I have come to realize that the qualities and characteristics of these states is rather common in my sitting practice. Well, something like nirodha is more rare. But sukka, piiti, are a daily event. Even in the "waking" state now. This raises a lot of questions about practice and what exactly is going on. There are a lot of absolute statements made about these things but my experience seems to contradict them very often.

I have to digress here and explain one of the reasons I am in on the Dharma Overground. When I began Buddhist-style sitting practice (approx. 1/1/2000, maybe a little earlier) I was very stressed, so stressed that is was an excruciating sacrifice (or felt like it) to sit for even 5 minutes a day. I ramped up the minutes and something happened that most Buddhist teachers say does not happen, that I almost immediately began to experience something profound and deep and indescribable. I now realize in part it was because I really had no expectations, I was just sitting because I needed a break (as in "give me a break") Just a few minutes of mindfulness of breathing. This kindled a powerful desire to find out what the hell was going on. I still have only a very sketchy idea about Buddhism, especially the philosophical and psychological theory and terminology. So I started with Kabat-Zinn techniques, which gave me no group support, no framework of traditional Buddhist teachings, and no way to practice 24/7 which was one of the strong desires I felt from the beginning. I moved on over to the Thein teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh's Community of Mindful Living, and so I practiced only what he calls "shamata" which is only mindfulness of breathing, and a few other mindfulness techniques. After a while I felt really stuck in a rut, it was obvious that the "positive psychology" aspects of Thay's message was not going to work for me, nor the emphasis on sangha building, not the time off for travel to get advanced levels of practice, or gettiing added into that lineage. Job relocations left me here in the D.C area on a job schedule making attending meetings and joining sanghas virtually impossible.

That set me up for the next development. I was truly on my own. Withe very few practice tools. So I just used what I had to the best possible application. What happened was an excelleration of the various components that make up the jhanas, in kind of a random order. Lots of bliss consciousness, lots of transcendence, lots of chi or kundalini energy flowing, especially lots of crown chakra opening. I did not pay too much attention to it a first, each experience seemed to be experienced for its own sake. I was still acting out the script that they were "only experiences". I was so practice oriented that conceptually I was not getting a big picture out of this. Accompanied was much dharma study I might add, but of a general sort. I still felt dependent, only recently did I begin to search out the teachings on these experiences and coming into an understanding of them began to accept them as now normal and desirable. The script that teaches that they are "only experiences" is a false teaching. Okay, but once you get that in your head, you will forcefully need to be reminded that Buddha says that the jhanas are still also dukkha. That is the correct take.

The whole development of my 24/7 practice I can't get into as it is too lengthy a discussion and ranges across too many traditions to really put a finger on, but my emphasis has always been very much on waking-state attainment; not altered states, but consentual state. Where others turn from the nitty-gritty stressful day to day activities, I use these activities to generate mindfulness. This resulted in a particular waking state experience* much like the remarkable meditation experiences, but leaving my mind free to make inquiry as to the mechanics of it not possible while practicing a concentration-type method. The waking state experience* was spontaneous and not a product of an effort of any kind. This consisted of the suspension of the normal subject object relationship the mind usually constructs, and was direct seeing, with no sense of "a self" which lasted only about an hour. I came any from this finding myself far downstream but still on the same shore. No disappointment, as it was totally unexpected. Since then everything has its own momentum, so to speak. I consider this experince to qualify on many accounts as "stream entry" or "an enlightement experience" but it is somewhat technical in that it is unlike the kundalini or jhana experinces in that it is not very flashy or anything, and if you aren't trained to recognize it you would probably miss it entirely.

I realize that these things evolve differently for each person, and in my case that zen elementt keeps me on the cool side of the egg, I'm rather passive about the whole thing and don't have the best possible lifestyle, I really only get down to business when I do sitting mediation and when I work in the kitchen or on the printing press, two of my favorite place to be. Unfortuantely I still use harsh language, intoxicants, and sometimes forget to brush my teeth. I still need the support of a group. So far I have only gotten good input here. I was verging on delusions of grandeur before getting to this site, so that was a positive develpment.

The nirodha thing only happened once, since I joined here, and I attribute it to the category "contact high"

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