
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/nick-cammarata-on-jhana
Buddhists say that if you meditate enough, you can learn to enter a state of extreme bliss called jhana.
(there are many different jhana states - there's a discussion of the distinctions here - but I'm lumping them together for simplicity. For attempted explanations of why jhana should exist, see here and here.)
Jhana is different from enlightenment. Enlightenment changes you forever. Jhana is just a state you can enter during meditation sessions, then leave when the session is over. Enlightenment takes years or decades of work, but some people describe reaching jhana after a few months of practice. Hardcore Buddhists insist that jhana is good only insofar as it serves as a stepping stone to enlightenment; others may find extreme bliss desirable in its own right.
Nick Cammarata of OpenAI sometimes meditates and reaches jhana. I've found his descriptions unusually, well, descriptive:
By Jeremiah4.8
129129 ratings
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/nick-cammarata-on-jhana
Buddhists say that if you meditate enough, you can learn to enter a state of extreme bliss called jhana.
(there are many different jhana states - there's a discussion of the distinctions here - but I'm lumping them together for simplicity. For attempted explanations of why jhana should exist, see here and here.)
Jhana is different from enlightenment. Enlightenment changes you forever. Jhana is just a state you can enter during meditation sessions, then leave when the session is over. Enlightenment takes years or decades of work, but some people describe reaching jhana after a few months of practice. Hardcore Buddhists insist that jhana is good only insofar as it serves as a stepping stone to enlightenment; others may find extreme bliss desirable in its own right.
Nick Cammarata of OpenAI sometimes meditates and reaches jhana. I've found his descriptions unusually, well, descriptive:

32,246 Listeners

2,118 Listeners

2,680 Listeners

26,380 Listeners

4,270 Listeners

2,461 Listeners

2,267 Listeners

907 Listeners

291 Listeners

4,167 Listeners

1,635 Listeners

313 Listeners

3,833 Listeners

551 Listeners

688 Listeners