Fun With Samatha

So lately I'm beginning to notice that my concentration seems to be lagging a bit and I got to pondering on the subject.
Progress in concentration is made by, oddly enough, concentrating at lot. What I'm curious about is whether anyone has noticed a correlation between more rapid progress in concentration and in which jhana or nana one practices. So if I'm doing straight samatha in the 3rd jhana on the sensations of that jhana, is it relatively more effective than spending time attempting to focus on the unstable sensations of, say, fear or disgust. Or should I just try and camp out in the sensations of 8th jhana, since that's the current edge of my practice?

I'm thinking about adding another sit at the end of my day just for some nice, restorative samatha practice. Much cheaper than an actual vacation.

I don't believe progress in concetration (the jhanas) is solely based on one's practice or how much one practices jhanas. It seems to have a biological component to it, too. There was in my practice a specific point at which I was able to access jhanas with orders of magnitude more ease. I can only blame biology for that because I was not actively practicing jhanas at the time. It just happened. And since I don't believe in miracles I blame chemistry

cmarti, so if I understand you correctly, concentration skills are a feature of a developmental stage? Hmm... I know that once I hit second path I suddenly got access to the arupa jhanas, so that makes sense.

I'm more curious as to what occurs for me on retreat, regardless of path. I seems that within which ever overall developmental phase I'm in, my concentration abilities (not necessarily concentration in jhana) jumps way up. I'd like to figure out skillful ways to replicate some of that ability off retreat. I'm also doing a lot of coding these days, so I think the boost in concentration off cushion would help.

Owen, check this out:

From the Q&A on Samatha:

"-A linear, vertical development up through the chakras for both 1st and 2nd Paths.
-A completion of a circuit in which every chakra connects with every other, from the level of the brow chakra/third eye chakra. This web effect, parallel to Indra's net, in which every chakra is connected to every other, is why 3rd Path is a quantum leap development beyond the first two Paths, which are simply linear growth.
-Completion of the circuit, including all of the web-building of 3rd Path, but from the level of the crown chakra, resulting in 4th Path."

My advice to cultivate a harder Jhana... go up and down the jhanic arch twice... then when you are back down at one of the lower material jhanas (pick your favorite) make a resolution to stay in it a specific length of time... that should work... : )

Why material as opposed to immaterial?

I guess it doesn't matter... its just that as I get further down the arch (After a few times) the absorptions are easier... try both... my main advice is just to do the arch a couple times and them just pick a jhana to hang out in... I can't seem to get into any jhana anymore without some aspects of vipassana creeping in... but that's just me... I imagine I could cultivate hard absorptions but I just don't feel inclined to these days... stage specific I am sure...

Metta

I second Clayton's advice. After two rounds up and down the arc, I find on the third round, the jhanas present themselves much clearer and deeper. Play with it! But be aware when you become embedded in the jhana. That ain't gonna help in getting to 4th path which is much, much better than any other path.

Okay, cool. Two rounds of arc welding, then jhana.

So my other motive for this is a sneaking suspicion that I need the "juice" of increased samatha to be able to reliably hit NS. Somebody yell if I'm wrong, but I suspect that while I'm in the 8th jhana, passing up and out of it requires serious concentration to be able to deconstruct the state via vipassana. Trying to ride the post samatha wave to do that. Just my current theory.