Buddhist or Meditators: Has anyone experienced a jhana? Could you describe your experience?

Not necessarily NZ. :-)

There's no unskillful thought.

There're feelings of joy & happiness (with the emphasis on 'feeling').

You can develop it into equanimity, by carrying out the instructions the Buddha gave in the Anapanasati Sutta:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118....

Compare with the discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.22.0...

You don't really need all this reading, but it helped me; and trying to lead a good life.

Generally right mindfulness leads to right concentration when developed energetically:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.117....

“Some have experienced in meditation the dissolution of ego and body. Those who have experienced this have ascertained that what they are left with is light. That’s all; just light. There is no ego in this space. There is no sense of self or other. There is no permanence of form, no individual thought, no selfish will, no personal consciousness. Beyond all these attributes there is pure awareness that the essence that was erroneously considered self is simply light and energy. This is what you are.” Aaron – Barbara Brodsky “The Buddha taught that there is no soul, and I speak about a soul. Here I believe we have what we’d call a semantic difficulty. There is no word in your language that is suitable for what I describe. I borrow the word soul as the closest. By soul you imply an individual. By soul, I mean that essence of energy which is totally impersonal, even devoid of memory and certainly devoid of self, but which is unique to you and is of the same material, the same essence, as the Divine. You have many aspects. One of these is the personal that you now experience. This aspect has form, thought, and so on, but of course it is impermanent. This is the conscious self. Then there is what might be termed the higher self or superconscious mind. This aspect retains the memories of all the forms in which you have manifested and the wisdom attained by all those forms. Within the same memory pattern, misunderstandings may also be retained until they are resolved through the physical life experience. Notice that I have called this aspect “higher self.” It is still a self. Beyond that is what I would term the soul. This aspect is pure light and energy. Some of you have had glimpses of this aspect through meditative experience. Thus, you can come to know that this is your true nature. There is no self here, and no possibility of such delusion. There is only energy, manifested as light. Thus we are all, in essence, beings of light. This is our true essence. We begin as sparks of that perfect Light. Choosing material form as your way of evolution, that spark is increasing in its brilliance and clarity, losing all shadow, so it will shine as a small sun. If you were to take my essence at this phase of my evolution, and place it in front of that perfect Light, you would see the barest edges of human form and a gray shadow cast against that brilliance. If you were to take the essence of a perfectly evolved being such as the Buddha or the Christ and put them in front of that perfect Light, they would be invisible! That is what each of you is evolving to: Perfect Invisibility. Immaculate Emptiness. Oneness with God. Meditation is the way to come to know your true nature by experience. It takes you past the delusion of a separate self. It leads you toward compassion and away from judgment. I cannot over stress the importance of these paths of learning.” Aaron – Barbara Brodsky

I didnt know what it was called but attempted it all the time, using incense in a dark room to focus on the point of light.... cannot remember anything from the exercise beyond having single pointedness on it. I havent done it in over 10 years though. I think it might have something to do with become more sensitive and attuned.

You can't describe the experience anymore than you can describe the color red to a person who was born without eyes. Once you try and put enlightenment into words you are no longer describing enlightenment. It can only be experienced not described.

i had one once

but then i erased my memory of it