Forum: A Dry Insight Technique for Attaining Path

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Kenneth,

Thanks a lot for this. I've been on to staccato vibrations for some months, but didn't quite know what to do with them, as concentrating on them usually leads to concentration effects arising (vision-like inklings of a vaguely geometrical nature), and at that point, I broaden my attention.

Now that you've told us, I'm having a *duh* moment. I've lost count of the times I've read the anapanasati formula - "breathe in / out focussing on cessation".

Cheers,
Florian

those arent just concentration effects, i get them sometimes in equanimity and they have a habit of making things nicely rich and unitive. can you just let your mind drift along with them without losing the kind of underlying tension.. but without really noticing that you're holding this tension either? it requires a kind of almost-dreamlike immersion that can't quite be contrived but isn't so far off either. of course, this is just a suggestion to give you an idea of a kind of thing that can work.. as with anything else, you'll just have to find what works for you. but good luck with it.. i really think you can't be far now.

Hi Tarin,
Yes, "nicely rich and unitive" is a good description, even if "unitive" is quite at odds with the quality of "here" vs "there" that goes along with the experience.

And yes, I've been following Daniel's advice to Jackson a few weeks ago, "like keeping the palm on the surface, neither getting the back of the hand wet, nor losing contact", and that's been very useful. But these staccato vibrations seemed significant, and yet I didn't really know what to do with them besides observing them. I'll watch the "sailing past the end" of them more closely and see what happens there: until now, I'd only noticed them dropping away underneath occasionally.

Thanks for the encouragement and the suggestions,

Cheers,
Florian

This is spectacular advice! It actually correlates directly to how my initial 1st Path fruitions would come about. Though, instead of using tactile sensations like the vibrations in my fingers or knees, I used visual phenomena. With my eyes closed, I would observe how lights and flashes appear out of nothing, and then swiftly vanish back to nothing. The more I observed how they vanished, the closer I got. Eventually, a flash of light would zoom by, and I would sort of mentally grab on to it and travel with it. When the light stopped cold, so did "I" (i.e. formations).

I talked to Daniel about this, and he said that grabbing on to a light flash can also project someone in to a formless state/realm. It all depends on what the mind is inclined toward. If the mind is inclined toward Fruition, then that's what will happen. If the mind is inclined toward launching into a formless realm, then that will follow. I haven't tried to the formless realm thing yet, but I think it's worth a try.

Kenneth,

thanks for posting this! this is a very helpful addendum to my practice.

based on your description, it looks like my practice is primarily dry insight technique. it's one of the "5 ways" techniques via Shinzen Young which he calls "Focus on Change" (see http://bit.ly/zcQP - would love to hear your take on this technique).

with this technique, i shift my focus on the vibratory/wave/expanding/contracting qualities of the sensations, whenever they arise. when this happens, i ride the waves! then i note the experience as "flow", "expansion", "contraction", "gone" (when the waves stop). once in a while the experience just stop, cold, as you described. whenever this happens i feel like i dozed off or lost consciousness for a split second. then i lose concentration and start with breath practice again.

however, lately, even though my sitting practice is consistent (i sit for 2.5 hours a day, 1+ hour every sitting morning and evening), my awareness of the vibrations are not that strong compared to the previous weeks. not sure if i'm doing something wrong or whether this is just part of a cycle. in any case, will continue to practice and see this through.

thanks!

~C