Probably not, because I don't think I am particularly highly attained. But I would be curious to hear what's missing. This came up because I was looking at MCTB again yesterday (it came up in this Metafilter thread) and came across the appendix for the first time.

Hey Fivebells,

Karuna and metta to you at this difficult time, it takes balls to be so upfront about this stuff and your openness on that site says a lot about your commitment to this.

What you've described doesn't sound like nirodha samapatti, however it'd be useful to have more detailed information about what went on from "when I woke up from that" onwards.

Nirodha Samapatti (as described in MCTB[1]), in my experience, is a complete shutdown of the entire mind/body interface. There is no disconnectedness 'cause there's nothing to be connected to or disconnected from, there is no stillness 'cause there's nothing to be still or unstill, it's the complete cessation of perception and feeling which may cause one to realize that there is no"thing" beyond this immediate sensate experience. It's basically like a super-fruition.

Take care and I hope you stay strong through what's going on right now.

Peace.

[1] The reason I make this distinction is because there is currently discussion as to whether or not this "shutdown" is really NS. The sutta descriptions of NS seem to suggest that the yogi remains conscious and aware, but without the faculties of ideation or affect. Sorry if I'm complicating matters here but I think it's worth knowing about.

Thanks, Tommy. I accept that it's probably not NS, if only on the grounds of my skill level, but just to clarify, "complete shutdown" sounds like the right description, better than "disconnection." To be more precise, there was still a visual field, but there was nothing there, not even the usual crap you see when you close your eyes. There was no awareness of physical sensations whatsoever. You might say that there was awareness of awareness, but that's about it.

Thanks. It's been a few months. I am adjusting to the loss.