Rupajhana

In Buddhism, rūpajhānas are successive levels of meditation in which the mind is focused on a material object: it is a word used in Pāli scriptures. Each higher level is harder to reach than the previous one. It is distinguised from arūpajhāna which is meditation focused on immaterial objects.

There are eight jhānas in total, out of which the first four are rūpajhānas. All four rūpajhānas are characterized by ekagatta which means one-pointedness, i.e. the mind focuses singularly on the material object during meditation.

The four rūpajhānas are: (1) pathama-jhāna, (2) dutiya-jhāna, (3) tatiya-jhāna, (4) catuttha-jhāna. See right concentration.

These first four jhānas can be characterized by certain factors called jhānanga whose presence or absence in each rūpajhāna is summarized in the following table:

The jhānanga have the following meanings: vittaka means the noticing of the object of meditation, vicara means the experiencing of the object, pīti means rapture, sukha means joy, ekagattā means one-pointedness of concentration, uppekha means equanimity.

See also

• Vipassanā