Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas

by Leigh Brasington

Again we have a simile: Suppose in a lotus pond there are blue, white or red lotuses that have been born in the water, grow in the water and never rise up above the water, but flourish immersed in the water. From their tips to their roots they would be drenched, steeped, saturated and suffused with water so there would be no part of those lotuses that is not suffused with water. In the same way, one drenches, steeps, saturates and suffuses one’s body with the happiness free from rapture so there is no part of one’s body which is not suffused by this happiness. (DN 2.82) The simile is of lotus blossoms that grow up out of the mud but do not come above the surface of the water. They live their entire lives immersed in the water, completely saturated with water. This is a very still picture. The lotuses are not waving around in the breeze; they are not moving with ripples on the pond—there is no movement at all. This is an accurate description of the third jhāna—you are immersed in a sense of contentment with no sense of movement. Being underwater also points to a sense of isolation, which is now beginning to appear as your mind grows even more concentrated.