On my most recent 10 day retreat in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin I had opportunity to explore jhana in the context of body-scanning much more thoroughly than ever before. As is usual on retreat, odd stuff happens, and this one was no exception.
Though I am still battling with myself over whether to use an upcoming home retreat to learn the noting practices or not, I figure it might be helpful to others as well as myself to share a few observations about this practice here. I hope you find it useful/interesting.
The notes I made on my phone are incomplete, but kind of fun anyway. I'll comment on them a bit in a moment. Here they are:
Day 2
1st EQ w/ anapana
Day 3
Cycling from start to EQ. A&P bit more bouncy with better concentration.
Cycling through touch/sight/sound walking. After 1/2hr the garden becomes the "magic garden"! RO dominant later in day as I get tired.
Day 4
Further into EQ with anapana. RO taking 10mins. Sometimes scanning. Leaning to breath tho. Exploring self in head made me very uncomfy. Heart started to race. Felt scared. Not sure in high enough EQ. Could not perceive any watcher at one point. Just sensations. Did front/back of head trick. Very effective!
In anapana EQ bearing down upon the spot for all ur worth just gives headache. Loose, light and wide is a winner though. Expand to breathe thru whole body.
Moving to scanning just seems to make me fall back toward RO. Quiet sure I have experienced a kind of DN loop within low EQ.
I take it back. Jury still out. Problem is I don't know what else to do when breath seems to tight an object.
Headaches get stronger as day progresses. Certain not a nana symptom tho. Hangover form RO or concentration or both. May have to take it easier tomorrow. By 5pm I'm wiped!
Day 5
Noticed cause/effect first time ever while walking after breakfast. Oh, sound,image,story! Etc. explains why sat in weak 1st jhana in first sit before breakfast. Seems I start from scratch each morning.
A/P first group sit. Quickly thru DN into low EQ. Low EQ is my current base it seems.
Experimented with just watching the Jhanic like state after lunch. A kind of 3rd maybe. Seems real stable in a sensationfest unstable way. It does change eventually but this is the slow route. Scanning moves me forward. Still in low EQ. Next sit they will teach vipassana hehe...
Concentration headache dominates even low EQ (no, I'm certain it's not RO). Dry vipassana is unpleasant to say the least. Probably to late today, I've made no real progress. Let's hope a good sleep and a focus on jhana tomorrow will help. And do les sits! This is always my problem: trying to hard and burning out!
In break did jhana sweeping per kayagatasati Sutta. Bingo. First taste of EQ proper, almost no headache, very easy. Sweeping entire body in a breath.
No more dry work period! It's tiring and unprofitable. If cant get into jhana for some reason go for a walk.
Day 6
Couldn't sleep for vibrations last night. When I finally let them do there thing I had one of my classic "blip" moments complete with zooming magnification then a lump/lozenge of energy come up back of neck and gently explode. Then I could sleep. Not had one of these in weeks.
Cycling between RO and high eq today. Anapana sent me so high I was sure this was it. Noted mind states, decision, intention etc.
Playing it by ear.
Felt very happy/satisfied last couple days. Like all is well with world. Started to have funny thoughts aswell. Like the Buddha doing the told you so dance!
Teacher says the blips are impermanent!...
Day 7
4:30 sit: 0-EQ = 15mins. Unbelievable. Anapana in the mornings, scanning after lunch works best. Tight focus to spin up the mind then wide focuss to not get over concentrated.
Very strong, clean 3rd jhana. The strand of experience to kick into is located in the third eye region (doing by pure feeling rather than breath). Need to confirm.
Is 4th what is left when this pleasure disappears? It would seem so. Sweeping from this vantage point was very good. Particularly for pre-lunch!
Good sweeping within jhana before break. Lot of investigation of where self is but maybe my "high eq" is not as high as I'd Like to think? No spontaneous formless realms for eg.
On this course Day 8 is really the last serious day and as you can see I didnt make any notes. It was much of the same though, complicated somewhat by another night of nearly no sleep.
One thing that I barely noted but was truly awesome on this course was my daily mindfulness. I noted touch/sight/sound while walking round the garden several times a day used the breath and sensations while eating. Did everything to stay present. It was very "enlivening" and conducive to a peaceful mind when it came time to sit once more.
On coming home we had a major loss in the family and practice was altered at the kind advice of friends here on DhO. Now, some time later my practice seems to be back on track. I am only managing 2 sits a day though (i have done 3 most of this year) as the kids are on summer holidays and time is a bit scarce.
I've found body scanning within jhana to be hugely beneficial. I hope to post a bit more about that shortly. On this retreat I really got to map out the Equanimity territory quite well. In retrospect my practice has seemed to work like this:
1st retreat: Break A&P without knowing it
2nd: Explore DN without realising it.
Discover MCTB / DhO
3rd: Break DN, spend 2 days exploring EQ
4th: (different centre) Stagnate a bit.
Current: Explore EQ fairly thoroughly
This is why I have a bit of a dilemma as to whether I should use my upcoming week of home retreat to satisfy the nagging doubt that I shoudl switch to noting. If my practice continues as per the above, I should be in with a good shot of breaking EQ next course/retreat... (but then what if it's just more of the same and I miss the opportunity to learn noting under semi-retreat conditions --for free!) Arrrrrrgh!