- The first jhana is described as intense physical energy and emotional joy, often accompanied by muscle tension, twitching, tears, hair standing on end, etc.
- The second jhana is more sedate, with physical relaxation, a strong sense of joy coming in waves and only a minor sense of physical energy.
- The third jhana is energetically quiet, but with strong contentment and happiness.
- In the fourth jhana the pleasure turns to neutrality, described as equanimity.
- In the fifth jhana one senses an infinite space all around.
- In the sixth jhana one senses that one’s consciousness has become infinite.
- In the seventh jhana there is a deep sense of nothingness, an absence of form.
- The eighth jhana is named “neither perception nor non-perception” because the mind does not even categorize the experience.
These eight jhanas are accessed through another Altered State of Consciousness (ASC) called Access Concentration (AC). In AC one is deeply concentrated on the object of meditation (often the breath), with little or no internal verbalization, and with consistently absorbed interest in the raw experience of the object of meditation.
Though each of the eight jhanas has unique characteristics, they are all ASCs that have in common the following 6 experiential characteristics:
- internal verbalizations fade completely or become “wispy”,
- external awareness dims and startle responses diminish,
- one’s sense of body boundaries and orientation in space are altered,
- the experience of evaluations, goals, and “shoulds” diminishes,
- attention is highly focused on the object of meditation, and
- the normal sense of time falls away (as is common in many ASCs).
Jhana is distinguished from some other ASCs because it does not include visual or auditory hallucinations (as in some organic disorders), nor does it include cross-sense synesthesias (such as “seeing” the bell ring or “feeling” a bird sing, as in some drug experiences).
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