Jeffrey,
I was very interested in the "2nd Jhana is the Tranquility of the Mind Video"
Hello again, Luke, I am glad that you found the video of use to you.
I didn't quite understand how still is still in the 2nd Jhana.
Are there literally no-discursive thoughts at all?
When your mind becomes still it is generally such a profound experience for most people that it is unmistakable. The mind just becomes still and stays still as long as you are meditating.
However, as discussed in another of these retreat videos, Michael pointed out that there can be waves to the experience of samadi. This, in my experience, is simply the many shades of gray that are represented by the human experience of samadhi.
We are not; however, speaking of a few moments of stillness in an hour-long meditation filled with thought. We are speaking of an hour of mostly still mind that might have a few waves of momentary thought, like blips on an otherwise clear screen.
If not, and you did look at the clock how long would it be between thoughts?
Well, I do not watch the clock when I meditation, nor do I scratch the itch, or squirm about. So, if any of that is going on, then the mind is surely not still. Many so-called meditation "masters" squirm about, when they are supposedly meditating, so we can be sure those so-called meditation "masters" have mastered nothing other than how to bilk people out of their money.
When it comes to a clock in meditation for me, I used to look at the clock just as I sat down to meditate, and before closing my eyes, then upon coming out of meditation I would look at the clock again. This is how I learned about the cycles that can occur in a meditation session that goes to depth.
Is it a complete end to discursive thought i.e. you experience complete stillness.
or just
An end to "coarse excitation" i.e. the mind never looses the breath and goes off into a line of thinking but there may be small bubbly thoughts.
The breath is just an anchor for one who meditates deeply. So, one, who meditates deeply, uses a meditation object, such as the breath, as a vehicle to the 2nd stage of the religious experience (2nd jhana) only. Once the mind is stilled, then the meditation object is no longer needed. Instead the stillness of the mind becomes the new meditation object, in the same way, all of the other characteristics of the religious experience (jhana-nimitta) become the objects of meditation as one goes deeper into the religious experience (jhana & Samadhi).
However, as mentioned above waves can occur in the religious experience, so the skilled contemplative finds the meditation object a skilful means for returning to the depths of the religious experience.
You mention that the you think the sutta reference to "a watch" is two hours or maybe four hours? (by the way, do you know where in the Sutta Pitika this is, I can't find it?)
When studying Asian literature at depth one learns that their measurement of time was not like our modern-day measurement of time. Europeans did not have clocks 26 centuries ago, nor did Asians. I was in numerous debates with Pali scholars as to what "watch of the night" meant to the authors of the Pali canon. There is no definitive position on that term at this time, as far as I know. Unfortunately, I cannot at this time put my fingers upon the Pali term that is being translated as "watch of the night."
A "watch of the night" was a position that a man would take to keep watch on the village at night. So, I believe it is reasonable to consider that a "watch of the night" is anywhere between 2 and 4 hours, and possibly as long as 6-8 hours.
