You are correct in saying that Jhana means concentrated mind. That is what many meditation masters would have taught in the retreats you have attended. They use techniques to calm the mind and concentrate on one particular object. It's like focusing your camera lens on one object to take a crystal-clear picture. This technique was used even before Buddha's time by Yogis. Even Siddhartha practiced them and failed to achieve engagement through them. However, he used them to calm novices' minds who became his disciples after enlightenment (Buddha). Buddha also included them in his Progressive Path (Eightfold Path). However, his direct path is awakening through Samadhi (Samadhi Pachchayaa Yathaabhutha Dassana), i.e., the reality will be revealed through Samadhi. That is why Samma Samadhi is the last step of the eightfold path, the converging step from the Progressive Path to the Direct Path.
80% of the Arihants during Buddha's time were dry wisdom bearers (Sushka Prakgnaa Labhi), Arihants who were not skilled at displaying miracles using Jhanas (Like floating on the water, etc.). The Direct Path method is not for the concentration of the mind. The early English translation of Samadhi is the "concentration of the mind," but it is not. Ajahn Bram explains it nicely and discards the word concentration as the translation of the word Samadhi. Samadhi is not like focusing the camera lens on one object; it is opening the aperture of the camera lens to capture the panoramic view of existence.
Hence, my meditation guidance is to notice the inhalation and then relax the body and mind with the exhalation with total awareness (110%). Once you practice that, you will separate mind and awareness by shifting your attention from one to the other so that you will recognize the nature of pure attention (awareness). Also, you realize that your true self is your attention/awareness, not your mind or mind-created concepts. With that, you create the ambiance required to reveal the non-self nature within you.
As Einstein said, you can not find your true self or nature using your mind/consciousness, which created it. So, you need Samadhi (the inner ambiance) to allow your true nature to be revealed to you. The hen can only incubate( provide the right degree of ambiance) the egg, but she can not break it and take the chick out. So, I am mentoring to create that inner ambiance within so participants can allow their true nature to be revealed to them. I noticed novices are open-minded and good at following directions and getting the results quickly. At the same time, seasoned meditators are stuck with their old habits and struggling to identify their body, mind, and awareness as three separate faculties.
Many practitioners try to conceptualize guidance rather than follow it. I see the same gap in many followers of Eckhart Tolle. When he asks them to be in the presence, they dwell on it rather than dwell in the present. I am trying to bridge that gap. I can relate to the teachings of the modern-day and ancient spiritual masters' assertions with my firsthand experience of non-self.
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