Daniel Millet Gil

The jhanas and mystical union are significant experiences in their own traditions. But, none of them is liberating by itself, as they are solely means to achieving the purpose of their respective systems. Both traditions caution against confusing these states with final liberation or salvation.

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What progressively fades away in the jhanas is identification with those contents of the mind that sustain the empirical self. What dies through mystical mansions is pride, the ugly worm of self-love and self-will and the identification of the person with an “I” self-sustained, separated and independent of God.

This work, republished here with thanks, is part of a larger research found in the author’s related PhD dissertation. Spanish-speaking readers may have an interest in the Centro internacional teresiano-sanjuanista de Ávila (CITeS), and also Buddhistdoor en español.