Personal Questions, (updated occasionally)

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Oliver Myth, modified 12 Years ago at 8/21/11 9:16 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 8/21/11 9:15 PM

Personal Questions, (updated occasionally)

Posts: 143 Join Date: 6/10/11 Recent Posts
Hello Dharmaoverground,
I'm going to stake my small claim of internet 1s and 0s on the intra-scape here and open a small thread which will hopefully contain any noxious ideas or delusions within it's boundaries (with the permission of the website's creators of course). No promises on how this thread will work or for how long. It may turn into a practice thread. Here's a few questions I've got going though, and I'd be more than happy to hear anyone else's responses...

The first one I asked someone else thru private messaging in really long and complex terms, but I think I can summarize it better now I know what I really wanted. The basic question(s) were:

How do I make this moment beneficial?
If I always do what seems best to me, then how can I make it so that what I think/feel is best for me is actually what is best for me?
What is best for me?
Does the answer to these questions change depending upon circumstances (ie, by interacting with a person,reading a book, etc)?

The way I originally formed the question before I really knew what I was looking for might also be beneficial too.

Nickolai wrote:
"If you pay attention to the actual aspects of the arupa jhanas; the mental perspectives of space/compassion, consciousness/appreciation, nothingness/equanimity and neither perception nor non-perception/signlessness; then one is bringing to light/focus the natural structure/perspectives of the mind often covered up/distorted by the flow of affect/attention wave/attention bounce/sense of "being"/sense of existing/sense of "me"-ness/sense of presence/sense of location/sense of inner world/flow of sankhara/flow of becoming. This flow of affect often needs to be absorbed (one-pointed/concentrated) for these actual aspects to come to light, but they are always there for everyone at any given time. You just need to lend attention to them. "

My question was: Exactly what kind of "one-pointed/concentrated" attention will absorb the "flow of affect/attention wave/attention bounce/sense of "being"/sense of existing/sense of "me"-ness/sense of presence/sense of location/sense of inner world/flow of sankhara/flow of becoming".

Is the kind of attention that one needs the same kind that one needs to call up those jhana states, or is it just neighborhood concentration or something else? Can one systematically apply this concentration?



Also, Nickolai, out of curiosity, when you say:

"If you pay attention to the actual aspects of the arupa jhanas; the mental perspectives of space/compassion, consciousness/appreciation, nothingness/equanimity and neither perception nor non-perception/signlessness;",

are you suggesting that boundless space and compassion are or the same quality (or state), boundless consciousness and appreciation are the same quality (or state), nothingness and equanimity are the same quality (or state) and neither perception nor non-perception is the same as signlessness?



Another question which I think is interesting is:

How important is having relationships with "noble ones", one who have attained some degree of liberation?

In the vissudhi-maggha, which I'm reading now, it states that relations with a noble one is one of the four factors of liberation. My own experiences seem to reinforce this idea, I'll either leave feeling better or frustrated at myself for not understanding or sometimes both. Also, most people seem to have had some interaction with people a stage of liberation ahead of where they were before they got to the stage itself.


That's enough for today. Metta
Oliver
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Nikolai , modified 12 Years ago at 8/23/11 9:22 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 8/22/11 9:26 PM

RE: Personal Questions, (updated occasionally)

Posts: 1677 Join Date: 1/23/10 Recent Posts
Olyver Mith:

Nickolai wrote:
"If you pay attention to the actual aspects of the arupa jhanas; the mental perspectives of space/compassion, consciousness/appreciation, nothingness/equanimity and neither perception nor non-perception/signlessness; then one is bringing to light/focus the natural structure/perspectives of the mind often covered up/distorted by the flow of affect/attention wave/attention bounce/sense of "being"/sense of existing/sense of "me"-ness/sense of presence/sense of location/sense of inner world/flow of sankhara/flow of becoming. This flow of affect often needs to be absorbed (one-pointed/concentrated) for these actual aspects to come to light, but they are always there for everyone at any given time. You just need to lend attention to them. "

My question was: Exactly what kind of "one-pointed/concentrated" attention will absorb the "flow of affect/attention wave/attention bounce/sense of "being"/sense of existing/sense of "me"-ness/sense of presence/sense of location/sense of inner world/flow of sankhara/flow of becoming".

Is the kind of attention that one needs the same kind that one needs to call up those jhana states, or is it just neighborhood concentration or something else? Can one systematically apply this concentration?


I used a kasina for 15 minutes then sat and mentally noted whatever arose centre stage non-stop for 45 minutes. This got me into jhanic territory and subdued the hinderances to a great degree. From there I eventually got 1st path. 1st path did a lot to calm down that flow of affect as well and MCTB 4th did even more to make it sticky-free to a degree. From 1st path then more so at MCTB 4th, I found I had easy access to the arupa jhanas. This is what I did myself. This is the kasina method i used:

http://thehamiltonproject.blogspot.com/2010/12/nicks-current-candle-flame-kasina.html

Also check Ian's sticky thread above on Jhanas to get more ideas on what to do about getting into jhanic territory.

Nick

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