Update: Narrow vs. diffuse approaches to shamatha, etc.

thumbnail
J Groove, modified 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 1:52 AM
Created 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 1:52 AM

Update: Narrow vs. diffuse approaches to shamatha, etc.

Posts: 59 Join Date: 9/9/09 Recent Posts
Forum: Dharma Overground Discussion Forum

For the past four or five days, I have been working with what is, for me, a new approach to meditation. Reading Dan Ingram’s book—I’m about 75 pages into it—has helped me to understand that one does not have to stick with a single approach, but that it might be necessary and advisable to vary one’s approach based on factors such as the strength and stability of concentration. Prior to this, my practice had involved resting in choiceless awareness; I have always been suspicious of any object, and also of any cognition during meditation. As I result I have never done any Insight practice. At this point I’m still not even sure exactly how to do it.

So for the past few days the practice has been to focus the attention as narrowly as possible on the breath, noting it rapidly as in ‘out, out, out, pause, pause, pause, in, in, in.’ I am focusing on the entire experience of the breath itself, including the sensations of the lungs filling and emptying and the abdomen rising and falling, of the air passing into and out of the nose, and whether the breath was happening on its own or as an act of volition. Regarding the noting, I am taking care not to allow the noting to precede the sensation itself.

I think this might be Meditation 101 stuff, but the increase in the strength and stability of shamatha has been remarkable. Meditative absorption, which had all but disappeared from the practice, seems to be gradually returning. This after just a few days of 1-2 hour practice!

I will continue to work with this more focused approach to anapanasati, but would now like to start working with Insight practices. Any advice or suggestions on how to begin? Does the anapanasati approach described above need any tweaking?
Thanks!
Joel
Trent S H, modified 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 3:34 AM
Created 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 3:34 AM

RE: Update: Narrow vs. diffuse approaches to shamatha, etc.

Posts: 0 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Hey Joel,

Cool to hear you're getting results. You write that you're focusing on the entire experience itself while noting, and that sounds like a pretty fair approach to shamatha if I've ever heard it.

To make a long story short, beginning insight practice really doesn't have to be a far cry from what you're already doing. Use your shamatha technique to find and lock-down the first jhana, and then switch your noting approach from "the entire experience of the breath itself" to the individual sensations of the breath and of the jhana's characteristics (specifically looking for the 3 characteristics: suffering, no-self, impermanence). Impermanence is probably the easiest at first. So instead of holding the entire body/breath in mind, note each tingly little vibrating sensation of the breath.

What you're doing in this approach is accessing a new layer of the mind (1st jhana), wherein some parts of reality are more pronounced and some are less pronounced (new & unique to your mind, seen via 1st jhana). Then through vipassana noting (making a mental check of each vibration) you're showing the mind something specific about the pronounced portion of the jhana. This is all rather implicit and behind the scenes, but some conceptual framework can't hurt. In essence, you're finding a layer of the mind, then prodding the heck out of it. To make further progress, you simply access each new layer (attain a new jhana) and use a technique (such as noting) to show that jhana "what is really what." Easier said than done, and not at all linear either.

There are a bunch of articles on the jhanas & "vibrations" on the DhO "pages," Dan's MTCB, and so forth that will help with the specifics. If you want a little bit of supplemental material that aren't found in those sources, feel free to shoot me a message.

Trent
thumbnail
triple think, modified 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 3:46 AM
Created 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 3:46 AM

RE: Update: Narrow vs. diffuse approaches to shamatha, etc.

Posts: 362 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Yup, appearing, disappearing, and whatever comes in between. When that get's very clear I investigate the causalities involved in those appearances and disappearances. If I loose clarity examining causality I return to characteristics or the arising and passing of phenomena. I'd say it's more or less 'choiceless' but in terms of function it is routinely purposeful. It's this direct examination of things like dependent origination that takes the actual nature of things out of the realm of talk show subjects and into the realm of direct experience. Trust no one. Accept no substitutes. Examine the situation first hand. Relentlessly verify, confirm and reconfirm your own observations & conclusions. I've found being willing to ditch those conclusions easily with any indications that these are not entirely consistent in the ongoing & endless present is pretty important. That's my advice for putting a lasting & satisfying end to questions of all kinds.
thumbnail
J Groove, modified 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 11:47 AM
Created 14 Years ago at 6/28/09 11:47 AM

RE: Update: Narrow vs. diffuse approaches to shamatha, etc.

Posts: 59 Join Date: 9/9/09 Recent Posts
Thanks Yabaxoule and triplethink.
I'll continue reading Dan's book and will check out those posts on vibrations. I think I might be overstating the results just a bit--I probably have more work to do on the shamatha end of things before there can be any prodding of the first jhana--but it is great to have these instructions. Certainly the challenge here is to understand the realities that all these inherently limited descriptions are pointing to. And the injunction to verify, confirm and reconfirm makes a lot of sense--I will definitely try to abandon any foregone conclusions regarding the three characteristics.

Breadcrumb