Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas

by Leigh Brasington

If your concentration level is not exceptionally strong, the reason the simile mentions a “white cloth” and the description uses the word “bright” may not be clear. However, if you spend far more than the 5 to 10 to 15 minutes in access concentration recommended in the chapter “Entering the Jhānas,” the diffused white light mentioned in the chapter “Access Concentration” will become quite steady and strong. After spending an hour or two or three in access concentration, if you then enter the jhānas and work your way down to the fourth one, you will find that your visual field is filled with a bright whiteness, just as if you were sitting in an open field on a sunny day, covered from head to toe with a white sheet and you had your eyes open. At that level of concentration, the simile makes perfect sense.