The Ending of Dukkha Depends on the Jhanas

As a lay practitioner trying to piece together a solid foundation in the Buddha-dhamma, I thought I’d share an epiphany that has arisen lately.

Recently I revisited the Jhana Sutta, Anguttara 9:36. I couldn’t find a translation from Jeffrey Brooks (Jhanananda), so I printed out the versions from Thanissaro Bhikkhu (https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN9_36.html) and Bhikkhu Sujato (https://suttacentral.net/an9.36/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin).

In this teaching, the Buddha comes right out and says that the aim of the Four Noble Truths – to permanently end suffering caused by craving and clinging to the 5 Aggregates – DEPENDS on attaining and absorbing in all eight jhanas, both rupa (material) and arupa (non-material).

Than Geoff’s (Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s) opening:

I tell you, the ending of the effluents depends on the first jhana… the second jhana… the third… the fourth… the dimension of the infinitude of space… the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness… the dimension of nothingness. I tell you, the ending of the effluents depends on the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.

For each of the jhana stages it’s said:

He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form, feeling, perception, fabrications, & consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, and emptiness, not-self. He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of the deathless. “This is peace, this is exquisite – the pacification of all fabrications, the relinquishing of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion, cessations; unbinding.”

In my twice-daily meditation practice and during waking mindfulness, I’ve been watching and experiencing what Than Geoff calls “effluents,” or what Sujato calls “defilements.” For me, this is the constant bubbling up of thoughts, feelings, sensations, emotions, stories, fantasies – the churning, chaotic mass of tantalizing diversion that jumps from one thing to another, always changing, always triggering trauma, patterned reactions and behaviors. I would typically spend the first third to half of my sits attempting to really “be” with these things, to note them, categorize them, go deep with them, run them through the Three Marks (Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta), then formally let them go – before returning to the bliss, joy and ecstasy that patiently waited. Instead of engaging Samma-Samadhi, I was engaging a mental obstacle course.

The Buddha, from my recent reading, prescribed jhana as the only skillful, essential, indispensable “replacement” for the aggregates of clinging, which are impermanent, not-self and pathways to suffering. Until we have relinquished craving and clinging, he recommends repeatedly accessing self-arising bliss, joy and ecstasy. Yes, jhana is impermanent and not-self – but it does not lead to suffering (except, perhaps, a tiny, subtle bit of stress due to clinging), and is in fact a requirement for total unbinding. At the point when we’ve honestly achieved dispassion for ALL craving and clinging… it’s time to abandon the path itself.

From this, I returned to Jeffrey’s suggestion that we remember a recent successful sit at the moment we sit on the cushion. My sense is that the craving and clinging are not eliminated by virtue of becoming absorbed in jhana… but our experience of letting go becomes much more skillful and effective as absorption deepens. There’s no need to fight it out with phenomena; we’re much better off immediately replacing mundane phenomena with jhana, from the perspective of which our mind-resources are freed up to access the clarity and skill required for true relinquishment.

This teaching answers the question I’ve been carrying around lately: How much work must I do to let go of my craving and clinging for the elements of the 5 Aggregates? The Buddha is clearly answering that we can simply recognize how all phenomena are detrimental and toxic, then just head into deeper and deeper jhana states – and from there, really let go of arising phenomena.