| | Forum: Dharma Overground Discussion Forum
Hi everyone,
I'm new the DhO, so I thought I'd dip my toe into the hive mind for some practice-oriented advice... First, some minimal background for context: I've been doing the dharma on and off for 11 years, since my early-20's (lots of bright lights and holy living at the beginning followed by a slump—MCTB helped to shed some light on that). For the past 2 years, I've been mostly committed to a daily-ish practice. I currently live in Japan, where I've done surprisingly little Zen, but some interesting work and a few retreats with a Western-based vajrayana sangha (not Shingon). More recently I've returned to an insight-oriented practice (as opposed to the foundation work of vajrayana). I recently did a short retreat at IMS when I was back in the States for a visit and am looking to do 1-2 months next year at Spirit Rock or IMS.
Question: During my daily practice, I start with a breath focus, which stabilizes quickly. I then expand focus to include a whole body field of awareness. At this point (and often before I begin “formal” mindfulness), bliss arises somewhere in the left of my torso, and often scoots up and around towards my head, teasing my crown chakra. Can anyone offer specific advice for working with this bliss, vis-à-vis the three characteristics. I have experimented with tuning into the vibrations (i.e., the moment-to-moment sensory experience), but this often leads to a mellowed-out (but very refreshing!) jhanic state, with sadly little insight. On the other hand, when I dial-up the concentration and try to move into samadhi territory with bliss as the object, it can get intense quickly, with visualization (lots of organic images recently) and (less and less often, thankfully) monolithic fear. With things heat up, I will on occasion back away gently with some metta.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can pass my way!
Russell |