Fire Kasina in daily life log

Amina A, modified 3 Years ago at 11/4/21 1:03 PM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/4/21 1:03 PM

Fire Kasina in daily life log

Posts: 6 Join Date: 8/8/21 Recent Posts
Hi everyone,

I've started playing with the fire Kasina practice to see what happens in daily life in terms of effects on clarity, presence and effectiveness. I've started to notice effects and thought I'd reach out for safety.

Format: I'm on day 4, practising 30 minutes a day at night with a candle. 

Effects: The red dot appeared immediately with a lovely ring of purple and green. The 2nd day the disk went black and I also noticed a very geometric, kind of grey sheet appear. The 3rd day pinkish waves of light started to emerge and I felt blissed out. Today, I noticed the rings/disk could reappear when I closed my eyes without the candle during the day. I also had a very weird dream at night... and that's the point at which I decided to reach out wondering if this was a bad sign or I needed to slow down? I've added some loving-kindness meditation at the end to ground.

(I've done quite a bit of Mahasi insight practice and have good concentration. During an August 3 week solo retreat supervised by a Theravada monk, I seem to have cycled through the nanas a couple of times based on my understanding of MCTB2 which was spectacular and weird. MCTB2 was such an eye opener and the DO was a sanity saver.)

Support: I've been listening to everything I can find online from Daniel talking about it and started to listen to Shannon Stein's diaries on the Kasina website. I'm trying to stick to where I am rather than listening ahead as I don't want to colour my expectations.

Request:
One thing I picked up from listening to Daniel is is that it's best not to practise alone. So:
1) I'd love to be able to report back here and hopefully receive guidance from others who are more advanced.
2) If anyone else is practising or would like to experiment with fire kasina, it would be great to buddy up.

It's the first time I post here so I'm not sure what I can expect but grateful to have this space.

Thanks in advance!
Amina A, modified 3 Years ago at 11/6/21 5:28 AM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/6/21 5:28 AM

RE: Fire Kasina in daily life log

Posts: 6 Join Date: 8/8/21 Recent Posts
Day 5: My concentration dropped after spending more social time than usual with friends and family. I noticed my attention get sucked into old patterns and energies. A reminder of the benefits of seclusion on retreat. But I'm still motivated to see how this practice unfolds in daily life. I've started inviting people to join the experiment and tried to find groups in the UK. I came across the website: Occult Experiments in the Home which just had one blog about FK linking it to magick in a way I've heard Daniel speak of it: https://oeith.co.uk/tag/fire-kasina/.

The LED light on my phone gives a strong afterimage even with eyes open but also a headache!

tbc.
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Siavash ', modified 3 Years ago at 11/6/21 10:24 AM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/6/21 9:02 AM

RE: Fire Kasina in daily life log

Posts: 1700 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
I came across the website: Occult Experiments in the Home which just had one blog about FK linking it to magick in a way I've heard Daniel speak of it: https://oeith.co.uk/tag/fire-kasina/.

This blog belongs to Duncan Barford, active here on DhO's early years, that was in retreat with Daniel in The Tower of Halbar 2015 FK retreat. Also in one of the France retreats.

https://firekasina.org/diaries/the-tower-of-halbar-retreat-2015/retreat-summaries-part-i-ii/

https://firekasina.org/diaries/the-retreat-in-france-2018/group-advice-parts-one-and-two/


The LED light on my phone gives a strong afterimage even with eyes open but also a headache!

The exposure to stronger lights like LED light should be very short, otherwise it can cause damages.
If you notice the afterimage is strong, and/or stays longer, or there are more objects from the environment in the afterimage, it means that probably the light source is stronger than what should be, so you should shorten the exposure time. 
Amina A, modified 3 Years ago at 11/6/21 10:34 AM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/6/21 10:34 AM

RE: Fire Kasina in daily life log

Posts: 6 Join Date: 8/8/21 Recent Posts
Thanks for the information and links, Siavash. Yes, I'm steering clear of the LED on my phone for now as I got the effects you mentioned after just glancing at it.
Amina A, modified 3 Years ago at 11/12/21 6:03 AM
Created 3 Years ago at 11/12/21 5:59 AM

RE: Fire Kasina in daily life log

Posts: 6 Join Date: 8/8/21 Recent Posts
Week 2 (the end?):

I noticed I could bring up an image (not the dot but the halos) without the candle, so I was practising here and there throughout the day. Then I noticed I was starting to drop into some sort of absorption during formal sitting. I don't want to speculate about jhanas so I call this object 'suchness' or 'hereness'. From there I might go into what I call staring into the dark (dark with starry sky). There's static in the background (bits of thought or images and perhaps a song that flicker in and out) but there's a sense of nothingness. Maybe it's access concentration, maybe it's a jhana. I found myself not caring so much and just trusting the process.

I couldn't find buddies to practise the Fire Kasina so I'm going to go intuitively with what feels right in my practice right now. It seems to be a combination of concentration on 'suchness/hereness' with some insight into impermanence/the static, grainy, nature of experience. On a psychological level, I did notice some misery and disgust with the sense of my day-to-day experience coming and going. I worried that I was going into depression but trusted the process, staying with its suchness, and it shifted this morning. With metta.

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