from Ven. Thanissaro:
agga is a meeting place
The second cluster of meanings for agga centers on the idea of “meeting place.” A hall where monks gather for the uposatha, for example, is called an uposath’agga. The spot where they gather for their meals is called a bhatt’agga.
Given that the object of concentration is said to be a dwelling (vihāra), and that a person enters and dwells (viharati) in the levels of jhāna, this second cluster of meanings may be the more relevant one here. A mind with a single agga, in this case, would simply be a mind gathered around one object, and need not be reduced to a single point.
B. An even more telling way to determine the meanings of ek’agga and ek’aggatā is, instead of dividing these words into their roots, to look at the ways in which the Canon uses them to describe minds.
1. Two passages, one from the Vinaya and one from a sutta, show what ek’agga means in the everyday context of listening to the Dhamma.
Mv.II.3.4 “We listen with an ek’agga mind, an unscattered...
In Mv.II.3.4, the phrase, “we pay attention,” in the instructions for how to listen to the Pāṭimokkha, is defined as: “We listen with an ek’agga mind, an unscattered mind, an undistracted mind.” Even if ek’agga were translated as “one-pointed” here, the “point” is obviously not so restricted as to make the ears fall silent. Otherwise, we would not be able to hear the Pāṭimokkha at all. And the fact that the mind is ek’agga doesn’t mean that we can’t also hear other sounds aside from the Pāṭimokkha. It’s just that those sounds don’t make the mind lose its focus on a single theme.
AN 5:151 with ek'agga mind one can listen and think
In AN 5:151, the Buddha lists five qualities that enable one, when listening to the true Dhamma, to “alight on assuredness, on the rightness of skillful qualities.” The five qualities are:
“One doesn’t hold the talk in contempt.
“One doesn’t hold the speaker in contempt.
“One doesn’t hold oneself in contempt.
“One listens to the Dhamma with an unscattered mind, an ek’agga mind.
“One attends appropriately.”
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Because appropriate attention means to contemplate experiences in terms of the four noble truths (see MN 2), this passage shows that when the mind is ek’agga, it’s not only able to hear. It can also think at the same time. If it couldn’t hear or think, it couldn’t make sense of the Dhamma talk. So again, even if we translate ek’agga as “one-pointed,” the one-pointed mind is not so pointy that it cannot think or hear sounds. This would defeat the purpose of listening to the Dhamma and would get in the way of “alighting on assuredness.”
(end of Ven. T excerpt, back to Frank commenting:)
note that ekodi-bhava and ekaggata don't appear in first jhana!
vivicc’eva kāmehi
Quite-withdrawn (from) sensuality, |
vivicca a-kusalehi dhammehi |
withdrawn (from) un-skillful Dhamma [teachings & qualities], |
sa-vitakkaṃ sa-vicāraṃ |
With-directed-thought, with-evaluation, |
vivekajaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ |
withdrawal-born rapture-&pleasure, |
paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati. |
first Jhāna (he) enters, dwells. |
they make their grand entrance in second jhana
Vitakka-vicārānaṃ vūpasamā |
(with) directed-thoughts-(and)-evaluation subsiding, |
ajjhattaṃ sampasādanaṃ |
internal assurance, |
cetaso ekodi-bhāvaṃ |
mind has-become-singular, |
a-vitakkaṃ a-vicāraṃ |
No-directed-Thought, no-evaluation, |
samādhi-jaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ |
undistractable-lucidity—born rapture-&pleasure, |
dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati. |
second Jhāna (he) enters, dwells. |
In practice, I’ve found that really the only variables you can control when you try to get into the deepest jhana you’re capable of, is relaxing the body, relaxing the mind (kaya-passadhi, citta-passaddhi = passadhi sambojjahnga, pacification-awakening-factor).
That all, just deeply relax, don’t think, but be alert and don’t fall asleep. Once you practiced a lot, and know how to do it, it’s instant on second jhana. It doesn’t mean you’ll be hit with orgasmic bliss, but your body will feel an internal force that pervades everywhere instantly, like a balloon inflating. If you still have some subtle thoughts, wispy thought lingering, you’ll still feel maybe 60-90% of the force of second jhana. First jhana is fuzzy, there’s no objective way to quantitatively say exactly where first jhana borders non-jhana.
The reason I’m so passionate about getting the definition of V&V correct, having practiced for 10 years following a VRJ system (vism. redefinition of jhana), and several decades practicing Ajahn Lee’s (and V.Thanissaro method), if you get the wrong ideas about V&V, it can really hurt your self confidence and ability to get first jhana.
Anyone can get a moment of first jhana. If you can sleep, you can do kaya-passaddhi (body pacification). If you can laugh at a joke, have a deep inner smile in appreciation of an inspiring Dhamma talk, get goose bumps and electric currents of thrill and pleasure from listening to mozart, a great Dhamma talk, you are wired and capable of getting a moment of first jhana.
But if you believe in VRJ’s redefined jhana system, where V&V has been repurposed into a samatha kung fu exercise, generating a visual nimitta and keeping the mind glued to the nimitta, and you think that even the subtlest thought of “am I in jhana” means you’re not in jhana, this is going be a totally unnecessary hindrance and obstable for most people. Jhana is hard enough as it is, that last thing you need is a nagging worry that the mind has to be absolutely free of any subtle thought to qualify as first jhana. That worry is just going to cause more physical and mental tension that blocks first jhana. I’ve seen too many people who can do first jhana give up, thinking they don’t have parami or capacity to do it.