhana, like the first, has a quality of being fully permeated. It arises from the natural stilling of thoughts and inner commentary. Imagine a pond where the silt has been stirred up by all sorts of activity. Now the silt settles and the pond becomes clear. Pleasure arises from a sense of complete composure and confidence in this quality of full awareness.

You might remember that when we were studying the Five Hindrances we learned to recognize what it is that keeps us from this kind of awareness, what muddies up the pond: Desire, aversion, sloth/torpor, restlessness/worry, and doubt. Now as we explore the Jhanas, we can see that we are actively releasing them.

In the Third Jhana, we discover that this enthrallment is not the end all purpose of these concentration practices, but just part of the journey. Now the enthrallment fades, and a natural and sustainable pleasant abiding of being mindful and alert, filled with equanimity. In this state there is a return of the ability to enjoy sensory pleasure, but there is no attachment to them. We hold them the way we would enjoy a butterfly alighting on our open palm, enjoying the experience but understanding the fleeting nature of it, understanding that to try to make it stay would be to create suffering and to deaden the experience.

On retreat, after so many hours of dedicated meditation practice, when you are out walking about, you can be in this state and enjoy the feel of sunshine on your face, delight in the appearance of a bird, lizard, deer, commune with a tree, note the patterns of light, savor the taste of the food at your meal, eating mindfully, honor the earnest sangha members who like you are practicing mindfulness, and feel a deep and pervasive love for all you encounter.

The Fourth Jhana is a lightness of being, a pure bright awareness, an all pervasive equanimity where there is neither pleasure nor pain. When we practice with a balance of attention and infinite loving kindness, we experience this lightness of being -- perhaps in brief glimpses, perhaps in long stretches. This is a state beyond time, so if you experience it, don’t get attached. Just be open and grateful. Hold it with an open embrace, neither grasping or clinging.

When you are sitting in meditation, following the breath, being present and filled with loving-kindness, you can put some of your attention on your closed eyelids. There you will find a spaciousness and light that you can rest in and allow that quality to fill your being. The spacious lit eyelids are a reminder of this state. You don’t have to stay focused on them.

This lightness of being can also be experienced as a celebration of the I don’t know mind -- a kind of easeful surrender, an unburdening. Becoming aware of how little we know is a great release. This is not to say that knowledge is a bad thing. In fact, it is a delight to learn! But when we are struggling, we often think it is because we don’t know the answer. Guess what? We don’t and that’s okay. Our desire to know everything is a desire to be in control of our situation. It’s more realistic to understand that we are not in control here! We inform ourselves as best we can to deal with whatever life might present us, but to some degree we have to let go of the false belief that there is any armor out there that will truly protect us from the nature of impermanence.

For example, perhaps you, like many of us, have experienced as I have some medically unexplained physical phenomenon. You've had a bunch of tests and the doctors can assure you that it is none of the life-threatening things they are concerned about. But it’s your body and you may be uncomfortable not knowing what exactly is the cause of this strange symptom. Even if the symptom is not bothersome, you still want to know. This hunger to know may be your body’s wisdom asking for one more test to reveal some hidden clue, but maybe it is just the restless mind wanting to have things all tied up in pretty bows with fancy latin names.

But life is not like that, is it? No one knows everything. We might want the experts to be super-power experts. But the medical profession has become wiser, and part of that wisdom is in being a little more humble, a little less certain. This is a good thing. If we can open to the possibility that we don’t need to know everything, we suffer less. We can delight in the world as it is. We can delight in the mystery. We can love the question itself.

So these are the Four Jhanas, and we can see how such states as described here would be desirable. Yet it’s that very desiring of them that gets in the way of experiencing. It is good to know about them only in order to develop confidence in our practice. Whether or not you have experienced any of these states is not a reflection on your meditation practice. If you sit in order to get to these states, you will wait forever. If you are aware that these states are possible, you will welcome them when they arrive.

These states are much more easily experienced in a long silent retreat, and I encourage you to go on one and do the intensive, and pleasurable, practice offered with Wise Intention and Wise Effort. There is a shift that happens when we allow ourselves to experience a sustained period of practice, where we have set aside any sense of striving and struggling in our lives, and are simply present in the moment.

One thing to know is that even a brief glimpse of these states is enough to infuse your awareness, to awaken what has been dormant for so long. So make yourself available for these experiences by developing a regular practice of meditation, by attending regular classes and longer retreats. But let go of your hunger for them, that drive for fulfillment or enlightenment. It doesn't work that way.

So why do we study the jhanas if we are not meant to make them into a goal? Well, let’s look at them again. Each one offers a useful technique we can incorporate into our meditation and into our lives.

The First Jhana inspires us to stay more present, and being present, we let go of imagining the next meal or other sensory experience. We let go of our expectation that it will somehow make everything better.

The Second Jhana reminds us that through focused attention, we create clarity, and our thoughts settle down. If thoughts are present, we don’t have to chase them or get lost in them. We can simply be present, anchored in physical sensation.

The Third Jhana reminds us that bliss experiences do not endure but that there is an ease of equanimity that infuses all the moments of our life.

The Fourth Jhana allows us to open to the experience of the light of awareness when it comes. Just knowing this is possible, a gift of the practice, allows us to enjoy it and to rest in it. And we can let go of the burden of proof, of having to know the answers to everything.

These states come and go, but the more we develop a sustained meditative practice, the more likely it is that we will experience them and that they will be sustained.