upekkha100 said: “What instructions did the Buddha recommend for anariyas who are following the mundane Path to cultivate the jhanas?”
None.
“If not through breathing, what was the method he approved of?”
Mundane eightfold path first and then the Noble Eightfold Path. Samadhi (and jhanas whenever possible) will come automatically. Jhansa are not necessary even for the Arahanthood:
“Sīla, Samādhi, Pannā to Pannā, Sīla, Samādhi”
“I feel I can’t focus on a concept for that long, nor on metta.”
That could be because you may not have fulfilled enough sila or not gotten rid of the 10 types of miccha ditthi:
“Mahā Cattārisaka Sutta (Discourse on the Great Forty)”
A final word:
I personally know people who are addicted to “jhanic pleasures”. They have stopped pursuing Dhamma any further and are stuck now.
– In fact there are people who are addicted to just a “calm state of mind” that they get when doing breath meditation, especially at retreats. So, they just keep going back to retreats to get another dose once in a while.
– I think that is a pathetic situation. Getting rid of greed, hate, and ignorance requires an effort: lead a moral life cultivating true Anapana/Satipatthana (see the Meditation section), and learn true and pure dhamma.
Here is what I said in an earlier post on this topic:
When one does insight mediation, one first gets to samadhi, and eventually gets to the Arahanthood, as described in the Upanisa Sutta (SN 12.23):
“..With the comprehension of suffering (i.e., the First Noble Truth via Tilakkhana) faith results; with the growth of faith, lightness of mind (pāmojjaṃ) arises; with increasing lightness of mind, joy (piti) arises; with increasing joy, lightness of the body (passaddhi) arises; with increasing passaddhi, bodily sukha arises; with increasing bodily sukha, samādhi arises; with samādhi, yathābhūtañāṇadassana (knowledge and vision of things as they really are) arises; with the knowledge and vision of things as they really are, one loses attachment to worldly things (nibbidā), followed by losing cravings for sense pleasures (viragā), and liberation (vimutti), and to the destruction of all defilements (khayeñāṇaṃ)”.
Now, jhana may be attained anytime around the step, “with increasing passaddhi, bodily sukha arises“.
– One may proceed all the way to Arahanthood without getting to jhanas.
That is from my earlier post.
Ariya jhanas start with the Anagami stage (kama raga not merely suppressed but removed). So, they are unlikely to get “hooked to” jhanic pleasures. Even if they do, it will not matter much because they will not come back from the brahma realms to the lower realms.
January 15, 2019:
Just posted: “Breath Meditation Is Addictive and Harmful in the Long Run“.