Is striving for the jhanas misplaced effort? Or does insight arise on its own once the mind is concentrated, with no need to develop vipassana as a sustained formal meditation? These are the two one-sided positions at the edges of an old debate. Looking closely at the suttas, this essay argues that both samatha and vipassana should be developed systematically on the path to Nibbana — each with its own role, and neither a substitute for the other.

How long does it really take to attain jhana? The honest answer is longer than the popular ones — and it points to a deeper kind of jhana than what often goes by the name today. On where the suttas actually set the bar.