‘Jhana’ is a Pali translation of the Sanskrit term ‘dhyana’ or meditation.

This should not be

confused with the Sanskrit term ‘jnana,’ which means ‘knowledge’. The eight jhanas are practices
of meditative absorption that Buddha learned from Hindu yogis during his spiritual search. Even
though Buddha was taught the eight jhanas from Hindu teachers, it seems that this knowledge was
preserved and elaborated in Buddhism alone – hence it has become part of the Buddhist path.
From his first teacher he learned the initial four jhanas; from his second teacher he learned the
following three and from his last teacher he learned the final eighth jhana. All of his teachers were
impressed by how fast he mastered the jhanas, and all of them told him they had nothing more to
teach him.

When Buddha mastered the eight jhanas, he realized that he was still not free from suffering.
When he emerged out of meditative absorption, he saw that nothing had really changed. Why?
There are several possible explanations. One theory would be that, while he was able to enter
deep absorption in meditation, he was not able to stabilize his state; there was no integration
between his sitting meditation and activity in the world. It can happen in meditation that our
relative mind is suspended, so we experience a sense of freedom but, as soon as we begin to use
our relative consciousness, we become our old self again. Another possible reason is that, in spite
of being able to enter deep meditation, Buddha was not actually awakened to his true self; to
acquire the skill of suspending our relative consciousness has nothing in common with the actual
awakening to who we are. Absorption and awakening are two very different things.