Piti Bojjhanga is the Pali term usually translated as the Joy Awakening Factor, the fourth of the Seven Awakening Factors. During this talk, Peter described the traditional rendering of joy as rapture, an exquisitely potent physical/mental experience, referring to his prior practice of what Culadasa calls “pleasure jhana” in his book “The Mind Illuminated”. Peter then suggested that the intensity of that feeling can be an obstacle to the practice of vipassana, insight into the fundamental characteristics of lived experience. An alternate understanding, suggested by Nina Van Gorkom in her book “Cetasikas” is that of a heightened and engaged interest in what is forming in the mind that supports the functioning of other Awakening Factors such as Investigation of Mental Phenomena and Energy/Right Effort. This was followed by discussion among those attending about the implications of this factor in the practice of anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: THE JOY AWAKENING FACTOR
Next week’s focus is on the fifth Awakening Factor, Tranquility.
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