Jhana

Jhana
is a meditative state of profound stillness and concentration in which
the mind becomes fully immersed and absorbed in the chosen object of
attention. It is the cornerstone in the development of Right
Concentration.

The definition (with similes)

[First jhana]

“There
is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn
from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhana:
rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed
thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills
this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There
is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born
from withdrawal.

“Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman’s
apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it
together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of
bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without —
would nevertheless not drip; even so, the monk permeates, suffuses and
fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of withdrawal.
There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure
born from withdrawal…

[Second jhana]

“Furthermore, with
the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations, he enters and remains
in the second jhana: rapture and pleasure born of composure,
unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation —
internal assurance. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this
very body with the rapture and pleasure born of composure. There is
nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born of
composure.

“Just like a lake with spring-water welling up from
within, having no inflow from east, west, north, or south, and with the
skies periodically supplying abundant showers, so that the cool fount of
water welling up from within the lake would permeate and pervade,
suffuse and fill it with cool waters, there being no part of the lake
unpervaded by the cool waters; even so, the monk permeates and pervades,
suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of
composure. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture
and pleasure born of composure…

[Third jhana]

“And
furthermore, with the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful,
and alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters and remains in
the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, ‘Equanimous and
mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.’ He permeates and pervades, suffuses
and fills this very body with the pleasure divested of rapture, so that
there is nothing of his entire body unpervaded with pleasure divested
of rapture.

“Just as in a blue-, white-, or red-lotus pond, there
may be some of the blue, white, or red lotuses which, born and growing
in the water, stay immersed in the water and flourish without standing
up out of the water, so that they are permeated and pervaded, suffused
and filled with cool water from their roots to their tips, and nothing
of those blue, white, or red lotuses would be unpervaded with cool
water; even so, the monk permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this
very body with the pleasure divested of rapture. There is nothing of
his entire body unpervaded with pleasure divested of rapture…

[Fourth jhana]

“And
furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure and stress — as with the
earlier disappearance of elation and distress — he enters and remains in
the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity and mindfulness,
neither-pleasure-nor-pain. He sits, permeating the body with a pure,
bright awareness, so that there is nothing of his entire body unpervaded
by pure, bright awareness.