Sepertinya makna nimitta itu agak berbeda dengan nimitta yang biasa kita dapatkan dari sumber lain. Nimitta bisa mempunyai banyak makna, tidak hanya gambaran. suara atau panas/dingin juga nimitta
Nimitta sutta N 3.100 (xi-xv)
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.100.11-15.than.htmlSang Buddha sepertinya mengajarkan masuk ke Jhana tidak hanya lewat nimitta (yang kita tahu).
Pada Vitakkasanthana Sutta MN 20, dijelaskan dengan gambaran/nimitta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.020.than.htmlPada Samadhanga Sutta AN 5.28, dijelaskan cara masuk ke jhana 1-4, dan tidak melibatkan nimitta sama sekali.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.028.than.htmlIMO masuk ke Jhana dengan nimitta hanya salah satu cara saja. Tergantung pada sifat si orang itu. Mungkin ini menjelaskan mengapa ada orang yang sudah 'mumpuni' meditasi tetapi tidak mengenal nimitta itu. Nimitta itu adalah objek meditasi alternatif saja kalau muncul. Kalau tidak salah pernah baca dari salah satu guru meditasi, ketika nimitta muncul, bisa tetap pada nafas atau nimitta. tergantung pilihan anda saja. Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo adalah salah satunya. Dia menjelaskan
When you reach this point you may find that the breath starts giving rise to various signs (nimitta), such as seeing or feeling hot, cold, or tingling sensations in the head. You may see a pale, murky vapor or your own skull. Even so, don't let yourself be affected by whatever appears. If you don't want the nimitta to appear, breathe deep and long, down into the heart, and it will immediately go away.
Dan dari 2 jalur itu, masuk ke jhana caranya seperti ini
Now we will summarize the methods of breath meditation under the headings of jhana.
Jhana means to be absorbed or focused in a single object or preoccupation, as when we deal with the breath.
1. The first jhana has five factors. (a) Directed thought (vitakka): Think of the breath until you can keep it in mind without getting distracted. (b) Singleness of preoccupation (ekaggatarammana): Keep the mind with the breath. Don't let it stray after other concepts or preoccupations. Watch over your thoughts so that they deal only with the breath to the point where the breath becomes comfortable. (The mind becomes one, at rest with the breath.) (c) Evaluation (vicara): Gain a sense of how to let this comfortable breath sensation spread and connect with the other breath sensations in the body. Let these breath sensations spread until they're interconnected all over the body. Once the body has been soothed by the breath, feelings of pain will grow calm. The body will be filled with good breath energy. (The mind is focused exclusively on issues connected with the breath.)
These three qualities must be brought together to bear on the same stream of breathing for the first jhana to arise. This stream of breathing can then take you all the way to the fourth jhana.
Directed thought, singleness of preoccupation, and evaluation act as the causes. When the causes are fully ripe, results will appear — (d) rapture (piti), a compelling sense of fullness and refreshment for body and mind, going straight to the heart, independent of all else; (e) pleasure (sukha), physical ease arising from the body's being still and unperturbed (kaya-passaddhi); mental contentment arising from the mind's being at ease on its own, undistracted, unperturbed, serene, and exultant (citta-passaddhi).
Rapture and pleasure are the results. The factors of the first jhana thus come down simply to two sorts: causes and results.
As rapture and pleasure grow stronger, the breath becomes more subtle. The longer you stay focused and absorbed, the more powerful the results become. This enables you to set directed thought and evaluation (the preliminary ground-clearing) aside, and — relying completely on a single factor, singleness of preoccupation — you enter the second jhana (magga-citta, phala-citta).
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/inmind.html'Penampakan' penjelasan menggunakan nimitta hanya sedikit sekali pemunculannya di penjelasan jhana *tidak ada nimitta disana*. Kalau memang nimitta itu penting, pasti dimasukkan. Kebanyakan yang muncul hanya penjelasan seperti ini saja
There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal.
Sekian investigasinya.... hayo2x kita 'korek'2x lagi....