text:
Did the Buddha say anything about bullying?
Did the Buddha say anything about bullying, turning others against you out of boredom, malice, unconcern for their well being, stuff like that? How does it differ from e.g, "harsh speech": is it still karmically bad, if it's all cloak and daggers?
I mean for me, you really have to treat the well being of others as an end in itself, if you want to be "ethical". I don't think I just mean intrinsically valuable, a moral good, but intrinsically valuable independent of any other goals you have. In which case you can't sacrifice the wellness of someone for something else.

There is this story about a bhikkhu killing a swan in the commentary to dhp393;

Once there was a bhikkhu who was very skilful in throwing stones; he could even hit fast-moving objects without fail. One day, while sitting with another bhikkhu after having their bath in the Aciravati River, he saw two swans flying at some distance. He told his friend that he would get one of the swans by throwing a stone at it. At that instant, the swan, hearing voices, turned its neck and the bhikkhu threw a pebble at the bird. The pebble went through one eye and came out of the other eye of the bird. The bird cried out in pain and agony and dropped dead at the feet of the young bhikkhu.
Other bhikkhus seeing the incident took the young bhikkhu to the Buddha. The Buddha reprimanded him and said, "My son, why have you killed this bird? Why especially you, a member of my Order, who should be practising loving-kindness to all beings and who should be striving ardently for liberation from the round of rebirths? Even during the period outside the Teaching, the wise practised morality and observed the precepts. A bhikkhu must have control over his hands, his feet and his tongue." https://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=362

I recall hearing or reading another story about a person from a low caste being abused, iirc people were throwing stones at a guy for no particular reason other than him being from the bad caste and the Tathagatha intervened by placing himself inbetween the abusers and the abused. Unfortunely i can't remember the origin and couldn't find it. Perhaps someone else will post it, i guess it's also from the Dhp commentary.

I'm interested in that story as well. Hopefully it can be located.

So some other Dhp verses with commentary with stone-throwing include 72 (which kills a paccekabuddha) and 173 (which kills Thera Angulimala); but I didn't see the one you mentioned, in the Dhp.

Verse 197 has him putting himself between two parties of warring kinfolk; but their quarrel was about water.

Thanks @ChrisW.

Everybody, included outsider laymen and animals,  must be effected by 10 Akusalakammapatha and 10 Kusalakamapatha. There are many explaination such as in DN 1,2:

"Abandoning false speech, he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world. This, too, is part of his virtue.
"Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord. This, too, is part of his virtue.
"Abandoning abusive speech, he abstains from abusive speech. He speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing and pleasing to people at large. This, too, is part of his virtue.
"Abandoning idle chatter, he abstains from idle chatter. He speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, and the Vinaya. He speaks words worth treasuring, seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, connected with the goal. This, too, is part of his virtue.

For the techniques in MN Araṇavibhaṅgasuttaṃ (I cut some part here, it is better to recite whole Sutta and find the word linking yourself every day a year. It's going to appear clearer and clearer):

It was said, do not tell secrets, do not express destruction of
desires in the face. Why was it said so? There bhikkhus, if you know
of some secret, which did not happen, is not true, not conducive to
good, if possible do not tell that secret. If you know of some secret
which happened, is true and is not conducive to good, train not to
tell it. If you know of some secret which happened, is true and is
conducive to good, know the right time to tell it. There, bhikkhus, if
you know of some destruction of desires that did not happen, is not
true, not conducive to good, if possible do not tell that destruction
of desires in the face. If you know of some destruction of desires
that happened, is true and is not conducive to good, train not to tell
it. in the face. If you know of some destruction of desires that
happened, is true and is conducive to good, know the right time to
tell it. in the face. If it was said, do not tell secrets, do not
express destruction of desires in the face, it was said on account of
this.
It was said, do not express words hastily, speak leisurely. Why was it
said so? Bhikkhus, the one speaking hastily, fatigues the body,
disturbs the mind and voice, the throat gets sore, and the words not
well enunciated, are not well understood. The one speaking leisurely,
does not, fatigue the body, disturb the mind and voice, the throat
does not get sore, and the well enunciated words, are well understood
If it was said do not express words hastily, speak leisurely. it was
said on account of this.
It was said, do not insist for local expressions and do not over ride
the popular usage. Why was it said so? Bhikkhus, how is there
insistence for local expressions and how is the popular usage over
ridden? Bhikkhus, in a certain state the bowl is known as Pātīti, in
another Pattaṃ, in another Vitthaṃ, in another Sarāvaṇ, in another
Dhāropan, in another Poṇan, and Pisīlan in yet another. By whatever
name it is known in that and other state, it is taken as the highest
truth and all else is not the truth. This is insisting for local
expressions and over riding the popular usage. Bhikkhus, how is there
no insistence for local expession and no over riding of popular usage?
Bhikkhus, in a certain state the bowl is known as Pātīti, in another
Pattaṃ, in another Vitthaṃ, in another Sarāvaṇ, in another Dhāropan,
in another Poṇan, and Pisīlan in yet another. By whatever name it is
known in that and other state, the venerable one knows, it is the bowl
that is known, and thinks nothing more about it. Thus there is no
insistence for local expession and no over riding of popular usage. If
it was said, do not insist for local expressions and do not over ride
the popular usage. it was said on account of this.
Therefore bhikkhus, ‘He that finds pleasantness in rebirth, yoked to
low, vile, useless not noble pleasures, is with, unpleasantness,
troubles, fever, lament and is in the wrong method’, this thing is
with a refuge Therefore bhikkhus, ‘He that does not find pleasantness
in rebirth, unyoked from low, vile, useless not noble pleasures is
without, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is in the right
method,’ this thing is without a refuge. Therefore bhikkhus, Yoked to
the not noble useless torturing of the self, one is with,
unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is in the wrong method,’
this thing is with a refuge. Therefore bhikkhus, ‘Unyoked from the not
noble useless torturing of the self, one is without, unpleasantness,
troubles, fever, lament and is in the right method,’ this thing is
without a refuge. Therefore bhikkhus, the Thus Gone One has
realizedthe middle path, which is conducive to wisdom, peace,
knowledge, enlightenment and extinction. it is without,
unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is in the right method.
‘this thing is without a refuge. Therefore bhikkhus, praising and
blaming and not giving the Teaching. is with, unpleasantness,
troubles, fever, lament and is in the wrong method’, this thing is
with a refugeTherefore bhikkhus, without praising and blaming giving
the Teaching. is without unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and
is in theright method’, this thing is without a refuge. Therefore
bhikkhus, sense pleasures, vile pleasures of the not noble ordinary
man is with, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is in the
wrong method,’ this thing is with a refuge. Therefore bhikkhus, non
sensual pleasure, the pleasure of seclusion, appeasement and
enlightenment. is without, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and
is in the right method. ‘this thing is without a refuge. Bhikkhus,
that secret, which did not happen, is not true, not conducive to good,
is with, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is in the wrong
method’, this thing is with a refuge. Bhikkhus, that secret which
happened, is true and is not conducive to good is with,
unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is in the wrong method’,
this thing is with a refuge Bhikkhus, that secret which happened, is
true and is conducive to good, is without, unpleasantness, troubles,
fever, lament and is in the right method’, this thing is without a
refuge There, bhikkhus, the destruction of desires that did not
happen, is not true, not conducive to good, told in the face. is with,
unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is the wrong method’, this
thing is with a refuge There, bhikkhus, the destruction of desires
that happened, is true and is not conducive to good, told in the face.
is with, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament is the wrong method’,
this thing is with a refuge. There, bhikkhus, thedestruction of
desires that happened, is true and is conducive to good, ṭold in the
face. is without, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is the
right method’, this thing is without a refuge. There, bhikkhus,
insisting for local expressions and over riding the popular usage. is
with, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is the wrong
method’, this thing is with a refuge. There, bhikkhus, not insisting
for local expressions and not over riding the popular usage. is
without, unpleasantness, troubles, fever, lament and is the right
method’, this thing is without a refuge.
Therefore, bhikkhus, we should train knowing the things with a refuge
and without a refuge. The clansman Subhūti has fallen to the methd of
things without a refuge.”

The Buddha taught kids to not bully and harm a snake. And that applies to all in general.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near
Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. And on that
occasion, a large number of boys on the road between Sāvatthī & Jeta's
Grove were hitting a snake with a stick. Then early in the morning the
Blessed One adjusted his under robe and — carrying his bowl & robes —
went into Sāvatthī for alms. He saw the large number of boys on the
road between Sāvatthī & Jeta's Grove hitting the snake with a stick.
Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that
occasion exclaimed:
Whoever hits with a stick
beings desiring ease,
when he himself is looking for ease,
will meet with no ease after death.
Whoever doesn't hit with a stick
beings desiring ease,
when he himself is looking for ease,
will meet with ease after death.
Ud 2.3

The same thing in Dhammapada 131 - 132.


text:
Looking for sutta reference on entering into Jhana
Following are the stages Ajahn Brahm mentions in his book Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, to enter in to Jhana.

Present moment awareness
Silent present moment awareness
Silent present moment awareness on the breath
Fully sustained awareness on the breath
Fully sustained attention on beautiful breath
Experiencing the beautiful Nimmita
Jhana

I am looking for sutta reference for the same.
Additional question- do progression through all these stages compulsary to experiencing the Jhana? Specifically Pitisukha and Nimmitta. Can one dodge the stages and enter the meditative absorption of Jhana?

Related: Nimitta - sutta references

@ruben2020 thank you for the comment. I looked in the link but did not find the answer there.

The step before getting Nimitta can be dodged depending on the practitioner's abilities. Actually, it is not hard for the high abilities practitioner to do step by step or dodge.
Notice: I use the associated Suttas. And most of what I refer to is in the same sutta. I don't connect Sutta by my idea. I do it on the context. And there are many people from the difference schools tell me the same "bright light" from hard working on the concentration meditation, such as PaAuk-Burma, Thai Kasina Practitioner, Thai Catudhātuvavatthana practitoner. They all get bright light after meditation.
DN 22 MahāsatipaṭṭhānaSutta but actually it is KāyagatāsatiSutta because MahāsatipaṭṭhānaSutta is insight meditation and KāyagatāsatiSutta is concentration meditation. However, the translation in DN 22 MahāsatipaṭṭhānaSutta  is better for Ānāpānassati:
Present moment awareness, Silent present moment awareness

Bhikkhus, how does the bhikkhu keep his mind steadfastly on the body?
Bhikkhus, the bhikkhu following the practice of my Teaching, having
gone to the forest, or to the foot of a tree or to an empty, solitary
place, sits down cross-legged, keeping his body erect, and sets up
mindfulness, orienting it.

Silent present moment awareness on the breath

Then with entire mindfulness he breathes in and with entire
mindfulness he breathes out.
Breathing in a long inhalation, he is conscious of breathing in a long
inhalation, or breathing out a long exhalation, he is conscious of
breathing out a long exhalation.
Breathing in a short inhalation, he is conscious of breathing in a
short inhalation, or breathing out a short exhalation, he is conscious
of breathing out a short exhalation.
He trains himself to be clearly conscious of the whole stretch of the
in-coming breath at its beginning, its middle, and at its end. He
trains himself to be clearly conscious of the whole stretch of the
out-going breath at its beginning, its middle, and at its end.

Fully sustained awareness on the breath

[By being fully conscious of the inhalation] he trains himself to calm down the strong inhalation as he breathes in. [By being fully conscious of the exhalation] he trains himself to calm down the strong exhalation as he breathes out.

Fully sustained attention on beautiful breath
DN 10 SubhaSutta (I recommend this sutta to be the reference of Jhana because it is long enough and step by step. Notice, some part of this sutta is same as  KāyagatāsatiSutta which I refer to Ānāpānassati above):

‘And what, Ānanda, is this so noble body of doctrine regarding self-concentration (Samādhi) in praise of which the Venerable Gotama was wont to speak; to which he used to incite the folk, in which he established them, and made them firm?’
Restraint of the Sense Faculties
“And how, young Brahman, does the bhikkhu guard the doors of his sense faculties? Herein, young Brahman, having seen a form with the eye, the bhikkhu does not grasp at the sign or the details. Since, if he were to dwell without restraint over the faculty of the eye, evil unwholesome states such as covetousness and grief might assail him, he practises restraint, guards the faculty of the eye, and achieves restraint over the faculty of the eye.
...

DN 10 SubhaSutta for Experiencing the beautiful Nimmita.

“Having abandoned covetousness for the world, he dwells with a mind free from covetousness; he purifies his mind from covetousness. Having abandoned ill will and hatred, he dwells with a benevolent mind, sympathetic for the welfare of all living beings; he purifies his mind from ill will and hatred. Having abandoned dullness and drowsiness, he dwells perceiving light, mindful and clearly comprehending; he purifies his mind from dullness and drowsiness. Having abandoned restlessness and worry, he dwells at ease within himself, with a peaceful mind; he purifies his mind from restlessness and worry. Having abandoned doubt, he dwells as one who has passed beyond doubt, unperplexed about wholesome states; he purifies his mind from doubt.

Remember someone may say this light is sunlight and try to refer sutta or commentary. Don't trust him because this is normal for the concentration meditation practitioner who practice hard enough only. They sit 12+ hours everyday for many months or years to get this light which can shine in their mind trough the dark night. It is shining breathe or meditation's object, not sunlight. Today, many of them have not been laying on a bed for 20 years. I know at lease 1 person.
Why this light is important?
DN 10 SubhaSutta (again):

Quite secluded from sense pleasures (escape from object), secluded from unwholesome states (escape from object's unwholesome recognition), he enters and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought and filled with the rapture and happiness born of seclusion. He drenches, steeps, saturates, and suffuses his body with this rapture and happiness born of seclusion, so that there is no part of his entire body which is not suffused by this rapture and happiness.

There are only 3 objects: sense pleasures (5 strings and associate), non sense pleasures, and illusion.
Sense pleasures person can't know non sense pleasure object and it's illusion until he can attain it.
What is non sense pleasure object and it's illusion?
Non sense pleasure object: Rūpa-jhāna/Bhava, Arūpa-jhāna/Bhava, Nibbāna and 8 Super-mundane paths.
it's illusion: It's concept and name, such  Rūpa-jhāna person and "Rūpa-jhāna person" word which refer to the real  Rūpa-jhāna (we can know  Rūpa-jhāna person and word but we can't refer it to the real Rūpa-jhāna).
So, the only left way to get "Quite secluded from sense pleasures (escape from object)" is developing sense pleasures illusion to be non sense pleasures illusion of RūpaJhāna (bright light) by meditate mind's quality. Better minds is lighter light. The lighter light can overwhelm below in DN 10 SubhaSutta (again) (the practitioner practice below  in moral discipline but it turn into professional/master by the light, patibhāga-nimitta because this light overwhelm "the sign or the details"):

‘And what, Ānanda, is this so noble body of doctrine regarding self-concentration (Samādhi) in praise of which the Venerable Gotama was wont to speak; to which he used to incite the folk, in which he established them, and made them firm?’
“And how, young Brahman, does the bhikkhu guard the doors of his sense faculties? Herein, young Brahman, having seen a form with the eye, the bhikkhu does not grasp at the sign or the details. Since, if he were to dwell without restraint over the faculty of the eye, evil unwholesome states such as covetousness and grief might assail him, he practises restraint, guards the faculty of the eye, and achieves restraint over the faculty of the eye.

Another, important of this light
DN 10 SubhaSutta (again):

“Further, young Brahman, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous passing away of joy and grief, the bhikkhu enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna, which is neither pleasant nor painful and contains mindfulness fully purified by equanimity. He sits suffusing his body with a pure bright mind, so that there is no part of his entire body not suffused by a pure bright (pari-odāta) mind.

This mind is bright because it's own power. The mind is not shining because mind has no color. However, this mind power create bright object and bright location base, hadaya-vatthu. It also turn the practitioner body bright as well, good health (depending on how strong of unwholesome karma in the past).
This bright light is for 8 Vijjā
DN 10 SubhaSutta (again):
Again, this is not a bright color mind. Mind has no color. This is a mind which has bright object and bright location base.

“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright (pari-odāta), unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to knowledge and vision. He understands thus: ‘This is my body, having material form, composed of the four primary elements, originating from father and mother, built up out of rice and gruel, impermanent, subject to rubbing and pressing, to dissolution and dispersion. And this is my consciousness, supported by it and bound up with it.’
...
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to creating a mind-made body. From this body he creates another body having material form, mind-made, complete in all its parts, not lacking any faculties.
...
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the modes of supernormal power. He exercises the various modes of supernormal power: having been one, he becomes many and having been many, he becomes one; he appears and vanishes; he goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, and mountains as if through space; he dives in and out of the earth as if it were water; he walks on water without sinking as if it were earth; sitting cross-legged he travels through space like a winged bird; with his hand he touches and strokes the sun and the moon, so mighty and powerful; he exercises mastery over the body as far as the Brahma-world.
...
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the divine ear-element. With the divine ear-element, which is purified and surpasses the human, he hears both kinds of sound, the divine and the human, those which are distant and those which are near.
...
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the knowledge of encompassing the minds (of others). He understands the minds of other beings and persons, having encompassed them with his own mind. He understands a mind with lust as a mind with lust and a mind without lust as a mind without lust; he understands a mind with hatred as a mind with hatred and a mind without hatred as a mind without hatred; he understands a mind with delusion as a mind with delusion and a mind without delusion as a mind without delusion; he understands a contracted mind as a contracted mind and a distracted mind as a distracted mind; he understands an exalted mind as an exalted mind and an unexalted mind as an unexalted mind; he understands a surpassable mind as a surpassable mind and an unsurpassable mind as an unsurpassable mind; he understands a concentrated mind as a concentrated mind and an unconcentrated mind as an unconcentrated mind; he understands a liberated mind as a liberated mind and an unliberated mind as an unliberated mind.
...
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the knowledge of recollecting past lives. He recollects his numerous past lives, that is, one birth, two births, three, four, or five births; ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty births; a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births; many aeons of world contraction, many aeons of world expansion, many aeons of world contraction and expansion, (recollecting): ‘There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away from that state I re-arose here.’ Thus he recollects his numerous past lives in their modes and their details.
...
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings. With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate—and he understands how beings fare according to their kamma, thus: ‘These beings—who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views, and undertook actions governed by wrong views—with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in the plane of misery, the bad destinations, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings—who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, and mind, who did not revile the noble ones, held right views, and undertook actions governed by right views—with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.’ Thus with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate—and he understands how beings fare in accordance with their kamma.
...
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the knowledge of the destruction of the cankers. He understands as it really is: ‘This is suffering.’ He understands as it really is: ‘This is the origin of suffering.’ He understands as it really is: ‘This is the cessation of suffering.’ He understands as it really is: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ He understands as it really is: ‘These are the cankers.’ He understands as it really is: ‘This is the origin of the cankers.’ He understands as it really is: ‘This is the cessation of the cankers.’ He understands as it really is: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of the cankers.’
...

In the Sutta it is made quite obvious that jhana are not only the type of Jhana that Ajahn Brahm talks about;

Having folded my legs crosswise and straightened my body, I establish mindfulness in front of me. Then, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I enter and dwell in the first jhāna, which consists of rapture and pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by thought and examination. With the subsiding of thought and examination, I enter and dwell in the second jhāna, which has internal placidity and unification of mind and consists of rapture and pleasure born of concentration, without thought and examination. With the fading away as well of rapture, I dwell equanimous and, mindful and clearly comprehending, I experience pleasure with the body; I enter and dwell in the third jhāna of which the noble ones declare: ‘He is equanimous, mindful, one who dwells happily.’ With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous passing away of joy and dejection, I enter and dwell in the fourth jhāna, neither painful nor pleasant, which has purification of mindfulness by equanimity.
“Then, brahmin, when I am in such a state, if I walk back and forth, on that occasion my walking back and forth is celestial. If I am standing, on that occasion my standing is celestial. If I am sitting, on that occasion my sitting is celestial. If I lie down, on that occasion this is my celestial high and luxurious bed.
https://suttacentral.net/an3.63/en/bodhi

"He is absorbed dependent on earth... liquid... fire... wind... the sphere of the infinitude of space... the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness... the sphere of nothingness... the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception... this world... the next world... whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an11/an11.010.than.html

"Bhikkhus, if for just the time of a finger snap a bhikkhu pursues a mind of loving-kindness, he is called a bhikkhu who is not devoid of jhāna. who acts upon the teaching of the Teacher, who responds to his advice, and who does not eat the country's alms food in vain. how much more, then, those who cultivate it!" — AN 1.53

Id post more Sutta as you requested but there isn't much to post as the stock formulae is well-known & there is little deviation.
I think the Abhidhamma method does a very good job explaining the above passages so if you are interested in the traditional Theravadin interpretation and my commentary you can read on.
There are many states classified as jhana, if you become absorbed based on the air element it's going to be perceived differently to being absorbed based on light or a color kasina.
Ie one person observing the breath may become percepient of light which gets progressively clearer until the perception of the body fades from the mind altogether; for another perception of the body fades from the mind and there remains only the perception of wind, this person sees not light.
In either case with the fading of that perception of light or the perception of wind there will remain only the perception of infinite space.
The sutta are always broad in the description of jhana and describe what is applied to all states classified as jhana.
The Vibbhajavadin Abhidhammas of Theravada & Sarvastivada differentiate the jhanas which are "good states pertaining to sensuous realm" and jhanas "pertaining to heaves of form" also called rapt meditations. Here are excerpts from the Theravadin Dhammasanghani;
Good in Relation to the Sensuous Universe;

Type 1 thought accompanied by happiness and associated with knowledge; The Path is Fivefold; the Jhāna is fivefold; the skandhas of feeling, perception, syntheses, intellect
Type 2 thought arisen by the prompting of a conscious motive, accompanied by pleasure, associated with knowledge;
Type 3 a good thought accompanied by pleasure, disconnected with knowledge; the path is fourfold
Type 4 a good thought arisen by the prompting of a conscious motive, accompanied by happiness, disconnected with knowledge
Type 5 a good thought accompanied by disinterestedness [The mental [condition] neither pleasant nor unpleasant], associated with knowledge; Jhana is Fourfold
Type 6 a good thought accompanied by disinterestedness, associated with knowledge, prompted by a conscious motive; Jhana is Fourfold
Type 7 a good thought accompanied by disinterestedness, disconnected with knowledge
Type 8 a good thought accompanied by disinterestedness, disconnected with knowledge, prompted by a conscious motive https://suttacentral.net/ds2.1.1/en/caf_rhysdavids

Rapt meditations ;

When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, and so, by earth-wholeness, enters into and abides in the First Jhāna (the first rapt meditation), wherein conception works and thought discursive, which is born of solitude, and full of joy and ease.

Therein Jhana is Fivefold; Conception, Thought Discursive, Joy, Ease, Self-Collectedness.

When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, and so, by earth-wholeness, enters into and abides in a good state of Rapt Meditation, wherein is no working of conception, but only of thought discursive—which is born of concentration, and is full of joy and ease—then the contact, the feeling, the perception, the thinking, the thought, the discursive inquiry, the joy, the ease, the self-collectedness, etc….

Jhana is Fourfold; Thought Discursive, Joy, Ease, Self-Collectedness

When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, suppressing the working of conception and of thought discursive, and so, by earth-wholeness, enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna (the second rapt meditation), which is self-evolved, born of concentration, full of joy and ease, in that, set free from the working of conception and of thought discursive, the mind grows calm and sure dwelling on high—then the contact, the feeling, the perception, the thinking, the thought, the joy, the ease, the self-collectedness.

Jhana is Threefold; Joy, Ease, Self-Collectedness

When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, and further, through the waning of all passion for joy, holds himself unbiassed, the while, mindful and self-possessed, he experiences in his sense-consciousness that ease whereof the Noble Ones declare: “He that is unbiassed and watchful dwelleth at ease”— and so, by earth-wholeness, enters into and abides in the Third Jhāna.

Then the Jhana is Twofold; Ease, Self-Collectedness

When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, and, by the putting away of ease and by the putting away of ill, by the passing away of the happiness and of the misery he was wont to feel, he thus, by earth-wholeness, enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna (the fourth rapt meditation) of that utter purity of mindfulness which comes of disinterestedness, where no ease is felt nor any ill

Then the Jhana is Twofold; Equanimity, Self-Collectedness
https://suttacentral.net/ds2.1.2/en/caf_rhysdavids

As i see it, the rapt meditations are absorbtions based on light and vision of form [rupa], which include the various kasina and is what some people nowadays call hard jhanas whereas those good states pertaining to sensuous universe are states  wherein thought is a factor, these are sometimes loosely called soft jhana or vipassana-jhana. Commentary explains;

a good thought deserves to be distinguished [as a good state] on three grounds;

For it fabricates a good state; from the maturity of the faculties it involves; and from the remoteness of mental and moral infirmity which it implies.

As to how one enters these states (abhidhamma method);

Herein a monk dwells restrained and controlled by the fundamental precepts, endowed with (proper) behaviour and a (suitable) alms resort, seeing peril in (his) slightest faults, observing (the precepts) he trains himself in the precepts, guarded as to the doors of the faculties (of the senses), in food knowing the right amount, in the first watch of the night and in the last watch of the night practising the practice of vigilance, with intense effort and penetration practising the practice of development of awakening dhammas; he, in approaching and in departing, acts with awareness; in looking ahead and in looking around he acts with awareness; in bending and in stretching he acts with awareness; in bearing the outer robe, the alms-bowl and the under robe, he acts with awareness; in eating, in drinking, in chewing, in tasting, he acts with awareness; in obeying the calls of nature he acts with awareness; in walking, in standing, in sitting, in sleeping, in waking, in talking, in being silent, he acts with awareness; he approaches a secluded abode, a forest, the foot of a tree, a mountain, a wadi, a hill cave, a cemetery, a remote forest, a desolate place, a heap of straw, (an abode) having little noise, having little tumult, free from the atmosphere of humans, secret from men, suitable for retirement; he, having gone to a forest or having gone to the foot of a tree or having gone to an empty place, sits folding (the legs) crosswise, holding the body erect, setting up mindfulness in front (of him); he, abandoning covetousness (for anything) in the world dwells with consciousness freed from covetousness; he cleanses his consciousness of covetousness. Abandoning ill-will and antipathy he dwells having consciousness without ill-will, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings; he cleanses his consciousness of ill-will and antipathy. Abandoning sloth and torpor he dwells freed from sloth and torpor, having bright perception, mindful and aware; he cleanses his consciousness of sloth and torpor. Abandoning distraction and remorse he dwells without distraction having internally quiet consciousness; he cleanses his consciousness of distraction and remorse. Abandoning doubt, doubt overcome, he dwells without uncertainty as to skilful dhammas; he cleanses his consciousness of doubt. Abandoning these five hindrances (that are) mental corruptions and attenuation of wisdom, he, aloof from sense pleasures, aloof from unskilful dhammas, attains and dwells in the first jhāna accompanied by initial application, accompanied by sustained application, with rapture and pleasure born of detachment; inhibiting initial application and sustained application he attains and dwells in the second jhāna with internal refinement, exalted development of mind, without initial application, without sustained application, with rapture and pleasure born of samādhi; he, desireless of rapture, dwells equable, mindful, aware, and he experiences pleasure by way of the body (of mental aggregates); this the Noble Ones declare, “The equable, mindful dweller in pleasure”; he attains and dwells in the third jhāna; by the abandoning of pleasure and by the abandoning of pain, then first terminating mental pleasure and mental pain he attains and dwells in the fourth jhāna (which is) neither-pain-nor-pleasure (but is) purity of mindfulness caused by equanimity;
https://suttacentral.net/vb12/en/thittila

I read through all the links you provided. Thankyou. It appears that Nimitta is not a prerequisite to attain first Jhaha. The Buddha seems to enter it at will. So as none of the other stages specifically mentioned. So sitting can lead to the Jhana. Am I right?

Baaically many states can be classified as the first jhana, what Ajahn Brahm teaches as i understand it is a type of Rapt Meditaton where there arises a vision of light. That method is quite popular but there is no guarantee that one will see the light when doing anapanasati, it depends on one's disposition. Some people get absorbed in dependence on the light, some get absprbed otherwise, some people never see the light lest they specifically train for it or see it sometimes. Some people see other visions than light, ie organs and others get absorbed in dependence on air itself.

For a state to be called a jhana it's factors have to confirm to the classification, that's all there is to it.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
What does,'I establish mindfulness in front of me' mean?
This phrase 'I establish mindfulness in front of me' appears many times in Suttas (https://suttacentral.net/an3.63/en/bodhi) . What does 'in front of me' mean here. I can understand if it would have said within me as in mindful of body or breath. But its not clear to me, what 'infront of me mean'

Ven. Bodhi's translation of AN 3.63:

I collect some grass or leaves that I find there into a pile and then
sit down. Having folded my legs crosswise and straightened my body, I
establish mindfulness in front of me.

Ven. Sujato's translation of AN 3.63:

I gather up some grass or leaves into a pile, and sit down
cross-legged, with my body straight, and establish mindfulness right
there.

Piya Tan's translation of AN 3.63:

There I gather some grass or leaves together into one place and sit
down there cross-legged, keeping mindfulness before me.

Original Pali:

So yadeva tattha honti tiṇāni vā paṇṇāni vā tāni ekajjhaṃ saṅgharitvā
nisīdāmi pallaṅkaṃ ābhujitvā ujuṃ kāyaṃ paṇidhāya parimukhaṃ satiṃ
upaṭṭhapetvā.

Meaning of parimukha from PTS Pali-English dictionary:

Parimukha，（adj．） [pari+mukha] facing，in front； only as nt．adv．°ṁ in
front，before，in phrase parimukhaṁ satiṁ upaṭṭhapeti “set up his memory
in front” （i．e．of the object of thought），to set one’s mindfulness
alert Vin．I，24； D．II，291； M．I，56，421； S．I，170； A．III，92； It．80；
Ps．I，176 （expld）； Pug．68； DA．I，210．

I would say this means "establish mindfulness at the foreground of my mind" or "establish mindfulness as my main focus or main activity".

I think it might be easier to demonstrate what this passage seeks to combat instead of diving right into how to practice it.  Take a couple of minutes and just let your mind wander.  Try to run through the last TV show you watched or replay a recent conversation in your head.  Let that play out for a minute or two.  Once a minute has passed, direct your attention to the tip of your nose.  Notice the shift in perception?  Where before your mind was diffused and tangled up in itself, now it is directed, collected, and composed.
When our minds are untrained, we spend 99.999% of our lives with our minds floating like dust motes in the air.  They flit here and there, directionless, without ever alighting on anything.  Buddhist practice tries to combat that and establish new patterns of attention that make our mind more unified and concentrated.
The advice given in the suttas to establish mindfulness in front of you is good advice.  If you did the exercise I recommended, you'll see how quickly that shift in attention can occur just by simply (and literally!) shifting your attention in front of you.  But don't mistake the practice for the goal.  Ultimately what you are after is mind that is collected.  In Zen, we'd call that kanshin - the mind with no remainder.  This sort of mentation is characterized by it's unity.  The normal mind is like a bag of spilled marbles.  Kanshin is all the marbles put back in the bag.  In kanshin, there is no remainder of marbles outside of that bagged collection.  They are all gathered up.  Of course, just as there are a number of ways of collecting those marbles, there are several ways of collecting the mind.  We can "set our minds up in front of us", but we can also work with a koan, a mantra, awareness of our bodies, a kasina, or our breath.  Even the discomfort of hunger or the vigilance of virtue will "keep our minds in front of us", so to speak.  So as long as the practice we pick up unifies our minds and keeps us from scattering our mental energy, it will work.
If you want to work with this as a koan, see the following:

Case 16 of the Mumonkan When the Bell Sounds
Unmon said, "The world is vast and wide.
Why do you put on your seven-piece robe at the sound of the bell?"
Mumon's Comment
In studying Zen, you should not be swayed by sounds and forms. Even though you attain insight when hearing a voice or seeing a form,
this is simply the ordinary way of things.Don't you know that the real
Zen student commands sounds, controls forms, is clear-sighted at every
event and free on every occasion?
Granted you are free, just tell me: Does the sound come to the ear or
does the ear go to the sound? If both sound and silence die away, at
such a juncture how could you talk of Zen? While listening with you
ear, you cannot tell. When hearing with your eye, you are truly
intimate.
Mumon's Verse
With realization, things make one family; Without realization,
things are separated in a thousand ways. Without realization,
things make one family; With realization, things are separated in
a thousand ways.

Don't worry about sound just yet.  Be the monk putting on his seven piece robe.  Where is his mind when he does that?  When you truly become that monk, you will see your mind set up in front of you.

Thanissaro writes this in his footnotes to https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html#fn-1 ;

To the fore (parimukham): The Abhidhamma takes an etymological approach to this term, defining it as around (pari-) the mouth (mukham). In the Vinaya, however, it is used in a context (Cv.V.27.4) where it undoubtedly means the front of the chest. There is also the possibility that the term could be used idiomatically as "to the front," which is how I have translated it here.

AN5.75:15.1: Gone to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, he sits down cross-legged, with his body straight, and establishes his mindfulness right there.

Right there as if your life depended on it. Because it does.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
What is the meaning of "in and of itself" in DN 22?
What is the meaning of "in and of itself" in the
Maha-satipatthana Sutta DN 22?

There is a little one paragraph explanation of that, in the "Translator's Introduction" of Thanissaro Bhikkhu's translation (which you linked to originally)?

The first interpretation focuses on the objects of the meditation practice, the focal points that provide mindfulness with a foundation — or, to use the more idiomatic English phrase adopted here, a frame of reference. Altogether there are four: the body in and of itself; feelings in and of themselves; mind in and of itself; and mental qualities in and of themselves. The "in and of itself" here is crucial. In the case of the body, for instance, it means viewing the body on its own terms rather than in terms of its function in the context of the world

(for in that case the world would be the frame of reference). Dropping any concern for how the body's beauty, agility, or strength fits into the world, the meditator simply stays with the direct experience of its breathing, its movements, its postures, its elementary properties, and its inevitable decay. A similar principle applies to the other frames of reference.

Yes that's the quote -- you've seen that explanation.

You needs to understand below before reading the main answer at the bottom.
Samatha is understanding of easy escape, using illusion to avoid 5 string. This is in KāyagatāsatiSutta.
Vipassana  is understanding of hardest full escape, using reality to perfect finish 5 clinging-aggregates.  This is in DN 22 MahāsatipaṭṭhānaSutta.
Why Vipassana is harder than Samatha?
Samatha has higher deep analysis than normal secular, but lower than Vipassana.
You can just clinging on breathe feeling to be happy, but you need to analysis mind's quality and develop it to get the breathe illusion (Paṭibhāga-nimitta) and attain the first Jhāna's happiness.
But it is not enough to attain powerful state of Vipassanā and get Nibbāna. Vipassanā is going meditate after the practitioner's mind is at high quality, CittaVisuddhi. At this state, the practitioner can analysis everything from the lower hell to the top heaven into tiniest  elements.
What is the tiniest element?
Every clinging-aggregate has tiniest moment which arise and vanish immediately more than a trillion time in a second. Each moment has many elements which originating it.
The practitioner must analysis everything as uncountable tiniest  origins and effects like that every life's moment and analysis all relations of them as they really are when arising. This is called PaṭiccaSamuppāda. The practitioner is thinking like a genius psychologist, chemist, biologist, physicist, thinking together in the same head.
This deepest analysis  turn the practitioner's objects into 3 characteristic illusions. 3 characteristics are illustrated from the complex knowledge of the real relationship of every tiniest moment of life.
Why the tiniest arisable moments are so important?
The reality must be possible to arise and must have their real origins more than one, except Nibbāna which is the  opposite reality of aggregates.
If the scientist put a little wrong chemistry in a test tube, the experiment must be fail at the end. If the practitioner analysis wrong elements' relations,  3 characteristic illusions are going to disappear in some hidden aggregates, then these some are permanent, pleasure, and controlable.
So, if the practitioner doesn't analysis, these still going on:

Left clinging in  the sign or the details which are hidden by the complicated illusions of uncountable realities' relations. Even the 8th Jhana master can't see this clinging.
Blur 3 characteristic illusions.
Releasing some  hated aggregates and hold hidden beloved aggregates.
Hidden clinging development. You can see some practitioner become a crazy guy when the time gone by even he work hard on study and practice trough many years because he in blinding on some hidden clinging, then the meditation turn it to a powerful evil after years.
Etc.

What is the meaning of “in and of itself” in DN 22?
One meaning of "in" word in Pali is "each (Ekavacana-Niddhāraṇa)".

"There is the case where a monk remains focused on each body's elements in entire body — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. He remains focused on each feeling's elements  in entire feelings... each mind's elements  in entire mind... each element's elements  in entire elements — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world.

The "element" in this context means  various term. All of term refer to "The dissection of the compact/illusion".
Then you should consider 21 pabba of DN22 like this, you will understand it easily.
This is incomplete. It's too late for this night. I will add more explaination soon.

Theravadin Abhidhamma;

And how does a monk dwell contemplating (the nature of) the body in the body in regard to himself?
Here a monk in regard to himself—from the sole of the feet upwards, from the hair of the head down, bounded by the skin, and filled with manifold impurities—reflects (thus):
There are in this body:
hairs of the head, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, undigested food, excrement, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, spit, mucus, synovial fluid, urine.
https://suttacentral.net/vb7/en/anandajoti

Almost done. You need to combine DN22, Abhi. Vibhaṅga SatipaṭṭhānaVibhaṅga, KN Paṭisambhidhāmagga Satipaṭṭhānakatha, Their commentaries, and Visuddhimagga together.

Looking forward to your analysis

Thank you very much
खणः khanas are as illogical
as स्वभाव svabhāva can be.
Abhiddhamma
is not a metaphysical approach,
not everywhere,
not in all Buddhist schools,
not in each and every ancient वाद vāda :
The Middle Path is not anti-metaphysical yet.
Because Vipassana is
a Practice that precedes any theories.
Thanks again


text:
Is attaining to Jhana possible for me?
I searched for the word 'Jhana' on this site and read almost all about 50 odd questions on Jhana. I asked few questions myself.
It seems like one has to put extreme efforts to attain to Jhana.
This is part of one of the answers;

...They sit 12+ hours everyday for many months or years to get this light
which can shine in their mind trough the dark night. It is shining
breathe or meditation's object, not sunlight. Today, many of them have
not been laying on a bed for 20 years...

This isn't practical for lay disciples, or at least for me outside of retreat. At this point Jhana feels like a wishful thinking.
Should one aim for Jhana in sitting?
If not Jhana, then, is there any other state to aim as an intermediary to Nirvana.
I do a daily 90 minute sitting and some chanting. Is it possible for me to attain Jhana?
What is recommended daily duration?

Absorbed-Jhana is for everyone who want to attain Magga and Phala. Actually, Magga and Phala are Appana-Jhana as well, so the mundane Appana-Jhana is an important step to access powerful Vipassana enough for  Magga-Appana.
The hidden hindrances are hindering Vipassana to keep accessing on powerful enough state to attain Appana-Magga.
Jhana is for every gesture, not only sitting. We try to get back to focus on breathe in every moment. However, the easiest gesture to get absorption is sitting.
Meditation is for whole life, included Arahanta. Chanting or sitting entire life is enough.

Just do it continuously,  90 minute  lesser or higher is excellent all until you give up. Continuous less become much when 20 years gone by, but giving up is nothing left even less.

I think you are misunderstanding the nature of jhanas. In your defense, this is a mistake made by almost everyone on a certain stage.
You think jhanas are some concrete states that are specific and can be recognized, that all people must go through same exact experiences on their way to nirvana/enlightenment. That the final Liberation is also something very concrete. Alas, those are all wishful simplifications.
Real-life experiences are a lot more fluid and variegated. That's one, and two, as you get more and more enlightened you realize more and more clearly that labels are mere labels and that in real life everything "it depends".
So, the jhanas are not something mighty specific that can be entered, that's bullshit (pardon my language). Jhanas are approximate phases in your mastery of your emotional intelligence, mastery of mind. You don't sit for 12 hours straight staring at the wall and then boom! you're in jhana, no. Instead, you must learn to analyze and condition the state of your mind.
Specifically, you learn what makes you sad and glad, and how to make yourself joyful and motivated. You discover your inner pre-logical core and learn to reconnect with it. You learn to puncture through noise of thoughts and into the inner clarity. You discover first-hand how your mind's association and interpretation circuitry works. You master the connection between your interpretations and your emotions. You understand the power of context, the power of comparison, the role of reference point in evaluation. You learn to juggle contexts. You can freely enter and exit the contexts of other people.
Mastering all this makes you very even-handed. You are no longer carried away by your emotions. First, you have to apply effort to keep your emotions steady and stable in the moments of frustration or challenge, but with time you get rather steady even without much effort, things don't disturb you as much. You can go through difficult life situations without getting overwhelmed.
Because you are no longer overwhelmed by your emotions and no longer bounded by your mental contexts, you are not obsessed with your problems, you can actually see and hear other people's problems from their sides.
Then eventually you get to the existential questions like the meaning of life, the death, the happiness and suffering, karma - and you begin to see it rather clearly. It gets pretty clear, how things work.
That's what this training is about. You don't have to sit until your ass falls off. The point is not in sitting, it's in what you are sitting about. Mental and emotional untangling. And half of that work (if not more) is done off the cushion.
It is serious, hard, non-trivial, but deeply rewarding, process of discovery and mastery. Not some childish fantasy. But in the end it's much more cool - and real - than any fiction.
So the First Jhana, is when you learn to make yourself joyful at will using auto-suggestions, recollections, deliberate thinking on appropriate topics. That's it. Magic!
The Second Jhana, is when you can do the above then stop and keep joyful and energized, optimistic and confident without the auto-suggestions, for as long as you stay awake that day.
The Third Jhana is almost same as above but more refined, without the show-off marching parade function of joy. You can stay lucid, calm, emotionally sober, peaceful, harmonious - all day long, without auto-suggestions - just by maintaining your inner balance.
And the Fourth Jhana is pure judgement-free awareness. Whatever is going on, externally or internally, you can stay judgement-free, not qualifying any experience as good or bad. Unperturbed, immovable like a mountain. Clear like water. Transparent like space. Everything is just the way it is, and not a tad different.
This is all real - and practically useful - stuff, not sitting and wishing for some fictional inner sun to shine.

Thank you so much for this answer. It gave me a different vantage point to look at my 'mind created' problem. I also read your answers to other questions on Jhana, quite enlightening. Thanks again :).

I have gotten all state in this answer for many years ago, and I still have 10 fetters left, so I am not recommend to stop the higher meditation because enjoying tiny effect in this answer . The main idea of the Buddhism is enlightenment. The above state is not enlightenment. We can do it in any uncountable next life. But if we can't use it to meditate the higher meditation, the life in Buddha time will be blank, then you will have uncountable times to enjoy the tiny effect in this answer. I have gotten them all, and the fetters still going on. My life is happy, but how long it will be?

If you can abide in pure judgment-free awareness, without interpreting any experience as good or bad, how can you have kāmacchanda and vyāpāda?

@TheWhiteCloud Please also see this answer by Andrei and the comments below that answer.

Interesting theory.  Totally wrong, but interesting!

Lol, it's okay - this is a site where everyone can answer based on their studies and experience, and get up- or downvoted. No one gets extra points for being someone special. You are welcome to post your own answer.

"You can freely enter and exit the contexts of other people." .... :)

The Buddha indeed recommended lay people to try to meditate, in the Piti Sutta:

Then Anathapindika the householder, surrounded by about 500 lay
followers, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down
to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there the Blessed One said
to him, "Householder, you have provided the community of monks with
robes, alms food, lodgings, & medicinal requisites for the sick, but
you shouldn't rest content with the thought, 'We have provided the
community of monks with robes, alms food, lodgings, & medicinal
requisites for the sick.' So you should train yourself, 'Let's
periodically enter & remain in seclusion & rapture.' That's how you
should train yourself."

But is it possible for lay people to successfully attain the state of jhana, at least the first jhana?
Ajaan Fuang addressed this very question in "Awareness Itself":

A student came to complain to Ajaan Fuang that she had been meditating
for years, and still hadn't gotten anything out of it. His immediate
response: "You don't meditate to 'get' anything. You meditate to let
go."

What is the recommended daily duration? Please watch this YouTube video talk by Ven. Yuttadhammo entitled "Q&A: Short Meditation Sessions".

In SN 41.9, we find that the householder Citta, in his thirty years as a lay follower of Buddhism, was able to achieve and master the fourth jhana:

“But householder, how long have you been a lay follower?”
“It’s been thirty years, sir.”
“But householder, in these thirty years have you achieved any
superhuman distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble
ones, a meditation at ease?”
“How, sir, could I not? For whenever I want, quite secluded from
sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, I enter and
remain in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born
of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. And
whenever I want, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected
are stilled … I enter and remain in the second absorption. And
whenever I want, with the fading away of rapture … I enter and remain
in the third absorption. And whenever I want, giving up pleasure and
pain … I enter and remain in the fourth absorption.

The best thing you can do is learning how to quickly overcome the hindrances as it will increase the actual time you spend effectively meditating beyond the treshold of jhana. Just sitting with hindrances is a waste of time.
I would advise to learn the development of various perceptions, the arousal of energy and to take note of the mind throughout the day in order to keep hindrances in check. Then when you see an opening to develop samadhi andor other factors you go for it.

At such times, monks, as the mind is sluggish, that is the wrong time to cultivate the enlightenment-factor[1] of tranquillity, the enlightenment-factor of concentration, the enlightenment-factor of equanimity. What is the reason? A sluggish mind is hard to arouse by these factors.
[...]
When the mind is agitated, that is the right time to cultivate the enlightenment-factors of tranquillity, concentration, equanimity. Why? Because an agitated mind is easy to calm[4] through these factors.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn46/sn46.053.wlsh.html

It's definitely not necessary to sit 12 hours consequtively but if you do have days off you can try walking and sitting all day, switch between sitting & walking for as long as you are comfortable and delight in cleansing the mind by developing various perceptions, faculties and factors of enlightenment as you see fit.
I think if a person is fairly virtuous, has some less stressful work, few duties and is skilled in overcoming the hindrances then 90 minutes a day is plenty to get beyond the jhana treshold.
As to what their mind inclines to at that point, whether percepient of various pleasant feelings, lights & visions or is directed to the Deathless, that depends entirely on their faculties & prior development, either way it should absolutely be possible to occasionally get to a manyfold of profound jhana states for one like this.

Jhana means "to gaze, to focus" but the exact significance varies with
the context. Here it signifies a high level of samadhi often
translated "absorption."

I meditated in a theravada monastery in Thailand for ~ 3 months and experienced soft forms of Jhana (not those extreme ones you describe in your question). Many would say that that's not real Jhana, I just got a bit absorped by the meditation, saw a bright light although my eyes were closed or lost a bit the feeling on time. 90 min a day is more than enough to reach this absorption, too.
The founder of that monastery Ajan Buddhadasa Bikkhu had teached a lot about Jhana and his main point was that you don't need these extreme forms of Jhana. A bit of absorbtion is enough, just calm down your mind down to a point where it's still enough so that contentment (piti) and afterwards happiness (sukha) can arise. If you want to read more about this, this style of meditation, where you don't focus too much on Jhana is called Anapanasati.
I think for us who grew up with smartphones and constant entertainment, it's way more difficult to reach a very deep jhana. People 2000 y ago just didn't know that much other distractions.

In our practice of step four of Anapanasati, it is not necessary to try to enter jhana completely. In the practice of Anapanasati those very refined levels of concentration are not necessary. We only need to have a sufficient and appropriate level of concentration to continue with our practice, that is, enough samadhi that there are the feelings of  piti and sukha (contentment and happiness). We need to use piti and sukha in the next steps of our study. If you can go on into jhana, into the material absorptions (rupa-jhana), that will be useful. It will make the next steps easier. Even if you do not reach jhana, as long as there is some piti and sukha you are doing fine. Now that will not be too difficult, will it?

From a very good book from Ajan Buddhadasa about Anapanasati

Certain, good householder, would it be possible if leaving home and abound stinginess, since it's impossible for one still stingy and holding on things, a person who has no perfection in generosity, to gain Jhana.
Macchariya Suttas: Stinginess.
Now think about it, especially the matter gratitude.
Even such as access-concentration, the six Anussatis, would require certain deeds and behavior, conducts, to be able to clean ones mind.
What does one think of how many householders around here, seeking to avoid all basics, have even little chance to gain Jhana... No, no... not in this sphere around here. If some are good they can make use of meditation as a tool for compensation of daily wrong deeds and livelihood.
On the other hand there are many lay woman listed in Buddhas "who is who"-list for greatness in regard of Jhana, but those have been real Upasikas, Upasakas, not just "Buddhists"...
Gives surely much space for serious reflections or the more usual consumer protest - withdraw and rebellion. Ones choice, even caught inbetween.
[Note that this isn't given for stacks, exchange, other worldbinding trades but for escape from this wheel]


text:
How do you explain Zeno's paradox in Buddhist terms?
I thought id ask how you would explain what is commonly referred to as "Zeno' Paradox of Achillies racing the turtle" in Buddhist terms.
For those who aren't familiar the paradox is like this Youtube Animation;

Achillies is supposed to race a turtle.
Achillies gives the turtle a head start of say 10 meters.
Achillies runs at 10 meters per second.
The Turtle runs at 2 meters per second.
Achillies starts the race from the point A as the turtle starts the race from point B which is B=A+10meters.
By the time [+1 second] Achillies reaches the point B, the turtle will have moved from the point B at a speed of 2 meters/second and after 1 second will have reached the point C=B+2meters, moving B to C and remain ahead of Achillies by 2 meters.
By the time [+1.2 second] Achilies moves A to B and B to C, reaching the point C; the turtle will have moved from the point C at a speed of 2 meters per second and after 1.2 that it took Achilies to cover the 12meters going first from A to B then from B to C, the turtle will have moved from B to C and further from C to D wherein D=C+0.4meters, still ahead of Achilies by 0.4 meters.
By the time [+1.24 seconds] Achillies reaches the point D, the turtle will have moved from the point C at a speed of 2 meters per second and after 1.24 seconds that it took Achilies to cover the 12.4 meters going first A to B, then B to C and furthermore from C to D; the turtle will have moved B to C, C to D and furthermore from D to E wherein E=D+0.08meters, still ahead of Achilies by 0.08 meters.
This is then supposed to go on indefinitely with Achillies paradoxically never reaching the turtle due to infinite division of space & time into smaller intervals.

The reason i am asking is because i have not seen Buddhists do this before, am curious as to whether someone here can provide a comprehensible explaination and  want to develop an answer myself even tho i have an idea of how id answer this.
Let's just assume for simplicity sake that it's just a thought experiment and a ground for confusion rather than a "true paradox" of some sort.
I want substantiated answers based on texts know to be true such as the sutta-pitaka but it's not a requirement.

I think that SN 51.15 is an example:

"If that's so, Master Ananda, then it's an endless path, and not one with an end, for it's impossible that one could abandon desire by means of desire."
"In that case, brahman, let me question you on this matter. Answer as you see fit. What do you think: Didn't you first have desire, thinking, 'I'll go to the park,' and then when you reached the park, wasn't that particular desire allayed?

I think that Brahman Unnabha argues from the pespective of paradox -- that it's infinite i.e. "endless".
And Ananda replies something like, "When you arrived, that was the end of that" -- which is IMO more or less a description of how a real arrow behaves, without getting caught in the mentally-constructed paradox.

I notice I've changed the formulation of the paradox -- not "Achilles and the Tortoise" but just an arrow -- so I'm actually referring to Zeno's Dichotomy paradox.
IMO they're about the same paradox: because you can simply subtract the tortoise's speed from Achilles's so that it's the description of the relative motion, between a moving object and a (relatively) stationary target.
Doing that, i.e. subtracting to transform one to the other, is a safe/valid transformation -- except at speeds approaching the speed of light.

The canonical Buddhist answer will be from Acintita Sutta:

"Conjecture about [the origin, etc., of] the world is an
unconjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring
madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.

And also the Parable of the Poisoned Arrow from MN 63.
In physics, this is answered using the Planck constant for time and space.

In Maths I think this is answered or explained as being a convergent series.

I think one needs to put this paradox in terms of Sabbe Sutta;

The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. [1] Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range."

Having put it in terms of the all it proves that the problem can only be rightly described in terms of what is seen & thought about and thus in terms of the workings of perception.
The thought experiment itself is of a race analogue to what can be seen. He is essentially here thinking about what is seen, ie seeing people racing. His paradox relies on slipping by the Sabba Sutta, he postulates existence of objects repudiating the all and not subject to the "mechanics" of perception.
What one sees that one thinks about, here one sees the two racing and thinks about it in terms of velocity, distance and etc.
What Zeno does is assuming that perception too arises and ceases in progressively smaller intervals but this is an unsubstantiated assumption because;

it contradicts the norm; if there is an analogue race he can't actually percieve 'Now im percepient of the turtle being this far ahead and now i am percepient of it being that far ahead' ad infinitum.

What he'll have to admit is that at some point he won't be able to be percepient of who's actually ahead due to the workings of perception.
Thus the problem becomes that of an inadequate thinking about the workings of perception.
One can here go on to explain how perception is dependently originated and how mind arises as one thing and ceases as another but it's unnecessary i think.

I didn't understand the explanation, i.e. "if there is an analogue race", why he can't (as Zeno claims) perceive ad infinitum, why/how it contradicts the norm, and what that has to do with the Sabbe Sutta.

The thought experiment itself is of a race analogue to what can be seen. He is essentially here thinking about what is seen, ie seeing people racing. His paradox relies on slipping by the Sabba Sutta, he postulates existence of objects repudiating the all and not subject to the "mechanics" of perception.

He is talking about a world outside of a perception frame of reference.

I cannot directly see viruses with my own eyes, but I can use a scanning electron microscope to observe viruses. So, I think seeing viruses is still acceptable according to Sabbe Sutta. If the reducing distances are still larger than the Planck constants for space and time, then being able to see or observe the race is more of a question of technology than perception.

Fifty years ago, we could not observe gravitational waves, but today we can do so using LIGO. Fifty years ago we could not observe the Higgs boson, but today we can do so using the LHC. Fifty years ago, we could not observe black holes, but today we could do so using the global network of deep space observatories. So, it's about technology.

Measurement is an act of observation. If you can't measure who is ahead that is analogue to not being able to see who is ahead. Means of observation are irrelevant and are a matter of relative precision. The act of measurement collapses the wave function.

The point is that one can't talk about matter [objects] as a reality if the wave function is not collapsed, this is proven by the double slit experiment. Therefore this race occurs in the context of perception and is a matter of perception.

Im not sure what you are talking about with regards to seeing viruses. Viruses don't exist repudiating the All, you would be in disagreement with the Sutta if you held that. World exists in as far as it's perceived&conceived through six senses.

Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK) "Chapter 2 - Critique of Walking" is the same as Zenos paradox that you outlined. If you Google Zeno and Nagarjuna on Motion you will see many articles written by Translators and Philosophers comparing the two.
Both thinkers use the idea to prove that conventional reality is not the ultimate truth, but the ultimate truth they posit is a polar opposite. For Nagarjuna it is Emptiness and for Zeno one unchanging being.
The idea doesn’t end in disproving motion only, check this video to see how Zeno expound the idea to cover wider topic.  Nagarjuna also use it to disprove a lot of ideas that we think as truth, he also use the same method to disprove the momentary consciousness posited by the Abhidhammist  (i.e Theravada Buddhist).
So, you may ask, is the paradox proven? No it remain a paradox.
In the west there has been many attempt to prove it, but at every age it resurrect itself as unproven. In recent history, the Giants of mathematician gather in Vienna to come up with an all-encompassing mathematical proof, but a man by the name Kurt Gödel dug out Zeno and called the whole project a bluff. Again with the advance of computer some tough computers will be the answer, but Alan Turing showed up and pulled the  Zeno card on computers too.
Quoted below is Candrakiri Lucid commentary on MMK.

At this point, someone says, «By negating production, you have
established that interdependent origination  has  the  quality  of
not  being  ceased  and  so  on.  Nevertheless,  in  order  to  prove
that interdependent  origination  has  neither  coming  nor  going,
you  must  state  an  additional  argument  to refute the action
(kriyā) that is going to and fro (gamanāgamana), which is commonly
accepted in the  world.»
In response, we say that if going (gamana), exemplified by the action
of walking, 1  were to exist, then one would necessarily conceive of
walking in relation to the spot on the path where one has just walked;
or one would conceive of it in relation to the spot where one has not
yet walked; or one would conceive of it in relation to the spot where
one is currently walking. But none of this makes sense. So  he says:
2.1. First of all, it is not the case that one is now walking where one just walked; one is also not walking where one has not yet walked;
and without the spots where one already walked and where one has not
yet walked, one has no knowledge of a currently walked upon spot; the
currently walked upon spot is thus not being walked upon.   Here,
“where one just walked” expresses that part of the path on which the
action of walking has just  ceased.  That  which  is  now  affected
by  the  action  of  walking  is  expressed  by,  “one  is  now
walking.” It is incoherent to speak of “where one just walked”—meaning
the place where the action of motion has just ceased—with the phrase
“one is now walking,” which expresses a connection with a presently
existing action of walking. Therefore, it is incorrect to say, “One is
walking where one just  walked.”  The phrase “first of all” indicates
the order in which the various possibilities are negated.
So too, “one is not now walking where one has not yet walked.” The
phrase “where one has not yet walked” expresses a part of the road
where a future action of motion has not yet occurred. The phrase “one
is now walking” expresses a present action of motion. Therefore, since
the future and the present are completely distinct, it does not make
sense to say, “One is now walking where one has not  yet walked.” If
one has not yet walked upon it, how can one be now walking on it? And
if one is walking on it, how can it be a spot where one has not yet
walked?
Furthermore, there is no action of walking on the currently walked
upon spot because “without the spots where one has already walked and
where one has not yet walked, the currently walked upon spot is not
being walked upon or known.”
In this context, the spot that the walker has traversed is for him a
walked upon spot; and the spot that he has not yet traversed is for
him a not yet walked upon spot. But in isolation from the walked upon
spot and the not yet walked upon spot, we do not see any third spot
that would be “the currently walked upon spot.”  And  since  that  is
the case, “one has  no knowledge  of  a  currently  walked upon spot.”
Here, na gamyate (i.e., “is not being walked upon”) is taken to mean
“is not known.” Therefore, since  one  has  no  knowledge  of  it,
there  is  no  currently  walked  upon  spot.  Hence,  that  spot  is
not affected by the activity of motion; that is, it is not currently
walked upon. Hence, there is also is no action of walking even in the
currently walked upon spot.    But someone might say, «There is a spot
that is tread upon by the feet of the walking walker. That is the
currently walked upon spot!»
This is not the case because the mover’s feet are a conglomeration of
atomic particles. The area behind an atom located on the tip of the
toe is included in the spot already walked upon, relative to that
atom; but the spot in front of an atom located at the back of the heel
is included in the spot not yet  walked upon, relative to that atom.
Feet cannot exist without the atomic particles of which feet are
composed.  Therefore,  there  is  no  currently  walked  upon  spot
without  being  either  a  spot  already walked upon or one not yet
walked upon. And just as one analyzed the feet, so should one analyze
the atomic particles in terms of the relation between their front and
back parts. Moreover, if someone says that the currently walked upon
spot is the spot that one has halfway walked upon, then one uses the
answer that has been given in the analysis of production. 3  Therefore
it is established, “The currently walked upon spot is not being walked
upon or known.”

Hi. I just wonder what is "momentary consciousness posited by the Abhidhammist (i.e Theravada Buddhist)" a reference to? I've never seen this momentariness of which you speak in the Theravadin Abhidhamma, which book/passage are you referring to? Thanks

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/abhidharma/#TimImpMom

Ok i see it is a reference to post-canonical Theravada, i am thinking this is probably a doctrine that might have some basis in 5th century commentary Vsm and finally expounded in the Abhidhammatha Sangaha of 10th century. Afaik It is foreign to the early Theravada and is not in their canonical Abhidhamma

Please read starting from Paragraph 5, the section from Paragraph 5 in Part-2 is applicable to Theravada exposition as it is today..For Theravadins they called the theory of momentariness Khāṇavāda..... Part 5 on 'Causation' also show the same method employed to counter 'momentary dharmas' idea in the Abhidharma.

Thanks seems like a nice summary

@Ruslan Pardon me for jumping in, but "momentary consciousness" reminds me of this kind of topic -- see also these answers -- or this -- I don't know but from those answers, that does appear to be Theravada and Abhidhamma.

They say some of it is in the yamaka, i have't read that book

The Hero & The Tortoise Paradox etc are more about measurement & distance description: eg, infinitesimal division of distance, walk 10 meters in ten seconds: the time is finite & the distance is finite, yet both the time interval & distance interval may be divided into arbitrarily many pieces(which dont even have to be identical in magnitude); cf an existential goal: may arrive there after a while, but the time interval and progress interval can be divided into infinitesimal bits(which dont have to be identical in magnitude). Maybe SN51.15 would be an example of an illustration of this, where the distance is a different sort of path than literally a sprinting racetrack. Maybe a key point in both would be that progress doesn't have to be measured in ever smaller increments, and that a result is a result, however the interval is measured. And the Hero passes the tortoise after a certain time interval: the measurement of either the time or the distance can be divided into arbitrarily many small bits, but the whole amount is the whole amount, sort of like a meter ruler: it's still a meter whether the divisions are in cm or mm or microns, etc.


text:
what is the last orginal quote of buddha and what is the meaning of that quote?
what is the last orginal quote  of buddha and what is the meaning of that quote ?
I have read the story of Buddha that    he passed away  by someone posioning him

From the Mahaparinibbana Sutta:

And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now,
bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish.
Strive with earnestness!"
This was the last word of the Tathagata.

The footnote states:

Handa dani bhikkhave amantayami vo: Vayadhamma sankhara appamadena
sampadetha. Earnestness (appamada) is explained as "presence of
mindfulness." Comy.: "'You should accomplish all your duties without
allowing mindfulness to lapse!' Thus did the Blessed One, while on the
bed of his Parinibbana, summarize in that one word on earnestness the
advice he had given through forty-five years."

And from another translation:

Then the Gracious One addressed the monks, saying: “Come now, monks,
for I tell you all conditioned things are subject to decay, strive on
with heedfulness!” These were the last words of the Realised One.

Regarding the alleged poisoning, you can read it here from the same sutta.

As ruben2020's answer says, the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (DN 16) -- "the great discourse on the Buddha's extinguishment" -- is the sutta which contains the account of the Buddha's passing.
Here's the bit about his being poisoned -- On Cunda the Smith. That seems to have been an accident, i.e. food poisoning, not deliberate. The Buddha later tells Cunda to have no remorse, that Cunda is fortunate to have given a meal to the Buddha. Also by the way some people dispute that the meal was "pork" and say that the better translation is "food for pigs" or "pig mushrooms".
As for the last statement,

vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā

Ven. Sujato translates that:

Conditions fall apart. Persist with diligence.

Jayarava posted an essay to analyse or explore the ranges of meanings of the words -- The last words of the Buddha -- which concludes with his translating it like this:

Bringing all of this information together we can now attempt a translation of the phrase, the Buddha's sacred last words:

All compounded things, all experiences (mental and physical), all phenomena by their very nature decay and die, and are disappointing: it is through being not-blind-drunk on, obsessed by, or infatuated with, the objects of the senses that you succeed in awakening, or obtain liberation.

Or more succinctly:

All things are disappointing, [it is] through vigilance [that] you succeed.

Regarding the pork, it is covered in this footnote:     Sukara-maddava: a controversial term which has therefore been left untranslated. Sukara = pig; maddava = soft, tender, delicate. Hence two alternative renderings of the compound are possible: (1) the tender parts of a pig or boar; (2) what is enjoyed by pigs and boars. In the latter meaning, the term has been thought to refer to a mushroom or truffle, or a yam or tuber. K.E. Neumann ... (too long - snipped)