Abhidhamma in Daily Life
195  Jhanacittas

In the practice of samatha there are three stages of samadhi. When it is still  the preliminary stage of samadhi (parikamma samadhi)  the citta thinks of the meditation subject, but is not jhanacitta. It is kamavacara citta (a citta of the sensuous plane of consciousness). Kamavacara cittas are the cittas we have in daily life when, for example we see, think or wish. Even when the samadhi is developed to the stage of upacara samadhi (access concentration), the citta is still not jhanacitta. When samadhi is developed to the stage of appana-samadhi (attainment concentration) the citta is jhanacitta. The jhanacitta thinks of the meditation subject with absorption-concentration.  When one attains jhana there is no seeing, no hearing nor any other sense impressions. The jhanacitta is of a higher level of consciousness. There are two kinds of jhanacittas: rupa-jhanacittas and arupa-jhanacittas .
Date 17 Oct 2012

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