A year later I sat with Ayya for five weeks. I learned jhānas six, seven, and eight and was thoroughly enjoying running ’em up (one to eight) and running ’em back down (eight to one). Not too long after I gained some skill at doing this, I was again in an interview with Ayya, and she said, “Now you must do insight practice in the same sitting after you do the jhānas.” “But it takes me the whole sitting to go up and back down,” I protested. “Do them faster.” Now, Ayya Khema was not someone you wanted to argue with, so I nodded, said, “Yes, ma’am,” and went back to meditating and “doing them
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