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Spaces such as places, rooms, spheres... are abodes of consciousness that are accessed in an essentially different way from jhānas, so it is wrong to call them "immaterial jhānas" or assimilate them to jhānas.
Access is produced by inducing a brain state similar to REM sleep through rapid eye movement.
The REM state is physiologically similar to waking states, including fast, low-voltage desynchronized brain waves. The electrical and chemical activity that regulates this phase appears to originate in the brain stem and is characterized primarily by an abundance of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, combined with a near absence of the monoamine neurotransmitters histamine, dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Experiences in this state are not transferred to permanent memory due to the absence of norepinephrine, so the experiences must be processed immediately.
During the REM state, central homeostasis is suspended, allowing for large fluctuations in respiration, thermoregulation, and circulation that do not occur in any other sleep or wake mode. The body suddenly loses muscle tone, a state known as REM atonia.
Brain energy use in the REM state, as measured by oxygen and glucose metabolism, equals or exceeds energy use during wakefulness.
The cortico-subcortical networks involved in voluntary respiratory movements are preserved during the REM state and that the respiratory irregularities during this stage have a cortical/subcortical origin that reflects the content of the experience.
During the REM state, images produced from the previous experience, weighted in intensity and time according to their emotional charge, follow one another at high speed, until they are exhausted. It is an automatic process. At the end of the REM state, you enter into apnea and this is when the experience begins in one or several of these four spaces: an empty place, a place with no known limits, no place, and the absence of clinging factors to consciousness.
Due to the very characteristics of these spaces where there is no qualia, gnosis is not produced. Therefore, these states, as such, do not meet the utility criterion, although all the others do.
This is why when the Buddha learned to enter these states, he was disappointed.
MN 85: With the Prince Bodhi
Some time later, while still young, my coal-black hair, possessed of radiant youth, in the prime of my life, though my parents were reluctant, they wept and wailed, cut my hair and beard, dressed me in the yellowish-red robes and I went from home life to homelessness.
Once I gave up, I set out to discover the healthy, seeking the supreme state of sublime peace. I approached Āḷāra el Kālāma. Having approached, I spoke thus to Āḷāra the Kālāma:
—I, venerable Kālāma, want to take the vows in this practice and discipline.
Āḷāra the Kālāma spoke to me thus:
"May the venerable proceed." This practice is such that a sensible person can in a short time experience the doctrine of his own teacher with his own paranormal abilities and live having achieved it.
So, Prince, very soon, very quickly, I mastered this practice.
I, Prince, as regards oral recitation and repetition of what I have learned, spoke with the knowledge and authority of the elders and was aware, both myself and others, that "I know, I see."
Then it occurred to me, Prince: "It is not by mere faith alone that Āḷāra the Kālāma declares: 'I realize this teaching with my own paranormal abilities and live having achieved it.'"
So, Prince, I approached Āḷāra el Kālāma. Having approached, I spoke thus to Āḷāra the Kālāma:
—Venerable Kālāma, to what extent do you say that you have realized this teaching with your own paranormal abilities?
When I said this, Prince, Āḷāra the Kālāma declared the dimension of nowhere.
Then it occurred to me, Prince:
“It is not only Āḷāra the Kālāma who has faith, I also have faith. Not only Āḷāra the Kālāma has energy, I have energy too. It is not only Āḷāra the Kālāma who has memory, I have memory too. It is not only Āḷāra the Kālāma who has concentration, I also have concentration. It is not only Āḷāra the Kālāma who has wisdom, I also have wisdom.
Let's say that now I strive to carry out that practice that Āḷāra the Kālāma proclaims: “I realize this teaching with my own paranormal abilities and I live having achieved it”».
So, Prince, very soon, in a very short time, I realized that teaching with my own paranormal abilities and I lived having achieved it.
So, Prince, I approached Āḷāra el Kālāma. Having approached, I spoke to him like this:
—Venerable Kālāma, have you performed this practice with your own paranormal abilities to this level and do you declare that you have achieved it?
I declare it.
“I too, venerable one, have performed this practice with my own paranormal abilities to this level and remain having achieved it.
“We are lucky, venerable, very lucky, to have a venerable like you being one of our fellow renunciates! thus, the practice that I performed with my own paranormal abilities, and I declare to have achieved it, you have performed with your own paranormal abilities, and you live having achieved it. The teaching that you have done with your own paranormal abilities, and had lived having achieved it, I had done with my own paranormal abilities, and I declare to have achieved it.
Thus, the teaching that I know, you know, and the teaching that you know, I know. I am like you and you are like me. Come now, venerable, both of us should lead this community together.
In this way, Prince, Āḷāra el Kālāma, being my teacher, put me, his disciple, on the same level as himself and honored me with the highest honor.
Then it occurred to me, Prince: “this teaching does not lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, understanding, awakening and Nibbāna. It only leads to rebirth in the dimension of nowhere."
So, Prince, not having enough of this practice, I ignored it and, disappointed, walked away from it.
Then, Prince, being a seeker after that which is wholesome, seeking the supreme state of sublime peace, I approached Uddaka, the son of Rāma, Having approached, I spoke thus to Uddaka, the son of Rāma:
—I, venerable, want to take the vows in this practice and discipline.
Having said this, Prince, Uddaka, the son of Rāma, spoke thus to me:
"May the venerable proceed." This practice is such that a sensible person can in a short time experience the doctrine of his own teacher with his own paranormal abilities and live having achieved it.
So, Prince, very soon, very quickly, I mastered this practice.
I, Prince, as regards oral recitation and repetition of what I have learned, spoke with the knowledge and authority of the elders and was aware, both myself and others, that "I know, I see."
Then it occurred to me, Prince: "It is not by mere faith alone that Uddaka, the son of Rāma declares: 'I realize this teaching with my own paranormal abilities and live having achieved it.'"
So, Prince, I approached Uddaka, the son of Rāma. having me about do, I spoke thus to Uddaka, the son of Rāma:
—Venerable Kālāma, to what extent do you say that you have realized this teaching with your own paranormal abilities?
When I said this, Prince, Uddaka, the son of Rāma, declared the dimension of the absence of the clinging factors to existence.
Then it occurred to me, Prince:
“It is not only Uddaka who has faith, I also have faith. Not only Uddaka has energy, I have it too. It's not only Uddaka who has memory, I have it too. It is not only Uddaka who has concentration, I have it too. It is not only Uddaka who has wisdom, I also have wisdom.
Let's say that now I strive to carry out that practice that Uddaka proclaims: "I realize this teaching with my own paranormal abilities and I live having achieved it."
So, Prince, very soon, in a very short time, I realized that teaching with my own paranormal abilities and I lived having achieved it.
So, Prince, I approached Uddaka, the son of Rāma. Having approached, I spoke to him like this:
"Venerable Uddaka, have you performed this practice with your own paranormal abilities to this level and do you declare that you have succeeded?"
I declare it.
“I too, venerable one, have performed this practice with my own paranormal abilities to this level and remain having achieved it.
“We are lucky, venerable, very lucky, to have a venerable like you being one of our fellow renunciates! thus, the practice that I performed with my own paranormal abilities, and I declare to have achieved it, you have performed with your own paranormal abilities, and you live having achieved it. The teaching that you have done with your own paranormal abilities, and had lived having achieved it, I had done with my own paranormal abilities, and I declare to have achieved it.
Thus, the teaching that I know, you know, and the teaching that you know, I know. I am like you and you are like me. Come now, venerable, both of us should lead this community together.
In this way, Prince, Uddaka, the son of Rāma, being my teacher, put me, his disciple, on the same level as him and honored me with the highest honor.
Then it occurred to me, Prince: “this teaching does not lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, understanding, awakening and Nibbāna. It only leads to rebirth in the dimension of nowhere."
So, Prince, not having enough of this practice, I ignored it and, disappointed, walked away from it.
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