ABSTRACT
This is the formulaic description of the fi rst jhāna . At fi rst glance, this description (as with the descriptions of the other three jhānas ) seems straightforward. Due to its apparent simplicity, this description has received little attention from modern Buddhist scholarship; no one has endeavoured to understand the exact nature of this state and its liberating value. As I have observed in the introduction, a common perception in the Theravāda tradition understands this description as referring to one-pointed absorption that is brought about by the practice of concentration. However, I think this state is much more intricate and interesting than it appears to be at fi rst and that it reveals quite a lot about the nature of the Buddhist path to liberation and its psychological and phenomenological aspects.
