more please on "zest and ease"

[BigSkyDiamond]

a. I have seen "zest and ease" in posts by Mark Foote (thank you Mark) and would like to hear more on this in the context of  our practices.  It has caught my fancy.

 

b. Also can people please discuss whether any or all of this comment (below) from Reddit is on track and accurate?  It addresses Piti and Sukha.  Please can those be talked more about.  

 

"Generally, proper instruction rather than randos on Reddit may be best for this stuff, but I think it’s basically like... it’s translated sometimes as ‘rapture’ or ‘glee’, and maybe you might say a sort of ‘charged excitement‘ or like being plugged into a socket like a lightbulb or just a ‘charged’ feeling. It has a sort of intensity, I think, like the energy of the sun if you could somehow put your imagination inside of it, perhaps - this intense absorptive charged quality. Piti is pronounced in the first jhana and less pronounced in the second. It fades completely in the 3rd.  Sukha is sort of opposite in those jhanas. I think sukha is more of a sort of ... sublime ease, perhaps, if your emotions and mind were just without anxiety at all, resting, without worry, like a slight smile in a glowing face."

 

Thank you.

Edited August 2 by BigSkyDiamond

[BigSkyDiamond]

oooooh, i like this:

 

"Only those who have experienced non-worldly rapture (pītinirāmisā) can truly understand that simplicity and contentment are characteristics of the really happy individual."

 

from this article   in search for 'zest and ease in Buddhism'

'

[forestofclarity]

1 hour ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

Generally, proper instruction rather than randos on Reddit may be best for this stuff,

 

This part is absolutely correct IMO. 

 

[stirling]

"Zest and ease" arise in the context of the meditation absorptions called the "jhanas". 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyana_in_Buddhism

 

 

Leigh Brassington is widely considered to be THE chap to consult on the jhanas.

 

https://www.leighb.com/

 

 

His book "Right Concentration" is a fantastic manual of instruction and description on the topic. 

 

https://www.leighb.com/rc/index.html

 

 

A free excerpt can be found here:

 

https://www.lionsroar.com/entering-the-jhanas/

 

Really, these are fairly difficult to work into without a teacher.  Ultimately, since, like anything other than realization they are impermanent, they are eventually unsatisfying.

[forestofclarity]

Some also say this guy knows a thing or two (Pa Auk Sayadaw). 

 

 

Different end of the spectrum (an end that includes Patanjali, FWIW).