Welcome Soren, and thank-you for posting your case history for us.
I have not been meditating for any considerable amount of time worth mentioning, and I don't have the attainment of some of the more notable people on this website.
Nonetheless, your case history indicates that you have found some success in meditation, which few, if any, of the famous meditation teachers seem to have any experience with, because their record does not record the phenomena that you or anyone else on this forum has reported.
Over the past few weeks after finding this website I have tried to surrender more in my meditation practice and I am relatively certain I have been entered the first jhana a few times.
Surrendering, relaxing, or letting go during meditation practice is one of the important keys to success in meditation, so it is good that you have learned to relax, surrender and let go when meditating.
Every time that I experience "success" it happens in the same way. I begin by directing my attention to my breath. I used to try to pay attention to the sensations at the tip of the nose, but this never worked well for me. Whenever I would focus on a sensation of breath near my head I would get distracted by energy in the back of my head and the feeling of my heartbeat in my head. I tried paying attention to my diaphragm then, but I found it best if I gave up paying attention to any specific body part or sensation and just focused on "breath" as a whole. What this means is that I basically pay attention to the subtle rise and fall of my whole body (I can feel this near the shoulders).
From my experience with using many different meditation techniques, and my case histories with many contemplatives who have found the religious experience, it is really not important how one meditates or what technique one uses, as long as one learns to relax deeply and move toward stilling the mind in meditation. Finding a meditation object helps. Following the breath helps, but it does not matter what part of the breathing process one uses. Finding "energy" (virya) is the important part, which shows your method worked for you. Energy (virya) is a charism and it is experienced in many different ways by successful contemplatives, but most of them describe it using many terms, but most often "energy" is one of those terms.
After a few minutes of this I shift my focus to the tinnitus in my ears, and when I do this it seems natural for my attention to rest in my head. It seems like this is where the sound is coming from and so my attention naturally rests near this sound. Because the sound and the feeling of my head are "still" sensations at this point my mind has quieted down. I think maybe because our senses of sight and hearing are near our head we often feel like this is where the sound of our thoughts is located. The head feels like a natural location for my mind, and so once my mind has stilled it seems natural to let my attention rest there.
For lack of a better term 'tinnitus' is often employed by the contemplative in describing the charismatic sounds that they hear in meditation. However, we know that it is not tinnitus, because the sound occurs as the product of meditation, not due to hearing damage. And, those sounds increase during meditation, whereas tinnitus does not change due to the practice of meditation.
The fact that you have found charismatic sounds in meditation suggests that you are meditating deeper than the first jhana. When we come to meditating deeply we start looking for information about the experiences we have in deeper mediation, and we look to the authorities and the translations of our religious literature. Unfortunately, we find the so-called authorities are clueless, and the in most cases the translations of our religious literature are hopelessly corrupted. So, we go looking for someone who can give us a context for your religious/meditation experience, but all we can find is some guy who has been marginalized by the teachers and priests of our religion.
If the "feeling" of your head are "still" sensations at this point in your meditation and your mind has "quieted down," then by definition you have arrived at the second jhana, because the second jhana is defined by tranquility, which is another way of saying the mind is now still.
After some minutes of this I start to feel an energy sensation that doesn't necessarily originate in the same spot every time. Just yesterday I was sitting cross legged and it seemed to begin in my legs. I've never felt any sensations along the spine, and throughout my whole life I have rarely been aware of my spine (as opposed to other body parts) - so I am not sure if this is kundalini.
Indic literature originally used the term 'virya') or variants upon that term for the energy that skillful contemplatives experience in meditation. The term 'virya' is related to the English term 'virtue.' Virtue in old religious literature is used in much the same way as virya was used in ancient Indic literature to describe a energy-like substance that one gains from leading a contemplative life. The term 'kundalini' is now used in Indic literature for the same phenomena.
There is also an experience in which the energy seems to leap up the spine powerfully. This is related to energy, or virtue (virya), but is a subclass of the experience of energy. The experience of this powerful energy tends to come at the 4th jhana, and will propel one into the immaterial attainments.
Other times I have felt it originate in my chest (the heart chakra?). The energy that I experiences seems to "tickle" me and produce happiness (this is a bad analogy). It feels like I am "bathing in endorphins." I oftentimes want to (or actually) start laughing aloud with glee. I think that is the best way to describe this sensation: glee. It makes me want to grin like an idiot.
Interestingly enough, this "glee" seems to exist as an actual object that is out of my body and slightly in front of my head to my chest.
The chakra system came late to Indic literature. It is mentioned in the suttas and the Yoga sutras, but it does not appear there as a 7 chakra system, which comes sometime later.
The opening of the heart chakra has been described by a number of mystics. I think Teresa of Avila described it best, in which one feels as if the chest is cleaved open, lay bare and filled with bliss, or as you put it 'glee.' This bliss is what compels the mystic to go back, over and over, to meditate to the depth necessary to experience it, and they do not care if they are marginalized by the religious or secular authorities. Many mystics were martyred for this experience, and they happily danced to the gallows for the bliss.
Bliss, in the Pali suttas is called 'piti.' Piti is a factor of enlightenment, and the salient description of the jhanas. Such that, if there is no bliss (piiti), then there is no jhana.
I am aware that Jhananda believes 'vitakka' and 'vicara' are better translated as concentration. I have to agree with him that the concentration technique brought me there, but I sort of disagree with him when he says that the first jhana can't be entered with thought. When I am having this glee I am still thinking thoughts like "I am in the first jhana." It seems to me like the thought isn't applied in the first jhana, but it still is there as "extra baggage." I find that my thoughts aren't where my focus lies though, because our minds naturally want to pay attention to the most interesting thing and pleasure is way more interesting than my thoughts.
It is not that thoughts do not exist at the first jhana, it is that no amount of thinking produces jhana. This is the point I am trying to make about recognizing that if the second jhana is defined by 'vitakka' and 'vicara' then they cannot at all be about applied and sustained "thinking," because applied and sustained thinking cannot lead to anything but too much thinking. Since the suttas use 'vitakka' and 'vicara' for defining the first jhana, then it cannot at all be about applied and sustained thinking; whereas, applied and sustained concentration does lead to the religious/meditation experience.
After this energy tampers down a little I start to experience the same "type" of energy from the top of my head and it seems to be directed downwards.
There are a lot of people who claim the energy goes top down, but they do not realize that what they are experiencing is the opening of the 7th chakra, as well as becoming aware of energy (virya) throughout their body just prior to the explosion of the kundalini proper, which is bottom up.
However, it stops having the ecstatic component, and it seems to be spinning so it produces a type of vertigo. I have tried holding on for minutes after but I have never had a "second wall" of energy come. I get up and for the rest of the day I experience a foreign type of relaxation and calmness. It doesn't feel like relaxation borne of lying on a comfortable surface, or any sensation for that matter. It seems to, like the energy, exist as something that isn't a part of "me."
The vertigo is just another charism, which is called "Euphoria" in Christian contemplative literature. As you spend more time meditating beyond this point you are likely to experience the "wall of light and energy" which is a characteristic of the kundalini rush expderience. This suggests that you have arrived at the 4th jhana.
Here is my theory on jhana so far; however, as a very important disclaimer I need to say again that I think I have only experienced the first jhana, and so my "theory" is mostly being offered to clear up any possible misconceptions. Because in the first jhana I began to experience glee, and this glee is more interesting than my thoughts, then with enough practice I will have had enough time of "not finding my thoughts interesting." Because they won't be fed any attention or interest they will naturally fall away, and on this falling away 'vitakka' and 'vicara' will disappear so I will enter the second jhana. Then after enough time with only glee and the other jhana factors (and no thoughts), I will start to find this excited feeling less interesting than the subtle feeling of bliss. The glee will fade away and I will enter the third jhana. Then I will start to find the very nature of sensations uninteresting, so pleasure and pain will fade and I will enter the fourth jhana.
I think that my uncertainty and my doubt is holding me back. I am still not even sure how I should attempt to pay attention to my breath, or if it is okay to jump around from my breath to the ringing in my ears to my head etc. So please feel free to correct me as well as offer advice on how I should best be meditating to cultivate this energy. The only reason I am uncertain is because it seems like almost nobody else is experiencing jhana. Most people who meditate just say that they sometimes have a "really concentrated and deep experience." If so few are experiencing jhana then I am skeptical of the instruction that exists out there. I am also only sporadically experiencing what I believe to be jhana, but that is probably because I am just beginning. Anyways, thanks in advance to anyone who read through this post.
-Soren.
Your uncertainty is based upon believing that they highly respect and well published meditation teachers and priests of Buddhism know what they are talking about. But, they are all frauds. If you spend enough time with these experiences in meditation you will realize more and more that I am right. Good work, keep meditating, and don't let it go to your head. Keep humble.
