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I think that we over think the jhanas because there is a lot of conflicting things said and written about them and we are trying to harmonize them. I think we also want to understand how they fit into the practice better.
For instance, want is their role on and off the cushion? Are they just to make us serene or will we acquire insight from them, at least at the deepest stages? There are also different lists that provide different stages you go through to get to the final stage which differs depending on the list you look at. And lastly, what is the procedure to get there?
I think you can arrive at very different conflicting ideas about the jhanas and all of them can be justified by the canon. I think this is a thread all in itself which may have been done already.
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