Tell me what you think of this ramble.
I'll build up to my questions so you know how I'm experiencing/understanding things................

So, we have concentration and we have investigation.
Concentration gives rise to Dhyana's, and Investigation leads to the Stages of Insight. 
In my experience, the Dhyana's are a progressive simplification and stilling of experience; working my way back from gross conceptualisation, through the bodies reactions and emotional responses to quietude, into equanimity and out into the formless Dhyana's where space and conciousness can be reliquished. It feels like fine-tuning a radio to different frequencies each more subtle and restful than the next.
I understand the Stages of Insight like this:
As the mind, with investigation, begins to see through/into how things operate, how things arise and disappear, how things are constructed and clung to and cause suffering, deeper sub-minds or mind-currents 'react' to what is being seen, in a series of recognisable stages. The mind 'sees' what is happening at a deeper level; it freaks out, wobbles, throws a tantrum and because it can't hide from itself, eventually accepts the truth of what has been recognised and rests in Equanimity (Cessation and beyond not relevant here).  A Similar process to Dhyana practice but the Equanimity arrived at, is, would you agree, of a different quality/nature?
Now, I find DI's fractal ideas interesting here. The stages of insight can be experienced within one meditation sit or stretched out over perhaps days or weeks or even years.
This brings me to the nub of this post.............Dhyana feels to me somewhat like stepping off the stage of samsara, dropping conceptualisation altogether, tuning the dial of conditionality to a silent bandwidth. It's lovely and peaceful and profound (though I don't like that word but maybe that's because my Dhyana has been pretty soft so far), but when I step back into samsara the show is still rumbling away as every. I feel less attached to it and less involved somehow and less tricked by it, but the mechanisms that give rise to suffering are still intact.
Here are a few questions -
What are your experiences of being in one of the Dark night stages and then practicing Dhyana?
Can you step out of the experience and manifestations of that Stage of Insight altogether through pure Jhana practice?
If you are in the Fear stage and practice Dhyana for example, can you still experience Dhyanic equanimity and if so, when you come out, what has happened to the fear? You can't be in fear and equanimity at the same time.
Or is it that you can be in a particular Stage of Insight, and by practicing Dhyana, you can effectively step out of the progress of insight altogether temporarily and then the fear or disgust or misery resume once you come out of the Dhyana? 
Are the Dhyana's somehow flavoured by the Stage of Insight you are in?
I've read DI's MCTB and discussed with my good friend Nick and I know the Vipassana Jhanas relates to this but like DI states on p246 'the pure samatha jhanas require ignoring the Three Characterisitcs to get them to appear stable and clean'. Can you still 'ignore' in this way once the stages are underway - even as a sort of holiday from the DN territory?
That's about it. Many thanks for reading this far. Open to feedback.
Prajnanatha

I've just read in MCTB p250  - 'Those who have attained at least stream entry are constantly cycling through the nanas from the fourth to the eleventh and then to Fruition, so even if they try to do pure samatha practice, the pull towards each next nana/vipassana jhana is strong, and they basically are always from then on doing some fusion of the two even when they try to keep things purely on the samatha side.'
Nice.

The kind of samatha meditation I do is relaxing. I don't do intense concentration. I have done it in the past and I have found it counterproductive. It causes suppression of thoughts and emotions and causes irritability. What is needed is "letting go" not it's opposite "suppression". Letting go in my experience is the same thing as relaxing the mind and body. It is the necessary and complete solution to dukkha. Insight is helpful because you can't let go of what you are not conscious of. But my view is kind of the opposite of what most people think ie that samatha prepares the mind so you can do insight and insight produces awakening. But I see insight as supporting relaxation, you have to notice you are tense or upset so you can relax. Watch the mind and body and when  you see it becoming upset or tense relax it. That is all you need to know or do. Meditation makes it possible but is not really what does the work. Mindfulness and relaxation do the work. (Yes, you have to quiet the mind first to have the presence of mind to stay mindful to do insight practices, and insight helps you see what you need to let go of and when you need to relax, so the two practices samatha and vipassana work together in multiple ways.)

It depends what you mean by dark night.

• If my brain chemicals are going over the top, like in jhana, and I think I am about to damage my brain, in that situation I have stopped meditating for a few hours.
• If I am depressed or anxious I will do little or no meditation except maybe depending on the situation just watching my mind in daily life. If my brain is not working right, meditation has no effect. It's like if your car is out of oil, gasoline, transmission fluid, if the breaks are worn down, you don't drive it, if you do it either won't go or will damage itself. I think it is possible to do a "reverse jhana" by focusing too intensely on a negative emotion you can reinforce it and it can go over the top. This could explain what happens to some  people who have bad experiences on retreats.
• If I am anxious sometimes I will do relaxation exercises and if that quiets the anxiety I might then practice normally.
• If it is because my world view is being turned upside down I might meditate less doing mostly tranquility meditation (relaxing meditation not intense concentration) rather than insight or deep concentration.
• If it is because strong emotions are being released I might cut back on meditation, do relaxation exercises, or push through depending on the specific situation. However many times I thought I was releasing emotions except when my mood changed, maybe I ate a big meal that changed my brain chemistry, the issue just dropped off my radar. I thought I was releasing emotions but I was just obsessing because I was depressed. So if you you have a new insight into some emotional issue, that is more likely to be releasing, if you have been over it many times in the past it could be either masking something else or it could be you are just obsessing. 

I think the best way to prevent brain damaging DN's is to stick to the kinds of meditation that are most natural. What is "natural" is what the brain is designed or evolved to do - perceiving sensations, perceiving mental activity for example:

• stalking prey and watching out for predators. That means observing your senses - noticing what you see, hear, smell whether you are sitting or in daily life.
• Also just noticing the stream of consciousness mindfully not trying to stop it, noticing your emotional state ie. if you are relaxed or tense or upset, and noticing any bodily sensations - doing this in a calm relaxed ordinary way not as a part of of intense concentration.
• And limiting it to moderate amounts of time, not all day, every day, day after day, unless you have been doing it for a long time.

I have never been in fear stage. Maybe because of how I react to incipient D/N's (see above).

I do relaxing meditation (not intense concentration) first, then I do insight. If I am not in a serene pleasant mood I very rarely do insight meditation except just watching my mind in daily life.

I don't experience DN's as a territory. Life has it's ups and downs. Very few of them are due to meditation. I think we need different terms to refer to the different situations meditation can cause (above) and also different terms for things caused by meditation and things caused by genetics, developmental issues, and cognitive issues. It seems to me that sometimes people blame the ordinary ups and downs of life that everyone has on meditation because they are thinking in terms of the POI.

I have a somewhat related view that there is samatha in vipassana and vipassana in samatha. Every time your mind wanders in samatha and you bring it back to the focus of attention - you are observing your mind, you see you don't control it, it isn't "yours". That is vipassana. In vipassana you have to stay focused on the technique, that focus is samatha. What is important is that you understand how the two practices work together so that what ever technique you use you can be sure you are doing what you need to do to make progress, in my opinion: develop a quiet mind to see what is causing you dukkha and then relaxing to let go of the dukkha.

Thanks Jim, yes I very much agree with what you are saying about this straightforward approach; feeling into where there is holding or grasping and just letting go; and as you say, you can't let go of something you are not concious of. So it's about deepening the sensitivity and subtlety of the seeing and the letting go.  No reason that couldn't take you all the way. And also the compassion you describe in easing off when the mind is too resistant.