Fourth Jhana

The fourth jhana represents the culmination of form-based meditative absorption. At this stage, even the subtle bliss of the third jhana gives way to complete equanimity — a state of profound stability, balance, and unwavering clarity.

The characteristics of the fourth jhana include:

• Complete equanimity (upekkhā) and purity of mindfulness (sati).
• Neither pleasure nor pain remains — both joy and sorrow have fully subsided.
• The mind rests in silent, effortless stillness, undisturbed by any fluctuation of feeling.

Where earlier jhanas involved gradual refinement through letting go of grosser factors, the fourth jhana completes this process. The mind becomes like a perfectly still pond — utterly unmoved, utterly clear.

This state is highly stable, allowing for deep observation of the conditioned nature of experience. While pleasurable states can carry subtle clinging, equanimity allows for a pure, unattached witnessing of impermanence, dependent origination, and non-self. Insight practice rooted in this foundation can cut directly to the core of liberation.

Importantly, even the fourth jhana is a conditioned state — temporary and constructed. Its purpose is not to provide escape or bliss, but to support the mind’s capacity for profound insight. True liberation lies not in any particular state, but in the realisation of the unconditioned nature of all phenomena.

“Having abandoned pleasure and pain, and with the fading away of joy and grief, the monk enters the fourth jhana — purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.”
— Pali Canon