Puzzling cessation

m m a, modified 12 Years ago at 12/9/11 11:22 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 12/9/11 10:22 AM

Puzzling cessation

Posts: 153 Join Date: 6/9/11 Recent Posts
i'm still trying to get a handle on what a cessation is, and if I experience(non-experience) them, so bear that in mind. I'm a practiced yogi, but I've always had trouble lining up my experiences to any map, much less the super-detailed MCTB one. you can read my practice thread if you'd like a little context:
http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/2456796


I was playing one of my favorite video games: puzzle fighter. Its a bit like tetris, but faster and more colorful.

Playing puzzle games is very much a positive samadhi experience, so what happens next is not totally surprising, as i've read that in zen, 'realizing your true nature' comes upon exiting positive samadhi.

The game locked up and completely froze for a few moments (a second? 3 seconds?) and my brain stopped with it. I had been wholly engrossed in the game, and when it ended there was nothing. The next realization was of that nothing.

Could this sort of phenomenon be artificially set up? It seems like the abrupt termination of positive samadhi is a well documented thing.

any comments or thoughts is always appreciated.
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Tommy M, modified 12 Years ago at 12/9/11 3:57 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 12/9/11 3:57 PM

RE: Puzzling cessation

Posts: 1199 Join Date: 11/12/10 Recent Posts
I'm a practiced yogi, but I've always had trouble lining up my experiences to any map, much less the super-detailed MCTB one.

Don't worry about this, we're walking through the same territory but some people notice different things sometimes.

Remember "the map is not the territory"!

I was playing one of my favorite video games: puzzle fighter. Its a bit like tetris, but faster and more colorful.

Playing puzzle games is very much a positive samadhi experience, so what happens next is not totally surprising, as i've read that in zen, 'realizing your true nature' comes upon exiting positive samadhi.

The game locked up and completely froze for a few moments (a second? 3 seconds?) and my brain stopped with it. I had been wholly engrossed in the game, and when it ended there was nothing. The next realization was of that nothing.

Could this sort of phenomenon be artificially set up? It seems like the abrupt termination of positive samadhi is a well documented thing.

Interesting. Notice anything different since that point?

I don't quite know how this lines up with Fruition and without a bit more info it's difficult to see if it was, or wasn't a cessation proper. I've had brain freeze-ups in Equanimity that were kinda like this but it's just a guess based on what you've written. Then again, 1st path happened for me while I was just sitting at the computer in a similar way to how you've described so it's not impossible that it was a cessation.
m m a, modified 12 Years ago at 12/9/11 5:05 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 12/9/11 5:05 PM

RE: Puzzling cessation

Posts: 153 Join Date: 6/9/11 Recent Posts
Tommy M:
Interesting. Notice anything different since that point?


Well, if it was a cessation, I've had a bunch of similar stuff happen ON the cushion (and one in front of my computer, too)... so no, my life isn't so different.