I found this talk to be interesting:

Contact, construction of a self. - Rob Burbea

Key strategies:

• Allowing contractions in the body. Don't be aversive to the aversion in your body.
• Simplify attention. Keep the mind from going into needless complexity.
• Stop feeding views and beliefs, especially self-evaluation.
• Reside at contact/bare attention. You can zoom to an object or expand including more objects.

The views part I'm sure is only unskillful views because all Buddhists have views and beliefs. Stephanie's post on views and beliefs with actualist students is pretty clear. I can't remember where it was posted but it's out there.

I'm sure others have their own favourite practices.

And that last assumption would be correct. I prefer direct observation of phenomena and its effect on the mind and perception. In other words, what a person thinks is true about any given phenomenon, is true for them in that moment.

Long ago it occurred to me to first find out what Gotama taught, and then to follow that same pathway to awakening. Which is why I keep encouraging people to read the translated discourses of the Pali Nikayas.

If, in seeking your own awakening through the practice of insight meditation or observation, you read nothing other than the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10) and/or the Mahasatipattana Sutta (DN22) and endeavor to understand what the practice of satipatthana is all about (perhaps with the help of Ven. Analayo's now classic book by the same name on this practice), you will no doubt stumble upon the same path that Gotama took to achieve his awakening! And perhaps your awakening will be as deep as his was.

In brief, satipatthana teaches one to observe one's experience (phenomena) at the level of the body (rupa or matter), feeling (vedana), mind states (citta-nupassana), and mind objects/phenomena (dhammas) in order to determine "things as they are." It sounds simple, doesn't it.

And yet people keep seeking for newer, faster, quicker ways to achieve this simple end, while digging themselves ever deeper into unnecessary complications and misunderstandings, and in some cases completely losing sight of the end goal of the cessation of dukkha.

Of the four items mentioned above, by far the most important one to realize is the third one: stop seeing phenomena as belonging to a me (or "I"), mine, or myself. This is not a superficial realization; it must come from the depths of your ability to see truthfully into the causation of your own I-making, my-making mechanism within your mind.

If you have reached the requisite level of achievement in concentration and mindfulness, and are of a mind to explore causation at a very subtle level, you can watch how each of the middle eight elements of dependent co-arising arise and fall within your observation of their occurrence, and thereby confirm the absence of an enduring, substantive self at the center of this activity. Whatever self you perceive to be there is a fabrication of your own mind (and subtle conceit), and is therefore anatta or "without self" in its true nature.

Well said. I haven't stopped practicing completely but it's almost entirely day to day practice for me with the 5 aggregates and I'm getting more things done with willpower practices that are important. I cracked vedana last summer and with the help of the 5 aggregates book you recommended cracked perception but there's still more subtle things to see including how some thoughts and perceptions don't feel like a self but some probably still do since there's still some reactivity. I allow the mind to go in some narratives to see how they feel in my head and body, and the conceit word is probably right because it kind of sounds like it when you just observe narratives bubble up and pass away. It's almost like a braggadocio attitude that feels a little fake or presumptuous, even if the narrative may be reasonable. I find that my manipulation of experience with thoughts is still going down so despite stopping a lot of sitting meditation I'm doing so much day to day mindfulness work that there's still slow improvements from even a month ago.

I'm not sure about consciousness yet because I think I need more time than I have let the cessation happen. I know some people do it at home but I find that my very conceptual financial job means lots of concepts happening filling up the processing power. I do like Nick's advice to just be equanamous to everything (not clinging to even this post) until cessation of consciousness happens.

Importance of the 4 foundations of mindfulness



This sounds a lot like this:

Wave particle theory analogy



Yes I know that looking at fast moving kalapas may not be the only standard and as Nick has pointed out before that worrying about cessation is more clinging so I'll just keep it to bare awareness (to especially mind movements) and not worry whether it happens or not.

Metta

Hi Richard,

You seem to have an inexhaustible supply of these Rob Burbea talks for every occasion.

I have listened to a few (on your recommendation) and browsed on the site, but their around 200 of them. I wonder if you might be persuaded to do a thread highlighting them, perhaps picking your favourites?

-------------------------

Also, curious to know why you posted that stuff about brain frequencies? From my knowledge of these matters, my opinion is that presentation is essentially wrong - picking up some findings, simplying and disorting them in the service of creating a simple narrative that in no longer any accurate reflection of the true state of affairs.

Yeah I think would be an interesting project but they would just be favourites as of now. There's an entire metta section of his that would be interesting to peruse over the next few months.



A lot of talk on this site is about seeing your thoughts and how fast and consistent you need to note to see thoughts arise and pass away and to see consciousness arise and pass away. I was outlining how difficult it is for those who don't spend 3 months non-stop meditating on a retreat to attain it.

I would be interested in your opinion on noting speed.

Yep, I think that is one of his strengths, though I think he covers all the basis well (insight, compassion, emptiness...)



I think we are in a similar boat (pre-path), the blind leading the blind, so bear that in mind...

My take on the brain frequencies stuff is that the relationship between your perception of "mind speed" has no simple relationship between brain frequencies, so it isn't as simple as thinking you have fast processing capturing slow processing, or that relaxed/calm/concentrated state are associated with slow brain frequencies. I do think this kind of thing is relevant (or will be, when we understand it better), but overly simplistic versions are not helpful.

The super-fast noting thing, seeing vibrations, quanta of experience, broken up into tiny shards etc... is very Ingram-esque. I have had times like that when the mind was strong (ie. on retreat) but my perception is that it isn't necessary and many don't practice in that way - what seems to be more important (to me) is the clarity and stillness of mind that comes from concentration - so it is not a matter of speed, but a matter of sufficient space around mental elements to see them clearly (and watch them arise and fall).

There are helpful parts to it because when I daydream about likes and dislikes and when I'm in a jhana there are similar sensations of mild tension/stress and a solidity whereas if I just notice vibrations/grain etc there's no mental pushing or imagination needed and it can be a check on when the mind is getting overly solid on a view or narrative. I used to note with so much effort and with Shikantaza practice I could relax some of the mental striving and just see the pointillist detail hitting consciousness. It's like a veil of vibrations that are just there. No tense mental bubbles needed to see it.

Could you provide links such that the rest of us might know what you know? What part was simplying and disorting, and what is the accurate reflection of the true state of affairs?
I am totally interested in this
Thanks,
~D

On a similar but different thought-
I read this book last night and was fascinated about the reference of the brain browning out every 50 seconds LINK
~D

That bit in bold was a poor choice of wording my behalf. There isn't any links that I could particularly recommend, particularly for a non-specialist audience. Part of the problem is a lot of the work on frequencies in cognitive processing is very current, so the picture is still emerging. In regard to the quote, one issue is that assumption that different brain operations are associated with different frequencies, when actually the brain seems to rely on cross-coupling - so activity in different frequency ranges are coordinated together and can't be easily separated.

That being said, here is a relatively recent overview on meditation and brain wave activity:
Cahn, B. R., & Polich, J. (2006). Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. Psychological bulletin, 132(2), 180.

For nice discussion on consciousness and brain dynamics by somebody who has done important work on the role of high-frequency oscillations in the brain:

http://www.ifelse.net/portfolio/kaloyprizeinternational/docs/1_Prof_Wolf_Singer_Large-Scale_Temporal_Coordination_of_Cortical_Activity_as_a_Prerequisite_for_Conscious_Experience.pdf
http://cs.oswego.edu/~jferris/psy290/1MeditBrainWaves.PDF

I don't know what is being referred to about the brain browning out every 50 seconds.

I'm glad to find someone like you here, who keeps the buddha's teachings in view. For me too the sutta's are the basis. Unfortunately this is not always easy, since translators often have different opinions about how to translate the sutta's. I keep thinking that maybe I should try to learn Pali, so I can form my own opinions. But even then, often the sutta's seem to hint at things that I don't know about, so it can be very difficult to really get what he was teaching about.

And yes, the end goal is cessation of suffering, which the buddha was very clear about. In fact, when I read The dart this was one of the things I learned about first and it made so much sense, hence my user name No second arrow. This is something vital in daily life, for me.

To conclude; ven. Analayo's book is excellent. I bought it maybe three months ago and have read it three times already and it's now chock full of notes. And I learned quite a few surprising facts, such as the fact that walking meditation nowadays (lifting, moving, placing) was mentioned by the buddha as an antidote against drowsiness, but usually WM was meant as a continuation of sitting practice (page 140) and I really felt cheated by all the many, many teachers who didn't mention this at all, even if they had the opportunity. It still bothers me that when I listen to podcasts or read books, people say: "This is what the buddha taught" and than they quote the Visudhimagga, which is sometimes in direct opposite to what the buddha said.