To reach the jhanic states of the four jhanas and the five immaterial, formless realms, one must choose a meditation subject and use one-pointedness concentration. The subject can be a devotional statue, a colored disc, or simply your breath. As opposed to insight meditation or vipassana, in this meditation you focus all your attention on your subject. The background views and noises must remain only part of the background. You concentrate on your subject with eyes sometimes open and then closed. When your eyes are closed, look for the after-image of your meditation subject in your mind. Eventually you will reach a high state of concentration with all of the five hindrances gone from your mind. The five hindrances are not permanently extinguished, but gone for the meditation to allow the e