Verified
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 texts clarify that these structural components function through deep contemplation (upanijjhāyana) by actively approaching the object, while simultaneously burning away (jhāpana) opposing states in a fitting manner. Although a unified state of absorption cannot exist separately from its component parts, these mental factors are designated individually as factors (anga), analogous to the distinct, individual components that combine to constitute a full army or a chariot. Within this framework, mental pain (domanassa) is explicitly classified as an exclusively unwholesome component, whereas the remaining constituents distribute across wholesome, unwholesome, and structurally neutral (abyākata) fields of mind.
Quote
ārammaṇaṃ upagantvā cintanasaṅkhātena upanijjhāyanaṭṭhena yathārahaṃ paccanīkadhammajhāpanaṭṭhena ca jhānāni ca tāni aṅgāni ca samuditānaṃ avayavabhāvena aṅgīyanti ñāyantīti jhānaṅgāni.
Jhānas are so called because they approach the object and contemplate it, which is called upanijjhāyana, and because they burn away opposing defilements (nīvaraṇas) in a fitting manner. They are also called aṅgas (factors) because they are known as parts (avayava) of the composite jhāna. Thus, jhānaṅgāni (jhāna factors).avayavavinimuttassa ca samudāyassa abhāvepi senaṅgarathaṅgādayo viya visuṃ visuṃ aṅgabhāvena Doccaṃti ekato hutvā jhānabhāvena.
Even though there is no aggregate (samudāya) separate from its parts (avayava), these are individually called factors, like the factors of an army or a chariot, when they combine to form a jhāna.domanassañcettha akusalajhānaṅgaṃ, sesāni kusalākusalābyākatajhānaṅgāni.
Here, mental pain (domanassa) is an unwholesome jhāna factor; the rest (vitakka, and so on) are wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate jhāna factors.
Textual References
- Compendium: Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha – Outlining the structural, mechanical definition of absorption components utilizing the military army and chariot similes.