The Buddha-to-be after unsuccesful attempts with two teachers then doing tough ascetic practices, remembered his jhana experience as a young boy and decided that jhana was the way to nibbana.
Question is which jhana did he experience as a boy. Very likely Jhana 1.
If so he had to discover and master Jhana 2, 3 and 4 before his awakening night.
This could have taken a bit of time.
To help the conversation I paste below the translation of the relevant passage, as found in MN36:
āI considered: āI recall that when my father the Sakyan was occupied, while I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I entered upon and abided in the first jhÄna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.
Could that be the path to enlightenment?ā
Then, following on that memory, came the realisation: āThat is indeed the path to enlightenment.ā
āI thought: āWhy am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensual pleasures and unwholesome states?ā
I thought: āI am not afraid of that pleasure since it has nothing to do with sensual pleasures and unwholesome states.ā
āI considered: āIt is not easy to attain that pleasure with a body so excessively emaciated. Suppose I ate some solid foodāsome boiled rice and porridge.ā
And I ate some solid foodāsome boiled rice and porridge. Now at that time five bhikkhus were waiting upon me, thinking: āIf our recluse Gotama achieves some higher state, he will inform us.ā
(ā¦)
āNow when I had eaten solid food and regained my strength, then quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I entered upon and abided in the first jhÄna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.
But such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain.
āWith the stilling of applied and sustained thought, I entered upon and abided in the second jhÄnaā¦
With the fading away as well of raptureā¦I entered upon and abided in the third jhÄnaā¦
With the abandoning of pleasure and painā¦I entered upon and abided in the fourth jhÄnaā¦
But such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain.
āWhen my concentrated mind was thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, I directed it to knowledge of the recollection of past lives.
I recollected my manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two birthsā¦as Sutta 4, Ā§27ā¦Thus with their aspects and particulars I recollected my manifold past lives.
āThis was the first true knowledge attained by me in the first watch of the night. (ā¦)
The Buddha already attained the 1st jhana when he was a child as per MN 36:
I considered: āI recall that when my father the Sakyan was occupied, while I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I entered upon and abided in the first jhÄna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion."
In MN 26, the Buddha already mastered both Rupa and ARupa jhanas when studying under the two masters Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. So basically He already had the tranquility components. But the other component vital to enlightenment, insight, was missing and thatās why He left the teachers to go on his own and eventually filled in the missing link by Himself.
The 1st jhanaās fingerprint was included at the end of that passage. So Iād suppose āFirstā jhana was emphasized in the English translation for clarificationā¦
ā¦which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion."
Thatās the STED (standard EBT definition) for first jhana that appears everywhere. Itās a stock phrase pericope, so however you interpret paį¹hamaį¹ jhÄnaį¹ upasampajja vihariti , it would have to mean that everywhere, which would rule out ājhana for the first timeā.
This is why I recommend people to memorize the standard formula for samma samadhi. Itās a short passsage. Once you know every word very clearly, youāll never get confused about what factors are in which jhana.
from SN 45.8
STED sammÄ-samÄdhi
STED right concentration
ākatamo ca, bhikkhave, sammÄsamÄdhi?
What **, *********, is right concentration?
STED 1st JhÄna
vivicceva kÄmehi
withdrawn (from) sensuality,
vivicca akusalehi dhammehi
withdrawn (from) unskillful qualities,
sa-vitakkaį¹ sa-vicÄraį¹
With-thinking, with-evaluation,
vivekajaį¹ pÄ«ti-sukhaį¹
withdrawal rapture-pleasure,
paį¹hamaį¹ jhÄnaį¹ upasampajja viharati.
first jhana (he) enters, dwells.
STED 2nd JhÄna
Vitakka-vicÄrÄnaį¹ vÅ«pasamÄ
Thoughts-evaluation stilling,
ajjhattaį¹ sampasÄdanaį¹
internal assurance,
cetaso ekodibhÄvaį¹
awareness unification,
a-vitakkaį¹ a-vicÄraį¹
No-Thoughts no-evaluation,
samÄdhi-jaį¹ pÄ«ti-sukhaį¹
SamÄdhi-based rapture-pleasure,
dutiyaį¹ jhÄnaį¹ upasampajja viharati.
second JhÄna (he) enters, dwells.
STED 3rd JhÄna
pÄ«tiyÄ ca virÄgÄ
Rapture ** fading,
upekkhako ca viharati
Equanimous ** (he) dwells,
sato ca sampajÄno,
mindful and alert,
sukhaƱca kÄyena paį¹isaį¹vedeti,
pleasure in-body (he) experiences,
yaį¹ taį¹ ariyÄ Äcikkhanti ā
that those Noble-Ones declare -
āupekkhako satimÄ sukhavihÄrÄ«āti
āequanimous (and) mindful (he has) pleasant abiding.ā
Thanks @santa100 and @frankk. I am aware this is the standard 1st jhÄna formula found everywhere else.
I am not however in position to say that this is the only possible translation or interpretation of what it means in this specific and unique context.
The key reason I decide to keep this understanding open for alternatives is it seems that the term paį¹hamaį¹ can mean both first and first time.
I truly look forward to learn what Bhante @Sujato has chosen to do when translating this specific passage.
I can recall that terms of doctrinal relevance can have very mundane and simpler meaning when in different and specific contexts.
I canāt recall now specific cases but I remember coming across few when translating the Bhikkhu Vibhanga from English having as well the Pali in front of me.
Last but not least, for the sake of disclaimer, I take no sides in any of the jhana debates. I am still too early in the path to say anything about this.
I donāt believe his 1st two teachers taught him the rupa jhanas.
The attainments (so-called arupa) can be attained without having to go thru the four rupas.
His remembering of his jhana experience as a boy makes no sense if he had already mastered the four jhanas with his two teachers.
Tranquility (samatha) and insight (vipassanÄ) together, not separate, form the two sides of the dhamma meditation.
In the suttas the word vipassanÄ appears very unfrequently (some 30 entries for 400+ for samatha) and when it does vipassanÄ is always associated with samatha. One cannot ādoā or āpracticeā insight (vipassanÄ) as a meditation; insight is like having an aha!-eureka moment; these moments happen outside our ādoingā when conditions are right for them to happen. Deep insights usually appear unexpectedly in daily life (Archimedes was having a bath. Newton and the apple. Most scientific discoveries are made while the scientist is not thinking about it (of course the scientist has to do the footwork before)). jhÄnas are the conditions for deep vipassanÄ (insights) to occur either while meditating or after coming out. In the suttas there is no description of āvipassanÄ meditationā. Some people today are teaching āvipassanÄ meditationā; this is not dhamma.
So the Buddha didnāt discover insight (vipassanÄ) he discovered bhavana, a combination of samatha and vipassanÄ together not separate. Jhanas and how to use them was the key discovery of the Buddha.
My post is all about how long did it take him once he remembered his first experience with jhana as a boy, to discover, develop and master the four jhanas and progressively got the insights that culminated with his awakening night?
ā¦he (Alara Kalama) taught Him (the Buddha) the seven attainments of serenity meditation ending in the base of nothingness, the third of the four immaterial attainments. Though these attainements are spiritually exalted, they are still mundane and not in themselves directly conducive to Nibbana.
In order to attain the ARupa, oneād need to attain the 4th Rupa jhana as the basis, which is frequently referred to in the suttas as the state of āimperturbableā/aninjita.
I donāt follow your logic here.
Remember that was before the āDhammaā was discovered by the Buddha. He studied under those 2 teachers BEFORE the āDhammaā was established.
I donāt think any sutta will answer this question.
What I quoted from MN36 suggests it was not an immediate thing. First the memory occurred to him, then he gained confidence it was a valuable thing to go for. To give it a try he had to revert some of the effects of the extreme austerities he was going through (he resumed eating). Only then, it seems, he was able to go through all four absorptions in a night gaining as result the threefold knowledge.
BhÄvana is a generic term for cultivation or development. It is exactly what the fourth noble truth is all about, as its ennobling task is to develop or cultivate the noble eightfold path.
What he discovered was the eightfold a path and the timeless and dependent originated awakening it brings about.
What point? What does mastering the 4 jhanas gotta do with preventing the recalling of his childhood jhana? Gnlaera provided good explanation in his post above.
You gotta remember the full context of the His recalling in MN 36: He wasnāt able to attain enlightenment even after mastering the Rupa and ARupa jhanas under His 2 teachers. Thatās why He left and tried another way: the practice of extreme severe austerities. That also didnāt work. But due to its not working, it triggered His memory about childhood. And the memory in turns lead to the realization that He gotta stop emaciating the body and start eating solid food again. Then one thing leads to another and the rest of the story youād already knew.
If you take MN36 as a reliable source for the account of the events he went all the way from jhana 1 to 4 and insights / visions in one night.
It remains an unanswerable/unsolvable/unresolvable question nevertheless if, in the period between giving up austerities, getting his body healthy and nourished again, he gradually experimented with jhanas.