The Jhana Factors

Concentration Meditation controls the Five Hindrances by overcoming each with a counteracting Jhana or Absorption Factors developed by focusing inside, meditating into peacefully happy trance states. First, let's understand the Five Hindrances.

The Five Hindrances

The Five Hindrances are the obstacles which block or cut off the mind from transcending to wisdom. As shown below, they are Drowsiness, Doubt, Ill Will, Restlessness and Sensual Desire.

Hindrance	Definition
1. Drowsiness	Sleepiness, laziness sloth, torpor, languor, stolidity,
2. Doubt	Doubt, perplexity, scepsis, scepticism, indecision, uncertainty,
3. Ill Will	Ill will, hatred, malevolence, aversion.
4. Restlessness	Restlessness, worry, anxiety,
5. Sensual Desire	Sensual desire in five sensual objects which consist of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch.

Drowsiness can be either sleepiness or laziness. It includes both mental sluggishness (sloth) and physical sluggishness (torpor). Doubt is usually specific to the current meditation procedure. “Am I doing the right thing?” Ill Will can vary from active anger or hatred to simply feeling ill at ease. “Do I really belong here?” Restlessness is usually the familiar zooming of the mind from one thought to another, but can also include specific worries and anxiety. Finally, Sensual Desire is the enveloping sea that encompasses all the others. We are born into this world of sensual desire because of our enchantment with seeking sensual pleasures.  In combination, these Five Hindrances do a good job of confusing our normal thinking and obscuring the true nature of our situation. 

Causes of the Five Hindrances

Hindrance	Caused by
1. Drowsiness	Dislike, discontent or aversion,
2. Doubt or uncertainty	Lack of contemplation,
3. Ill Will	Annoyance, anger, hatred, enmity, repulsion, or repugnance,
4. Restlessness	Being unable to stop the mind from mental distraction or anxiety, lack of peace.
5. Sensual Desire	Lust or craving for beautiful, pleasing perceptions.

As shown, Drowsiness stems from dislike or discontentment. Doubt comes from lack of contemplation. Ill Will may be due to superficial annoyance, but often reflects more deeply instilled feelings of anger or hatred. Restlessness indicates our habitual inability to stop the mind due to failure to be able to tune out distractions. However, it can be overcome with mental training. Sensual desire is caused by the lust and craving for pleasure that pervades our whole approach to life. It is the most deep seated hindrance and the ultimate target of mental training. 

Jhana Factors eliminating the Five Hindrances  

The Five Hindrances can be eliminated by the five Jhana Factors which mentally control or extinguish them. These Jhana Factors can be attained during meditation. Please read through questions four, five and six for better understanding.

Jhana Factor	Eliminates
1. Applied Thought	Drowsiness and laziness
2. Sustained thought	Doubt,
3. Joy or Rapture	Ill Will,
4. Peaceful Happiness	Restlessness
5. One-pointed Concentration	Sensual Desire.

Applied Thought or increased attention overcomes Drowsiness, Sustained Thought or prolonged contemplation overcomes Doubt. Feelings of Joy overcome Ill Will and Peaceful Happiness overcomes Restlessness. One-pointed Concentration overcomes Sensual Desire and gives rise to the neutral feeling of Equanimity which appears in the deepest Jhana state.

Applied Thought (Vitakka) is thinking of feelings or sensations. Its characteristic is directing the mind onto an object, its function is gathering and maintaining the feeling, and its result is leading the mind onto an object, the feeling.

Sustained Thought (Vicara) is considering the object as its characteristic, its function is keeping the mind and mental concomitants occupied with the object, and its result is keeping the mind anchored on that object.

Vitakka and Vicara always go together, but Vitakka arises before Vicara. Vitakka is cruder than Vicara. It is like the sound of a bell when struck, while Vicara is like the humming sound afterwards.

Joy or Rapture (Piti) has joyfulness as its characteristic. Its function is physically and mentally suffusing, and its result is physical and mental glow. There are five kinds of Piti: (1) Minor Thrill, (2) Momentary or Instantaneous Joy,  (3) Showering Joy, like a wave hitting the shore, (4) Uplifting joy, (5) Suffusing joy.

Peaceful Happiness (Sukha) eats or digs away physical and mental discomfort. Its characteristic is gladness, its function is increasing its components and its result is generosity.

Piti is pleasure that arises, Sukha is experiencing the pleasure. When the mind has Piti, it also has Sukha, but when the mind has Sukha, that does not mean that it also has Piti. For example, Piti arises immediately when a man without food travelling in the desert finds an oasis or water. Only when he reaches the shade of the oasis or drinks the water, does Sukha arise.

In the Five Aggregates, Piti is categorized as a mental formation (Sankhara), but Sukha is a sensation (Vedana).  

One-pointed Concentration (Ekaggata) is explained in the scripture of Vibham, but there is no explanation found in Pali.

For Equanimity (Upekkha), the characteristic is being neutral, its taste is no concern, its result is no exertion and its proximate cause is the lessening of Piti.

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