Rupajhana

In Buddhism, rūpajhānas (Sanskrit: rūpadhyāna "form meditation") are successive levels of meditation in which the mind is focused on a material object: it is a word used in Pāli scriptures. Each higher level is harder to reach than the previous one. It is distinguished from arūpajhāna (Skt: arūpadhyāna "formless meditation") which is meditation focused on immaterial objects.

There are eight jhānas in total, out of which the first four are rūpajhānas. All four rūpajhānas are characterized by ekaggatā (Skt: ekāgratā) which means one-pointedness, i.e. the mind focuses singularly on the material object during meditation.

The four rūpajhānas are:

1. paṭhama-jhāna (Skt: prathamadhyāna)
2. dutiya-jhāna (Skt: dvitīyadhyāna),
3. tatiya-jhāna (Skt: tṛtīyadhyāna)
4. catuttha-jhāna (Skt: caturthadhyāna)

See right concentration.

These first four jhānas can be characterized by certain factors called jhānaṅga (Skt: dhyānāṅga) whose presence or absence in each rūpajhāna is summarized in the following table:

The jhānaṅga have the following meanings: vitakka means the noticing of the object of meditation, vicāra means the experiencing of the object, pīti means rapture, sukha means joy, ekaggatā means one-pointedness of concentration, upekkhā means equanimity.

See also

• Vipassanā
• Muraqaba

External links

• Nibbana for Everyone by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu.
• Yoga—as seen in the light of vipassana by S. N. Goenka.

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