Emerge deliberately and review the jhāna factors
Come out of absorption slowly, then look back at which factors were present, what led in, and what ended it.
Why it works
In the discourse One by One (MN 111), Sāriputta distinguishes the factors of each absorption and “knew those phenomena as they arose, as they remained, and as they went away.” AN 5.28 adds a fifth factor of right concentration — a “basis for reviewing,” like someone standing who looks at someone sitting. The Visuddhimagga formalises this as five masteries: adverting to the jhāna, attaining it, staying as long as intended, emerging, and reviewing. Reviewing turns a pleasant state into an understood one: you learn what made it possible, and you see that even a refined state is made of parts that come and go.
How to do it
- Before sitting, decide roughly how long you intend to remain in whatever state arises.
- When it is time, emerge slowly; notice the transition as ordinary thinking and sensing return.
- Review in a few sentences: which factors were present (effort of attention, rapture, happiness, equanimity, unification)? Which felt coarse?
- Note what seemed to lead in, and what ended it.
- Over time, see whether you can enter, stay and leave more deliberately — the texts’ sense of mastery.
Evidence
Reviewing is canonical (MN 111, AN 5.28) and the five masteries are the Visuddhimagga’s commentarial framework. The support is textual and practitioner-based; no study has tested reviewing as a separate practice. (anecdotal)
Textual and practitioner support; how much can be reviewed after deep absorption differs between lighter and deeper accounts of jhāna.
Sources
- Sujato, B. (trans.). One by One (Anupadasutta, Majjhima Nikāya 111). SuttaCentral.
- Sujato, B. (trans.). With Five Factors (Pañcaṅgikasutta, Aṅguttara Nikāya 5.28). SuttaCentral.
- Buddhaghosa. The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli.
Common mistake
Jumping up the moment a deep sitting ends — the shift back into ordinary activity is where the state can be examined, and skipping it leaves only a vague memory of “a good sit.”
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for The Jhānas: The Four Stages of Meditative Absorption
- Treat the fading of the hindrances as the doorway
Absorption starts less with adding something special than with noticing the five hindrances quieten — and the gladness that follows.
- Recognise access concentration and stop pushing past it
Learn the bright, steady state just before absorption — and stop adding effort once you are there.
- Let a pleasant sensation grow into the first jhāna
From access concentration, rest attention on a pleasant feeling and allow it — without forcing — to build into rapture and happiness.
- Move into the second and third jhānas by letting factors fall away
Deepen not by adding but by releasing — first the effort of holding attention, then the excitement of rapture.
- Rest in the equanimity of the fourth jhāna
Let even pleasure fall away into a bright, even stillness that leans neither toward pleasant nor unpleasant.
- Know which depth of jhāna you are being taught
Identify whether your teacher or book means the lighter “sutta” jhānas or the far deeper Visuddhimagga absorptions — and measure yourself by one map.
- Use jhāna as a basis for insight, not an end in itself
Turn the steady, unified mind of absorption back on the absorption itself and see it as changing and not-self.
- Learn deep absorption with a teacher — and know the difficulties
Deep concentration is traditionally learned within a teacher relationship, and intensive practice can bring unexpected experiences that are better met with support.
Related concepts
- Kasina Meditation: Concentration Through a Physical Object
Classical Theravada concentration practice — the object, the nimitta, and the path to absorption
- Shamatha: The Buddhist Practice of Calm Abiding
Training the mind to rest: the nine stages and their modern neurological parallels
- The Five Hindrances: Diagnosing and Working with Meditation Obstacles
Name the obstacle precisely — then apply the specific antidote
- Satipaṭṭhāna: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
The discourse that modern mindfulness grew from, practised the way the text lays it out
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: cite or embed this practice · more practices graded Practitioner experience