Time: 45 minutes.

Situation: A quiet room with my eyes closed, sitting Burmese-style with my hands on my knees.

On the advice of a few DhO compadres, I went samatha this session.  The general idea is that (for a while at least) I will attempt to traverse the "jhanic arc" with a view to solidifying and exploring each state, rather than deconstruct them, and seeing what happens. So here goes . . . or rather, here already went!

Experience: I closed my eyes and concentration was high. I allowed awareness to alight on the pleasant sensation of the weight of my flesh hanging on my skeletal structure. Awareness would move around a bit and get distracted, but only a little, and each time I noted distraction, awareness settled back on the pleasantness of the weight of my flesh. I call the this the First Samatha Jhana. Then there was a sort of sensory blossoming as pleasantness gave way to complete physical rapture. My whole body vibrated with pleasure and awareness (unlike in the First Samatha Jhana) wasn't distractable anymore - it was right there, consumed by and consuming this rapture. I call this the Second Samatha Jhana. Somehow or other, the physical rapture of the Second Samatha Jhana kind of went menthol - it cooled in this delightfully refreshing way, like jumping into a pool out of a dry sauna; there was a flavor of equanimity then, but only a touch; it was more a mellowing-out of physical rapture and a more panoramic perspective on the experience. I call this the Third Samatha Jhana. Then the physical stuff pretty much dropped away. I could still "feel" the body, but equanimity came to the fore in a big, big way, and experiencing the sense-field became very smooth and silky. I call this the Fourth Samatha Jhana. Then there was a transition. Awareness shifted from the feel of perceiving the sense-field (smooth and silky), to the dimensions of the sense-field (3D and spacious). I call this Boundless Space. Then there was a transition. Suddenly the spaciousness of the sense-field seemed to include, and simultaneously be, all of my awareness; awareness went way beyond the borders of my body, and seemed to have no end in sight - it just went on and on as far as the sense-field went. I call this Boundless Consciousness. Then it was almost as if this HUGE, HUGE, SPACIOUS AWARENESS was just a HUGE, HUGE DRAG, and my awareness folded down on itself like a tent with no poles. It just went *floop* into a two dimensional pile on the ground - which (strange to say) was a nice break. I call this Nothingness. I didn't perceive anything except that I wasn't perceiving much except my own awareness collapse. I'm guessing this was Neither Perception Nor Yet Non-Perception. Then my awareness went from idle to active in my body, transitioned to my third eye, then moved from there to the crown of my head in short order. It was like there was a no barrier between the inside of me and the outside right there at the crown. My eyes rolled up in my head. There was the glorious, lovely opening in the crown of my head and out if was poring love and well being all over my body. My visual field glowed a light gray. I was so grateful for this love and well being - which had a character that was smooth and manageable (read "not ecstatic") but was profound and permeated all of my awareness. I call this Pure Land One. Then awareness shifted from the crown of my head back down to my third eye area and the whole of my body started to vibrate from there down. It was like the area above my third eye didn't exist, and everything below it was just electricity - like static or something. Then the rest of my head caught-up and my whole body was like static electricity from the crown down. I don't know what to call this. I hung-out in each of these states as long as I really wanted with no real rush to move on. When a transition happened, it just happened. I moved up the jhanic arc in this way up to the static electricity part, then moved back down to what I call the First Samatha Jhana, then back up to static, then back down, then back up, then back down to around Boundless Space when the session ended. Each trip up and down, I lingered in the various states longer, and the experience of the states was fuller and more intense. When I came out of the session, I felt rested, and experiential reality had a smooth "chill" factor to it that was very pleasant and very different than the semi-exhausted, destabilized feel I have when I come out of a vipassana session. The end. Jeez! What a long post!

Observations: I got nothin' on this. Its going on the DhO.