Can anyone clarify the 6R method?

Erasmas II, modified 11 Years ago at 10/11/13 4:44 PM
Created 11 Years ago at 10/11/13 4:44 PM

Can anyone clarify the 6R method?

Posts: 10 Join Date: 9/19/13 Recent Posts
I just discovered Bhante Vimalaramsi and his sutta-based 6R practice. If anyone practices this actively, I'm wondering what one is actively "doing", if anything, between distractions. I gather that one tries to relax. B. V. seems to emphasize that the suttas never say to be aware of breathing sensations, just to "understand" that breath is happening. MN 118:
He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.'[2] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.' [4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.'[3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'

Does this mean panoramic (body) awareness? What then constitutes a distraction? Obviously discursive thought, but what about when that's not occurring? Having practiced Goenka scanning, I naturally start to "feel" parts of the body. Is specific attention a distraction?

I feel stupid having to ask these things but I want to practice effectively, and I can't seem to figure out the best way to go forward.

~j
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PP, modified 11 Years ago at 10/12/13 10:26 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 10/12/13 1:45 AM

RE: Can anyone clarify the 6R method?

Posts: 376 Join Date: 3/21/12 Recent Posts
Hey, you might get an official answer in Bhante V's yahoo group. As far as I know, you're supposed to be able to spot the remaining tension left once you have already relaxed a tension triggered by a phenomena. Sister Khema gives a nice complementary explanation of the 6R here.

In my personal practice, I use the 6R more like a warm-up to be able to spot "gone moments" as described by Shinzen Young, so I'm not much of a help here. But if your in between distraction moments are long and you aren't stepping into a kind of light jhana or Equanimity, perhaps you could try EIS advice to shake things (up) a little bit and look for more stuff to apply the 6R (in your case).

Practically-speaking, I would suggest this technique: sit and observe sensations in the body for awhile (as one has done previously), and then change one's attitude towards discursive thoughts; any discursive thoughts that come up are now interesting, and instead of ignoring them or noting them, one should ask an interested question such as: "Why do I feel that way?", "What do I think / how do I feel about that?", "What does that remind me of?", etc. as appropriate. As more discursive thoughts occur, simply keep following them with one investigatory question in mind or other, without censoring them. If you start having a "first-person" relationship towards them, that's fine, but don't let your awareness get too mucked up. Keep body sensations in awareness as much as is practical. After awhile (generally with stronger concentration, or after getting "deeper" into things) it may be possible to drop the interested questions, and merely have an interested attitude. I found it best to assume that the point of engagement with discursive thoughts is to bring subconscious material into consciousness, so according to that assumption, there's no need to build any grand theories, or employ too much grand theorizing about what one "really" thinks, unless enough hidden material has been revealed to make some psychological truth or other about oneself blatantly obvious (and in this case, the grand theorizing may just be epiphenomenal to the therapeutic effect).
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Welcome by the way!
Erasmas II, modified 11 Years ago at 10/12/13 8:58 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 10/12/13 8:58 AM

RE: Can anyone clarify the 6R method?

Posts: 10 Join Date: 9/19/13 Recent Posts
Thanks! It seems like the meditator has some freedom in what to pay attention to, which alarms my Goenka-trained sensibilities. B. V. does talk about proactively releasing tension and observing body and mind. I think I'll try switching between noting (with 6R) and macroscopic body awareness (with 6R). Maybe later, when the mind is more calm, I'll give EIS' full content awareness a shot.