I don't think (hard)jhana is needed to attain nibbana

[Thito]

Metta is actually referring to jhanas, see my post here.

The Role of Blissful States in Buddhist Meditation

I recently read this book The Role of Blissful States in Buddhist Meditation. In that book the author attempts to construct what meditation looked like before and after the time of the Buddha. He draws on the Vedas, Upanishads, Buddhist, and Jain texts. One of the interesting things he mentions is how the Buddha was unique (at that time) in describing blissful states as part of meditation (like piti when talking about jhana). This got me thinking about the role of blissful states in Buddhist…