Decided to start a practice thread, I rarely formally meditate at all, within the past week I've done so twice, upon sitting I immediately entered jhana without applying any sort of technique, all it took was a little bit of finessing. The sits are usually very pleasant, as the jhanas are said to be.

In the past my justification for not sitting was the notion that I was practicing "existentially" 24/7, throughout the day I maintained mindful vigilance as to my internal state, my speech and my actions, I attempted to iron out friction wherever I found it (finessing). I believe I attained stream-entry due to this method which probably explains my immediate access to jhanas. Nevertheless this method of practice is nigh on tiring and requires 24 hour maintenance, which exhausts my will-power.

Occasionally I've been having AF-esque insights as well, mostly while listening to music and having a cigarette (not the wacky backy), they highlight the effortlessness and enjoyment of the path.

I feel thus I'm tending towards more of an AF-inspired practice as the exertion thing is tiring me.

I have never experienced anything as directly described in the Pali Canon, in the past reading suttas was a favorite past-time of mine.

When it comes to willpower I would notice the difference between intentions and actions that are habitual vs intentions and actions in new territory. Habitual intentions and actions don't have much draining on willpower do they? In order to grow you need to go into the new territory and develop new skills/habits so that they eventually become less draining on willpower, but when they are new they will be more draining. (Eg. 1 month of consistent practice is usually what scientists agree is necessary to create a new habit for an adult).  

Science also shows that if you create an intention before doing an action it reduces the willpower draining. Try and use intentions repeatedly when doing tasks (especially when you're changing tasks).  Developing a habit of using intentions repeatedly is also a good thing because it'll make you more flexible when you have to make large life changes.

Any AF or insight practice should reduce the willpower costs when you are doing things because there is less draining from preferences.  This is because going against preference requires that willpower energy.  When you hold less preferences there's less friction.  You can see this in jhanas because if you are fighting mental preferences then it doesn't go so well but if you have less preferences (stream-entry) it goes better.

Good luck on your practice!

Richard

Been solving koans as of late, I find that with much of the striving-diligence practice (viriya, appamada) there is an increase in heart tension and an increase in strength and will-power (iddhi, indriya, padhana etc). Koans have the opposite effect, they seem to work with my anxiety in such a way that the tension goes away, instead of striving, many opposites and contradictions are taken care of.

I'm reminded of Alan Chapman's tweet that went something like: "If someone born in a dissolving aeon is born ignorant and later attains awakening, does that mean someone who's born in an aeon of expansion is born enlightened only to attain ignorance?"

When I read a koan it just sinks into my heart, I don't really analyze it, but it solves something, it feels nice. It's like the opposite of proliferation, or rumination, where one thought leads to many, in this case, many contradicting thoughts resolve into one.

A trick for koans is somehow to relate things back to "self" constantly, that's usually the case with mathematics wherein edge cases always contain the paradoxes (1, 0 or infinity), for koans, relating them to self seems to produce pseudo-profound answers.

Richard: thanks for the advice, I've noticed that my practice has a strong momentum, but it seems to have reached a dead-end, so I guess I will have to be creating new habits to actually reach new territory.

ggnore

Buddhists talk all about liberation but liberation from what? It has to be habits. Just leaning into areas that are not a preference and using mindfulness to prevent too much stress will be new territory every time you do it.

Have fun!