The Buddha is represented as saying that in his boyhood when sitting under a tree he once fell into a state of contemplation which he calls the first Jhana.  It is akin to a sensation which comes to Europeans most frequently in childhood, but sometimes persists in mature life, when the mind, usually under the influence of pleasant summer scenery, seems to identify itself with nature, and on returning to its normal state asks with surprise, can it be that what seems a small distant personality is really I?  The usual form of Jhana comprises four stages[686].  The first is a state of joy and ease born of detachment, which means physical calm as well as the absence of worldly desires and irrelevant thoughts.  It is distinguished from the subsequent stages by the existence of reasoning and investigation, and while it lasts the mind is compared to water agitated by waves.  In the second Jhana reasoning and investigation cease:  the water becomes still and the mind set free rises slowly above the thoughts which had encumbered it and grows calm and sure, dwelling on high[687].  In this Jhana the sense of joy and ease remains, but in the third stage joy disappears, though ease remains.  This ease (sukham) is the opposite of dukkham, the discomfort which characterizes all ordinary states of existence.  It is in part a physical feeling, for the text says that he who meditates has this sense of ease in his body.  But this feeling passes away in the fourth Jhana, in which there is only a sense of equanimity.  This word, though perhaps the best rendering which can be found for the Pali upekkha, is inadequate for it suggests merely the absence of inclination, whereas upekkha represents a state of mind which, though rising above hedonistic views, is yet positive and not merely the negation of interest and desire.

In the passage quoted the Buddha speaks as if only an effort of will were needed to enter into the first Jhana, but tradition, supported by the Pitakas[688], sanctions the use of expedients to facilitate the process.  Some are topics on which attention should be concentrated, others are external objects known as Kasina.  This word (equivalent to the Sanskrit kritsna) means entire or total, and hence something which engrosses the attention.  Thus in the procedure known as the earth Kasina[689] the Bhikkhu who wishes to enter into the Jhana makes a small circle of reddish clay, and then gazes at it fixedly.  After a time he can see it as plainly when his eyes are closed as when they are open[690].  This is followed by entry into Jhana and he should not continue looking at the circle.  There are ten kinds of Kasina differing from that described merely in substituting for the earthen circle some other object, such as water, light, gold or silver.  The whole procedure is clearly a means of inducing a hypnotic trance[691].