Jhana Consciousness by Paul Dennison

Author:Paul Dennison [Dennison, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2022-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

9. THE SECOND ARŪPA JHĀNA: INFINITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The initial experience of the first arūpa can be as momentous a moment for a meditator as that of the first rūpa jhāna. To experience infinite space, with absolutely nothing to distinguish as an object and with a complete absence of subjectivity, is to discover a new freedom from even the most subtle dependence on form that remains in the fourth rūpa jhāna. This quality of freedom is a distinctive experience in the arūpa jhānas that distinguishes them from those of the fine-material realm.

At the same time, since the meditator is fully aware during the experience—that is, fully conscious—it is known intuitively that to simply interpret the experience as a disappearance of subjectivity is too crude or simplistic, rooted in the habits of labeling and perception within sensory consciousness. This realization is expressed beautifully by Lama Anagarika Govinda in his Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism:

In the moment in which a being becomes conscious of his consciousness, he becomes conscious of space. In the moment in which he becomes conscious of the infinity of space, he realizes the infinity of consciousness.[1]

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