Agony and Ecstasy

43
In total concentration (samādhi), however, it is not possible to be
aware of the conditioned existence, origin and cessation of anything
outside this focus on the object of the trance. It is then in such
state of absorption that there is no place for lust and malice, for
sloth, worry and doubt, because the mental faculties in which these
passions arise and obstruct, are not functioning. In such a state
of absorption the emotions cannot be roused and formed into hindrances.
Still, the type of concentration is one of exclusion, but
not of solution. The emotions of love and hate may not function,
owing to the mind’s preoccupation with loftier ideals, but although
temporarily transcended, the passions are not extinguished.
It cannot be over-emphasised that the aim of jhāna concentration
is never the attainment of the deliverance of Nibbāna, because they
are found, as it were, in different paths. Concentration (samādhi)
leads to peace of mind in tranquillity of the passions, whereas the
road to deliverance is the path of insight (vipassanā), where the passions
are totally overcome (khīṇāsavā). Jhana leads to suspension
of thought and feeling (saññā-vedayita nirodha), but insight leads to
the cessation of thought. The system of mental absorption (jhāna)
may appear a system of sublimation, but it is not one of solution.
This will be better understood when we consider the five stages in
greater detail, according to the Suttas, the Abhidhamma and the
commentaries.
Originally, there appear to have been recognised only four stages
of concentration and absorption in the world of form (rūpāvacara),
but later, perhaps for purpose of greater systematisation, one finds
the first stage divided into two. So that we now have the following
classification:
Discursive thought (vitakka), sustained application (vicāra), joyful
interest (pīti), well-being (sukha) and one-pointedness of mind
(ekaggatā). These are the distinguished features of the five stages
of mental absorption (jhāna). In each succeeding stage where the
emphasis is on the next characteristic, the earlier one is abandoned.