Some general practise points

Martin Potter, modified 14 Years ago at 1/9/10 9:19 AM
Created 14 Years ago at 1/9/10 9:18 AM

Some general practise points

Posts: 86 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
I was a bit lost with meditation over the last several months, and have been learning the fundamentals again this last week or so as if from scratch. I thought I'd share some basic insights I had which helped me get back on track.


No refuge:

There is no refuge in anything. There is nothing which can be clung to and made permanent. The pleasures which are enjoyed last but a moment and then are gone, leaving you back where you started. Pleasant sensation are often mixed with a degree of painful ones, and pain and pleasure constantly oscillate. Warm to cold, peace to unease, clarity to confusion. It is impossible to control this process even though we try over and over again to make the pleasant aspects last. The things we dread which we must do in the future will come and they also go, and the things we cling to in the present to avoid the future also rise and fall. There is no refuge in distractions, in the weekend, in sleep, in anything.


Connecting with objects:

Sayadaw U Pandita often emphasises the important aspect of aim in meditation, that the mind falls squarely on objects without slipping off or falling short. This can be easy in some stages, but at other times it feels as though there is a block to synchronising the mind and objects. There is a feeling that the mind is always moving towards objects, and that in the observation of each object there is a simultaneous movement of aversion which arises. A split between this and that, and I am trying to get over there to that object, but the objects over there are not good enough as they are and must be overcome. A helpful practise at this point is to notice not just the objects but also the movements towards or away. It may also be helpful to tone down the intensity and bring a complete acceptance and openess to everything that is arising (including painful sensations, unpleasant emotions, and the aversion itself) so that nothing is rejected or disowned, and the mind comes to terms with things simply as they are. This problem in practise seems to have something to do with the next point...


Solidification of the observer:

There can come a sense that object objects (objects 'out there') are being seen through, but there is still an identification with the knowing faculty. There is a feeling that 'I am the one who is knowing these sensations arise and fall', and so there is a solidification somewhere in the field. When you see through this the whole of reality is breaking up at once and not just the foreground.


Getting caught up in thoughts:

Buying in to any thoughts which create a story around yourself, including ones about meditation and attainment, creates a sense of continuity. The mind forms an aggregate, or binds together different thoughts which form a story about an individual entity which has continuity through time.


- Martin