Jesse Cooper Levy:
But I'm not so into mixing and matching. And I also don't get that we have to actually think "anicca" or 1 of the characteristics.
I dunno. I see it like, I want to be accepting of experiences as they are, and the thought of impermanence to me seems contrary to being present with experiences. I get that it's the same basic idea, but do I really have to tell every experience that it's impermanent to get enlightened? I don't think every tradition does this, though I think they all include surrendering to present experience. Thoughts?
Don't 'think' about annica. Period. Just watch the sensations and allow that characteristic to show itself naturally. Thinking about annica is not actually witnessing it in real time. Simple keep scanning and watching sensations as they arise and pass, shift about, move, disappear, re-appear, increase in intensity, decrease in intensity, seem gross, seem subtle, somewhere in between, unpleasant then pleasant then unpleasant then neutral then unpleasant and so on and on. All of THIS is annica presenting. This is being with and recognizing experiences 'as they are'. You simply pay attention with this notion in the forefront of the mind as it is seen in realtime. This doesn't mean thinking about it. It just means 'paying attention' to that aspect of experience.
The fact that there is no 'you' doing any of this, not having any say in the arising and passing, the shifting, moving, disappearing, re-appearing, increasing in intensity, decreasing in intensity, seeming gross, seeming subtle, seeming somewhere in between, unpleasant then pleasant then neutral and so on and on, THIS can also be another way of paying attention to sensations.
It isn't really thinking, it is simply paying attention to these two characteristics as they present themselves. Simply paying attention to the fact that the sensations don't stay still, they shift about, change, are so impermanent in nature, and that this moving about, changing impermanence is not in your control.
Simply pay attention to the sensations with either of these two notions in mind. Don't think about it, let the sensations SHOW you these two characteristics. And when you see them clearly, then dukkha, the third characteristic will become much much clearer.
Doing this non-stop will lead to big realizations about this mind/body organism with its sensations, thoughts, images, and so on. Dispassion for the grasping at impermanent and impersonal phenomena will gain a firm base to be cultivated from. Renunciation of those habits that lead to misery, the grasping at an illusory self, giving rise to an illusory felt sense of self, the moods/manifestations of an illusory self, the grasping at the continued existence of an illusory self, all of this will begin to seem like so much dukkha when seen through the lens of the 3 C's. And the dispassion for the grasping that gives rise to it all will start to take root. And from there, the path to the freedom from the fabricationse of the illusory selfing processs will become clearer.
Seeing continuously the 3 C's in phenomena leads to dispassion and renunciation and freedom from the grasping that leads to fabrications of misery (the incessant self narratives, the selfing processes). They are tools to simply 'let go' of the hot stone (the self narratives leaping from grasping). There are other ways to let go of the hot stone but within the Goenka tradition, where you will be spending much of your time, the 3 C's are the means. To the tee!
Nick
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