Nick Myers:
Ian And:
Yet, even beyond all this, what one needs to work on is the breaking down of the mental conditioning that has taken place over the years which has nurtured this illusion of self and permanence.
When one is able to see and understand these things as they actually are (in and through mindfulness of this truth), that recognition alone begins to chip away at this illusion in the psyche, and eventually one lets go of it, not to be bothered by it ever again.
That's what I'm actually having a bit of trouble with. I've had no-self realization. I guess the body hasn't made the recognition that this false sense of self is really only just a thousand and one different sensations happening in fast succession to create the illusion of something being there aside from... well sensations happening.
Alot was let go with the seeing, but there still seems to be residue left still. Which is probably why meditation became part of my practice again, and well I think Jhanas are pretty exciting tools to have to further progress of at least stream entry +
I actually wrote about no-self being like a rubber band ball below:
http://liberatedself.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/how-a-rubber-band-ball-frees-you-from-suffering/If you care to read and add any advice on where you think I may be, it would be much appreciated Ian or Tommy...
Hi Nick,
I read your piece. Very well done and thought out. You've got the concepts down. Now all you need to do is internalize it; make it part of your everyday way of viewing things and events so as to not cause the arising of
dukkha. I won't kid you, that won't be easy (breaking down the
asavas, the underlying tendencies in the mind). But it can be done. With mindfulness.
There's no magic here. No pulling rabbits out of a hat! That's only for people who want to become mesmerized by illusion. You won't suddenly wake up someday and feel totally different without understanding why. It is usually a process of
gradual awakening. One day at a time. And it begins with the breaking down of the ego and personal conceit. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. . . .
Everything that Gotama taught begins and ends with mindfulness (
sati). Like a perfect circle. It all comes back to this one simple idea and practice. Be mindful of every second of every minute of every hour of every day. That mindfulness will preempt the underlying tendencies, eventually breaking them down. It can be a slow and gradual process. I keep harping on this, but people don't seem to get it. Mindfulness is one of the keys; and an important key at that.
I used to be similar to you: I looked into and read as much as I could about Zen and the way Zen teaches what it knows. I had the impression that Zen had found a short-cut (so to speak) way to awakening. That it was somehow a cut above the way that others were teaching this same material. But there were always more questions than answers. And I wasn't able to connect the dots between the terminology (in Sanskrit and Pali) and it's meaning so as to see what was
really being said.
That's when I decided to go back to the source, Gotama, to see what he originally had to say about all this. When in doubt, go sit at the feet of the source in order to clarify what is being taught. I was at a point in my life where I didn't have any choice: I was 48 and I wasn't going to waste any more of my time reading about other people's perceptions and misperceptions about what Gotama taught. Time, life experience, and advancing age has a way of focusing the mind of the seeker of knowledge in a way that is really difficult to communicate to one who has not experience it. Be that as it may. . .
It took me two or three years to read through the translations from Pali of the Digha, Majjhima, and Samyutta Nikayas as well as one tenth of the Anguttara Nikaya (printed in a translated anthology). I also read the Dhammapada, the Sutta Nipata, the Itivuttaka, and the Udana. I not only read, but contemplated and took notes about what I was reading and contemplating. It was a slow but immensely rewarding experience. One that I recommend more people to have. Yet, in this fast moving "immediate gratification" seeking world, this is not something that everyone will take the time to do. And that is really sad. However that may be. . .
At the same time, I was meditating two and three times a day, for 45 minutes to an hour each sitting. Learning about and entering absorption (jhana) meditation, using that to help me gain more control over the mind and to reign in its habit of wandering. Meditation plays a vital role in assisting the practitioner to
recondition the mind for being able to successfully establish mindfulness. Once mindfulness can become established, contemplation (
real contemplation on phenomena) can take place. And this is when insight occurs. Insight into the teachings, insight into the workings of the mind, into almost anything you wish to focus upon.
Yet, when it comes to dealing with everyday matters, mindfulness is key. It helps you to see when the underlying tendency (
asava) is arising so that you can consciously deal with it.
Consciously dealing with these tendencies is key to breaking their grip on the mind. Like I said above, this is not always easy (although people want to believe that it is, that there is something magical in this process, yet they only delude themselves by thinking this way).
Part of the awakening process involves recognizing the way in which one has been deluding oneself for such a long time. One cannot be awakened, and continue to buy into such delusion. As it says in the
Satipatthana suttas: "A monk, breathing in a long breath,
he knows that he breathes in a long breath, and breathing out a long breath,
he knows that he breathes out a long breath." And: "Again, a monk, when going forward or back,
is clearly aware of what he is doing, in looking forward or back
he is clearly aware of what he is doing..." It all reduces down to
being aware and knowing what you are doing in each and every moment of the day. There is no getting away from this.
Awake means awake, here and now, each and every moment. This is not easy to accomplish. But it can be done. Taking one step at a time. Little by little a person will notice that they are mindful for longer and longer periods during the day. And with each passing day it can become a bit easier to maintain this mindfulness, with unbending diligence and patience towards practice.
In peace,
Ian