RE: Honeymoon period is over: I resolve to attain 2nd path now.

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Asaf M, modified 1 Year ago at 1/14/23 1:46 PM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/14/23 1:46 PM

Honeymoon period is over: I resolve to attain 2nd path now.

Posts: 47 Join Date: 12/9/22 Recent Posts
Posting resoluton to attain stream entry here was a beneficial move.
Now I ram back for seconds.
I seem to be cycleing throught A&P > knowledge of suffering > knowlege of disgust > desire for deliverance  a few times during the past week or so.
As mush as I would love to play around with music and sensuality, here  is that duuka again, fueling the dirve for awakening.
So let's do this.
I reoslve to atain 2nd path.
Second path, here we go.
What does this mean?
Back to noting. Back to developing concentration, to devoting every waking moment, and to whatever degree posisble, every sleeping momen as well, to awakening. No indulgence in distractions, no beating aroudn the bush. The more formal practice, the better. 
De-prioritizing other activities and projects, bringing dhamma into the foreground now.
There are no 'in-between' moments. Every singe moment is the middle of the practice.
Noting 'typing'
'Fluxing tension realted to desire for attaining second path.'
'Thoughts of future occuring now.'
As far as I am concented, every revolution of the earth aroud itself is one practice cycle. A cycle containing many short and long lapses in awareness.
My role is to notice these lapses, to shortned the gaps, to raise the frame rate of awareness and hit escape velocity.
If you, dear reader, are past 2nd path, and are available to converse in real time via google meet, this would be most appreciated.
Tho those whom I've already had the pleasure to meet with: Thank you so much for your presence in my life.
​​​​​​​I am grateful for opportunities to connect with awakened beings as I walk this path mostly alone.
Looking forwards to checking back in here from the other end of the cessation event!
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Asaf M, modified 1 Year ago at 1/15/23 5:32 AM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/15/23 4:49 AM

RE: Honeymoon period is over: I resolve to attain 2nd path now.

Posts: 47 Join Date: 12/9/22 Recent Posts
Update: just had a really sold 1/2 hour sitting session.
The mornign session was a tough one. I forced myself to sti through 30 minutes of reisting the restlessness. body keep tensing up, repeatedly clennching the core muscle groups in response to this.

Now at noon I felt inspired to do a short session and set the timer for 20 min.
began with a few rings of  the tiebetan bowl, followng the sound untill it disappears.
Eventually noticed that the nody sensations have become soft, comfortable, and diffuse.
I did some sort of noting around five aggregates, three characteristics. That's the main thing I do. I could see that clearly.
Did investigation by asking what is_____?  desire, pain, sound...
Noticed that the seven factors seem to be in googd balance, and that cultivating the investigation factor may also increase the all-important mindfulness factor.
Noticing cause and effect, dependned origination. such as when an external sound makes we want to get up to silence it:
There is sense concoiusness, perception, volitional formations, and feeeing all in that experience, with sense contact being the trigger for this chain.
Notecing the impersonal nature of the volitional formations that arise in response to stimuli.

The jhanic arc video that NIkolia shared has been really usefull.
I now seem to be able to recognize the first four jhanas
strong pleasurable sensations on body surface - 1st
diffuse, lighter sensations, not on surface: 2nd
scattered/murky. dreamy/ someehat chaotic: 3rd
unification of mind, only noticed upon  exit: deep 4th

I hit solid 4th this time. Rang the bowl at the end of session at 30 min. At some point I noticed that my mind has been unificed with the sound of the bowl as as it trailed off into very faint, subtle sound, perhpas no longer due to actual sound waves hitting the ear,  for an unkown duration of time. perhpas just a minute or two.
Only upon coming out of this did I realize the mind was unified, refined, subtle. No subject object/distinction. No awarness even of being unified. All so very soft, effortless. Just occurs on its own, when the conditons are right.
Beautifull stuff. 
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Nikolai , modified 1 Year ago at 1/15/23 9:48 PM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/15/23 9:48 PM

RE: Honeymoon period is over: I resolve to attain 2nd path now.

Posts: 1677 Join Date: 1/23/10 Recent Posts
Some have said that the jhanic arc is a complete practice in and of itself. At least it brings a little of the lightness and pleasure missing from a path dictated by a dryer dukkha nana one. 
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Dream Walker, modified 1 Year ago at 1/18/23 8:52 PM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/18/23 8:52 PM

RE: Honeymoon period is over: I resolve to attain 2nd path now.

Posts: 1657 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Stay as clear and present as you move thru the various stages states. Noticing the difference and then being able to call that different sign post up let's you call up that state on demand with practice.
good luck,
​​​​​​​~D
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Asaf M, modified 1 Year ago at 1/19/23 2:33 AM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/19/23 2:33 AM

RE: Honeymoon period is over: I resolve to attain 2nd path now.

Posts: 47 Join Date: 12/9/22 Recent Posts
Thanks Dreamwalker.
Today I experimented with fire casina using a small night light bulb with the switch in my hand. only takes a few seconds of looking at it to get a large afterburn image with closed eyes.
I practiced changing the colors up and down the rainbow. wrmer colors were easier, blue more stubborn than the rest, though violet was easy.
Did that along with following the tibetan bowl far down into the faintest ringing.

Once the mind was quite absobed I decided to go for arupa jahana.
I dont know where I was jahna wise, seemed like 4th due to equality and absense of rapture/pleasure. I do not recall passing though 1-3 though.
I tried to absob the mind into the feeling/concept of infinite space.
This is an area where I could use more clarity. how to focus on infinite space.
An tips/references to read up on here?
George S, modified 1 Year ago at 1/19/23 4:11 PM
Created 1 Year ago at 1/19/23 3:34 PM

RE: Honeymoon period is over: I resolve to attain 2nd path now.

Posts: 2722 Join Date: 2/26/19 Recent Posts
I tried to absob the mind into the feeling/concept of infinite space.
This is an area where I could use more clarity. how to focus on infinite space.
An tips/references to read up on here?

It depends on the depth of concentration ... As the body, thoughts and feelings fade from awareness, it's natural to focus on what's left ... the mind itself. But the mind can't be observed directly, only inferred through various more subtle objects/characteristics. One characteristic of mind which becomes apparent is its luminescence, but that may require a deeper level of concentration. As the body calms down though, one can also start to observe the inherent spaciousness of mind. If you have an intuitive feeling for the sense of space then you can work with that directly, relaxing into it until there is nothing left but an all pervasive sense of spaciousness. During this process you might become aware of various physical/energetic contractions, which can be relaxed/released into space. That's kind of the shamatha approach to pace, but you can also do vipassana as well and ask yourself questions such as:

- Where is the edge of space? (so you keep expanding your sense of space outwards until you realize it's infinite at every point)

- Where is the center of space? (tensions/contractions can be observed as clinging to the sense of a spatial center point (me in the middle!), but they can always be released into space. you can also try focussing on the space behind you to facilitate this)

​​​​​​​- All the space that can ever be experienced is in the mind ... this corner of the universe contains the whole universe!

As you stay absorbed in the sense of space, you might get tired of it or notice a certain tension (which is really due to the fact that the mind has to create the sense of space, it is not pre-existing). At that point you can back up and shift to the awareness of the space (next jhana). And again, this kind of progression will happen automatically with deep enough concentration and you can do the vipassana aftewards, or else you can do a concentration light version with vipassana on the fly.

Hope that helps.
 

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