Alex Weith:
Eric Alan Hansen:
I have had a clear and sustained direct conscious experience of not having a self, in fact not knowing who or what the event was being perceived by, nor being able to look at it. (?) However there is no perfection of sila here. I can't find a passage in the suttas saying that is a prerequisite, but it is highly desired.
p e a c e
h a n s e n
p.s. not a bhikkhu
no lineage
no robes
no transmission
no paperwork
Hello Eric,
Interesting, because I had the same experience a few weeks ago. In my case, everything was normal in the sense that thoughts and perceptions were present as usual, but there was no "me", no "self", apart from thoughts, sensations and perceptions present as a unified whole.
Do you know how to get back to it at will? Did you do anything special to get there?
Thank you,
Alex
Alex: Well yes something special. First I realized that it was possible, that sitting around and waiting for a teacher to appear, or some other life event to lead me through was not what I really wanted in the first place. I decided to take what I had going on and investigate that. I looked at the "experiences" I was having during my sitting sessions especially the piiti and sukkha, and instead of dismissing them, instead regard them as worthy of as much attention as any other thoughts, feeling, etc. which may arise. So for some teacher that is breaking a taboo, but from the insight practice perspective, it is defensible and desireable. This is why there is a movement going on right now. So I did a google search and followed the lead to "jhana" which for some reason I had never heard of before. When I did that I began to experience meditative absorption, a strengthening of the piti and sukkha, and something more, it felt clearly with the mind-expanding enlightenment direction I was looking for, when I meditated. I explored this at about the same time the curious waking state experience happened, and I am sure they are related experiences. (1) Training the mind through concentration in meditative absorption states, this is a highly concentrated and disciplined state, but it arises on its own so to speak, not so easy to turn on and off. So what I am saying is the practice of samadhi, the practice of the jhanas, these lead to enlightened experiences. (2) But one has to have an education too. To understand that there is, in fact no self. One has to listen to what the Buddha says, and do it. And that takes some research as well as some discernment. In my case I new exactly what had happened when it happened, because I had some training in the 3 Characteristics. So dropping away of self was known of, but it was not like the mental picture we get of it in reading or studying about it. It was closer to a vivid dream because you could move around and explore it and know that it was really just a dream, a mental projection all along.
Another possible training that I haven't really followed in this regard but forms a parallel practice is is thought moments. I think there is a good lesson here in the archives on thought moment, but I can't remember where. I have a somewhat defective mind when it comes to short term memory. I'll look into it it maybe, but don't count on me. I might forget.
p e a c e
p.s. these jhanas are better than sitting down to a big piece of chocolate cake, with chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup. Nothing "dry" here!
h a n s e n
