Vipassana within 5th and 6th jhanas

Matthew, modified 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 11:53 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 11:52 AM

Vipassana within 5th and 6th jhanas

Posts: 119 Join Date: 1/30/13 Recent Posts
What should I look for to notice inconstancy within the spheres of boundless space and consciousness, respectively? I've had access to these states for about a month, and I've only decided to try vipassana-izing them today. This is nothing I can't figure out on my own with enough work, but a few pointers might save me some time.

Secondary question:
The MCTB chapter on the 6th jhana mentions that the 6th jhana "is also a great staging ground for exploration of the 'psychic powers.'" In the last Google Hangout, I asked Daniel which jhana was best for cultivating siddhis and he recommended the 4th. Does anyone here have experience cultivating siddhis using the 4th vs. 6th jhanas?

Tertiary question:
Is siddhic visualization the best supranormal/concentration-dependent technique for supercharging insight practice? Once I hit the next path, I hope to use intense concentration on retreat as a 'force multiplier' for insight.

Thank you in advance for your help.
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 8:15 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 8:15 PM

RE: Vipassana within 5th and 6th jhanas

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Alright, go up to 6th and really check out the interconnection of everything, the luminous boundary-lessness of everything, that mind-touching the whole-fieldness of everything, gently pull back to 4th, connect to the target, and let the juju fly. See what happens.

Siddhis are a mixed bag: visualization can either produce all sorts of great concentration and then insight or just content-heavy fascinating stuff and a touch of crazy, depending on your relationship to those things and how you practice.
Matthew, modified 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 8:24 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 8:24 PM

RE: Vipassana within 5th and 6th jhanas

Posts: 119 Join Date: 1/30/13 Recent Posts
Daniel M. Ingram:
Alright, go up to 6th and really check out the interconnection of everything, the luminous boundary-lessness of everything, that mind-touching the whole-fieldness of everything, gently pull back to 4th, connect to the target, and let the juju fly. See what happens.


Is this instruction for 1) cultivating siddhis using 6th, 2) vipassana-izing 6th, or 3) both? I really appreciate this.
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 9:07 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 7/15/13 9:07 PM

RE: Vipassana within 5th and 6th jhanas

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Siddhis

Vipassanizing 6th is slightly tricky, requires a gentle, easy touch, as it quickly degenerates to something formed.

Vipassanizing 4.6 is easier, as it is less fragile.

However, to vipassanize it, I would recommend a good setup, walking up the jhanas, taking each one into a solid phase, then a more fluxy phase, and then shifting to the next one. The thing with vipassanizing the formless realms is to let them flow, flux, shift on their own in their own wide way: really have to take them on their own terms, just add the obvious fact that attention does shift around them, and that is the movement, the impermanence. Each moment is fresh, moving, presenting, shifting in some way. Just subtly notice that. It is not uncommon when vipassanizing 6th for it to sort of shift up and down between elements between 5-7th jhanas, it not always being easy to tell when things really get up there exactly what you are into, except that it moves and, if you are a cycler, tries to go up to 8th and then synchronize.

D

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