Hi Jason,
Thank you for filling in more of the blanks. Now I have a much better picture of the person with whom I am speaking. It makes a big difference (especially when dealing with people over the Internet, as opposed to face to face where such questions can be more quickly and efficiently handled).
From a meditation guide's perspective, you are an ideal student to be working with at this time in your development. You have some experience in life. You've been meditating (off and on according to your description) for the past 14-19 years. And most importantly, you've been able to develop and advance your ability to meditate (which is really like hitting the motherlode – to use mining terminology – in terms of what an experienced guide will be able to help you achieve). In other words, you're like a flower that is just waiting to blossom. It is just a matter of guiding you toward deepening your realization of this teaching and that teaching before you begin to be able to put it all together in your mind.
It seems as though you've been influence by Tibetan meditation instruction (and perhaps even teachings). I've studied Tibetan Buddhism a bit and came away very impressed. What I eventually ended up going with was the Theravadin school in terms of practice and Dhamma study. I found it to be more compatible with being able to understand the original intent of the teachings that have come down to us from Siddhattha Gotama. I also found it to be very, very effective in its simplicity.
I tell you this because I want you to understand some of the background from which I come. So, you can do with that as you see fit.
Jason Henson:
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. Well, I'm 36 now and began meditating when I was 17 and seriously when I was 22. By the time I was 25 I had developed a 6hr per day practice (Vajrayana) that included a large amount of time practicing shamatha but also doing other practices. During this time I also had a 40 hr. per week job and a fiancee. After about a year at this pace I totally burned out. Over the last ten years I have gone long periods of time doing no practice at all and other periods of really intense practice again.
More recently I've been trying to find some balance with it and stick to 30-90 minutes per day of pure shamatha practice. To be honest I've never really had a teacher to work closely with and have no idea as to my skill level. I feel like I made a lot of progress very fast in my early years of practice and even if I take long breaks of not meditating it's very easy for me to drop right back in when I start again.
That last thing you mention here is the reason you stand a chance of making rapid progress if given and following through with good instruction. Daniel's book has a lot of good instruction and many insightful suggestions. It is one source. I prefer the suttas, which, despite seeming to appear somewhat opaque and repetitious at points, actually provides a better root grounding in the fundamentals of what Gotama taught in addition to being insightful in many areas that Daniel's book overlooks.
Thirty to 90 minutes per day (my preference is 60 to 90 minutes) is plenty of time for someone with your level of achievement in meditation ability to make progress on the path.
Samatha is developed primarily in order to be able to supply the mind with the requisite concentration ability to begin insight (
vipassana) practice. You cannot begin to discover insight about phenomena until and unless you are able to bring the mind to stillness and to maintain focus upon an object in order that you are able to begin to see and distinguish
how the mind works in the background, like being able to watch the subconscious mind act and react in order to discover how your particular mind processes experiences.
When everything is said and done, this is the essence of insight practice: to be able to watch the body and how we react to it; to watch
vedana (the arising and subsiding of the affective faculty of likes, dislikes, and neutral feeling) and how these feelings color our perception of reality; to watch the arising and subsiding of mind states (like anger, sadness, happiness, joy, greed, lust etc.) in order to gain insight into the mechanisms causing their arising and passing away; and to watch
dhammas (mental phenomena) like the five hindrances, the five aggregates and their connection with the six sense spheres in their arising and passing away. What I have just described is a practice known as
satipatthana, or the establishment of mindfulness over the body, feeling, mind states, and
dhammas.
A person who knows and is able to distinguish these four areas of mental and physical experience will more quickly come to a realization of the Dhamma that Gotama taught, which is subsumed in the teaching on dependent co-arising (
paticca samuppada).
Jason Henson:
In terms of my goals of developing concentration, I still feel like I have great room for improvement and I don't really completely understand Insight practices very well.
If you are able to enter into
samadhi at will, you have developed the requisite ability of concentration to be able to proceed on to insight meditation. However, I will leave that decision to you, since you know what is best in your particular case.
One way to begin bringing down the barriers to understanding insight practice can be to read and contemplate a few of the suttas which delve into this practice from a waking conscious level instead of a meditative level. And I am not speaking here about the more obvious suttas such as Mindfulness of Breathing (MN 118) or either of the Satipattana Suttas (MN 10 and DN 22). Any of the non-meditation discourses (such as the Anatta-lakkhana Sutta,
SN 22.59,* "The Discourse on the Characteristic of Not-Self") that requires you to contemplate it deeper in order to understand its significance will do. You can even read a passage before your sitting, and then contemplate it further during your sit. You will be amazed at the insight that you can discover by using this method.
[*Note: In the sutta I linked to, the word "determinations" in the translation refers to
sankharas or volitional mental formations. The discourse itself is tracing through the five aggregates in order to point out to the bhikkhus that there is no self within each of these aggregates to which they may cling. BTW, if you find this method of practice fruitful, I recommend investing in the Wisdom Publication editions of the Samyutta Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Digha Nikaya, and the Anguttara Nikaya for a more complete explanation of the discourses covered – contained in the introductions to the various sections and in the footnotes. The translations themselves are also somewhat better than those that can be obtained online. Just a personal preference for clarity's sake.]
Jason Henson:
In terms of the "cutting" practice I described, it is kind of something I have discovered on my own and don't really remember reading about so I was unsure if I was getting off track. At the same time it seems to really work for me. Since I don't have a teacher, once I found this site, I was looking for guidance as to whether I should continue to deepen this practice or stick to one pointed concentration.
The "cutting" practice that you describe which you found on your own was found through your own insight as a result of your practice! It is good that you are paying attention to these things and discovering methods that work for you. I discovered that very same method that you described in my own practice. It amazed me the first few times I tried it and it worked. I had never been able to do that before. It marked the beginning of my ability to advance in the practice. And, no, you are not getting off track by using that practice. Because it will help you to still the mind when it becomes restless, allowing you to refocus on an object on which and about which you are practicing to gain insight.
Jason Henson:
As far as Insight practices go, I'm only about halfway through MCTB but still a bit confused. Noting 5-15 sensations per second seems almost superhuman to me.
Don't be
too discouraged by not being able to note 5-15 sensations per second. Noting, the way it is taught using the Mahasi method (which is the method that Daniel explains in his book), is meant to help one increase their general mindfulness and ability to recognize subtle phenomena. It is a hardcore practice and can be very strenuous. It is also meant to help increase one's concentration ability. Noting just means that you are aware of the sensations as they occur, not that you need to mentally (verbally) note each one as they are occurring. To
note, in this context, means to
know or "become aware of." There are other methods that one can practice just as well. For example, simple awareness of the breath will help one to re-establish mindfulness once the mind begins to wander during the day.
I don't know whether or not that will help you. Although perhaps there is a thing or two you can take away from it.
In peace,
Ian