Hello all.

I haven't posted on here in several months. My practice has been spotty. Since my last post, I did a lot of cycling and trying to ignore the cycling, with long stretches of not practicing. I won't go into the reasons much more than: I was clearly floundering in a variety of un-fun sensations, but by creating some space for practice+reflection+re-reading parts of MCTB (A Clear Goal!), I feel like I can put as much energy as possible into my practice again, hopefully bringing enough to push through and complete 2nd path. I also feel a lot of gratitude for being able to practice and actively work to change the patterns of my mind, something I knew but didn't appreciate before.

To update from my previous threads:
Where I'm at should be deep in 1st path review or 2nd path dark night, possibly hitting equanimity a few times. I've gained some confidence regarding my earlier stream entry claim through comparing my experiences with all the material I've read and advice from other meditators, particularly the noticeable shift in perception (described in an earlier thread as including "non-stickiness of emotions/sensations") around August of this year, and subsequent ease in accessing higher jhanas (up to 8th). Looking back, the bliss wave after that sit was really something. Anyway, getting back on a sitting schedule should correct any misconceptions I have about where I am on the maps.




To make my intentions public (mostly to keep me motivated and accountable):
-I'd like to see this thing to completion, so this thread will stay up and regularly updated until I hit the A&P of the next path, or am able to get corroborating verification from multiple experienced sources that I have attained to fruition of MCTB 2nd path.
-I commit to updating, at minimum, once a week with a short description of what my recent vipassana sits have been like.




Here is the practice schedule I will try my best to stick to:
1 45 minute sit 6 days per week.
1 full day retreat, with at least 10 hours of practice, once per week.
(This will follow a basic self retreat schedule. 2 meals, alternating walking sitting and reclining.)

Being a full time student with other obligations that add up to 60+ hours per week, I feel like this is the maximum I can manage long term. I may make slight adjustments as the semester progresses, or if exam time is particularly demanding, but getting into a tight pattern of 1 day on - 6 days to keep momentum, should be conducive to progress.

Questions I have right now if anyone would be kind enough to help me out:
-I usually do noting until I'm high enough on the hierarchy, and kind of let the momentum carry me into including the more subtle sensations. Precise effortful noting when awarenss, energy, or mindfulness are low, and more inclusive perception (with faster noting) when it's 'easier'. When I cycle hard (dark night aversion to sitting) or just restless for whatever reason, noting is more difficult but I try to stick to it. This is basically what I do now and plan on continuing to do, so any technique-specific tips would be welcome. I ask because I've heard different practices can be more effective for making progress on different paths, but haven't investigated thoroughly.

-Does anyone on here have experience with fruition practice who can guide me a little? This whole "spotting the non-event that is defined by not being directly perceivable" thing is tricky to get a handle on, haha...
I think it will help me understand my cycling better.


That's about it. If anyone is in the Vancouver area and wants to meet up, or is interested in practice-oriented discussions over Skype, feel free to private message. Either of those things will probably help me stick to my schedule.

A few questions about your current practice:

When you sit, can you get a Fruition, and, if so, can you recognize the door and the most interesting thing about the last 3 moments before you dropped in and what is so different about those?

If you got stream entry and say you are deep into review territory, explain your question below about Fruitions. They should be clear, easy, straightforward, repeatable, etc. for many, though certainly not all, but that level of practice really helps launch into new territory, as it shows up on its own quite naturally from that.

I might be up for some Skype time sometime: PM me if you are interested.

Regardless, practice is largely the same, except for the following qualifiers:

If you got stream entry, nailing down review is useful.
If you didn't get stream entry, that is worth knowing, so review the criteria in Was That Emptiness and make sure you got all of them if possible. If you are not sure, then it would be worth spending more time playing around with whatever it is you have now.

If you did get stream entry, resolutions to progress are good, but you can only force it so far and so fast without just getting stuck. Second is very similar to first, in that you have to learn the same lessons for new territory, but having climbed one mountain successfully, that really helps you know how to climb a second one, so it should be a lot more straightforward.

Daniel

Thanks for replying Daniel.

To answer your questions:
When I sit I can get a fruition, but it's not a sure shot. Sometimes, like 1/3 of the time it just doesn't happen. My last few formal sits have been <45 minutes though. I'm getting back into daily practice, so a couple days will reveal more. Right now I can honestly say, it's not exactly clear, easy, or straightforward. And not repeatable to anywhere near the same degree hitting jhanas is.


More information that may help:
-The only way I can confidently describe them is 'blips', or a gap in attention, after which I have to run a little memory trace trying to piece together what I experienced. Sometimes I conclude it was just a shift in breath, or I was spacing out while my eye twitched. Other times not so. I'll even twitch my eye to see if it felt anything like it, haha...
-I feel like it's way more likely (every time I remember it actually, totaling at least 15) to happen in formless territory, like if mid sit I get through what I think is dukkha stuff, a period of prolonged clarity, spontaneous arising of 5th-8th jhana qualities, and 'blip'. Regardless of whether or not it is a fruition, this rough sequence is the most common one for the event I'm trying to describe. It happened twice for me yesterday after reading your reply (but not having time to respond). Once was on a public bus.
-There is definitely stuff happening before (not so much after), but don't know how to describe it. To summarize my experience during the above process, I'm usually applying continuous (if not always rapid) observation of one or more of the 3Cs on sensation after sensation (mental and physical, but the distinction blurs pretty early on in this territory)...much like your "shooting space invaders" bit in MCTB. Then I'll find out suddenly I somehow stopped doing that, but it doesn't feel like a normal spaceout (because that memory trace usually uncovers what distracted me).


This is why I asked about fruition practice. To repeat the sequence a couple dozen times and see if I could notice more.
Nothing I experience has anything remotely resembling intelligent entities, toroids, or stuff staring back at me. "Reality strobing in and out" I would agree with, but it seems pretty easy to describe a bunch of weird meditative experiences with those words.

For now I'll continue practicing as I have before. From your reply to my thread in Concentration, doing a couple sits of "go to 8th jhana, chill out for a bit, drop out, and do insight in 5-7th and see what happens" with the aim of repeating these blips seems like a good place to start looking for fruitions from. What do you think?