Working with Intention

Prefer Not Known, modified 10 Years ago at 11/16/13 10:58 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 11/16/13 10:58 AM

Working with Intention

Post: 1 Join Date: 11/16/13 Recent Posts
I'm looking for some advice and this seems like the correct category. People mention setting intentions to wake up, to sit, etc. and I am wondering how this works. My problem is a form of laziness that I can't quite beat. I sit daily, usually twice for between one and two hours total. But I find it almost impossible right now to motivate myself to go and sit when I first wake up, (I have been able to do this in the past--particularly after retreats), instead I reach for the ipad and go down that rabbit hole of stimulation. Then I sit much later in the day. Even though I enjoy my sitting when I get there, there is always something pulling me in the opposite direction of the cushion and I give it too much voice--to the point where I very often find myself doing quite useless, trivial things rather than sitting. I eventually get to the cushion, but I'd like to get there quicker.

I've been sitting regularly (with off and on periods) for about 7 years. I seem to have no trouble accessing jhanas one to three (less easy to get to four) since this summer, even when I am not in what I consider deep access concentration. In fact, I make myself do a body scan or anapanasati for a good half hour before entering jhana because I know I still need to develop my concentration skills. The easy access to the lower jhanas feels a little un-earned if I don't do the breath work or scan.

So, just wondering if this is familiar to anyone and if you might have developed techniques for dealing with this. At some retreats I've heard people talking about setting intentions in shamatha and it almost sounds like self-hypnosis, doesn't matter much to me, if it's a tool that works!

Thank you for any thoughts.
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Richard Zen, modified 10 Years ago at 11/16/13 11:40 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 11/16/13 11:29 AM

RE: Working with Intention

Posts: 1665 Join Date: 5/18/10 Recent Posts
Note throughout the day. That is what has helped me and continues to do so. Every time you note something you're not clinging to it. Keep noting. When doing conceptual work that needs more brain power then stop noting and just attend to that. Then continue noting when you're doing anything else. At some point you'll notice the mental pain of "going down the rabbit hole". Daydreaming about likes and dislikes is where the stress appears because you're activating the amygdala based on what you're thinking about instead of it reacting to what's actually happening. I've also found it fun to interrupt the thought stream with a "why?" to point the brain to see if the thought pattern is worth following. Even subtle thinking and stories create some affect that interferes with willpower. It's important to allow the thoughts to arise and then to quickly let go of adding any stories to them. Just note them (including subtle things like "strategizing", "analyizing", "doubt", "progress", "lack of progress") and you're free of them. It's when they turn to stories and cause emotional affect that they start steering what you actually do versus what you should do. The consistency of noting is what keeps the old habits from reappearing. Notice when you are lax in noting the old mental streams appear and sometimes violently so. Let the negative thoughts be and use noting as a way to not stop them or to cling to them. (Clinging meaning ruminating about why you like or dislike something).

I like posting this advice from Kenneth from his old site that explains vedana really well for noting without labels:

Practice becoming aware of the body sensations that correspond to a thought. Whenever a thought arises, feel the body. How do you know whether you like the thought or not? It's because the body sensations feel either pleasant or unpleasant. Notice that if you dissociate from this moment, i.e., step into the fantasy and leave the body, you will suffer. Suffering is not ordinary pain; ordinary pain is just unpleasant sensation. Suffering is cause by the dissociation, the stepping out of this moment, out of the body. Stay in the body and ride the waves of body sensation. Watch how the body reacts to the thougts and vice versa. See how the looping between body and mind IS the dissociation. Short-circuit this by returning to the body. Stay with the body as continuously as you can. You are stretching the amount of time you can stay in the body without being blown out of it by an event or a thought. To be in the body is to be free. To be in the body all the time is to be free all the time.
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"While you are practicing just sitting, be clear about everything going on in your mind. Whatever you feel, be aware of it, but never abandon the awareness of your whole body sitting there. Shikantaza is not sitting with nothing to do; it is a very demanding practice, requiring diligence as well as alertness. If your practice goes well, you will experience the 'dropping off' of sensations and thoughts. You need to stay with it and begin to take the whole environment as your body. Whatever enters the door of your senses becomes one totality, extending from your body to the whole environment. This is silent illumination."

-Master Shengyen
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Kenneth: See how the looping between body and mind IS the dissociation.

Mumuwu: Do you mean the moving out of the body to the mind and back?

I mean the creation of a third "thing," this pseudo-entity that is a composite of body sensations and mental phenomena. Living in this third thing is suffering because it takes you out of what is really happening in this moment; it becomes a proxy for experience. You can train yourself to stop living this proxy life of suffering by coming back to the body sensations in this moment. The body cannot lie. Being in the body is being present in this moment. Being present in this moment does not allow the pseudo-self to form. When the pseudo-self does not form, life is simple and free. It will be pleasant at times and unpleasant at times, but it is always free.

There is no conflict between noting and living in your body, by the way, whether you note silently or aloud. You can note or not note, think, act, talk, love, live; there is very little you can't do; you just can't suffer. If you choose to note, understand that there is nothing magical about the noting itself. The noting is simply a feedback loop to remind you to feel your body and observe your mind in this moment.
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You still need to direct your intentions towards goals you deem worthy while you practice. Verbal noting is still very good at keeping you honest about whether you're spacing out into stories or not. Use it as much as needed.

Good luck!

(A couple of edits)
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Tom Tom, modified 10 Years ago at 11/18/13 3:37 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 11/18/13 3:31 AM

RE: Working with Intention

Posts: 466 Join Date: 9/19/09 Recent Posts
But I find it almost impossible right now to motivate myself to go and sit when I first wake up, (I have been able to do this in the past--particularly after retreats), instead I reach for the ipad and go down that rabbit hole of stimulation. Then I sit much later in the day. Even though I enjoy my sitting when I get there, there is always something pulling me in the opposite direction of the cushion and I give it too much voice--to the point where I very often find myself doing quite useless, trivial things rather than sitting. I eventually get to the cushion, but I'd like to get there quicker.


Why do you need to sit when you first wake up if you're still sitting regularly? You're obsessing about wanting to do something other than what you're doing rather than actually noticing what you're actually doing. Resolutions to make progress or to attain a certain level of realization are generally more powerful than resolutions to meditate at a certain time period of the day. Try making a very strong resolution to attain to "stream entry" or to attain to "4th path" or "full enlightenment" (or whatever the next step for you is) instead. If this is done with great sincerity and jhanic power, the rest will work itself out regardless of when you decide to sit during the day.

Resolutions before you sit down to meditate such as done in MCTB:

"I resolve that for this hour I will consistently investigate
the sensations that make up reality so as to attain to liberating insights for the benefit of myself and all beings.”
are also generally more powerful and will get you further than resolutions to sit at some arbitrary time during the day.

Other resolutions from MCTB:
"I had been advised to use this unique period
in my practice well, and I resolved to attain to full enlightenment for the
benefit of all beings as quickly as was reasonably possible. Despite all
the complex consequences of having done so, I do not regret my
decision in the least and highly recommend that you do the same."
would be far more beneficial.

Making resolutions that your heart isn't fully into such as resolutions to wake up every day in the morning to meditate will weaken your faith in resolutions if you find that you aren't able to do this consistently or at all. On the other hand, it's still a pretty weak form of resolution compared to the above even if you find that your resolution of sitting when you wake up every morning works day after day, month after month, year after year. The above types of resolutions are also more powerful in that they can be checked off when completed whereas your current desired goal must be sustained endlessly.
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