James:
Tim Farrington:
I have read that many times and I have found it very helpful. The closest I have come to an answer on how to handle this EQ place is:
If you want the next stages you have to really make friends with the do-nothing accomplishments of dwelling in equanimity and jhana. Ironically, when all your "doing/judging/strategizing" weakens and you start really enjoying accomplishing nothing during your sits, then all the next stages happen
What are your thoughts on that?
It's nearly impossible to assess the state you are in with that little detail. You have to talk about the past few months of practice, how long you sit, what retreats you have been on, what a normal sit is like, what feels like the cutting edge, when you reach your cutting edge during a sit, how long you stay there, how much you fall back and return to the cutting edge, what seems to be the main form of resistance or discomfort that is still left, etc etc etc
For EQ, i's also really good to read Daniel's advice here:
https://www.mctb.org/mctb2/table-of-contents/part-iv-insight/30-the-progress-of-insight/11-equanimity/
In particular: "
In this third subjhana phase of Equanimity (ñ11.j3), the broad, out-of-phase phase, it may be hard to read and pay attention, hard to hear people and listen, hard to notice where we are and what we are doing. It can have some resemblance to Dissolution but is less slothful and more diffuse and spacious and makes people more prone to “spacing out”. The arising of fear of madness and death is not uncommon in this phase of Equanimity, but usually does not cause too much trouble and may even seem comical or welcome. [ñ11.ñ6–ñ11.ñ10 in ñana.subñana notation.] For others, this mini Dark Night of Equanimity can make things complicated, and in the face of that seeming complexity some will either try to power the thing (unlikely to work well in Equanimity), or try to solidify the pleasantness they may have experienced right before it and turn something open, flowing, and accepting into a more stable and safe-feeling fourth shamatha jhana, which is equanimous but still more frozen and static than works well for reaching stream entry. In this way, people can stagnate in Equanimity."My hunch when reading your description -- which sounds more like late EQ than High EQ, but I can't be sure -- is that you are probably using too little effort/energy in that state and probably would benefit from making sure you are making gentle notes at least as often as every outbreath. This is easily done (just 10-12 verbal notes a minute).
Equanimity doesn't fall apart that easily, it's a pretty tough state. So as Daniel emphasizes, it can stand a lot of investigation, curiousity, and noting. The trick is to enjoy the investigation and not have the ill will of ambition (i.e., this state isn't good because I want stream entry and this isn't it). If you have any hint of that ill will, then note what is showing up: mapping thoughts, judgement, ill will, aversion, etc.
Equanimity is also a time for longer sits, going on retreat, getting rid of the timer and sitting as long as feels right.
