Jhana and Wisdom

Deep samādhi offers an experience of true silence, a profound inner solitude. It frees the mind from the inane babble of thoughts, from the tyranny of chattering opinions. True insight does not arise from reasoning. Certainly, pondering Dhamma by mulling it over in the rock-polishing tumbler of disciplined thought can pave the way to insight with smooth stones, but the pondering eventually becomes an obstacle in itself. The thinking mind is not wisdom. The intellect is incapable of directly experiencing reality. It has already been tainted by our basic views of the world. Because our thoughts, views and perceptions so fundamentally shape our reality, it requires a radically different experience to challenge them and shake the unenlightened mind awake. One of the challenges for the highly educated meditator is to renounce indulging in or identifying with fascinating thoughts. It requires a willingness to be simple-minded, as utterly still and quiet as a breezeless mountaintop with no one there.

The more refined the samādhi becomes, the more subtle and deep are the attachments that we discover that craving and clinging that prevents us from experiencing an even more profound peace and happiness. Without developing meditation it is very difficult to see the defiled motivations and assumptions that usually dictate how we live our lives, and without developing jhāna it may well be impossible to have insight into the most subtle attachments which block enlightenment. Through uncovering, then investigating and finally overcoming the obstacles to peace of mind, we learn much about ourselves as samādhi deepens and becomes increasingly lofty.

This reflection by Ajahn Chandako is from A Honed and Heavy Axe.