Grammatical Analysis
Jhānapaccaya: [m.] Jhāna condition; Absorption condition. Formed by jhāna (meditative absorption, deep contemplation) + paccaya (condition).
Orthodox Definition
Jhāna-paccaya is the seventeenth of the 24 Conditions. While jhāna usually refers to the exalted states of deep meditative absorption, in the rigorous context of the Paṭṭhāna, it has a much broader definition. It refers to the power of specific mental factors to heavily concentrate and “fix” the mind onto an object, whether that object is wholesome or unwholesome.
There are five (or sometimes seven) specific Jhāna factors: applied thought (vitakka), sustained thought (vicāra), rapture (pīti), feeling (vedanā), and one-pointedness (ekaggatā).
Whenever these factors arise (even during a moment of greed or anger), they act as a Jhāna-paccaya, causing the associated consciousness to grip its object with intense focus. The commentaries compare this condition to an archer locking his gaze onto a target or an eagle locking its talons into its prey.
Textual References
- Abhidhamma: Paṭṭhāna – “Jhāna factors are related to the phenomena associated with jhāna, and to the material phenomena produced thereby, by jhāna condition.”
- Commentary: Paṭṭhāna-aṭṭhakathā – Explaining that even a murderer locking onto their victim is utilizing the Jhāna condition in an unwholesome way.