It appears that all Jhana factors (Vitakka, Vicara, Pithi, sukaha and Ekagata) are appeared in first Jhana. How this is possible?
Are momentary (khanika), neighborhood (upacaara) Samadhi experienced before the first jhana?
Just yesterday I happened to read this where Ajahn Brahm answers the following question:
Btw the full transcript of the talk itself can be found here.
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ekaggata is not a 1st jhana factor
secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation.
for instance AN 9.36
and incidentally this sutta seems to suggest that the 1st jhana suffices for arahantship
I tell you, the ending of the mental fermentations depends on the first jhana.
and after all the jhana of his childhood experience the Buddha recalled under the Bodhi tree was the 1st one, this of course doesn’t mean that in the process of awakening he didn’t progress up to the 4th jhana but in the light of this sutta it would have been unnecessary
from this sutta it’s also to be inferred that unless they attain arahantship a jhana practitioner is destined for non-return
Staying right there, he reaches the ending of the mental fermentations. Or, if not, then—through this very dhamma-passion, this very dhamma-delight, and from the total wasting away of the first five of the fetters—he is due to be reborn [in the Pure Abodes], there to be totally unbound, never again to return from that world.
if the noble level immediately associated with jhana is non-returner, it means, just as Ven Analayo concluded, that all preceding noble levels don’t necessitate jhana
This is a off topic but can you give me the Sutta reference.
i gave it just under the quotation - AN 9.36
It appears that all Jhana factors (Vitakka, Vicara, Pithi, sukaha and Ekagata) are appeared in first Jhana. How this is possible?
But that is, what the Sutta tells us. There is even more 
.
Ye ca paṭhame jhāne dhammā vitakko ca vicāro ca pīti ca sukhañca cittekaggatā ca, phasso vedanā saññā cetanā cittaṃ chando adhimokkho vīriyaṃ sati upekkhā manasikāro
That is in MN111, Anupada Sutta.
Thanks Micro .
This is the translation from the Sutta.
"There was the case where Sariputta — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Whatever qualities there are in the first jhana — directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness,[2] desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention — he ferreted them out one after another. Known to him they arose, known to him they remained, known to him they subsided. He discerned, ‘So this is how these qualities, not having been, come into play. Having been, they vanish.’ He remained unattracted & unrepelled with regard to those qualities, independent, detached, released, dissociated, with an awareness rid of barriers. He discerned that ‘There is a further escape,’ and pursuing it there really was for him.
he ferreted them out one after another
Can I say this momentary (khanika)
Thank you this is very helpful.
As I recall, Ajahns Sujato and Brahmali did a workshop a while back where they pointed out how MN 111 failed 6 out of 7 tests for authenticity. Leigh Brasington on his site comments:
MN 74 & MN 111
How many times can someone become fully enlightened? Well, there are two Very different stories of Sariputta’s full enlightenment! MN 111 certainly has a much more abhidhammic flavor and is one of only 3 suttas where the first jhana is said to have one-pointedness as a factor - actually MN 111 indicates that the first jhana has 4 factors, then shortly thereafter indicates it has many more factors, including one-pointedness.
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The way I understand every time we pay attention to an object there is one-pointedness.
So first Jhana should have the one-pointedness even for a shorter time.
[quote=“Leigh Brasington, post:11, topic:3325”]
…MN 111…is one of only 3 suttas where the first jhana is said to have one-pointedness as a factor - actually MN 111 indicates that the first jhana has 4 factors, then shortly thereafter indicates it has many more factors, including one-pointedness…[/quote]
To me, the idea above is not a strong argument because because it is arguing there is no mindfulness (sati), energy (viriya) or chanda (zeal) in jhana, which are some of the additional factors listed in MN 111. Various suttas & sets of dhammas (such as the iddhipada) clearly state mindfulness, energy & zeal (as iddhipada) contribute to jhana thus they must be factors of jhana.
Regardless of the authenticity of MN 111, the standard jhana formulas only list those jhana factors that are exclusive to the respective jhanas. They do not list those factors that are common to each & every jhana.
As for one-pointedness, it has been shown from MN 19, SN 48.10, MN 117, etc, that ekaggata is a prerequisite to jhana.
From a neurological point of view, jhāna factors correspond to different neurotransmitters that must be generated in the course of meditation.
Dimethyltryptamine is responsible for the nimittas. At a low concentration level gray effect is moving clouds. Increasing concentration and fractals difererentes colors appear motionless, fixed.
Once in this state, it is passed to generate dopamine, which corresponds to factor piti jhanic or pleasure. Then it must generate serotonin corresponding to happiness or sukkha factor.
Here there is a discrepancy between practice and texts.
It is essential to generate joy, which translates into laughter, from the generation of the endocannabinoid anandamide.
Four minutes with this effect produce endorphins, needed later.
Now, gathering all generated neurotransmitters they are activated through strong generation of epinephrine that would be the equivalent of unification.
Finally, when mental stress is high, it is immediately passed to produce the opioid enkephalin causing the jhāna.
It can remain in that state from five to fifteen minutes as decreed.
Then, the surface, the effect lasts several hours, which, with continued practice makes the effect becoming chronic
Achieving each of these neurotransmitters is very easy strictly following the section of the breath of attention
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why do you think ekodibhāva is only first mentioned in the 2nd jhana? or are ekaggata and ekodibhāva refer to different mind qualities?
I guess they must be since many suttas describe the Buddha developing ekaggata to attain the 1st jhana. Personally, I am not fluent in the linguistics.
@tommit, I would love to have your sources for the information in your post. Very interesting stuff! 
Basically my own research.
This is the first time I publish in English.
I have developed a very effective method that the first jhāna is achieved in 80% of cases in non-meditators users in six sessions.
In meditators I have detected a disabling inability I do not know its origin and is related to their inability to follow simple instructions and tend not to stay focused.
This point is already mentioned in the suttas. The Buddha himself does not give the solution. No, if any. I am now investigated it.
There is very little published, but there is an interesting article on this subject was published in PUBMED the National Institute of Health.
Case Study of Ecstatic Meditation: fMRI and EEG Evidence of Self-Stimulating a Reward System
Michael R. Hagerty 1 Julian Isaacs, 2 Leigh Brasington, 3 Larry Shupe, 4 Eberhard E. Fetz 5 and Steven C. Cramer6
1 University of California, Davis and Wellspringlnstitute, Davis, CA 95616, USA
2 Wellspring Institute, San Rafael, CA 94903, USA
3 Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Barre, MA 01005, USA
4 University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Physiology & Biophysics 5, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
6 Department of Neurology and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA Correspondence Should be addressed to Michael R. Hagerty; mrhagerty@ucdavis.edu
Received 26 February 2013; Accepted 3 April 2013 Academic Editor: Alessandro Out
Copyright © 2013 Michael R. Hagerty et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, Which Permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is the Properly cited.
We report the first neural recording During ecstatic meditations called jhanas and test Whether a brain reward system plays a role in the joy Reported. Jhanas are Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) That imply major brain Changes based on Subjective reports: (1) external dims awareness, (2) internal fade verbalizations, (3) the sense of personnel boundaries is altered, (4) attention is highly focused on the object of meditation, and (5) Increases joy to high levels. The fMRI and EEG results from an experienced meditator show Changes in activity in 11 brain regions shown to be Associated With The Subjective reports, and Changes Occur These promptly after jhana is entered. In particularly, the extreme joy is not only Associated With activation of cortical Processes But Also With activation of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the dopamine / opioid reward system. We test three Mechanisms by Which the subject Might Stimulate His own reward system by external Means and reject all three. Taken together, These results Demonstrate an novel method of self Apparently-stimulating brain reward system to using only internal Mental Processes in a highly trained subject.
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would you be able to share the technique? and are such people capable of evoking this experience later on at will?
could you give some citations?
Currently they are only open clinical studies for experienced meditators where I have encountered this problem. The objective is to locate the problem and try to solve it.
Post a faster method to achieve jhanas it does not work in expert meditators not make much sense.
If you want to be a beta tester I send you the conditions and Privacy Statement.
The sessions are recorded for study and dissemination, for loque specific authorizations are required.
The investigation will be published within a broader set of ASC and SSC in the context of a trial of three volumes. Only in Spanish, until my scientific editor, review everything finished.
I thought the Nimittas (the light) are a production of pineal gland or third eye.
Back to the topic.