Jhana Consciousness: Buddhist Meditation in the Age of Neuroscience

by Paul Dennison

Overview

An interdisciplinary deep dive into Buddhist jhāna meditation and how it can transform our understanding of self and consciousness

States of profound meditative concentration, the jhānas are central to the earliest Buddhist teachings. For centuries in Southeast Asia, oral yogāvacara (yoga practitioner) lineages kept traditional jhāna practices alive, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, reforms in Theravāda Buddhism downplayed the importance of jhāna in favor of vipassanā (insight) meditation. Some began to consider the jhānas to be strictly the domain of monastics, unattainable in the context of modern lay life. In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in the jhānas, and as researcher Paul Dennison shows, the esoteric and sometimes “magical” pre-reform practices of Southeast Asia hold powerful potential for modern lay practitioners living in a more scientifically minded world. Drawing on traditional Buddhist doctrine, teachings from lesser-known meditation texts such as the Yogāvacara’s Manual, and findings from the first in-depth, peer-reviewed neuroscience study of jhāna meditation, Dennison unpacks this ancient practice in all its nuance while posing novel questions about perception, subjectivity, and the nature of enlightenment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645470809
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	12/20/2022
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,096,466
Product dimensions:	5.52(w) x 8.48(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

A student and practitioner of Buddhism since the early 1960s, PAUL DENNISON, PhD, is a founding member and former chairman of the Samatha Trust, an organization dedicated to the preservation and teaching of Buddhist samatha meditation. He has been a research physicist, a goldsmith and gem dealer, a monk in rural Thailand, and, for the past two and a half decades, a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. He is also currently an independent researcher on the neuroscience of meditation and consciousness.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 1

Part 1 Ancient Traditions: Jhana and Yogavacara 19

1 Invocation 21

2 The First Rupa Jhana: Attention, Vitakka, and Vicara 29

3 The Second Rupa Jhana: Piti, Energization 49

4 The Third Rupa Jhana: Sukha, "Fully Conscious" 67

5 The Fourth Rupa Jhana: Upekkha, Equanimity 77

6 Summary of the Four Rupa Jhanas 87

7 Twilight Language, Syllables, and Yantras 111

8 The First Arupa Jhana: Infinity of Space 139

9 The Second Arupa Jhana: Infinity of Consciousness 151

10 The Third Arupa Jhana: Nothingness 155

11 The Fourth Arupa Jhana: Neither Perception nor Non-perception 159

Part 2 Modern Neuroscience, Consciousness, and an Ancient Path 167

12 Neuroscience of the Jhanas 169

13 Consciousness 209

14 An Ancient Path 227

Notes 257

Bibliography 265

Credits 273

Index 275

Editorial Reviews

08/01/2022

This heady if overly technical study by psychotherapist Dennison (The Bojjhaṅgās) explores the Buddhist practice of jhāna meditation, which aims to develop “states of deep absorption leading to insight into the nature of existence and identity.” The author details how 19th-century Buddhist reforms in Southeast Asia suppressed jhāna meditation and argues that the practice is ripe for resurgence. He describes the eight stages of jhānas, or states of “meditative concentration,” during which the practitioner disengages from everyday sensory perception, embodies “subtle” qualities (e.g., equanimity, bliss, and mindfulness), and comes to view oneself as one with the world. However, the jargon-heavy prose means readers will struggle to follow along (“The transition from the third to the fourth rūpa jhāna can develop in a natural manner as upekkhā... takes over as the primary factor of the third rūpa jhāna”). The problem worsens when Dennison dives into his five-year-long neuroscientific study of the brain activity of jhāna practitioners, the findings of which will remain obscure to lay readers (“Frontal electrical activity is suppressed by around 300–400 μV, while activity at temporal sites T3 and T4 is strongly increased”). Readers interested in the intersection of Buddhist meditation and neuroscience will find this robust and integrative, though the specialized language will make this impenetrable for many. This is best suited for specialists. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

The ancient traditions of Thai jhāna practice (borān kammaṭṭhān) have been thought lost or forgotten. Dennison’s remarkable book shows how they are still being practiced and thrive—often outside Asia. Drawing on personal recollection, meditative experience, and his neurological research, long-time meditation teacher and psychotherapist Paul Dennison tells us his inside story: of the early years of samatha-vipassanā meditative practice in the UK and of friendships with Trungpa, Ato Rinpoche, and Anandabodhi (Namgyal Rinpoche). Primarily, however, he explores the practice of deep jhāna and formless meditation, with teachings he has received from Nai Boonman (Poonyathiro). The sophistication and depth of these early techniques, and of Boonman’s teachings, are made clear through dramatically effective EEGs—Dennison links his peer-reviewed research in this area with personal experiences of meditation. An unusual and important book that places the often-mysterious samatha texts of Theravāda in their natural, living context.”—Sarah Shaw, author of The Art of Listening

“This book is a remarkable deconstruction of sentience from the dual perspectives of Buddhism and contemporary neuroscience. The author—fluent in both fields— describes the first scientific study of jhāna meditation and establishes a compelling consilience between the Buddhist model of dependent origination and current formulations of self-organization in the active inference framework of neuroscience. Given that Buddhist meditation practices have been conserved for over 2,500 years, the Buddhist model can probably claim precedence. Dennison offers many intriguing and foundational insights into the mind, brain, and the illusory nature of selfhood. Perhaps, the most remarkable is that certain brain states—usually associated with sleeping, dreaming, and indeed epilepsy—can be invoked at will by skilled practitioners, confirming the human ability to withdraw oneself from the exteroceptive sensorium and control the brain’s attentional processes. This is the holy grail of many psychotherapies—a holy grail that we now know exists, thanks to Dennison's brilliant synthesis. Beyond the profound therapeutic implications of this thesis, there are some fundamental observations about selfhood. Perhaps my favorite is that ‘it might be argued that both Buddhist and active inference models support the view that the cognitive conclusion that ‘I am’ and ‘I do’ is both impermanent and has no ultimate reality.” I am sure this is absolutely correct.”—Karl Friston, professor of neuroscience, University College London

“Paul Dennison’s book is a compelling reflection on the practice and significance of Buddhist jhāna, uniquely informed by his own practice of meditation over nearly sixty years as well as by his ground-breaking EEG study of meditators practicing a form of mindfulness of breathing introduced to the UK from Thailand in the 1960s. Dennison suggests that this form of practice preserves important elements of older traditions of Buddhist meditation practiced across Southeast Asia prior to the monastic reforms that promoted new forms of insight meditation divorced from jhāna. He argues that these older practices embody an ancient understanding of jhāna as a disengagement from our habitual sensory consciousness that is deeply affecting and initiates a transformation in our understanding of who we are. This is a significant contribution to modern discussions of meditation and consciousness.” —Rupert Gethin, professor of Buddhist studies, University of Bristol

“Paul Dennison has practiced and taught meditation for over 50 years, pursuing the deep states (jhānas) that are the core of samadhi, itself the core of the Buddhist path to awakening. In this groundbreaking exposition of the jhānas and their brain-state correlates, Paul fuses science and praxis. As a practitioner, he describes the jhānas from the inside out; as a scientist, he explains ‘withdrawal from sensory consciousness’ from the outside in. As a meditation teacher, he is a lucid guide to the qualities of the jhānas. This book is an opening to a new understanding of an ancient tradition.”— Chris Gilchrist, trustee of The Samatha Trust

“Dennison’s work would be of enormous value were it only for the light it shines on the growth of the samatha tradition in the UK, with its distinctive and intricate understanding of jhāna consciousness. He presents a lucid analysis of the conscious states experienced by meditators in this tradition, which includes insights that profoundly enrich the contemporary discourse on the nature of consciousness. But the book’s original contribution is enhanced by Dennison’s incorporation of EEG research—giving rise to his ‘neurodhamma’ perspective, which significantly furthers the dialogue between science and spirituality that is of such importance in our day.”—B. Les Lancaster, founding director of the Alef Trust and emeritus professor of transpersonal psychology, Liverpool John Moores University

“This is a remarkable book. Its depth of engagement, drawn on a lifetime’s meditation experience in breathing mindfulness within the Theravāda tradition, as well as long exploration of some of the more esoteric practices almost lost in the reforms of the last century, is illuminated by contemporary neuroscience and psychoanalysis. There is no more compelling introduction to the richness of Theravāda meditation and its contemporary relevance.”—Professor Jaś Elsner, Oxford University

“A remarkable and insightful work that bridges the worlds of meditation and neuroscience. It offers a pragmatic yet spiritually rich perspective, making it an invaluable resource for those interested in the profound states of meditative consciousness and the science behind them.”—Buddhistdoor Global

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