Stories about jhana
7 Buddhist wisdom stories about jhana from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A terrible retreat — he only got the first jhānaJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A retreatant complains his retreat is terrible because he can only reach the first jhāna, not the second. Ajahn Brahm: one jhāna is more than good enough — a complaining mind…
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this guy who came up to me once and said he's having a terrible retreat. He can only get into the first genre. He can't get into the second. This is crazy stuff. If you know what the jas are, there's deep meditation. You're blissing out. Just one janna is more than good enough
- Meditating through the floodStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An Indonesian monk Ajahn Brahm knew and questioned tells him that as a layman wanting to be a rishi he went deep into the Javanese jungle to meditate. A star came into his mind…
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There's one of these monks I knew. He has passed away now. But when he was alive, I met him, talked with him, checked out what he was up to, and this wasn't one of those real things. He was an Indonesian monk. Anyone here from Indonesia, from Java? There's a few people here anyway. They're not omitting it. But anyway, this guy, he wanted to be a rushi. And I remember this story because we got a book about Rishies a few days ago. And so he went in to a very remote place in the island of Java into a jungle and he went there and sat meditation. He was a lay person, not a monk yet. And he told me, this is what he said to me. His English wasn't the best, but it it made a lot of sense. He was sitting there got very peaceful and this like star came into his mind and I love the way he said this he married that star like united with it and then when he came out of his meditation he noticed he didn't know how long don't have clocks or watches he noticed the jungle looked very different to when he first started to meditate, there'd be lots of damage to the trees and the branches and lots of leaves where they shouldn't be. But anyway, he got up and he walked to the nearest village and they were surprised because where he had sat the damage was there had been a flood for many days and he'd been underwater about four or five days. He didn't know a thing about it. He would just blissing out inside.
- Penang lady scared by her first jhānaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Penang lady (not even a Buddhist) falls into deep jhāna without knowing what it is and is so scared/obsessed she tours psychologists and psychiatrists who have no clue.…
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lady in Penang many years ago and I don't even think she was a Buddhist but no she managed to get into one of these deep meditations his jaunders and she didn't know what it was at all and it really scared her to the point that uh she was so obsessed with trying to find out what the heck this was one of the best experiences of our life so she went to so many psychologists and psychiatrists and they didn't have a clue what was happening to her and eventually that she came to see me in Penang and there she sort of I explained exactly what it was and it was wonderful to describe you know will she describe what she felt and I described a few things you missed out telling me said yes that's it she was so happy that you know somebody else had understood what she'd experienced and it was quite safe and quite beautiful
- She sat all night in the stupaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: On a Hong Kong and Indonesian retreat, a woman begins sitting on the stupa floor in the evening and is still there in the morning. Others put a blanket around her; she does not…
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this lady she started she was in the evening she started meditating on the floor of the stupa. And she just carried on all night. And then other people saw her. It was cold so they put a blanket around her. She never responded. And they know that you're meditating I describe these things to them or they knew exactly what was happening what to do. But then they came in the morning they said they shouted at her come on it's time to go for breakfast we're leaving today we've got a big ceremony first. And she didn't respond. So I told them don't call any ambulance just go back there and instead of shouting at her tell her very softly and very kindly Ajahn Brahm asked you to come to the main hall. Just once. And about half an hour later she appeared in the main hall and said you asked me to come here. I said yes. You know we've got to get ready to actually to go today. And so do you want a breakfast? She said no. Listen I said can I carry on meditating
- Sudhamma's flood jhāna and the laser eyesStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Thai princess friend (married to a man from Brahm's school) told him about Indonesian monk Sudhamma at Wat Pho: after 7–8 days in deep jhāna in the Javan jungle a flood…
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And I was talking in the retreat recently a really juicy psychic power which I never saw myself but the person who told me it I trust implicitly she was actually a Princess in the Thai Royal family a really good friend. She married a guy who went to the same school as I did so basically she started getting involved in meditation because of the western monks and she went to a meditation class every week in Wat Pho that's one of the big monasteries in Central Bangkok that's been taught by this Indonesian monk who I knew He is now dead, his name was Sudhamma he did have powers. you could actually feel that He told me about his experiences He was the one who got into a deep Jhana in the Javan Jungle and after about 7 or 8 days there was a flood he got totally submerged didn't know anything about it So he had really great powers but imagine this happening on a Saturday afternoon you feel there is something weird going on so you open your eyes and take a peak and this is what this Princess did opened her eyes to take a peak and she swore to me absolutely honestly she saw rays of light coming out of this monk into one of the people meditating Real laser eyes That's pretty cool Shall we say one of the monks here to do that we wouldn't do that because once you tell people we'll be taken off to the lab and all sorts of experiments. we'll be just like a laboratory rat from then on to the rest of our lives being experimented on But that's actually true a monk developed the laser eyes that's really cool So there are such things as psychic powers
- The meditator taken to hospital as deadStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A member of the Perth community meditates so deeply at home that his wife finds no signs of life; paramedics and hospital doctors find a flat ECG and EEG and shocks do nothing —…
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this was a person who got into such a deep meditation at home I'll tell it very briefly that his wife was concerned he died and so called the ambulance and it got taken to S Charles Garden the hospital it was on a weekend he was just an ordinary person meditating in his bedroom he was meditating for too long and his wife checked him up could find no signs of life so call the ambulance ambulance could find no signs of life so took him to Charlie Gardner's hospital where they put ECG and EEG on him both were flat the guy had died at least so the instrument said now ECG there was no heartbeat for long time EEG no brain activity the brain was not working and he was just in a meditation I told the story elsewhere so I won't elaborate on it after giving him defibrillators and many electric shocks nothing worked but eventually he came out of his meditation he just decided I've had enough now I come out just like you do and as soon as he came out of meditation both machines worked perfectly ECG and EEG started beeping in the proper way and he felt fine he just wondered what the hell he was doing in hospital he was in his bedroom and gave him a quick uh uh sort of check over the doctor nothing wrong with the guy so he actually went home he walked home and obviously didn't live that far away from s charar g Hospital in Netherlands he walked back home he was that fit but during that whole time he was perfectly alert perfectly conscious but not of his uh body or his surroundings he was deep inside so he's having a wonderful time one of the best experiences of his life
- The monk they crematedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: From the suttas: villagers find a monk meditating in the forest so still he doesn't seem to breathe. Thinking him dead, and not wanting animals to eat him, they build a funeral…
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There was this monk who was meditating in the forest and then these two villagers came past and they saw him is meditating so still they couldn't even see him breathing. They took one look at him and thought, "Oh my goodness, this venerable monk is dead." That's one of the problems there. Why monks please don't go and nuns don't go meditating in the forest by yourself in some countries because you might end up like this monk ended up there were you know devout Buddhist so they thought we can't leave this monk to be eaten by the jungle animals that's disrespectful we're in the forest anyway there's lots of wood around so they got lots of wood together and they made a funeral p And they put this venerable monk on top. They didn't know much chanting, but they did whatever chanting they knew. Wouldn't you do that for me if I was meditating family just sitting there so still in the forest? You check the pass, there's no pass or whatever. A bomb's dead. They put this mark on top of this funeral p. They lit it. And once the flames were strong enough, they realized, you know, just the job's done. Now the flames will look after the rest. And they were busy people. You know, you don't have much time in your life, do you? So many things you have to do. So having lit the fire, flames were very strong. So they went off to collect some mushrooms or whatever. And you can imagine what they felt when the following morning that monk walked in the village for his arms round. Not even his robes were charred, fully alert and alive.