| | Good topic, Jackson.
I find that the dukkha cessations are the easiest to call up, as you can get them through effort, i.e. straining a bit to see the end of the fluttering eyelid cycles. I also notice that the dukkha door cessations are always brief; they just last a split second, but usually come in clusters.
The anatta door cessations feel like slipping on the ice while walking and finding that you are suddenly slightly farther ahead than you were a moment ago. They often appear spontaneously while I am inducing dukkha cessations. They can also come while deep in the fourth jhana/11th nana, especially if I make a resolution to experience one. They are much more flexible in duration and can easily last for 1,5, 10, 60 minutes or more. The bliss wave that follows them is more profound than the one that corresponds to dukkha cessations. But the longer anatta cessations are a lot like sleep, and sometimes I'm not sure I can tell the difference.
Anicca cessations feel to me as though some force has taken hold of my brain at the third eye area, and is rapidly wiggling my mind in and out of nibbana. They are very pleasant, and can last for several seconds. They seem to require a very subtle effort to sustain.
An interesting thing about cessation in whatever form is that unlike most pleasant things, it isn't at all addictive. I don't ever feel called to do it, but I'm always glad I did. I go for weeks at a time without consciously calling up cessation; I don't know why. Just now, sitting in front of the computer and calling up cessations of all three varieties so that I could intelligently write about them, I realized how calming and empowering they can be.
Ever since 2nd Path, I've found that it only takes a few seconds to call up any of the three kinds of cessations. Rolling my eyes up into my head and letting my eyelids flicker is a very reliable way to induce them. |