| | That would likely be too much verbal thought. Yes, I do often note the sensations verbally during certain nanas because they help me focus on them. For example, verbal notes help me get to Mind and Body and Cause and Effect. However, in Cause and Effect, the noting interferes with too much stuff so I often try to drop it and just watch sensations occuring. At the A&P nana, notes aren't necessary because strong effortless attention is a characteristic of that stage.
Once the A&P nana is over and I hit Dissolution, I usually need to resume the verbal notes because the sensations look so fleeting -- by the time I've seen a sensation, it's already gone! The same can be true of Cause and Effect, but in Cause and Effect, using a note would prevent me from seeing the next sensation because I would be attending to the note, not the sensation (which is usually the mind's knowledge of what phase of the breath I'm at, or the physical touch sensations associated with breath at the nose or abdomen, or the flickering of the visual field). But in Dissolution, the notes help me remember to keep trying to see the sensations because otherwise, I may either stop meditating or start doing pure concentration practice instead of insight practice. Throughout the rest of the Dark Night, I find notes are helpful on a more psychological level than on a technical level. They help me keep everything in the perspective of "these are just sensations that are coming and going, and I don't need to be immersed in the content."
In Mind and Body, Three Characteristics, and often in the Dark Night, I tend to note the actual sense base that I'm watching: touching, touching. Knowing, knowing. Seeing, seeing. I use the "-ing" ending because the sensations are occurring in the present moment, and that linguistic choice cues me to stay aware of the present moment instead of thinking of what sensations have arisen in the past or sensations that I think could arise in the future.
In Cause and Effect, Dissolution, and often in the Dark Night, I tend to use non-meaningful notes like "dat, dat, dat" or an imagined clicking noise. This interferes less with the sensations, which can be a concern in those nanas.
Any time I find myself able to drop the notes, I do so and start attending to the sensations themselves and trying to watch how fast they shimmer. Specifically, I try to observe every shimmer or vibration occurring. Even if I can't notice every vibration, noticing many of them can be helpful. If the effort to watch very fast vibrations becomes draining, I have to switch back to verbal notes or the clicking noise otherwise I'll become too mentally exhausted to continue meditating and the sensations will stop presenting themselves as impermanent.
Please note that these are just MY experiences, and your mileage may vary! I think many of the experiences I described and the strategies I used are common, but not universal by any means. There is a very important element of exploration and trying things out on your own here, which does NOT oppose the idea of learning from the experience of others. Learn from others, AND find the things that work best for you. That's how it goes. |