What is the duration of Jhana?
How long the duration of each Jhana?
For instance, what is the duration of the first Jhana?
Say if I have first Jhana only for one minute, can I say I was in the first Jhana?
IMHO Jhanas can be of all different lengths. It is absolutely not standard, from one occurrence to the next. It is also not important, IMO. Also if viewed as a process from calmness to samadhi to vipassanna… it all depends on what you include. But really IMO even thinking in these terms disturbs the process - time is irrelevant. Detailed labelling is irrelevant. Letting go is the basis.
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There is a belief that those who’ve mastered the jhanas can enter and exit them at will for brief or long periods of time. In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta the Buddha goes through all 9 samadhi attainments in forward and reverse order as a demonstration of his meditative mastery.
There is also the belief that those in deep samadhi can meditate in one position for a week.
Then the Buddha said to the mendicants: “Come now, mendicants, I say to you all: ‘Conditions fall apart. Persist with diligence.’” These were the Realized One’s last words.
Then the Buddha entered the first absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he successively entered into and emerged from the third absorption, the fourth absorption, the dimension of infinite space, the dimension of infinite consciousness, the dimension of nothingness, and the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. Then he entered the cessation of perception and feeling.
Then Venerable Ānanda said to Venerable Anuruddha: “Venerable Anuruddha, has the Buddha become fully extinguished?” “No, Reverend Ānanda. He has entered the cessation of perception and feeling.”
Then the Buddha emerged from the cessation of perception and feeling and entered the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. Emerging from that, he successively entered into and emerged from the dimension of nothingness, the dimension of infinite consciousness, the dimension of infinite space, the fourth absorption, the third absorption, the second absorption, and the first absorption. Emerging from that, he successively entered into and emerged from the second absorption and the third absorption. Then he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from that the Buddha immediately became fully extinguished.
Hearing the Dhamma,
I did as she said.
For seven days I sat in one spot,
absorbed in rapture & bliss.
On the eighth, I stretched out my legs,
having burst the mass
of darkness. - Therigatha 3.2
Then at that time the Gracious One was sitting in one cross-legged posture for seven days experiencing the happiness of freedom. - SuttaCentral
Warning: Don’t try this at home, unless you’re paralyzed, but even then watch out for pressure sores.
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Those are great passages, thank you @Polarbear
@SarathW1 one thing to consider… teachers don’t agree about jhana.
Some teachers such as Pa-Auk Sayadaw emphasize jhana mastery including time requirements, i.e. something like three hours in the jhana multiple days in a row.
A teacher like Leigh Brasington would say that depth of concentration is unnecessary.
Wisdom Publications podcast did an episode with Alan Wallace about samatha. As a scholar of Theravada and Mahayana, he takes the stance that 4th jhana should be quite long – if I remember right: a week, with stopped breathing. He cites the Visuddhimagga…
An interesting, somewhat related story from Ajahn Brahm:
A lay disciple once told me how he had “fluked” a deep jhana while meditating at home. His wife thought he had died and sent for ambulance. He was rushed to hospital in a wail of loud sirens. In the emergency room, there was no heartbeat registered on the E.E.G., nor brain activity to be seen by the E.E.G. So the doctor on put defibrillators on his chest to re-activate his heart. Even though he was being bounced up and down on the hospital bed through the force of the electric shocks, he didn’t feel a thing! When he emerged from the jhana in the emergency room, perfectly all right, he had no knowledge of how he had got there, nor of ambulances and sirens, nor of body-jerking defibrillators. All that long time that he was in jhana, he was fully aware, but only of bliss. This is an example of what is meant by the five senses shutting down within the experience of jhana.
Dipa Ma was said to be able to sit in samadhi for a 2-3 days.
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The duration doesn’t define a jhana.