The Allegory of the Lotus Pond: unspeakable bliss and beauty along your Jhana journey
In July and August 2025, I applied myself to achieve the next milestones on my jhana meditation journey. I made good progress and experienced unspeakable bliss (in the form of extreme joy and extreme calm). I will now attempt to speak it nonetheless! Well, I’m having the time of my life! And that’s because I took the time to enjoy myself. You see, for this blog, I try to practice a new philosophical exercise every month, so I am always hesitant to revisit an exercise that I have already talked about. I worry about having nothing new or interesting to say about it. I worry about it being “old news”. (I have many such not-so-smart thoughts I’m afraid.) Nevertheless, I reasoned that it would be wise to not chase novelty, and instead to really delve into Jhana practice again! The jhanas are a series of blissful altered states of consciousness, achieved in sequence. “Jhana meditation” is the type of meditation that allows you to hit those target experiences. It’s a bit tric...