I am not sure if it is right section for this post but I would appreciate your advice:

Having spent 1 year in dark night (after goenka retreat) I went for a two weeks vipassana (Mahasi) retreat in Jan’14 and end the retreat in mid equanimity. After the retreat I was oscillating between equanimity and dark night but equanimity mostly predominated.  I sat every morning     and  evening for one hour and reaching low equanimity.
Usually I do fast noting but for last few months I was feeling tense and agitated when I do noting practice. It seems the effort to note           and desire to attain cessation cause me fall back to dark night. I came across the writing of direct path on the net and started                       practicing  awareness resting on awareness. Since starting that practice I did not fall back to dark night and the stability and equanimity of mind increased significantly. In fact I can integrate the practice with daily life. Mind is usually quiet and if it is noisy and I ask “to whom it      is happening” and try to objectify the  thinker. I sit every morning and evening and in my sitting and daily life activities I feel pressure          between    eyebrows and sometime on my crown as I used to feel during noting practice. The intention to go somewhere and achieve something is   gradually diminishing.
 
I would appreciate your suggestion regarding my practice

Regards

Faisal

Hi there. No suggestions about what you should do, but I've been wondering whether there's enough interest in the Direct Path to set up another discussion list for talking about those practices specifically. I don't think the aims and outcomes of the Direct Path are all that different from those of Buddha dharma, and the DhO has been welcoming of diverse approaches, but maybe having a dedicated discussion group with shared vocabulary and practices might be worthwhile...? (I'm easy either way; just toying with the idea).

Where can I read a bit more about this "Direct Path"?
(Google is being less than helpful for such a genreal phrase.)

I ask because I too am struggling a bit with the desire to progress, and may need a bit of a reboot.

Welcome Faisal!


Sounds to me like you're doing great. Equanimity is a good place to drop the actual noting as long as you don't stop "investigating". The question "to whom it is happening" is a good device in this regard. Just make sure you don't use it primarily as a means to quiet the mind. That may lead into a dead end.


I think that’s fairly common, nothing to worry about. When approaching the end of first path you might notice that the pressure tends to move more and more towards the crown and also a change from more coarse sensations (pressure) towards very subtle energetic ones. (At least that’s what happened to me.)

Good luck!


My recommendation would be Greg Godde.

Thank you Timus.
Much appreciated.

I'm not much for giving advice, and am certainly not much inclined to do so based on one post.  That said, I'd be careful with this, as you might end up nowhere, achieving nothing.  Not that there is anything wrong with this, but I know people who have slipped into this zone but not really liked where it took them. 

Beware of the bliss bunny.

hey faisal,
you're doing great!  eqanimity is about dropping eypectations.  keep doing what you're doing and stay present present present.  let things drift a bit, its a good thing.  equanimity is interesting and often very enjoyable.  if you are getting there regularly you are doing fine.

tom

Hi guys

Thank you very much for your comments. They are very helpful and inspiring. Resting in awareness helps me to remain functional and stay away from dark night which is very important for me as I have a full-time job and family. I am planning to go for two weeks mahasi retreat early next year but I will appreciate if you want to share your thoughts about retreat (tradition etc) in this stage of my practice.

Regards
Faisal
 

hi faisal,
retreats are excellent for advancing quickly.  they allow one to see, in a compressed fashion, how we move through the ladder of mind in our sits.  the exponential jumps in concentration and insight i have made on retreats is incomparable to daily practice.

i'm a big fan of home retreats and have used tarin's slackers guide (do a search on the  site) successfully several times.  i have never regretted a retreat i have done.

peace

tom