From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jlLJEmmoQME

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

the book you are about to hear is called

the path to nibana

how mindfulness of loving-kindness

progresses through the tranquil

awareness to awakening

by david c johnson copyright 2017-20

david c johnson all rights reserved

the holy life friend vasaka is grounded

upon nibana

culminates in nibana ends in nibana

midshima nikaya 44 kulavadala suda

acknowledgements

i want to acknowledge venerable bonnie

vimela ramsay mahatera

from whom i have learned this practice

he is the founder of tranquil wisdom

insight meditation

twim without his skillful guidance

this project would not be possible

descriptions for many of the jannas have

come from evening talks on the anupata

sutha

number 111 by venerable vimela ramsay

it was his struggle through years of

intense meditation practice

and his discussions with many of the

world's most venerable monks

that led him in an entirely different

direction he went back to the earliest

buddhist teachings

the suthas in the pali canon to practice

what the buddha himself had taught his

own disciples

from this he discovered twim and has

given us this gift of true dhamma

i wish to thank the venerable for

reviewing this work and correcting

misunderstandings which may have

occurred

i also acknowledge bhikkhu bodhi for his

work the middle-length discourses of the

buddha

a translation of the mejiman nikaya

wisdom publications

somerville massachusetts 1995

by biku bodhi and bikunyana mali this

book

with some exceptions is the basis for

twin meditation practice

thanks also to brenda e mcrae who wrote

down a one-page summary

based on student interviews of what

meditators experienced as they

progressed through the meditation

process

seeing the need to document the levels

of practice i expanded her summary to

the book you now are reading

also thanks to terry poll paul johnson

mark and antra burger doug kraft and jay

delmer who helped with editing and for

their many useful suggestions

thanks to s jordan who rendered the

beautiful cover art from his own unique

design

introduction the purpose of this book is

to help the earnest seeker and advanced

meditator understand the experiences and

signposts on the buddha's path

which has as its goal the destruction of

craving and the elimination of ignorance

i want to document these experiences for

the meditation community so they may be

studied and preserved as a guide to

future meditators

this book was also written so that

meditators without access to local

teachers could have all the instructions

to continue down this path on their own

every instruction on how to meditate at

every level is here

there are no secret techniques held back

just the words from the southeastern

commentary by venerable bonnie vimela

ramsay

i have added to the addition you are now

reading a review of all the instructions

and all the progress steps and signed

posts in the last chapter of the book

so if you forget some of the steps go

there for a refresher

and perhaps a higher level overview of

all the meditation instructions in the

book in this book are integrated all the

instructions for the beginning meditator

if you are familiar with the starting

instructions you can skip ahead to the

section on the advanced chapters on jon

estates

but it's probably best to read the whole

book as you never know what you might

pick up

if when you are starting you bog down

and you just can't feel this loving

kindness for yourself

take a look at the pamphlet provided at

the end of this book

by bonnie vimela ramsey entitled a guide

to forgiveness meditation

try this meditation and see if it

doesn't loosen possible emotional blocks

from past traumas

bosses or other scary memories

forgiveness can be a perfect

prerequisite to experiencing warm

flowing loving kindness at some places

in the book

i will put meditation instruction to

highlight for students

who are using this book as an

instruction guide progressive directions

on how to proceed with the practice

twim is a fancy name for basically the

brahmavihara practice

starting with meta or loving kindness as

the object breath may be used but tends

to have slower progress

these instructions are taken directly

from the meditation methods described in

the suthas

the earliest buddhist teachings twim is

the practice that will lead us to nibana

as it is outlined in the texts

we will see that when the instructions

are followed there are immediate results

precisely as the buddha laid out

the path to nibana elaborates on both

the goal and the practice of meditation

as explained by the buddha

its purpose is to follow the progress of

the practice as it is explained in the

suthas themselves

for that the clearest map is the

midshima nikaya

mn number 111 the anupada suda

one by one as they occurred this suda

shows how progress occurs step by step

all the way to nibana

this is the map we will use as we go

through the levels of insight in this

book

the suthas of the pali canon are

traceable back 2550 years to the buddha

himself

they are considered by scholars to be

the words of the buddha as he originally

spoke them

to put a finer point on this it is

thought that the buddha spoke maggoty

that was his native language pali is a

form of that language

and later all of the suthas were

documented in pali

first by reciting and then writing them

down by members of the buddhist order in

sri lanka

they were written on palm leaves about

80 bc as they were written down

monks who had memorized the suthas

checked the written texts for any added

or wrong words

the suthas were inscribed on stone

tablets in mandalay

burma and are today still being

memorized and recited by buddhist monks

and burmese monasteries

this has continued since the first

council of 500 senior monks or arahants

convened three months after the buddha

died

i visited this interesting site in burma

in 2003 and saw the white marble stones

with these very inscriptions

groups of monks memorize the sutha texts

together

one monk will recite and the rest of the

group will check and correct him as he

goes

this method has been about as foolproof

as any other to retain original texts

for long periods

writing the suthas down can be subject

to the translator's misinterpretation of

what words to use

to describe the practice precisely but

even with this method there could have

been errors that crept in

even as perfect as this system was we

can't really know because we weren't

there and it was over 25 centuries ago

thus we used these suthas as the closest

direct guide to what the buddha really

taught

there are many buddhist sects and many

different beliefs and practices

all we can do is find what meditation

practice matches the buddha's words

the practice of twim is new in the sense

it has been rediscovered in the suthas

it is not practiced very widely yet

which seems rather surprising

in fact venerable bonnie vimela ramsay

and his approved teachers

are the only ones who teach directly

from the suthas in this way

others reference the suthas but don't

follow them precisely

twim is the actual and correct

application of right effort

this is the reason for its resulting

success

i will discuss more about this later

changes have been made in other

practices to allegedly improve upon the

buddha's meditation instructions

but hold on he was the buddha

is it not just a little bit presumptuous

to think that the instructions of a

buddha can be improved upon

after all he was indeed the supremely

awakened tatagata

perfecting his wisdom over countless

lifetimes let's try to put aside all the

other techniques for now and just focus

on how to practice

as described in the early teachings as

close to the actual words of the buddha

as we can get

most scholars agree that the pali canon

and its suthas are the actual teachings

of the buddha

so let's go to them and only them to

find the way to practice

the anupada suta minnesota 111 explains

the progress of the meditation through

the jhanas and the four

foundations of mindfulness at the same

time it will be shown here that these

jhanas when practiced as taught in the

suthas

will lead us to awakening the jhanas

described in the anupada suthay are not

to be confused with the concentration

states commonly taught elsewhere

these are the tranquil aware genres that

are being taught in the suthas

in which you maintain awareness of both

mind and body

their foundation is collectedness not

concentration which we will cover later

it is this rediscovered aware jhana that

is the key to a new understanding of the

buddha's teachings

the twim technique referenced in this

book uses for its primary suthay guide

the middle-length discourses of the

buddha a translation of the medeshima

nikaya

by biku bodhi and bikunyanamali bonnie

vimalaramsi feels this is the closest

translation available

though sometimes he prefers different

wordings than are used there

for example he uses the word habitual

tendency instead of becoming

more on this later we will combine here

the explanation of the sutha's meaning

with the actual experiences of the many

meditators who have practiced and have

been successful

also we will attempt to explain some of

the reasons why certain experiences and

subtle phenomena occur

though only the buddha knows for sure

please forgive me for errors and

omissions

some phenomena like the subtlest links

of dependent origination that are deep

down in the mental processes have had

their descriptions left out

they are for the student to discover on

their own and it won't change the pace

of a student's progress by not

describing them here

explaining certain phenomena before the

student is ready to see them can create

false

expectations and wrong ideas many

students

later are grateful that bonnie does not

explain to them where they are in the

genres

they just want to progress and not be

thinking and analyzing as they practice

they may develop some sense of pride

because of thoughts about i am in this

genre or that jhana

they might have some familiarity with

meditation practice and may have some

consider rise and get stuck thinking

about how far advanced they are

when they are only beginners in this

practice it is better off not knowing

where you are if you are on an intensive

retreat and just follow the instructions

if you are seeking an even deeper

understanding of how the practice works

than what is described here in this book

more descriptions of insights and levels

of understanding that arise

and the sooth references that support

this meditation you may also want to

read one of the following books

meditation is life life is meditation

which provides information in depth and

detail

breath of love and moving dharma volume

volume 1 also offers skillful guidance

as one goes deeper into the practice

these are all written by venerable

bonnie vimela ramsay

my purpose here is to put down on paper

the steps to awakening

the progress through the levels of

insight to awakening

it is my hope that this knowledge can be

handed down studied in the future

and not lost this book is based on

venerable bonnie vimela ramsay's

suda-based methods and results

using texts from his various talks as

well drawing on my own personal

experiences involving this practice

today's practices include brahmanic

influences new age methods

and even a new take on buddhism in which

the buddha himself starts to disappear

from the pages

this is called secular buddhism or just

mindfulness with no mention of the

buddha

the heartwood of the buddha's teachings

has been mixed up with western

psychology

and even the word mindfulness is no

longer being used in the way the buddha

intended

an important goal of this book is to

show how buddhism as it is generally

taught today

has veered away from the ideas presented

in the suthas

it has deviated from what the historical

buddha taught

we are going to explore among other

things

what the buddha taught us in his own

words from the suthas

awakening both mind and body

dependent origination the definition of

mindfulness

what is tranquil wisdom insight

meditation twim

what are the six rupees two types of

jhanas

absorption jhanas and aware jhanas

the progress through the jaundice to

nibana

the four stages of sainthood

chapter one what is buddhism

around 2600 years ago when the young

prince siddhartha gotamo went outside

his palace into the village

he realized suffering was experienced

universally by all beings

he found that there was sickness old age

and death and it so shocked him that he

left behind his wife and newborn son

his kingdom and all his worldly goods to

go in search of a way to end this

suffering

after years of searching he finally

discovered the path to the end of

suffering

nibbana a path which he described as not

only achieving release from suffering

but that it was also immediately

effective or not taking that long if

practiced correctly

he then spent the next 45 years teaching

that path to others

during that time many people were

awakened the mahavakagata suda

number 73 and the medeshima nikaya mn

confirms and gives us more details about

just how many thousands of people were

awakened

in the suda when the buddha is asked if

there were any beings who had been

successful

he clearly described the numbers and

attainments of those he had taught

what is suffering the buddha stated the

cause through his four noble truths

there are suffering and dissatisfaction

in the world and in our lives

the cause and origin of that suffering

is craving

the cessation of craving is the

cessation of suffering

the eightfold path leads us to the end

of that suffering

this is buddhism in brief suffering the

cause of suffering

the end of suffering and the path

leading to the end of suffering

this is the heart of buddhism it is not

about rights and rituals

prayers and incense it is not a religion

but a scientific investigation into

overcoming sorrow at all levels of mind

and body

in modern times it seems that few people

actually reach awakening

some teachers explain that people in the

buddha's time were more spiritually

developed and some say it was because of

the buddha himself

others attribute the lack of success to

the so-called darker times in which we

now live

but the buddha made it clear that if you

follow the directions awakening can be

achieved in a single lifetime

even in as little as a few days this is

as true today as it was at the time of

the buddha

this book just might be the proof people

are different culturally

but our minds and bodies all function in

the same way

this means that if we follow the true

path of the buddha we too can experience

awakening in a short period of time

the experiences of our students who have

followed the instructions from the

earliest sutheas precisely

without adding or subtracting anything

are proof of that

they have experienced the states i will

talk about and so can you

a super mundane science dr

albert einstein is attributed to have

said that if he were ever interested in

getting involved with religion

he would become a buddhist buddhism he

said

is the religion that is the closest to

science

he talked about a cosmic religion which

he felt buddhism was closer to

certainly most people think of buddhism

as a religion

but what is a religion religion is

defined in the merriam-webster

dictionary as follows

belief in a god or a group of gods

an organized system of beliefs

ceremonies and rules used to worship a

god or a group of gods

so is buddhism a religion many sects of

buddhism seem to treat it as such

and certainly most people consider it

one

but the buddha left out the whole

concept of god and what the buddha

taught is certainly beyond any religious

belief system

then is it science perhaps but it may

even be beyond science

at least the existing level of today's

knowledge

because the buddha's concern was with

the cause and the cessation of suffering

much of what he taught focused on the

development of mind through deep

meditative practices

there is a growing tendency currently in

the scientific community to explain

everything about mind in terms of

neuroscience and the study of the brain

in fact much of neuroscience sees mind

as just a product of the functioning

brain

but this is a limited understanding of

mind

so in one corner you have practitioners

of meditation wanting to find happiness

with religious leaders teachings and

meditation

and in the other corner you have western

scientists wanting to find happiness

through the study of the physical brain

there seems to be the goal maybe hope is

a better word

that by understanding the brain we can

somehow develop a therapy or pill to

attain happiness

studying the neural system will give us

an idea of how neurons work and what

they look like on an mri and other

medical measurement equipment

it may also show us what parts of the

brain are used for certain mental

functions

but it will never explain the insights

that are experienced by mind

for our purposes it does not give

insights into the true nature of

suffering and how

through seeing these insights nibana can

be attained

there is no way at least that we know of

now to duplicate the process of

awakening in the lab by any physical

process

drugs machines etc to achieve awakening

we must understand at a very deep level

how body and mind working together is an

impersonal process without any self or

soul

the brain is not mind and mind is not

the brain the brain is just part of the

body like an arm or a finger

mind brain is something that sits

independence upon the physical body

however mind is something we cannot

directly measure and can only indirectly

understand

why because we are dependent on the

reported experience of the individual

for this information

when studying another person to find out

their actual cognition of something

we only have what they tell us we cannot

measure

for example their understanding of

reality

so since science is defined by

merriam-webster's dictionary a

systematized knowledge derived from

observation

study and experimentation carried on in

order to determine the nature or

principles of what is being studied

then saying that buddhism leans more

toward science than belief is close

but still not quite right the buddha did

leave us a clear set of methods and

instructions that have come down to us

from the suthas which allow us to go

deeply into our mind and observe things

firsthand

whenever the buddha taught the way to

the cessation of suffering

he always told his followers that they

did not have to believe what he said

but that they should come and see for

themselves as he suggested in the

kalamazoo

do not take up his teachings with only

faith try it first

and then dismiss it if it has no

measurable benefit no belief or faith

was asked for by the buddha

these instructions still apply try the

practice as the buddha taught it

you decide for yourself if the results

you are having are the same as those

that are described and if they are

beneficial to you

when you see that they work and produce

repeatable results this develops

confidence and encourages you to

continue on the path

if we only study the brain we cannot

purport to be studying mind

as mind is only truly noble by the

individual being studied

the researcher must ask the subject what

happened

they can never know how understanding

and wisdom have internally affected the

subject's mind

this is something beyond simple science

when we say that the buddha's teachings

go beyond science

i.e that it is super mundane we are

talking about both the actual methods

that the buddha taught and the results

insights achieved with the practice

while both the methods and the results

are repeatable and measurable

they are also subjective experiences

they are transformative and profound but

not easily measured by outside

researchers

the buddha was not just trying to

understand the nature and principles of

what is being studied

he was searching for a way to finally

end personal suffering

not just obtain understanding of it

buddhism is beyond any scientific study

because only by observing mind directly

with one's own consciousness can we

understand mind

once the understanding is achieved then

that mind being observed is transformed

in india it is called a subjective

science

i call it super mundane science this is

why we needed a buddha to show us the

path

the answer was not a simple this or that

it was a subtle recipe

a complex training to which he gave the

name the middle path

between all extremes awakening both mind

and body

traditionally indian masters believed

that enlightenment could be achieved by

controlling desire

as desire was believed to be the cause

of all kinds of suffering

practicing initially within this

tradition the buddha mastered the

mind-based practices of yogic

one pointed absorption concentration

following that

he spent some long years mastering the

body-based austere

ascetic practices of the yogic sadhus

both efforts were intended to bring

desire under control and thereby bring

about awakening

on the one hand the brahmanic meditation

masters believed that they could control

desire by controlling mind

by forcing the attention to stay on an

object for longer and longer periods of

time

it was thought that craving or desire

could be controlled

but it wasn't that craving would be

overcome it was that there would arise

this all-powerful controller of that

craving which

by improving self-discipline and

self-control would be able to exert

mastery over desire

holding it down and keep it from coming

up pushing it down versus eliminating it

but then we'd have to ask the question

who is our real self here

the controlling one the mind that wished

to control desire

or the one with the desire or neither

for there even to be a self

there must be something that is

considered not the self or at least not

our real self

in the brahmajala suda number one of the

deegan nikaya

the buddha describes there are 62 views

of self

there is self-watching self not

self-observing self

the self-observing and not self and on

and on

there is only one you but which one is

it if an alcoholic says

they will give up drinking by exercising

their willpower then who is the real

self

is it the one who wants to keep drinking

or the one who wants to stop drinking

which one is the real you on the other

hand

if controlling desires with mental

self-control and discipline didn't work

then ascetics thought that they could

control desire by controlling the body

yogis would stand on one leg for

extended periods or eat a very

restricted diet

believing that by controlling the body

in this way enlightenment would surely

come

mind would experience a breakthrough

when the control of the body was

mastered

again self-discipline would enable

someone to take charge and bring desire

under control

this someone was conceived as the higher

self or the eye who would finally have

total control such that one would no

longer be subject to desire and its

suffering

this was the perceived goal of the

meditation practice

it wasn't about eliminating desire but

actually controlling desire

after practicing both approaches

extensively the future buddha or

bodhisattva had not achieved awakening

when he entered deep states of

absorption concentration he found that

these states suppressed his sense bases

so that he no longer felt

heard or experienced anything from the

body

the mental states he achieved were

blissful and sublime

however he soon realized that tightly

controlling mind did suppress desire

but only while he was practicing this

was temporary

it did not eradicate the craving mind

entirely

as soon as he stopped practicing desire

returned in full force

similarly after six years of ascetic

practices

when he was about to die from hunger

near bodega he understood that excessive

controlling of the body through

deprivation would only lead to death

through starvation

it would not however lead to the

elimination of desire

the cessation of suffering would never

be achieved with these practices

when he had all but given up practicing

concentration meditation and ascetic

techniques to their absolute limit

he realized that control was not the

answer it was a futile practice

that didn't lead to awakening using

craving to control craving

at that point he sat down under the

bodhi tree and determined that he would

sit there until he found the answer

on a full moon day in may he became the

tatagata

the buddha the awakened one in the third

watch of the night

between 3 and 7 am he had found the

middle way he had come to understand the

need to employ a meditation method that

used a totally different approach

a method that would include both mind

and body and eliminated the controller

the buddha had previously developed the

seeing and understanding of how his mind

worked by careful observation

he began to see that the mental

processes are a dependent chain of

events arising and passing away

we now know this as seeing the links of

dependent origination

the buddhi used the term patika samupata

which is poly for dependent origination

on the morning of his awakening he

realized that seeing clearly

the deepest phenomena in mind is without

a doubt

the way to nibana by seeing how his own

mind worked and closely observing the

mental processes

he grew to understand that we all cause

our own suffering

he saw how desire works how it leads to

suffering

and how the cessation of suffering can

be achieved

the buddha realized that desires arise

because we feed them and continually

chase after them

we see them as ours and personally

identify with them

in other words if you are sitting

quietly and your mind goes to thinking

about how nice it would be to be

somewhere else

can you stop it can you just say that's

okay mind

i'd like to sit quietly and enjoy some

peace this afternoon

no here come the desires for this and

that unasked

uncalled for in that sense it is not our

desire

because we personally identify with

these desires that we experience

thinking of them as mine and then become

attached to them

this craving inevitably leads to

suffering

we have no control over how or when they

arise or how or when they pass away

craving and suffering occur because we

identify with and personalize these

desires and then cling to them

dependent origination is the

understanding that all things in both

body and mind are conditioned

they are conditioned or caused by what

came before and they inevitably lead to

what happens next

by seeing this chain of events clearly

we see that everything is impersonal

so where are we in this process where

am i an important part of understanding

dependent origination is that this thing

we call self or ego is actually not a

self or ego at all

but an impersonal process that happens

completely beyond our control

in fact there is no possibility of

control because there is no continuous

or permanent self capable of being the

controller

the buddha saw that there are only

processes arising and passing away with

no permanent self involved

who controls anything who makes the

decisions

even decision itself is another

conditioned mental process which arises

based on previous actions

decisions aren't made by some permanent

self who is control of what's happening

they are the impersonal you at that

moment our only possible input is to

recognize the reality of this situation

and not to take it personally

not to be attached to the outcome of any

given situation

this is the practice of right effort we

call it the six aries and we'll discuss

this later

this was a unique and profound truth

that the buddha discovered and presented

to the thinkers of his time

once the buddha fully and deeply

realized what he had discovered

he found that craving and suffering

ceased and today researchers have found

that there are

indeed measurable changes in both the

mind and bodies of meditators as various

types of meditation techniques are

practiced

there are measurable positive results

the buddha realized that he could not

break through to awakening by

controlling either mind or body

independently

you can't turn off input from the body

by suppressing the sense bases in some

sort of deep concentration

on the other hand you can't torture the

body and expect this to lead to some

sort of control of mind

by controlling pain the buddha

understood that mind and body worked

together

but first he tried controlling each one

separately

as far as he could muster his energy and

determination

it didn't work the result was that he

gave up

trying to control mind and body to look

for another way to solve this dilemma

hundreds of years later there came

commentaries and opinions about the

buddhist teachings

like the vijay maga which started to

split up practices

fundamentally discriminating insight and

concentration vipassana and samada

into different techniques whereas the

original suthis had called for them to

be yoked together

the vijudi maga was written in 430 c

e over 900 years after the buddha lived

it is a large volume written by

buddhigosa that attempts to lay out

mostly the chief meditative practices

that the buddha taught

it is especially considered a very

important document for the theravada

buddhist sect

since it is not the words of the buddha

it is considered a commentary on his

practices

in the visuadi maga there are many

methods involved in developing

concentration

some use casanas or colored disks many

use the breath to create

a nimita or sign on which to concentrate

we will describe the origins of the book

later and how it fits with meditation

practice

then came dry insight practice which

avoided deep concentration entirely

those teachers even told their

practitioners to stay away from

concentrated absorption practices

because they might get attached

this dry insight method developed only

enough concentration to start

investigating the mental process

without the benefit of the stronger type

of concentration

teachers of such an approach said it was

faster and more direct

the question here is did the buddha

teach this

here is the critical understanding of

what the buddha taught in the suthas

he says that concentration samada is

yoked together with insight

vipassana samada and vipassana

therefore must be practiced together

this is what is actually taught in the

suthas and this is what bonnie vimela

ramsay rediscovered hiding there in

plain

sight he has named this tranquil wisdom

insight meditation or aware jhana

practice

before we get into meditation practice

let us look at how mind works by

examining what the buddha considered the

most important concept to learn

dependent origination leaving control

behind

after years of practice in the brahmanic

tradition on the night of his awakening

the buddha realized why he had not found

relief

the fundamental premise of those

practices was incorrect

that idea assumed that one could

actually control desire and thereby

control suffering

on the night of his awakening the buddha

directly realized what he had already

reasoned out about his own mental

processes

he understood that everything has

craving in it and arises because of

actions that took place in the past

because those actions have already

happened no one has any control over

what will emerge or how they will react

to it

in other words you cannot in fact

control what desire arises but can only

observe the impersonal rising of it

what is dependent origination and how

does it work

when one sits in quiets mind all become

still

the next thing that might happen is a

sound arising

a bird may chirp the sound form

the chirp hits the ear base the organ

physical ear and ear consciousness

arises

these three things sound the earbase

and ear consciousness are the contact

link in the 12 links of dependent

origination

contact fafsa is all three elements

coming together so that hearing happens

in the same way lighting a match you

have the match head

the flammable chemicals and the flint of

the matchbox

when they are struck together this is

called contact

heat and light arise resulting in a

flame

if either one of these three things are

missing hearing doesn't happen

once hearing happens there are rises of

feeling

vedana associated with that sound then

perception arises that it is pleasant

unpleasant or neither pleasant nor

unpleasant

neutral feeling and perception are

followed by craving

tanha arising with the formula i like it

or i don't like it or i don't care

this is where you start to identify with

what is happening and take it personally

craving can always be recognized as

tension and tightness in the head

the tension or tightness is how you

recognize craving

you must see and let go of this craving

in the head that desire is what is next

going to lead you into thought

clinging and then leads to the birth of

action and resulting in sorrow

lamentation grief and despair

following craving clinging up a donna

or thinking arises the story about why

you like it or don't like it

this is based on your past experience

what happened when that sound arose at

some past time

you remember a time when you were bird

watching and heard a unique type of bird

thoughts arise and a story begins about

the sound

then there arises a drive or an urge to

action associated with what you might do

when that sound is heard

this is the habitual emotional tendency

or behavior

bava for example if you are a bird

watcher

when you hear a bird you have a habitual

tendency to reach for your camera

where you might have a tendency to reach

for your binoculars

a habitual emotional tendency is

something you always tend to do in a

certain situation

it can be your habitual reaction to a

feeling you have someone comes in the

room and complains about something

you always react in the same way by not

liking it and emotionally reacting to

the person complaining

your spouse calls and says he or she

will be home late from work

you may get this kind of call quite a

bit and react the same way every time

with a negative reaction

it might be a judgment of you are

unreliable or it might be a reaction to

lash out because you think he or she

isn't telling the truth

it is habitual it tends to come up when

this situation occurs

when this habitual reaction arises this

is where the strong tendency to try and

control your feelings with your thoughts

arises

you observe that mind is disturbed and

you react with frustration

trying to control the disturbing

thoughts this is the start of taking

something personally

you become emotional mind has many

factors or states of consciousness

contained in it

there is a greedy mind and there is a

joyful mind

in the anupada suda the buddha says that

even the mental factor of decision is

conditioned by previous actions from the

past

this decision process is something that

you might call a volition or intention

but we have to be careful to use those

words because they might wrongly imply

that there is a self making a decision

decision is just a small yet the most

important factor of the coming to a

decision

as stated previously phenomena arise and

pass like the sound of a bird

and are dependent on that sound for its

existence when your mind is very

tranquil

you can see the decision factor arise as

well as the push that goes with it to

make the decision

it's pretty interesting when you can

observe your mind operating at this

level and see how

truly you i.e i

am not in charge for example a desire

arises to get a cup of tea

you then continue to think about which

tea might taste good

if you are very mindful you can see the

exact moment when you decide which tea

to have

there is a moment in which your decision

arises

if you back away gently just allowing

everything to arise

very carefully watching it this is your

mental investigation factor you will see

the decision

mental factor arise entirely on its own

and then it also passes away there

appears this call to action arising

through the craving attached to it

this craving is the push you feel to go

into action

is there really free will is there some

soul or entity down deep making

decisions

kind of yet at the deepest level there

is only the deciding mind that arises

and passes away

so you have the decision there but it is

a conditioned decision

the phrase volitional formations used in

the soothing text is inadequate

not precisely correct volition indicates

someone is deciding

but there is no one there to do that

there are only causes and conditions

there is no you that makes the decision

just the deciding moment

the only real power we have is to allow

and observe releasing and relaxing into

that decision

seeing it fade away continuing

after the habitual tendency link

independent origination comes the actual

birth of action

jotty link and you get up to go get your

camera

the drive to action translates into

taking action

this can be bodily action moving verbal

action

speaking or mental action thinking

unfortunately by the time you get back

with your camera

the bird is flown away due to the result

of your action in getting the camera

dissatisfaction might arise because now

the bird is gone

you think your actions always will lead

you to what you want but you can never

really positively be sure of the results

of any action

the best laid plans of mice and men

then what follows the birth of action

link is the last link

sorrow lamentation grief and despair

yes there are some happy moments here

and there but they are fleeting

even if you get that picture you'll wish

the bird had stayed longer

or that you'd recorded its song etc and

the 12 links of dependent origination

we just went through the last part of

the process the grosser and observable

part

these are the last seven contact feeling

craving clinging habitual tendency

birth of action and sorrow lamentation

grief and despair these are the ones you

can see without having to go too deep

into the meditation

contact feeling craving clinging

habitual tendency birth of action sorrow

lamentation grief and despair

the first five links of the full 12

links of do come before the ones listed

above and can be understood as

potentials

they can only be observed as subtle

movements in mind with the exception of

ignorance which is your understanding

later when your meditation goes deeper

you will see the arising of the first

five

ignorance formations consciousness

mentality materiality and the six-fold

sense base

the buddha said that it all starts with

ignorance of how things work

that is ignorance of the truth of

dependent origination

and of the four noble truths which makes

clear that craving drives the whole

process of suffering

it is this ignoring of the four noble

truths which leads us to act in

unwholesome ways

which creates endless suffering on the

next page is a chart that shows the

circle of dependent origination

each link is dependent on the link

before it is nutriment as

food in each link there is also a small

additional amount of craving which makes

the whole process continue forward in a

never-ending chain of events

the samyata nikaya has a wealth of

information about dependent origination

and what it is

here are the basics sn 12.1

monks i will teach you dependent

origination

listen to that and attend closely i will

speak

with formations as condition

consciousness with consciousness as

condition

name and form with name and form as

condition

the sixth sense bases with the sixth

sense bases as condition

contact with contact as condition

feeling

with feeling as condition craving with

craving as condition

clinging with clinging as condition

existence

with existence as condition birth with

birth as condition

aging and death sorrow lamentation

pain displeasure and despair come to be

such is the origin of this whole mass of

suffering

this monks is called dependent

origination

but with the remainderless fading away

and cessation of ignorance comes

cessation of formations

with the cessation of formations

cessation of consciousness

with the cessation of consciousness

cessation of name and form

with the cessation of name and form

cessation of the sixth sense bases

with the cessation of the sixth sense

bases cessation of contact

with the cessation of contact cessation

of feeling

with the cessation of feeling cessation

of craving

with the cessation of craving cessation

of clinging

with the cessation of clinging cessation

of existence

with the cessation of existence

cessation of birth

with the cessation of birth aging and

death sorrow

lamentation pain displeasure and despair

cease

such is the cessation of this whole mass

of suffering

the highest goal of twin is to see how

each link is dependent on or conditioned

by the previous link

when one understands this process in a

deep and profound way

the unconditioned state nibana arises

for the first time

this first instance is the path

knowledge one realizes that there is no

personal self or ego

just an impersonal process dependent on

conditions

from this realization comes tremendous

relief because

as the famous sen saying goes no self

no problem no one is there so nobody to

control

it's as if we see a dark figure walking

toward us fear might arise

because our mind throws up this concept

of a villain from our past

yet when we get closer we see it as our

friend and that fearful image is

replaced by another happy image

just in the same way we thought there

was a self there

and now we see that it was an illusion

we can follow the links of dependent

origination in our own behavior in much

the same way we look at a town and trace

it back over the last hundred years

the first buildings led to more

buildings then they deteriorated and

were replaced by different buildings

and so on and so forth this arising and

passing away of conditions is like the

arising and passing away of a great city

flourishing and deteriorating and

constantly changing

finally it disappears because of

countless causes depending on each other

there is no controller making decisions

and taking actions there in that city

there are only changes occurring

conditioned by what has happened in the

past

similarly you have no personal self or

soul controlling your progress through

life

there are only changes that happen due

to causes and conditions arising and

passing away

this is what we mistakenly call ourself

me

myself and i it's an impersonal process

an endless chain of causes and

conditions that flow like a river

a river that we mistakenly take as

ourselves dependent origination is

indeed the most important principle of

buddhism along with the four noble

truths

understanding the source of suffering is

craving and how dependent origination

works leads to the elimination of that

craving

understanding that the noble eightfold

path is the way to this goal is the

heart of buddhist meditation

chapter 2 mindfulness redefined

what is mindfulness just what does

mindfulness mean

there was an article in a buddhist

magazine where this question was posed

to four meditation teachers

by the end of the discussion a

satisfactory answer still had not been

reached

they decided to take it up again in next

month's magazine

mindfulness does seem to be all the rage

these days and has gone from its strict

buddhist origins to a more general

acceptance anywhere from use by

psychologists to children and even by

the military

it even has its own magazine mindful

mindfulness is used to be aware of one's

thoughts and one's general state of

being and is used to calm one down and

relax

these are all good uses but is it what

the buddha taught

is the actual procedure of mindfulness

the process he intended

i have a theory and you won't find it

anywhere else

so please bear with me the pali word for

mindfulness is sati

when the pali texts were translated the

translators ran into this word sati and

had to pick out an appropriate english

word to translate it to

the problem is that some of the things

the buddha taught were brand new ideas

and never had been exposed to european

culture

there never were any english words that

represented these eastern concepts

buddhism had never come to the west thus

no english vocabulary had been developed

so what to do pick the closest word

such had to do with observation and to

know what was happening

so the word mindful was selected made

sense

but did it the problem was that

mindfulness already was a solid concept

in the english language

be mindful of the opening and don't bump

your head

that sort of definition became applied

to sati and thus

to be mindful meant to remember to look

where you are going and watch carefully

the process of getting there

what happened here is that the english

word has exerted powerful undue

influence over the pali term

now it was almost as if the pali term

was created to represent the english

word and not the other way around

the pali term in a sense became the

english term

because the translators were not

meditators they could only guess what

sati really meant

that would be fine if that is how sati

is defined and used in the suthas but it

may not be

you are now going to get a new

definition of the word mindfulness that

is quite different in its application

when tested against the sue the text you

will see that it works better

the definition of mindfulness is

remembering to observe how mind's

attention moves from one thing to

another

looking closer at this definition the

first part is just remembering

which sounds easy but it isn't once you

pay attention

you'll find that your mind is constantly

distracted from observation

of itself by thoughts over which you

have no control

you are aware of mind a thought arises

and you are pulled away into that

thought until you remember that you're

supposed to be paying attention to the

movement of mind's attention

you bring your observation back to mind

and then maybe a few seconds or minutes

later

another thought pulls your attention

away it's important to remember what it

is you're supposed to be doing

observing the process of mind's

attention and its movements as part of

an impersonal process which leads us to

the second part

on retreat you go for a walking

meditation

as you start your practice and you

slowly walk down the path

your mind wanders the first thing you

must do is to remember to be mindful

then actually do it so the second part

of mindfulness means to become aware of

how mind's attention moves from one

thing to another

the buddha intended that the meditator

be mindful of what arises in the present

whatever that may be and that they

specifically see how it arises

he didn't care what the feelings or

sensations were or whether we peered at

them that closely or not

only to know they had arisen he did not

intend for the meditator to pick out

specific parts of the four foundations

of mindfulness

were the five aggregates of mind and

body and only observe those

that would have been a concentration

practice focusing in on those individual

parts

rather he wanted you to watch the

activity of mind's attention and to

observe

1. how it arises and passes away without

any control on your part

and 2. how you take this mental movement

personally as yourself

mind clamps onto a feeling and then

identifies it as my feeling even though

you did not ask for it to arise

or to pass away you never had any

control over it whatsoever

it just arose when conditions were right

this identification with feeling gives

rise to a false belief in a personal

self

the concept of i when you see how the

eye concept arises

you can release it by not keeping

attention on it relax the tension or

tightness caused by that disturbance

smile into it and return to the

meditation object

it becomes clear that there never was a

self at all

there is only the endless stream of

activity

since you have no control over what

comes up you begin to see how this

identification process

craving is at the root of suffering

craving manifests as that desire to

control what happens

and when even that can't be accomplished

suffering arises

and we don't like it this leads to

frustration and an even further desire

to control

so again what is the definition of

mindfulness

mindfulness is remembering to observe

how mind's attention moves from one

thing to another

as things arise unasked and they then

completely pass away when they have run

their course

mindfulness is not over focusing on an

object feeling or breath or anything

else it only knows that it is happening

this process of observing the movement

of mind's attention is where you see the

hindrances arise and pull your attention

away

there are five hindrances one

greed or sensual desires 2.

hatred or aversion 3.

sloth laziness sleepy and torpor

dullness 4 restlessness worry

or anxiety 5.

doubt in yourself the teacher the

practice

or the buddha as you stay with your

object of meditation

this is where you will find craving

rearing its ugly head

it is your goal to fully understand how

craving arises

and by understanding the process you let

go of this craving and stay with the

object of meditation

and you don't do this by clenching your

teeth and pushing it away

you want to make the hindrances your

friends they are your teachers

they show you where you are attached

when you fully understand them

you will need no more instruction you

will graduate to awakening

you will see the four foundations of

mindfulness with pure

clear observation power you will see

them free of craving and free of your

taking them personally

it will be a relief to give up the

control of those things that are

uncontrollable

the four foundations of mindfulness as

we investigate

deeper into twin meditation it is

important to understand the four

foundations of mindfulness and how they

are correctly applied to the meditation

practice

mn 10 the suti patana suda tells us to

observe the four foundations of

mindfulness

the sooth a says to observe the four

foundations and let go of craving and

clinging

letting go of taking the foundations

personally

the four foundations are body feeling

mind

and mind objects they are also known as

the five aggregates

body feeling perception formations

and consciousness when the four

foundations are used instead of the five

aggregates

perception and feeling are joined

together the four foundations on the

five aggregates are different ways of

saying the same thing

but it depends on whether you are

talking about meditation or talking

about the impersonal process of the

existence of mind and body

we want to see what is there before we

create confusion by identifying with

what we are observing and taking it as

ourself

we want to see the body only as a body

feeling only as feeling

consciousness only as consciousness and

so forth

we need to observe impersonality or

anata for ourselves

the visudi maga explains that the

satipattana soother methodology is to

break up these four foundations and

practice them separately

if you want to observe the body then

only observe the breath

part of the body if you want to observe

feeling

then only observe feeling and so on

the vipassana insight meditation

practice breaks up the four foundations

as described above

you observe and focus in on just one of

them separately

for the most part you watch breath going

in and out

but some teachers will try to explain

that you have to watch feeling or mind

objects separately in a different

iteration of the practice

as you focus in on feeling for example

you only see feeling and not the rest of

the aggregates that go with it

you are not truly mindful which means to

see how your attention moves from one

thing to another

it isn't to just look at the objects

themselves in a concentrated way but the

relationship between the object of

meditation and the other objects moving

around it

that explanation is not what is in the

suthas

you don't break the four up you can

you observe all foundations because they

all occur together

all of the foundations exist in every

moment where you would not exist

you cannot have body arise without

feeling it perceiving it

and cognizing it you can't have a mind

with no mind objects

body or feelings the foundations arise

and are observed as being conjoined

they are not separate things we have a

mind and a body dependent on each other

clearly observable in even the earliest

stages of the meditation

you can't observe body without

consciousness or perception to cognize

what is there

or without feeling to know what feeling

is there in the body

it is like disassembling a car down to

its parts and observing it running

it can't be observed in operation

without all its parts assembled and

running together

feeling is not feelings

let's stop here for a minute and talk

about the feeling foundation

to be clear we are talking about feeling

not feelings

in the sooth is the aggregate of feeling

vedana

is without the s it is just sensation

with a feeling tone to it

just feeling itself that's all the most

important part of this feeling is that

it is either a pleasant feeling

painful feeling or neither pleasant nor

painful feeling

feelings on the other hand are usually

understood to be emotional states which

mean there is craving mixed in

if you look at someone whom you find

attractive and a pleasant feeling comes

up

lust likely will arise a pleasant

feeling with lust

i like it is what we call emotions

habitual tendency

bhava that emotion might be categorized

as a pleasant feeling or desire that is

taken personally

this feeling with the personalization is

commonly known as feelings with an s on

the end

for example love we're referred to

romantically

is not loving kindness this kind of love

in a relationship

is much more related to the state of

affection or infatuation

and has craving in it loving kindness is

a pure

non-personal state a true wish for

someone to be happy

loving-kindness may turn into compassion

when it is directed toward someone who

is suffering

it doesn't turn into hatred or sadness

it's never taken personally

these are not feelings they are just

feeling

the buddha considered feeling to be

anything that was felt in other words

he considered feeling as any mental or

physical experience that was felt

he categorized feeling as either

pleasant unpleasant or neither pleasant

nor unpleasant

neutral he did not use the word

sensation here

he did not care whether it was a feeling

of heat or a feeling of hardness or the

taste of a mango or a banana flavor

he only wanted you to consider whether

it was pleasant unpleasant or neutral

no need to dive deeper why is this

distinction important

why because feeling leads to craving

the i like it or i don't like it states

of craving are dependent on feeling and

will arise in the untrained mind if not

released quickly

the i like it mind may lead to thoughts

about why you like it

when you last had it and when you will

get it again

with this process your mind starts to

wander away from your object of

meditation

this is the unwholesome mind in which

you are watching the five aggregates

arise

it becomes muddy with craving leading to

thinking and stories

how do we let go of this craving process

and what is a clear mind free of craving

in the next chapter we will look at what

this freed state is and how it arises

we will consider the stages of progress

in the meditation that the buddha

called the jhanas we will examine what

they are using the suit is only

and how as time passed the original

meaning of this word became confused

chapter 3 what is ajana

more than one type of jhana if you have

ever run across the word jhana before

then it is likely a state that you

desire to experience

jhanas are described as levels of

concentration

contained in them can be bliss and deep

contentment which

of course everyone wants they are

important to understand because the

suthas explain that you pass through

them on the way to nibana

they are the road to nibana actually

there are two types of jhana

today there are so many methods that are

taught in meditation practice

which is right how can we find out what

the buddha really taught

in the deegan nikaya this same dilemma

was addressed by the buddha

diga nikaya sutha 21 sakha asked the

lord

sir do all teachers and brahmanas teach

the same dhamma

practice the same discipline desire the

same thing and pursue the same goal

no ruler of the gods they do not

and why not this world is made up of

many in various elements

and people adhere to one or another of

these elements and become tenaciously

attached to them

saying this alone is true all else is

false

therefore all teachers and brahmans do

not teach the same dhamma

practice the same discipline desire the

same thing or pursue the same goal

in this book we will try to remain

faithful to the soothing material as we

explain the differences in the many

techniques of the buddhist universe

yes there are two types of jhanas and

two major types of meditation

practice by which to attain those two

types of jhana

there is the one-pointed concentration

absorption practice and the tranquil

wisdom insight meditation

twim practice

later the first type one pointed

concentration practice

will be broken further into one straight

concentration absorption practice 2

concentration absorption insight

practice and 3 dry insight practice

the pali word jhana was not used in

reference to meditation prior to the

buddha

the buddha did use it to describe his

own experiences during meditation

practice

while the pali word jhana is often

translated as a state of concentration

this is not correct from the viewpoint

of twim

pali experts like most venerable panagi

of malaysia say that janna just means

level

if you check a pali dictionary it also

defines it as meditation or state of

meditation

most venerable panaji also offers an

alternate definition of the related word

samadhi

which is often considered and used to

define a state of absorption

concentration

the pali word sama means equal or even v

means state in this usage

so most venerable panangi translates

samadhi as an even state of balance

the word samadhi implies a collected and

unified state

but not deep absorption that suppresses

the hindrances

it is a more open and aware state

venerable bonnie vimela ramsay defines

the word jhana as a level of

understanding

each successive jhana is an increasingly

deeper level of understanding of the

workings of dependent origination and

the mental process

bondi vimala ramsay uses collectedness

to translate the word concentration more

accurately

additionally bondi has found that in

pali that the word thee may also be

translated as wisdom in terms of the

levels of understanding

thus we put together sama and thee

resulting in tranquil wisdom

in the buddha's description of the

jhanas as you go deeper into the

practice

the attainment of each genre reflects a

deeper level of understanding of what it

means to let go of craving

you pass through the jaundice as you

progress from gross craving to a finer

and finer balance of mind until finally

after the state of neither perception

nor non-perception the highest jhana

you reach the cessation of craving this

is the gateway to the attainment of

nibana

at that moment the cessation of craving

nirota samapati

occurs this is the state of no feeling

no perception and no consciousness

arising at all

the mind just stops and nibbana arises

again jhana never was supposed to mean

absorption

it means a collected state or a level of

understanding and mental development

however as emphasis shifted away from

the buddha's actual teachings as

described in the suthas

to the commentaries like the vijudi maga

the word janna was more commonly used to

describe the state of one pointed

concentration

in the anguttara nikaya the book of

fives number 27 we have this quote

and 5 27

the knowledge arises that is personally

yours this concentration is peaceful and

sublime

gained by full tranquilization and

attained to unification

it is not rained in and checked by

forcefully suppressing the defilements

clearly this quote indicates an open and

aware state and not an absorbed

suppressing state

so there are two kinds of genre or two

different ways to understand the term

one style is made up of one pointed

absorption genres

which are achievable by various

concentration methods including

observing the breath

focusing on a colored disc casina or

absorbing yourself in a candle flame

these jhanas are the states achieved by

the yogic masters and were learned by

the future buddha when he first started

down the path

the absorption concentration jhanas have

been adopted by many of today's buddhist

monks and are supported by commentaries

like the visuti maga

van bani vimalaromsi explains

the vijudi maga was written by venerable

buddhagosa akaria in the 5th century

1000 years after the buddha died buddha

gosa was asked by his teacher to go to

sri lanka and translate the commentaries

written in sinhalese back into the pali

language for a readable translation

venerable buddhaghosa also had the task

of bringing four different sects of

buddhism together

so all of the different sects would stop

arguing he was a very good student of

the pali language

a true scholar but he didn't study the

suthas

he didn't practice meditation himself

before he became a buddhist monk he was

a sanskrit scholar who had memorized all

the vedas

the ancient brahman texts unfortunately

because the author wasn't a practitioner

of meditation he relied heavily on what

was in other commentaries for his

information about how to do the

meditation

he mistakenly divided and pulled apart

the buddhist teaching into two separate

types of practice

concentration or samada and insight or

vipassana

the suthas on the other hand will always

talk about samad of ipasana being yoked

together

nevertheless the vijudi maga today more

than the suthas

is considered as the encyclopedia of

meditation for buddhism and has become

the basic instructions for the entire

system of theravada buddhism

it is the bible and textbook for how to

practice

one of venerable bonnie vimela ramsay's

teachers told him that to be a theravada

monk

he must subscribe to everything in the

vijudi maga

bonnie reflected for a moment and said i

guess i'm not a theravada monk

i am a buddhist monk even though he used

some of the advice in the vijudi maga

he couldn't go along with all of it

because of the many contradictions and

discrepancies with the suthas

in mn 36 mahasa kakasuda the buddha says

that he tried concentration absorption

practice and rejected it as not being

the way to awakening

this is why we who are following the

suthas cannot say that we are truly

theravada

we call ourselves satavata following

only the sutha texts

or just plain buddhists the second type

of jhana is the tranquil aware jhana

which is the janna described in the

suthas bonnie vimalaromsi rediscovered

these when he studied what had been

written

texts by practicing from the soothing

texts

bonnie found a step-by-step diminishing

of craving while progressing through the

tranquil aware janus

as it is described in sutham 111 the

anupada suda

it is helpful to understand that the

jhana factors these are the wholesome

states that arise when one is in jhana

in a tranquil aware jhana or in an

absorption concentration jhana are very

similar in nature

the difference is that in a tranquil

aware john of the hindrances are gently

released

and in the concentration state the

hindrances are suppressed and pushed

aside

the resulting states that arise are

similar but definitely not the same

the chief characteristic of the first

janna is joy the second jhana

deeper joy and confidence the third

jhana happiness and contentment

and the fourth jhana very deep balance

and equanimity

what is confusing is that both

concentration absorption jhanas and

tranquil awareness both have these same

qualities they manifest differently

however in each of the two types of

jhana

in the absorption type they are more

pronounced and very intense

in the aware genre they are more

balanced with more equanimity and not as

extreme

the fourth jhana is further split into

four bases the base of infinite space

which has the feeling of expansion the

base of infinite consciousness

in which consciousness is seen in its

infinite arising and passing away

the base of nothingness in which there

is a feeling that there is nothing

and the base of neither perception nor

non-perception in which mind is barely

noticed at all

later we will investigate these further

the fact that similar yet different

states arise in both the absorption and

aware janus speaks to the confusion

about the two types of jaunas

how can there be two different genotypes

that have similar characteristics but

are attained with different techniques

no wonder after 2500 plus years things

have become murky

before we look at the psoothitechs

regarding the jannas

let's look more deeply at how the two

types are generally taught

we'll start with one pointed absorption

jaundice

concentration absorption jhana

absorption is attained through the

powerful concentration of one's mind on

a single object

ignoring and pushing any distraction

that pulls mind's attention away

one pointed concentration jhana is the

so-called yogic state where one reaches

a level of absorption in which they have

no sense of the outside world

you do not hear or feel anything and you

are only aware of mind

the concentration absorption states are

deep and can take years of practice and

discipline to achieve

the meditator is constantly reminded to

bring his mind back to his object if it

wanders away

you might pull it back and sometimes you

end up pushing so hard you jerk it back

to the object

there is no real letting go and allowing

soft or hard forcing of mind to stay

with the object

with the absorption janas the visually

maga explains the preliminary state of

concentration is called up akara or

access concentration

you are still aware and not yet absorbed

fully note that this term or idea

doesn't appear in the suthas

in this access concentration no

hindrance will stick in your mind

even if you try to bring something up

like a thought of anger or lust

it will not stay and your mind will be

clear

your mind doesn't wander but just

rejects any distraction taking it away

from its object of meditation

by practicing this pushing away mind

learns to come back to the home object

automatically

as you progress you will enter full

absorption or a panna concentration

in which awareness of the outside world

will disappear entirely

you will have attained the first

concentration journal level

you then work through the rest of the

eight genres using the power of the deep

concentration to suppress any

further hindrances that arise this

process does work

you do experience concentration states

that have similar characteristics to the

aware

twim jhanas but they are not the same

and have subtle differences which most

just dismiss as not important

yet they are one has some craving left

and one doesn't this type of jhana

practice may take over a decade in the

thai tradition to develop

the sri lankans say they are better and

can get you to the first jhana in less

than 10 years of practice

some others say much less but it takes

an incredible effort

bonnie tells a story about a monk who

was asked to go into an absorption

genre which he did the monks who were

with him picked up his arm and raised it

up above his head

it stayed there just hanging in the air

they asked the monk later if he knew

they had done this

and he said no the meditating monk was

completely unaware of his body at that

time and was only aware of his object of

meditation

when one is absorbed one cannot hear

sounds

feel anything in the body or sense

anything at the physical five senses

so desire at the physical level is

suppressed because it isn't there

in addition because one is so tightly

focused on their object of meditation

desire is also suppressed at the mental

level at the fourth absorption genre and

higher

it is said that the meditator even stops

breathing through his mouth and nose and

breathe through his ears

this is not the case with the tranquil

aware janna in which one is aware of the

outside world and continues to breathe

normally

the tranquil awareness

in mn 26 the noble search and mn 36

the greater discourse to sakaka the

buddha describes his path to awakening

as mentioned in the previous section he

initially believed that the problem of

reaching enlightenment was about control

controlling mind with the goal to

control desire and thus and suffering

the soothes go on to describe in some

detail

how the buddha first tried meditation as

the primary way to end suffering

he sought out and studied with the most

skilled indian yogic masters of the time

learning everything they had to teach he

initially trained with the absorption

genres as most yogis were doing at the

time

when gotama had attained to the seventh

absorption jhana the state of

nothingness

his teacher alara kalama honored him

saying he had learned everything he had

to teach

he invited him to stay and teach at his

side

gotama declined for he knew there was

more left to do

he saw that he could go deeper there was

something more than even this very

sublime level of meditation

suffering still existed craving was not

yet extinguished

so he asked dalara kalama if there might

be an even higher state

alara coleman told gotama he knew

someone who taught the highest state

attainable

he was told to go study with adaka

ramaputa who taught him up to attain the

eighth absorption jhana

that of neither perception nor

non-perception

he mastered this state in a short time

and then the same thing happened

this teacher also invited him to stay

and teach

again gotama refused feeling there was

still something more to learn

that this was not the way to nibana he

still experienced

subtle craving after coming out of these

high states

once more he left having been told there

was nothing left to be learned

he had mastered the highest yogic state

taught at that time

he could find no one else to teach him

any higher technique to control his mind

venerable bitcou kane ananda states in

his small book nibana

the mind stilled vol 2 in sermon 6 p

127 these subtler layers of preparations

thought-slash-formations also have

ignorance

craving hidden within them that is why

even alara kalama and adaka ramaputa

thought that they could get out of this

wheel of existence

samsara by tranquilizing the bodily

activities

the verbal activities and the mental

activities

but they did not understand that all

these are sankeras or preparations

therefore they were confronted with a

certain dilemma

they went on calming down the bodily

activities to subtler and subtler levels

they calmed down the in-breaths and

out-breaths they managed to suppress

thinking and pondering by concentration

exercises

but without proper understanding it was

only a temporary calming down

no awakening had yet occurred for gotoma

into the true nature of mind

so disappointed he rejected all mental

absorption concentration practices and

set off to do the austere ascetic

practices of the yogic sadhus

by controlling pain in the body through

engaging in tortuous

pain-producing practices he hoped to

achieve control of his mind

this would hopefully bring him to peace

and a balanced mind

after six years of austerities doing

unspeakably difficult and even

disgusting practices

like drinking his own urine and worse

see suther's mn 36 and mn12

when he was on the verge of death the

bodhisattva the future buddha

gave up that path as well he did master

control of his body and perfected any

austerity that was asked of him

but this did not lead him to the end of

desire

after spending all this time mastering

the yogic concentration janas and the

yogic austerities

the future buddha sat on the banks of

the ganges near present-day bodegaia

he was nearly starving to death down to

eating one rice grain per day

he knew he would die if he continued a

young woman named sujata came and

offered him sweet milk rice to eat

for the first time in a long time he

allowed himself to consume a reasonable

portion of food

immediately he felt his energy returning

vitality started to course through his

body and mind

as he sat there on the river's bank in

the shade of a bodhi

tree he reflected on his past efforts

realizing they had all been in vain

he was no closer to the end of suffering

than when he started

he had tried and mastered all of the

practices of concentration and

austerities and hadn't gotten any closer

to

awakening then gotama the future buddha

began to reflect on the plight of human

beings

in the samyatan nikaya the book of

causation

nidhanavaga origination it says because

before my awakening while i was still a

bodhisattva not yet fully awakened

it occurred to me alas this world has

fallen into trouble

in that it is born ages and dies it

passes away and is reborn yet it does

not understand the escape from suffering

headed by aging and death then it

occurred to me

when what exists is aging and death come

to be

by what is aging and death conditioned

there took place in me a breakthrough by

wisdom

when there is birth aging and death

comes to be aging and death has birth

of action as its condition then it goes

on to explain how the bodhisattva

discovered each of the links of

dependent origination through reasoning

them out

he saw how each link ceased and if that

link ceased then the link that followed

also ceased

following the cessation of the last link

of ignorance then the unconditioned

arose

nibana then the bodhisattva had a memory

arise from a time when he was a young

boy

he had been left by himself on a sofa

under a rose apple tree while his father

the king was at the plowshare festival

he remembered as he became completely

tranquil and relaxed

he naturally had fallen into a very

peaceful and

energetic state where his mind let go of

all hindrances and desires

he entered a completely wholesome joyful

state

fully observant and aware a special

tranquil state had arisen

he had let go of all striving at that

moment and just observed what was

happening

he just let everything be and relaxed

even further into it

this was the state the buddha would

later refer to with the pali word jhana

as the future buddha sat beneath the

bodhi tree and reflected on this

childhood memory

he realized that this was a different

kind of state

as he contemplated this condition of

mind he entered this state again

naturally

by completely relaxing both body and

mind without trying or controlling

just being there in the present content

and joyful as he had been as a young boy

he achieved the same tranquil open and

light-minded state

what the buddha to be had found were

what bonnie vimela ramsay calls the

tranquil aware jonas

this was different from the

concentration states he had practiced

with his teachers before and it can

accurately be more described as a state

of collectedness

collectedness is defined in english as

the state of being calm and composed

he is the very picture of collectedness

and confidence webster's dictionary

then he went even deeper and in the

third watch of the night

from 3 a.m to 7 a.m he became the buddha

buddha is a title for a fully awakened

one

this is not his name but rather his

title

after all buddha gotoma was not the

first buddha

nor will he be the last i did once have

the experience of going into a

concentration ghana

by accident ironically wasn't following

instructions

typical on a twin retreat with bonnie

vimela ramsay

when i came out there was a very high

powerful state of awareness with a lot

of happiness

it was interesting because it felt very

holy or sacred and secluded

very much as what i envisioned a holy

monk would feel

it dissipated in about an hour and just

faded away

the next day it was completely gone and

it felt like nothing had been gained at

all by having the experience

i felt empty in fact a having gained

nothing from such a powerful experience

it was strange that something so potent

had no effect on my personality

i wanted to believe otherwise but really

no positive change had taken place

this was an insight to me i went back

and reviewed the instructions again and

found that i hadn't been mindful enough

i had let myself become absorbed in the

object

on another twim retreat i purposefully

did the breathing meditation using

concentration to focus on the breath at

the belly

in the way i had done doing vipassana i

found a very different experience

happened when i forced mine to stay on

the breath

mind became very concentrated i saw what

looked like a border of lights

like a window frame as if i was looking

out a porthole on a ship

there was absolutely nothing inside this

ring just void in silence

yet when i came out of that state i did

not feel the same clarity of the twin

method

the deep concentration left a kind of

torpor-like state and was rather

uncomfortable

the mind did not feel bright and

balanced it had lost its pliancy and

ability to think clearly

strangely it felt a little like i was

stressed out jumpy

i went to the dhamma talk and it was a

bit hard to follow the talk

gradually however mind returned back to

a more balanced state

with the twin meditation you start by

establishing an easy

open like-minded state this is

accomplished by using the feeling of

meta or loving-kindness as the object of

meditation

and by smiling radiating meta outward

keeps our attention light and open

while smiling is a wholesome movement

that keeps us from taking the meditation

too seriously

thereby creating tension and tightness

or as the suthas call it

craving we prefer the lovingkindness

object as it leads to faster progress

but breath can also be used if we employ

the relaxed step properly

below we will use the satipatana soothe

auto understand the meditation process

in terms of breath and the relaxed step

needed

the most essential step toward

experiencing the twin or aware jhanas is

the correct practice of right effort

in particular the tranquilized step as

defined in the suthas

or what we call the relaxed step in pali

it is passambium relaxed step is the key

to removing hindrances

and craving through true right effort

which allows this different kind of

janna to arise

unaware jhana in both the suti patana

suthan danupana city suthate says

as the student breathes in he knows that

he breathes in

when he breathes out he knows that he

breathes out

you don't focus on the breath alone but

simply know that you are breathing

you simply understand that you are

breathing the poly word for this is such

a

which is to observe and to know you know

what a long breath is and you know what

a short breath is

this just means to observe whatever is

there in a light-minded way without

trying to control it

you don't make a short breath long or a

long breath short you don't breathe in

deeply or change the breath in any way

and don't focus tightly on the breath

you just understand what is happening if

someone said to you

do you know where you are you would look

around and say

yes i am in my garden you don't focus

and concentrate on the garden

you don't peer inside the bushes look

under rocks

you just know you are in the garden the

buddha makes this process even clearer

with the next step where he says that

breathing in

and out he experiences the whole body

he's not saying to observe the breath

he's saying that as he breathes he is

experiencing the whole body

he is mindful of what is happening both

inside and outside

this softens the attention to encompass

a greater field of awareness

but then there comes the most important

step in the sutipatana suda's

instruction

which is emitted or overlooked by other

methods and practices

the student tranquilizes the bodily

formation on the in-breath

and he tranquilizes the bodily formation

on the out breath

italics added this is the critical step

that will lead you to the elimination of

craving and the attainment of nibana

why is this relaxed step ignored or just

treated as a general relax the body step

other methods don't value the importance

of this

it isn't seen as an active step in

practice it is just understood as a

general relaxing but not an active

relaxing of tension in the head

a tension that is actually contained in

the thought itself

in fact it is a critically important

step that runs counter to deep

concentration

because focusing tightly creates tension

not tranquility

what is it that you are relaxing you are

relaxing the tension and tightness which

are signs of craving

craving that gives rise to thinking into

all kinds of habitual emotional

tendencies

causing mind to wander away into

daydreams and thoughts

what is all this they are mental

formations

the buddha addresses all this noise of

the distractions and asks us to relax

and tranquilize this also

here is the quote from the anapanasity

sutha mn118

this follows the instruction to

tranquilize the bodily formation amman

118

he trains thus i shall breathe in

experiencing the mental formation

he trains thus i shall breathe out

experiencing the mental formation

he trains thus i shall breathe in

tranquilizing the mental

formation he trains thus i shall breathe

out tranquilizing the mental formation

so here we see the buddha is asking us

to specifically relax both the body and

mind as a total process and specifically

to relax the thoughts

which are the mental formations that

come up

why does the thinking come up everything

draws your attention to it

thoughts feelings sensations etc

pleasant feelings are beckoning you to

come and taste them and unpleasant

feelings are poking you to dislike them

because they are painful

it is how suffering is born the mind is

running free after this and that with no

restraint

gradually you come to see how this

really is suffering

noticing distractions or hindrances

arise and ignoring them or pushing them

away

or following the advice to clench your

teeth and put your tongue up against the

roof of your mouth

to remove them and to destroy them is

not the way to let go of distractions

why because you haven't let go of the

cause of that distraction

which is craving the pulling of mind

into thought

adding a step to actively relax into the

tension and tightness in the head that

pulls your mind away is what the buddha

found steadily reduces the energy of

those distractions

the distraction will fade away naturally

on its own because you've relaxed the

tightness and tension feeding it

the more we pay attention to something

the greater our attention is drawn and

thoughts are created

releasing your attention reduces

thoughts and tension

we want to actively release our

attention to distractions

we don't want to push them away that

just makes them stronger

the buddha called this right effort sama

vayama

in twim it is called the six aries this

is the way hindrances are removed

and craving is eliminated bit by bit we

will discuss this process later as we go

into the instructions

in mid shimanikaya mn number 36 the

mahasakaka southeast clearly states that

after the buddha tried to control his

mind through clenching his teeth and so

on

he found that his efforts rather than

getting control over his mind

led to the tiring out of his energy and

brought on restlessness

i crushed mind with mind and sweat ran

down from my armpits

but although tireless energy was aroused

in me and unremitting mindfulness was

established

my body was overwrought and calm because

i was exhausted by the painful striving

this exertion did not work attempting to

control the hindrances in this extreme

way is just using a version to push away

what you don't want

there is no letting go here but only

pushing away

we have created another hindrance how

many times have you heard some

meditators say

darn it i just can't make my mind do

what i wanted to do

it's really making me mad you can't use

a hindrance to eliminate a hindrance

in other words control will not work

something else must be the correct path

there is an article on the internet in

which a jhana meditation teacher wrote

about his self-retreat practicing

concentration meditation

he said he did a nine-month retreat and

the first four months were spent

fighting with his mind to stay on his

breath

what fighting how does that bring

tranquility

isn't there a faster way to get progress

yes

there is hold on did you just say four

months to get concentrated

concentration practice tries to control

mind and push away distracting thoughts

and sensations

it both focuses down onto the object and

then pushes away the wandering mind

the buddha in the text tells us not to

suppress what he calls the defilements

in the anguttara nikaya samadhi suthan

several places this is quite clear

on 5.27 4 the knowledge arises that is

personally yours

this concentration is peaceful and

sublime gained by full tranquilization

and attained to unification it is not

rained in and checked by forcefully

suppressing the defilements

and notice the word above concentration

in pali is actually samadhi

which venerable panaji already has

translated as tranquil state of wisdom

or a state of collectedness

the above is the samadhi suda and it is

named and translated as concentration

and that is wrong are you beginning to

see that the concentration methodology

that the buddha had already rejected

keeps trying to make its way back into

the teachings

since what you are trying to achieve is

the removal of craving

you must see and understand it not push

it away

absorption just puts it on the shelf

such that when you come out of the

absorption janna

the hindrances come back even stronger

like a vicious dog

you open the gate now he attacks you

with full force

instead of pushing away the distraction

you simply relax into it and accept that

it is there

the buddha found that relaxing the

tension and tightness from the things

that are pulling your mind away will

gradually reduce the energy of those

distractions

finally after relaxing enough of tension

and tightness

the distraction will fade away on its

own

why it is because you are not feeding it

you are not reacting to it this is what

tranquilizing means

relaxing any tension or tightness that

is whisking you away into thinking when

you react to your wandering mind with

aversion

i don't like this the reaction itself is

the craving you are trying to remove

you need to tranquilize this reaction

relax into it

soften into it let it be

let go of beating yourself up as it

occurs in the southeast

tranquilize is an action verb it

involves removing

by softening and purposely relaxing into

any tightness and tension in mind or

body

it is not just a general relaxing of the

mood or the body

you see a beautiful woman walking down

the street

your mind has a pleasant feeling and

craving arises i like her

you can feel your mind tightening around

the form of the woman

then comes thoughts about her wow i

haven't seen her around before

wonder where she came from so if we are

sitting and we are using concentration

meditation

and we start thinking over this

experience of the lovely lady

we pull or even jerk our mind back to

our object of meditation

we try to hold it there pushing away

this distraction

but because we did not allow the

distracting mind that arose to be there

by itself

and actively relax the tension and

tightness around it sensual desire

we had even more thoughts we keep

thinking more thoughts because the

craving embedded in those thoughts keeps

generating even more thinking

then we start getting upset because our

thoughts are out of control and get

frustrated and think what it would be

like to constantly have lustful thoughts

constantly thinking and unable to be

quiet then we think even more about it

and get completely lost

a daydream could just turn into a

nightmare

the answer to this problem is the moment

the image arose

and the pleasant feeling arose you would

want to start relaxing into that

perception right away

you want to release your attention from

it relax the tightness around it

then the rest of the thoughts don't come

up you also don't get frustrated because

you have truly let go and have not

suppressed anything

the word tranquilize in modern use often

refers to stress relief

one might use a tranquilizer drug to

take the stress away

in much the same way we are

tranquilizing the hindrance and taking

away its tension and tightness

returning to the buddha's awakening

story he sat in meditation again

but this time he relaxed and let go of

the tight metal fist wrapped around

those thoughts that pulled his mind out

of the present

he relaxed into and tranquilized the

tightness arising in his mind

in his head in the first watch of the

night the buddha followed this method

he reached the fourth tranquil aware

jhana

when one adds the relaxed step progress

in the jhana practice is indeed swift

the buddha called progress immediately

effective or akaliko and pali

from there the triple knowledge arose he

remembered his past

lives experienced other realms and

realized how karma worked

at last through seeing with wisdom

understanding dependent origination

he attained nabana that very next

morning the buddha's process of

awakening was what is called the three

knowledges

tv's ya but the process of going through

the jhanas is the same

more on this later what he taught the

most

however as in the anupada soother which

we are going to study next

is the path that goes through all the

four material jhanas

the four immaterial states and onto

nibana

again these are the tranquil aware janas

not the absorption jhanas of yoga or

other methods

in the midshima nikaya the buddha

teaches janas and 50 suthas out of 152.

clearly the buddha recommends the john a

path to awakening

it just needs to be the right type of

jhana in addition to the fact that the

tranquil aware

twim jhanas will take you all the way to

nibana

a significant advantage with the aware

jhanas is that they develop in a

fraction of the time it takes to attain

the absorption genres

consider that the buddha taught many

uneducated farmers as well as princes

he had to have a simple system of

meditation that was immediately

effective

accoleco these farmers didn't have the

time for

or interest in a practice that took a

long time to understand and master

relaxing tension and tightness

eventually eliminate hindrances

with one pointed concentration practice

all you are doing is suppressing

hindrances for a short period of time

the same ones just keep coming back

after your concentration power

diminishes

so you must drive them away again each

time you sit

with the absorption jaundice meditators

dislike being disturbed from their

meditation

for example a loud sound arises and

dislike comes up

for the most part the reaction to a

hindrance is aversion or restlessness

you try to beat that hindrance away in

twim

you are treating the illness right there

removing the tension and tightness from

the hindrance so that it loses its power

comparing aware and concentration jhana

as we sit in the aware jhanas we can

still hear sounds

and if the teacher calls us we hear this

and can respond right away

someone might tap us on the shoulder and

say something we will feel it

and we can choose to respond or not at

the same time

when a loud motorcycle is outside the

meditation hall the mental balance is

there

we hear it but pay no attention to it

mind uses the relaxed step to observe

accept and let go of the hindrance that

pulls our attention away

when you get into the higher aware

genres you do experience a sort of

pulling away from the body because

in the immaterial arupa janas where

there is only mind

it is operating on a subtler level the

senses have receded into the background

only when there is contact do you notice

the outside world

the word contact here means something

happens to draw your attention

something unexpected like the teacher

calling or the phone ringing

some teachers may advise you to stay

away from concentration

genres because you could become attached

or even addicted to them

actually this can be true for absorption

one one-pointed concentration jaundice

as they can become really intense you

might become caught by them because some

are very blissful

and you could stop right there i have

read accounts on discussion sites online

where people experience absorption

genres and think they are enlightened

they talk about how blissful it is yet

they have only attained the first jhana

there is still so much more to be

learned but why would the buddha give

you a practice that had potential

pitfalls like this

and wouldn't a student naturally want to

move on and see what's next

based on the su the text the buddha did

not give us the absorption jhanas

he had already rejected them in the

first part of his journey

sutham 36 you never need to worry about

becoming attached to the aware genres

it's like saying you are attached to the

third grade and never want to progress

to the fourth because you don't want to

learn anything new again

with the aware jannas we are always

looking to progress

to see what is next in the suit as many

times

it is said that the meditator can easily

experience this or that aware jana state

but that he knows this is not the final

experience that there is more to be done

so the meditator keeps going

progress does not stop in mn 105

sanakata suda it says that the meditator

upon attainment of the realm of

nothingness

now looks forward to the realm of

neither perception nor non-perception

he wants nothing to do with the previous

state and in fact

even considers it to be repulsive 14.

it is possible son akata that some

person here may be intent on the base of

neither perception nor non-perception

when a person is intent on the base of

neither perception nor non-perception

only talk concerning that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person and he finds satisfaction in that

but when talk about the base of

nothingness is going on he will not

listen to it or give it ear or exert his

mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person and he does not find satisfaction

in that

15. suppose a person has eaten some

delicious food and thrown it up

what do you think son akata could that

man have any desire to eat that food

again

no venerable sir why is that

because that food is considered

repulsive the experiences you have when

you practice and aware ghana are

unlikely ever to be repeated in the same

way again

they are stages of progress for example

when one gets an insight it can unleash

quite a bit of joy

but don't expect that again you have now

acquired that understanding

and there is no more to be learned from

that insight

that one is in the books progress using

the relaxed step

is incredibly fast in the sutti patana

suda the

buddha says awakening can happen in a

single lifetime in seven years

six years five years or even as little

as seven days

when you follow the instructions

precisely your progress can be very

quick

on a typical 10 to 14 day twim retreat

most students will get to the fourth

jhana

and many of those will get into the

higher arupa formless

bases or jhanas a few might even be

successful

the first experience of the awakening it

doesn't happen every retreat

but some people are just ready for it

they understand and follow the

directions perfectly and have a

successful retreat in every sense of the

word

when we release the tension and

tightness from a hindrance it gradually

disappears

when that happens you will have joy for

the first time

you have become free of craving until

another hindrance shows up

this experience is the basis for the

first tranquil aware jhana

a fully energetic balanced and sublime

deep state of mind from which one can

clearly see the impersonal processes of

mind

from here you begin to see deeply into

all 12 links of dependent origination

and in due time letting go of all

conditions will come upon an

unconditioned state

in summary twim is not a concentration

meditation practice

it is a collected meditation practice

chapter 4 types of concentration

practice

the many methods of concentration

practice

i want to summarize the major types of

concentration or absorption meditation

techniques that exist in buddhist

practices today

especially in the theravada tradition

this doesn't include all of them but the

predominant

generic types they include the following

full absorption concentration using

meditation objects like the breath

visualizations candle flames or colored

discs to become fully absorbed into the

object

dry insight where the meditator does not

become absorbed into the object but uses

observation to develop insight

dry means without the use of deep

one-pointed absorption concentration

concentration insight meditation a

mixture of the above using full

absorption concentration to develop all

eight absorption genres and then emerge

and observe mind and develop

insight we have already discussed

concentration created full absorption

meditation so let us look at the second

point

dry insight today

in theravada there are some different

types of practices

there is one called straight vipasana

also called dry inside or insight

meditation

that was developed by venerable mahasi

sayadaw of burma

a similar system is the body awareness

practice of sweeping developed by

yubakin of burma now taught worldwide by

sn goenka of india

they avoid janet concentration

absorption as discussed previously

students are told genres should be

avoided as they might become attached to

them as a distraction to their real work

with the dry insight awareness exercise

you are told that there is a shortcut

around the perceived long

arduous development of genres by

developing a technique of sweeping the

body with awareness

by observing bodily sensations and

seeing their true nature

you are told you will attain awakening

in the dry

insight mahasi tradition you are told to

follow the breath and make mental notes

noting or making verbal mental notes

like hearing

hearing or hot hot when your attention

moves away from your breath or walking

practice

they say this will get you to nibbana

very quickly much faster than the use of

the

absorption jaundice that can take many

months or years to achieve

mahasi sayadaw says you can attain

nibana in as little as

one 30-day retreat with the dry insight

method

this is why many people are attracted to

this system for this claimed benefit

it appears to be fast and well laid out

with clear instructions and stages of

progress

i remember reading this statement from a

book by admiral shattuck about vipassana

course in burma 40 years ago and getting

very excited

i envisioned myself as this holy

enlightened person on the bus ride back

from my first 30-day retreat

then i could take it easy indeed

i did start retreating in a denver

basement that had been broken up into

sections with drapes it was taught by a

sri lankan trained american man who was

extremely serious and demanded that we

stay up until midnight and then wake up

at 4am to start again

and that was my first retreat 30 days

felt more like incarceration by the end

of it

i was 19 43 years ago

i tried that path for many years

experiencing most of the insight

knowledges or nanas that are said to

indicate progress in that method

later i lived and worked at a vipassana

center in san jose california

but the experiences i had with this

method did not produce the personality

change that the suthas indicate one

should expect from meditation

those inside experiences were very

intense and happened just like mahasi

sayadaw wrote

but i was the same old neurotic self

after the retreat

perhaps i was a little kinder or just

deluded into thinking i was holier

because of seeing these knowledges

a 28 old bonnie vimela ramsay not yet a

monk

he had a different layman name at that

time showed up at the center

being a skilled carpenter and having

built houses in san francisco

he volunteered to build our meditation

hall

it was a beautiful job with white

carpets and stained glass

i met him again years later in 2006

after a 25-year gap

he had become a monk and gone to burma

and had spent many years at the famous

mahasi meditation center in yangon

he trained under venerable yupandita

sayadaw and later with venerable

yujanaka practicing mahasi style

vipassana

i came to understand from bonnie that

even in burma myanmar

progress for the meditators was very

difficult to achieve

he observed many students while he

practiced there

he did many three-month retreats and

finally a two-year retreat

it had taken all those retreats and

experiences before he was told by his

teacher that he had achieved the final

result

that's a bit longer than 30 days later

he questioned this attainment because

his experience didn't match with the

suthas

even after he had completed all those

retreats he did not feel like he

experienced a fundamental personality

change

when i contacted him he told me about

his experiences in burma and detailed

emails

my confidence in his detailed

descriptions of what he had attained in

vipassana inside practice reached a

point where i realized that perhaps

vipassana itself was the problem

it wasn't creating the change that one

would expect

he had taken it to the limit and

experienced all 16 knowledges and now

had decided to move on to something else

when i looked at his website it seemed

very strange

he talked about smiling and relaxing no

motivational have to push harder talk

if you can't smile laugh he wasn't

serious enough

and this is serious practice right or is

that the problem

the dry insight practice or the mahasi

vipasana method seems to me to be

another form of concentration

a one-pointed and focused meditation

practice

what is attained is accomplished by

pushing away the hindrances and grasping

hard onto the meditation object

instead of simply knowing the object as

the sooth is say to do

it is a powerful focused bearing down on

the object

without the relaxed step they say

go into your pain and get into the

middle of it see its nature of arising

and passing away

keep looking at it and noting it until

it passes away but that is controlling

your awareness

which creates tension goenka teaches

something similar with a sweeping

exercise

but with the same type of mindfulness

that focuses down on the sensations

arising

the sweeping method does acknowledge

distractions and lets them be and moves

on

but it misses the whole relaxing step of

removing the tension and tightness from

the distraction

this technique is still a type of

concentration practice

focusing on sensations rather than the

breathing

with the twin meditation you observe a

painful feeling

knowing it is there you release your

attention from it

you relax any tension and tightness that

is bringing your awareness to the pain

do not dwell on it that is don't think

about it

analyze it or bring a version into it

that doesn't work

that doesn't relieve the tightness and

tension by focusing down on that painful

feeling

with an already tensed up mental state

and seeing it closer you will not gain

further insight to release you from

suffering

there is only more suffering bonnie

describes having done the mahasi process

and finally getting beyond the pain but

it was just a temporary suppression of

the pain

he said he had beaten it into submission

during his meditation and finally

it had been forced away this type of

meditation does

indeed provide progress in the vipassana

nana's

which are stages of dry insight

explained in the visuti maga

they are very real and thus provide much

credibility to the practice

there are 9 12 or 16 knowledges

depending on which text you read that

arise when following the instructions

just like the visuti maga and mahasi's

book say to do

when we investigate however we find that

these stages of insight are not in the

suthas

when we practice with the relaxed step

they do not appear

bonnie explains that he did experience

these insights and knowledges all the

way to the knowledge of reviewing the

path

the highest of the insight knowledges

that arises after the attainment of

nibana

yet he was disappointed in the fact that

he did not experience the personality

change and awakened state he had

expected

i think people are impressed by this dry

insight system because it does give the

results it promises

and these results are very interesting

but so

is an acid trip which also can lead one

to see impermanence

suffering and impersonality if you have

a buddhist background and setting

but you will not see dependent

origination the buddha describes the

seeing of the links of dependent

origination as the door to nibana

he says that one who sees the links will

definitely see the three signs of

impermanence

suffering and non-self but one who only

sees the three signs will not

automatically see dependent origination

it is seeing and understanding dependent

origination deeply that brings about

personality change

this is why when you come out of the

absorption meditative state versus the

aware jhana state

your personality with all its neuroses

is still intact

is still the same you only see things at

a surface level because there is still

craving there

just temporarily put aside you have not

seen at the deepest level revealing

those most subtle of metal processes

many vipassana meditators find that

their practice drops off after a certain

point

and many will think that it is their own

fault that they are not advancing

they think that they just need to do

more retreats they need to push even

harder

finally many give up and think it was

them and not the practice that was the

problem

they think maybe next lifetime i will be

stronger

i'll have more merit i had these

experiences

and had no real change and gave up

practicing

i kept up with buddhist studies but lost

interest in the practice and always

wondered whether i had just missed

something that everyone else had figured

out

concentration insight versus dry insight

it is true that the absorption genres

are very intense

and you could get attached to them they

completely push away the hindrances for

a short period

and you come out of the genic state

experiencing great bliss and happiness

but it doesn't last moreover you don't

learn anything from it

it is like a drug that you take and

later you just come down

and that's the end of that it can be a

kind of addiction

escaping into a bliss realm and getting

away from life for a short period of

time

in another twist on concentration

absorption practice you learn absorption

genre practice

but then you are instructed that when

you come out of that concentrated state

you are to observe with what is thought

to be this powerful mindfulness

after coming out of the absorption the

states that are arising and passing away

at that very moment

you shine this powerful light on your

arising mental states

you are told to notice the foundations

of mindfulness

notice the three signs inherent in them

of impermanence

suffering and impersonality teachers of

this method claim that when you see

these signs with a powerful awareness

from the absorption jhana experience you

gain strong insights

and ultimately experience nibana they

use the suthas to back up this practice

method

but they are misunderstanding the suthas

the suthas explain the factors that make

up the jaunas

they do talk about their impermanent and

impersonal nature and how

by observing these factors of mind you

will gain insight

but not by suppressing craving and

hindrances with absorption concentration

it is by allowing the hindrances to

arise and gently release them or control

them and they naturally fade away

these concentration practices are all

based on the vishuddhi maga

again it says that once you attain the

jhana you exit out of that jhana and

start to observe with the power of the

concentration obtained

you use mindfulness to observe the

mental processes

in this way seeing how it works you

understand its nature of impermanence

suffering and impersonality anika

dukkha anata the visuti maga stresses

that this insight is so profound that

you attain nibana

some claim that this is what the suthas

mean when they talk about the meditator

observing the factors and

characteristics of the jhanas

they use the suthas to back up this

technique when actually this isn't what

was meant at all

in the anupada suda it says the

meditator observes many factors as they

go through the jaundice but they are

already in the jaw

as seeing these factors and don't need

to come out to observe this

in fact as soon as the janna disappears

so do the jhana factors

they don't exist outside the genre you

can't observe them later

the powerful happy concentration jhana

state that the mind has just emerged

from has suppressed all the craving that

was causing the suffering in the first

place

what was the craving that was being

suppressed it was the hindrances

what is the goal of meditation

eliminating the hindrances and purifying

the mind

in your practice if we push the

hindrances aside with strong

concentration

how can we ever hope to understand them

and their root cause

the concentration insight meditator

using the absorption genres

will see the aggregates arising and

passing away he may

in fact see some impermanence suffering

and impersonality but he won't see the

links of dependent origination deeply

most people who are reading the suthas

only know about the concentration

absorption practice

they are not aware of a tranquil aware

jhana when sarah pudda says in the

anupada

sooth that one is aware of the factors

of the first jhana as they occur

it is because he is in the first jhana

describing them as they are happening

right then

so far i have read no claims of anyone

who has attained awakening by practicing

this method of going into the absorption

genres and then coming out and reviewing

the mental factors

many have described this practice but

none i have ever read declare that there

are meditators who have been successful

with it

in the end you can gain some

understanding by observing mind

but you just can't get deep enough to

see the links of dependent origination

and you certainly can't attain insight

by analyzing or thinking about what you

are observing

profound insight is beyond thought there

can be no craving left to obscure

your vision which concentration

meditation still contains

seeing directly into mind with the

absence of craving of the aware jhana

will lead to nibana

caution with absorption concentration

one final word about concentration

meditation one pointed concentration can

be dangerous

that may be too strong a word but yes it

is true

ruth dennison a famous meditation

teacher in california try to zen retreat

as her first step toward investigating

meditation as a path to enlightenment

doing the breath meditation in a

concentrated way she experienced a

mental breakdown

and she ended up in a hospital after

this

she rejected this method and moved to a

style of a more balanced awareness

integrated with dance and movement that

she developed on her own

there have been many other concentration

cause breakdowns

just search the web for concentration

meditation danger and you will find any

number of articles

it is a little-known fact that after her

own negative experience

ruth worked at her center in joshua tree

california

damadina vipassana center with people

who had lost touch with reality because

of absorption or dry insight practice

the connection of their mind to their

body to various degrees

had been disrupted she worked with them

to get their hands in the dirt

had them build stone monuments and

otherwise tried to bring back the

connection to their bodies

these were people who came from

traditions using concentration

meditation as their practice

i was on several twin retreats at her

center and while there i heard ruth talk

about this issue

on one retreat i was introduced to a

person who had been sent there

she looked pretty miserable she was

withdrawn and had low energy and no

ability to sit

there was a kind of hopelessness in her

voice when she said hello

ruth had a lot of luck bringing people

back to balance and i certainly hope

she was successful with her in vipassana

especially many people now talk about

the dark night of the soul stage in the

meditation

this is a pretty new term for me but it

is simply talking about the higher

stages of the meditation where the

knowledge of fear arises

among other states these are standard

levels of knowledge

and i went through them and was told

just to write it out

it never had a name like this but i do

know what it is

it is the fear of dying because you see

that there is no self there

however you have no balance and the

craving mind arises and comes in the

form of great fear because you are

taking all this personally

there is nothing unpleasant like this

that ever happens in twin meditation

if there is then use 6r or release and

relax into it as just another hindrance

twim is the letting go of the craving

mind and thus gaining more and more

balance and happy states

mental breakdowns don't happen often but

it can happen when the meditator pushes

too hard

striving to crush their hindrances with

mental power rather than relaxing into

them and letting them be

meditation teachers who are using

concentration jhanas point to the suthas

for the verification that what they are

doing is correct

but again they forget that the buddha

rejected those concentration methods

in one popular practice of concentration

janas the author of a book on the

concentration jhanas and their

development states that three out of a

thousand students will experience the

joy or pity being turned on and then

unable to be turned off

this is when the pity gets stuck on and

never seems to go away

this can last for weeks months even up

to a year

thankfully this is quite rare since

there aren't any really effective

solutions other than waiting

the thing out what does seem to help is

getting grounded

exercise manual labor and eating heavy

foods

like meat he describes when pity is left

on it is like a high-energy

buzzing unpleasant feeling that

continues whether you are sitting or not

sometimes it just only creates insomnia

another problem that is also reported in

the book

is sometimes students want to bypass the

first jhana intentionally because the

intense pity brings up painful memories

and there are issues with the second and

third gen estates where one is advised

to bypass or do something to avoid a

certain problem

the soothas do not support the

concentration absorption janas or the

dry insight method at all they don't

support the arising of painful states

and a practice that is gradually

eliminating craving step by step

proponents say it's faster so are we

saying the buddha gave us the slow way

the buddha's supreme knowledge would

have seen the best and fastest way

i think we can assume this sutha's

support twim

when the relax step is used there are no

negative states that arise

the suit is say you continue with your

meditation through the jhanas

and after the base of neither perception

nor non-perception

you keep meditating to what some call a

9th jhana

this is the cessation of mind's movement

completely

gradually the mental movement gets

slower and slower starting at the first

jhana going to the base of neither

perception nor non-perception

there are eight steps or levels and

there is the point where mind finally

just stops

if you think about this you are not

going higher and higher in the

meditation

you are going lower and slower until

everything just stops

there is no stopping progress in the

meditation it naturally moves along

and insights arise as they will until

mind stops and enters

the basis and meditation object for

tranquil wisdom insight meditation is

metta and the four brahmavi heras right

from the suthas

there are some added methods used in

twim like breaking down the barriers and

sending meta to a spiritual friend

which are very helpful in the beginning

stages of the meditation

when your twin meditation has developed

to a certain level

it then switches to and follows the

sutures precisely

using the pervading to the six

directions as taught in the brahmavihara

method

one thing that isn't used with this meta

practice and twim

which is used by the majority of other

teachers is repeating the same four

statements over and over

this is a traditional way of developing

meta-meditation

with the twin method you bring up the

sincere feeling of the wish for loving

kindness and put that feeling in your

heart

you surround your spiritual friend your

meditation object

with that feeling and suffuse him or her

with that feeling

the way most people are teaching meta is

an intellectual exercise instead of a

feeling meditation by saying the same

statements over and over again

which turns it into a mantra or a

one-pointed concentration

instead of making the wish over and over

to be happy in twim you use the wish to

remind yourself to bring up the feeling

of loving kindness

later as your practice goes deeper you

will drop the phrases entirely

the result of doing this is not a dry

intellectual experience

but rather a feeling exercise which

uplifts mind and helps you to become

happy

continually repeating the same

statements allows no room for the

feeling to develop

you must develop a sincere feeling and

wish for your spiritual friend to be

happy so the meadow or loving kindness

can take hold rather than repeating the

wishes

bonnie advises bringing up a smile to

remind yourself of the feeling

a smile in your heart in your mind and

also on your lips

secular buddhism a new variation of

buddhism has taken hold called secular

buddhism

it teaches only the parts of buddhism

that we can see for ourselves and we do

not need to believe in

for example past lives are not

considered part of the buddhist teaching

in secular buddhism

we don't tend to see them and recall

them for ourselves here and now

however there are indeed some students

who recall past lives

and an entire industry of past life

regression hypnotherapists have sprung

up to address past

lives and psychological problems from

these lives that have seeped into the

present

it does seem like the purest secular

buddhist practice attempts to remove the

buddha from buddhism

it offers a distorted view of

mindfulness as only a tool with which to

therapeutically approach de-stressing

and healing the individual

what happened to nibana what happened to

profound insight into impermanence and

impersonality

where is craving secular buddhism

removes buddhist concepts because they

are seen as weird and are religious

mumbo-jumbo and unnecessary to solving

one's problems

there is even a magazine about

mindfulness with that very title

which has not a single reference to the

buddha in it all pali terms are left out

i walked through the bookstore the other

day and buddhism has been reduced to

just one shelf now

mindfulness books have gone over to

self-help leaving the dalai lama alone

with titan yet han to keep him company

in the eastern religions section

there is no mention of higher

understanding or enlightenment

mindfulness is just another tool that

has been added to the psychotherapeutic

toolkit

this is the watering down of buddhism

mbsr or mindfulness-based stress

reduction

is a program in which mindfulness is

employed for the purpose of therapy

buddhist ideas of impersonality and

impermanence really don't play a major

part

dependent origination is surely missing

it basically is about watching the

breath and doing slow walking meditation

to calm down the mind

the perceived goal is to reduce stress

and anxiety

it is seen as not being possible to

attain enlightenment and to permanently

eliminate craving

there are now even apps for your phone

to give you a short five to ten minute

guided breathing or body awareness

meditation that you can do each day to

de-stress

intense mindfulness practice has been

diluted since the beginning of the

introduction of buddhist meditation

styles of vipassana and goenka practice

in the early 70s there are more people

meditating

however now less are going deeply into

their practice

another blend of buddhism is a

meditation style called adveda and is

based on thousands year old vedanta

practices

it is a hindu-based non-dual or a

philosophy of oneness practice

famous proponents of this are eckhart

tolle and adeshanti

the practice focuses on observing

whatever arises in the present moment

and not trying to control or analyze

some call this choiceless awareness just

allowing what is there and letting mind

calm and go deeper and following it down

to a level of oneness

tibetan social practice is similar in

that it observes this open field of

awareness without controlling the

experience

this practice can be quite useful to a

point and is quite close to what the

buddha taught and being genuinely

mindful

it certainly turns your practice to

observing rather than trying too hard to

achieve a certain state or experience

you simply allow what is there even to

the point of inquiring who is meditating

and what are you trying to achieve

this is the first step of letting go of

the controller

ad yashanti explains that instead of

controlling the meditation

you let go of the meditator as one gets

deeper and mind's activity slows

proponents explain that you will

eventually see the underlying essence or

spirit referred to by tola as the sacred

adashanti calls it coming to a state of

oneness unchanging and blissful

this is a variation of the belief in a

soul or higher self

unchanging meaning a permanent state at

the end of the brahmavihara twim

practice that is described here

the feeling of equanimity disappears the

meditator is now told to take this quiet

mind as the object of their meditation

observe any movements and release and

relax those movements as they arise

come back to the quiet mind this does

sound like what the vedanta practice or

choiceless awareness achieves

and these meditation practices can be

useful

however they can't get beyond just a

quiet mind to see below that

since the relaxed step the foundation of

twim

is not employed here you won't

understand how to relax the mental

tightness to go even deeper

with that tool you go past the level

where one might think that a permanent

type of spirit resides

down to an even deeper level and

ultimately the very nether most

the beginning of mentality itself when

your mind is just barely moving

and you are able to observe with

powerful mindfulness you won't be able

to find such a thing as a self

only moments of consciousness arising

and passing away in a never-ending

stream

from this insight arises disenchantment

and then dispassion leading to awakening

out of this dream of self.chapter 5

beginning practice

chapter 5 beginning practice

now let us see how the twin meditation

practice can take us through the four

tranquilla where john is including the

four formless bases contained in the

fourth jhana

culminating with the attainment of

nibana if you follow what the suthas say

without any added interpretation

then this is what will happen this is

the progress of tranquil aware insight

meditation or twim

the john is described from here on or

the tranquil aware janus

in this type of jhana you are aware of

both mind and body

the buddha said we cannot ever

understand ourselves unless we look at

the totality of who we are and see the

impersonal nature of everything that

arises

we can't control anything by pushing it

away or trying to stop what comes up

only through acceptance of what is in

the present not fighting or controlling

it

seeing it clearly without mental noise

or craving can we achieve release

a word here about morality the buddhist

system is built on a moral view of the

world

if you do unwholesome actions then

painful results and mental states like

hindrances follow

do wholesome and wholesome follows

meditation is completely wholesome

if you wish to be successful in your

meditation you should be following the

five precepts as a minimum to achieve

the best progress

what are they not killing not stealing

not lying or cursing not being involved

in sexual misconduct like adultery and

not taking intoxicants or alcohol

it isn't hard and it said that following

these simple guidelines brings you a

prosperous and happy existence in this

life and the next

following these five precepts prescribed

by the buddha as your moral baseline

will help your meditation to go very

deep by not committing any further

harmful acts you will become free of

guilt and remorse

and your mind will be peaceful and

tranquil for retreats

there are an additional three precepts

to help you fine-tune

including not eating afternoon not

engaging in entertainment and not using

perfumes or makeup

summary of the meditation instructions

the beginning meditator will spend a few

days or weeks cultivating

loving-kindness

toward themselves and a spiritual friend

by using phrases to help bring up the

feeling of loving-kindness

may i be happy may i be peaceful as i am

happy i wish you to be happy

this process will take them to the

fourth jhana

as they progress they will move on to

radiating meta to the six directions and

progress from the fourth jhana to the

base of nothingness and beyond

beginning posture before meditating

it is helpful to find a relatively quiet

place and to sit comfortably and upright

sitting cross-legged is not required the

full lotus is certainly not necessary

a sitting posture that is familiar to

your body will be less distracting and

more helpful than one in which you are

uncomfortable or in pain

in the west many meditators find sitting

on the floor difficult

in that case use a chair rather than

causing yourself undue pain and

discomfort

there is no magic in the floor avoid

leaning heavily back into the chair

sit with your vertebrae stacked one on

top of the other

the posture should be comfortable the

goals are to reduce any real physical

cause of tension and pain and to improve

alertness

we will have enough mental obstacles to

keep us busy

beginning loving kindness instructions

when you practice the mindfulness of

loving-kindness meditation

begin by radiating loving and kind

feelings to yourself remember a time

when you were happy

when that happy feeling arises it is a

warm

glowing feeling some of you may complain

we actually do hear this a lot that you

cannot recall any good memories

so then we ask can you imagine holding a

baby and looking into its eyes

do you feel a loving feeling when that

baby smiles

do you another idea is to imagine

holding a cute little puppy

when you look at the puppy you naturally

want to smile and play with him

the feeling you are creating is a warm

glowing and sincere feeling radiating

from your eyes

your mind and your heart once you have

established this feeling

use this feeling to wish yourself

happiness just as i was happy then

may i be happy now continue with phrases

like may i be peaceful

may i be happy may i be calm do you know

what it feels like to be peaceful and

calm then put that feeling in yourself

in the center of your heart and surround

yourself with that happy feeling

when that feeling fades bring up another

phrase to remind you of the feeling

may i be tranquil may i be content may i

be full of joy

now give yourself a big heart hug really

and sincerely

wish yourself to be happy love yourself

and mean it

this feeling is your object of

meditation each time the feeling fades

repeat the wish verbally a few times in

your mind

just repeat it enough times to bring up

the feeling do not make it a mantra

saying a phrase over and over will not

bring up the feeling we want

the phrase just reminds us to bring the

feeling up

when the feeling comes up we drop the

phrase there are a number of other

teachers who focus on just saying the

phrases over and over

and that doesn't work that will just

turn it into a concentration practice on

the phrase

some people visualize easily others do

not

it is not important that you clearly see

your object of meditation

just know it is there keep the feeling

of yourself in the center of your chest

wrapped in this happy and content

feeling and

we do mean really feel good feel

peaceful

or calm or loving or gentle or kind

or giving or joyful or clear or tranquil

or accepting be okay sitting and feeling

this

it's okay to feel good let yourself be

there in the present

just feeling this contentment you have

nowhere to go

you are on a little vacation from life

now there is nothing to do other than to

be happy and radiate that feeling to

yourself

can you do that don't try to be happy

be happy be content

be at peace right here right now

you have our permission to be happy for

at least the next 30 minutes

this is a feeling meditation but don't

over observe the center of your chest

trying to bring up a feeling of loving

kindness

don't force a feeling where there isn't

one don't put the cart before the horse

smile and feel that smile all through

your body

as you say the phrases bring this

feeling up and it will resonate in your

heart area on its own

sincerely wish your self happiness

believe it

and know that you do wish happiness for

yourself

just be with this feeling know it is

there and smile with it

there may be some blocks that come up

such as saying to yourself

no i don't deserve to be happy like this

this aversion to your own happiness is a

distraction

distractions will be covered shortly we

will explain the method to deal with

them so that you can allow and train

yourself to feel real loving kindness

for a longer period of time

later when you begin feeling this

feeling toward others

know that similar blocks may come up and

that these are distractions too

there is no reason that others should

not be happy as well

the goal is to first accept and allow

yourself to be happy and peaceful

it's okay then since you feel that

happiness in your own mind you will be

happy to share that feeling with other

beings

when you sit please don't move don't

wiggle your toes

don't twitch or itch don't rub don't

scratch

don't rock back and forth don't change

your posture at all

sit as still as the monk below when you

sit still the mind calms down

if there is any movement at all the mind

will be distracted

just as jello sets up it must be cooled

and not jiggled around to solidify

smiling this is a smiling meditation

the reason that you should smile is

because it has been found that when the

corners of your mouth go up

so does your mental state when the

corners of your mouth go down

so does your mental state put a little

smile on your lips

but don't stop there put a smile in your

eyes even though your eyes are closed

you'll notice there can be a lot of

tension in the eyes

put a smile in your mind and especially

put a smile in your heart it can be a

mechanical smile at first

eventually it will turn into a sincere

happy feeling

it should be a smile that conveys loving

kindness

it's important to believe it smile with

your lips

smile from your mind and smile from your

heart

if your mind wanders away 25 times in a

sitting and

25 times you recognize it release it

relax

re-smile and return to your meditation

then you've had a good meditation

it definitely might not be a quiet and

calm meditation

but it is an active meditation and that

can still be a good meditation

every time your mind wanders away and

comes back and you relax and smile

you are developing your ability to see a

distraction and let it go

you are improving your mindfulness your

observation power

as you practice you will get better at

it and your powers of observation will

get stronger

distractions while you practice meta

meditation in this way

your mind is going to wander what do we

mean by wander

you are with your object of meditation

which is the warm glowing feeling in the

center of your chest

you are experiencing this feeling then

you are distracted by some thought or

sensation

it might be a sensation of itching a

desire to cough

a burning sensation or a painful feeling

in your leg

it might be a memory of a conversation

with a friend or of a trip to the lake

or it could be a thought about something

you need from the store

suddenly you are with that distraction

rather than with your objective

meditation

in other words your attention is

somewhere else

you are not sure how you got there or

what you are supposed to be doing

then you remember that you are

meditating and that you are supposed to

be on your object of meditation

remember that is the first part of the

definition of mindfulness

if you let go of your thinking about the

distraction and relax slightly

you can observe that there is a tight

metal fist wrapped around that sensation

or thought

you can also observe that you don't want

it there you want it to go away

but the more you want it to go away the

bigger and more intense the distraction

becomes

so your mind is on this itch this pain

this thought

how did it get there it didn't just jump

there

there is a process that happens and you

begin to see how your mind moves from

one thing to another

don't think about that but observe

carefully how the process happens

we aren't talking here about analyzing

why anything happens

simply observe what is happening observe

the way the mind moves and reacts in the

present

that is the second part of mindfulness

the truth is that when a sensation is

there

it's there it's okay for it to be there

you're going to have distracting

thoughts and sensations come up

and that's okay thoughts are not your

enemy

in fact they are opportunities every

thought

every feeling every sensation that

arises and distracts your mind also

causes tightness

the first noble truth is that there is

suffering

the second noble truth is that suffering

is caused by craving

the third noble truth is that there is

the cessation of suffering

the fourth noble truth is that there is

the path to the cessation of suffering

this path is the eightfold path this

tightness is how you can recognize the

very start of craving end

as you may know the second noble truth

says that craving is the cause of

suffering

life is not suffering craving is what

makes it so

distractions are telling you what you

crave the things to which you are

attached

seeing and understanding what you like

and dislike is the first step toward

letting go of those attachments

your brain has two lobes that are

contained in three membranes called the

meninges

it is like a bag wrapped around your

brain and spine

any time that there is a distraction

there is a perceptible movement in the

brain

a tension or tightness and the brain

seems some will disagree with this

but something is felt to start to expand

against this membrane

the thought causes this tightness or

tension to arise which we are actually

able to observe for ourselves

anytime you notice this tension and

tightness you want to actively relax and

soften into it

by relaxing you are releasing the

craving

more on this when we get to the six

aries when craving is released

there is a slight feeling of expansion

in your head

right after you relax you will notice

that your mind is very peaceful and calm

your mind is alert and there are no

thoughts

at this time you have a pure mind

now bring that pure mind back to your

object of meditation

the feeling of loving kindness and

smiling that warm

radiating happy feeling now make another

wish for your happiness

put that feeling into your heart and

radiate that happy feeling to yourself

it does not matter how many times your

attention is pulled away by a

distraction

thoughts and sensations don't go away

the first time you notice them

and that's okay as these distractions

come back again and again

you will become increasingly familiar

with how they arise

with practice their intensity and

frequency will subside

hindrances the buddha talked about five

hindrances to meditation

hindrances are distractions that will

pull you away from your object of

meditation

five troublemakers who will surely come

calling

every distraction is based on at least

one of the five hindrances

often they come two or three at a time

and gang up

the five hindrances are one

sensual desire i like that otherwise

known as lustful or greedy mind

you will hang on to things that are

pleasant and want more

this will cause attachment to pleasant

states of mind that have arisen in the

past

and desire for pleasant states to arise

in the future

2. anger aversion

fear i don't like that you will want to

push away states of mind that you don't

like

or you might experience fear or anger

over unpleasant or painful feelings that

have already arisen

you will try to push away and control

anything causing you pain

you will even try to force your mind to

experience things in a certain way that

you think is right when you actually

should just observe what is there

now that is really overly controlling

3. sloth and torpor dullness and

sleepiness

these will cause lack of effort and

determination because you've lost

interest in your object of meditation

you will experience a mental fog when

you look at it closely

you actually see that it has tightness

and tension in it

there is even craving in sleepiness 4.

restlessness with restlessness you

constantly want to move and change

to do something other than what you are

doing to be somewhere other than here

restlessness can manifest as very tight

unpleasant feelings in the body and mind

5. doubt you are not sure you are

following the instructions correctly

or even if this is the right practice it

makes you feel unsure of yourself and

may even manifest as a lack of

confidence in the buddha's teaching or

your teacher or both

when the hindrances arise your job is

neither to like them nor to fight with

them

your job is to accept them to invite

them in

and to offer them tea don't feed them

with your attention

forcing and not liking their being there

just gives them the attention they crave

and makes them stronger

that's what happens with one pointed

concentration meditation

you force the hindrances away by

practicing intense concentration

however as soon as you stop meditating

they come back

sometimes even stronger if you just let

hindrances be there

turning your attention to something that

is wholesome instead the energy inherent

in them will gradually fade away

they will disappear like a fire that

runs out of fuel

that's how you overcome the hindrances

for good the fire just goes out

in poly nabana translates as knee or no

and banana or fire no fire

no craving no hindrance

the six aries now we are going to give

you specific instructions

on how to work with the hindrances in

the way the buddha taught

imagine for a moment the bodhisattva

resting under the rose apple tree as a

young boy

he was not serious or tense he was

having fun

watching his father's festival right

then he attained to a pleasant abiding

jhana as stated in the suthas with a

light mind

he was able to come to a very tranquil

and aware state

later on the eve of his enlightenment

after he had tried every method of

meditation and bodily exercise that was

known in

india at that time he remembered this

state

and he realized that this simple state

this tranquil

aware and happy state was the key to

attaining awakening

but how to convey this when he was

teaching

the buddha worked largely with

uneducated farmers and merchants

he had to have a simple effective

practice that was easy and worked

quickly

he had to have a method by which

everyone could experience the path and

benefits for themselves easily and

immediately

this is how he was able to affect so

many people during his lifetime

do you want to see clearly it's easy

lighten up have fun exploring relax

and smile relaxing and smiling leads you

to a happier

more interesting practice that sounds

like great advice

but how do you do it when you have been

carried away by distraction

and you lose your smile just follow

these steps

one recognize that mind's attention has

drifted away and that you are lost in

thought

you have forgotten what you were doing

you are no longer on your object of

meditation

2. release your attachment to the

thought or sensation by letting the

distraction be

by not giving it any more attention just

stop

feeding it just back away from it

3. relax any remaining tension or

tightness caused by that distraction

4. re-smile put that smile back on your

lips and in your heart

feel that happy feeling of loving

kindness again

5. return or redirect

gently redirect mind's attention back to

the object of meditation

that is to meta continue with a gentle

collected mind to stay with your object

of meditation

6. repeat this entire practice cycle

repeat this practice whenever your

attention is distracted away from your

object of meditation

we call these the six aries they are

drawn directly from the soothing text as

part of right effort

the first four r's are the four right

efforts with the last two

hours to remind you to return and repeat

as needed

notice that you never push anything away

you never try to control anything

trying to control is using craving to

eliminate craving

please don't do the six aries for some

slight noise in the background or a

minor bodily feeling

as long as you are still with your

feeling of loving kindness

just stay with that feeling and let it

deepen ignore those slight distractions

in the background

as a beginner do the six areas only if

your attention is completely gone from

the object

in the explanation of the eightfold path

in the suthas one of the components is

right effort

right effort in the six areas are

exactly the same things

what is right effort one

you notice that an unwholesome state has

arisen

two you stop paying attention to that

unwholesome feeling

letting it be there by itself with no

pushing away or holding on to it

3. you bring up a wholesome feeling

4. you stay with that wholesome feeling

the six aries just add the return and

repeat to complete the cycle

we are practicing right effort by

repeating the six aries cycle again and

again

we see and experience for ourselves what

suffering is and how to relieve it

you notice what causes you to become

tense and tight and then how to reach

its cessation by releasing and relaxing

and bringing up a wholesome object

you discover how to exercise the direct

path to the cessation of suffering

this happens each time you recognize and

release an arising feeling

relax and re-smile notice the relief

when you look at the benefits discussed

in the soothing about the dhamma

there is a phrase that says the dhamma

is immediately effective

by practicing the six ares you fulfill

this statement

when you relax the tension or tightness

caused by a distraction

you immediately experience the third

noble truth the cessation of suffering

in other words you are purifying the

mind by relaxing and letting go of

suffering

you see this for yourself then you bring

up a wholesome object

by smiling and return mind's attention

back to meta which is a wholesome

feeling

you do not have to practice for long

periods months or years

to feel relief you can see it right

after the relaxed step of the six aries

you notice the moment of a pure mind

free from craving

by repeating the six areas over and over

depriving the hindrances of attention

their fuel you will eventually replace

all of the unwholesome mental habits

with wholesome ones

in this way you bring up only wholesome

states and will eventually achieve the

cessation of suffering

to be successful in meditation you need

to develop your mindfulness skill and

observation power

also keeping up your sense of fun and

exploration is important

this helps to improve your mindfulness

the six series training develops these

necessary skills

sometimes people say this practice is

simpler than they thought

some have actually complained to the

teacher because they want this

meditation to be more complicated

now let us go through each of the steps

in more depth

recognize mindfulness remembers to

observe and recognize movements of

mind's attention from one thing to

another

that is from the meditation object to

the distraction

this observing notices any movement of

mind's attention away from the object of

meditation

one can notice a slight tightness or

tension as mine's attention begins to

move toward the arising phenomenon

pleasant or painful feelings can occur

at any one of the six sense doors

any sight sound odor taste

touch or thought can cause a distraction

to arise

with careful non-judgmental observation

you will notice a slight tightening

sensation arising both in mind and

physically in the brain itself

recognizing early movement of mind is

vital to successful meditation

you then continue on to release

when a thought about something arises

release it

let it be there without giving any more

attention to it

the content of the distraction is not

important at all but the mechanics of

how it arose are important

don't analyze it or try to figure out

why it is there let it be without

keeping mind's attention on it

without your mind's attention the

distraction loses energy and passes away

when you do not keep your attention on

it a distraction and the mental chatter

about it ceases

mindfulness then reminds the meditator

too

relax after releasing the thought and

allowing it to be by itself without

trying to watch it or get involved in it

there is a subtle barely noticeable

tightness or tension remaining within

mind and body

to remove this remaining tension the

buddha introduced a relaxed step

the suit is called the relaxed step

tranquilizing the bodily formation

this is true especially in your head

which is part of your body

it means to unclench your attention from

and around the thought

it is more than just letting it go it

actively softens and relaxes

and lets the distraction be there which

then weakens its power gradually it

disappears completely on its own

please do not skip this step it is the

most important part of this meditation

it is the missing step we talked about

in the introduction

it is the key to progress without

performing this step of relaxing every

time you are distracted from your

meditation object

you will not experience the close-up

view of the cessation of the tightness

caused by craving

you will not feel the relief as this

tension is relaxed

remember that craving always manifests

first as a tightness or tension in both

your mind and body

the relaxed step gives you a kind of

mundane nibana

you have a momentary opportunity to see

and experience the true nature of and

relief from tightness and suffering

while performing the release and relax

steps

mindfulness then continues to remember

to

re-smile if you have listened to the

dhamma talks on our website

you might remember hearing about how

smiling is an important aspect of the

meditation

learning to smile and raising the

corners of the mouth slightly helps the

mind to be observant

alert agile and bright getting serious

tensing up or frowning causes mind to

become heavy in your mindfulness to

become dull and slow

insights become more difficult to see

thus slowing down your understanding of

dhamma

return redirect your mind back to your

object of meditation

gently redirect the mind and don't jerk

it back before you are ready

make this a harmonious movement a

movement that is timely and not forced

repeat repeat this entire practice cycle

as often as needed

stay with your object until you slip and

then run the six aries again

spiritual friend for the first 10

minutes of your sitting

radiate loving kindness to yourself wrap

yourself up in that happy

tranquil feeling using the previous

instructions

for the rest of the sitting radiate

loving and kind thoughts to a spiritual

friend

what is a spiritual friend now we will

select our next object of meditation

the spiritual friend it is very

important that they are a living person

of the same sex and are not a member of

your family

when the spiritual friend is of a

different sex it may lead to lustful

feeling

and this complicates your experience

this is the traditional way of teaching

meta

if this instruction does not fit you

then just make sure the person you

select does not raise lustful feelings

in your mind when you are radiating

loving kindness

remember you will be spending a long

time with this person

your spiritual friend should be someone

who you deeply respect and sincerely

wish well

they are someone who makes you smile

when you think of them

it might be a favorite teacher or

counselor who has your highest goals in

mind

it might be a friend who always has your

back and supports whatever you do

please do not use a member of your

family as your spiritual friend

because family members are too close to

you family members will be brought into

your practice at a later time

but for now they may raise hidden issues

that interfere with the practice

initially we want to keep this easy and

uncomplicated

do not radiate to a person who is dead

the feeling will not arise correctly

as there is no personal connection that

can be made

you make the wish for your spiritual

friend in this way as i feel this

happiness in myself

may you be happy and peaceful wrap them

up in the feeling of loving kindness

place them in the center of your heart

and smile at them as you are doing this

really be sincere about this

really believe it the more you believe

it the stronger the feeling will become

continue wishing them well and see them

in your mind's eye

but don't put too much emphasis on the

actual mental image of them

again some people are very good at

visualizing

and some are not just know who they are

and that you wish them well

the phrases are a way of priming the

pump they evoke the feeling

as you make that wish shift your

attention to the feeling itself

remember that your object of meditation

is the feeling

stay with that feeling and let it grow

as it will

don't force it just give it some gentle

encouragement

sooner or later the feeling will fade

when it does

repeat the phrases again it is not

helpful to repeat phrases rapidly

that makes the phrase feel mechanical

rather

say it sincerely and rest for a few

moments with the feeling it evokes

repeat a phrase again only if it hasn't

brought up the feeling

some people ask are we sending this

feeling outward to the friend

no we are not sending anything we are

just seeing our friend in the center of

our heart

and wishing for him or her to be happy

we are not sending

telegraphing or overnighting any sort of

feeling

when a candle radiates warmth and light

is it actively sending that feeling out

no it radiates out because that is the

nature of warmth and light

in the same way we surround and immerse

our friend with this feeling

wishing it for them and seeing them

smiling and happy

this process is a combination of three

things arising

the radiating feeling in your heart the

mental phrase

and your image of yourself or your

spiritual friend

about 75 of your attention should be on

the radiating of the feeling

20 on feeling the wish and just a little

say 5

on visualizing your spiritual friend

some people think they should make the

visualization a bigger part of their

practice

then they complain about having

tightness in their head

this is because they are pushing the

idea of seeing their spiritual friend

too much

the teacher will tell them to stop

trying so hard because the most

important part of meta is feeling the

radiating

making a sincere wish for their

spiritual friend's happiness and then

feeling that happiness

not visualizing their friend if you are

getting a headache or feeling pressure

you are trying too hard smile again and

back off a little

when you picture your spiritual friend

see them smiling and happy

remember to keep a little smile on your

lips for the entire meditation

session if you find yourself not smiling

then this will be a reminder to smile

once again

bring up another wish and send a kind

feeling to your friend

your face isn't used to smiling so

please be patient

your cheeks might even hurt a little but

you will get used to it

and that uneasiness will pass please

don't criticize yourself for forgetting

to smile

critical thoughts about anything are

unwholesome and lead to more suffering

if you see that you are coming down on

yourself for forgetting to smile

then laugh at yourself for having such a

crazy mind

understand that everyone has a crazy

mind and that it is okay to have this

craziness

laugh with yourself about it this

meditation is supposed to be fun

remember smile and laugh at getting

caught again

then start all over with your object of

meditation

life is a game to play so keep

everything light and have fun all of the

time

it does take practice but this is why

you are doing this practice

play with things and don't take them too

seriously

this is a serious meditation but we do

not want you to be serious

your mind should not be too serious

rather it should be light and uplifted

smile and if that does not work then

laughing a little bit should help you

get back into that happier

alert state of mind you will use the

same spiritual friend the entire time

until the teacher says you can change

this may be a few days or weeks if

practicing on your own

get in touch with us via the website and

let us help you

become part of our yahoo discussion

group the more you can stay in the

present

happy in content feeling happiness with

your spiritual friend

the sooner you will be able to move on

to the next step of the meditation

you can always contact us through our

website for guidance

once you have settled on a good

spiritual friend stay with that person

if you switch from one person to another

the practice won't be able to ripen or

deepen

sometimes meditators want to send meta

to other people or to all beings

this is just a subtle way your mind

distracts you

you want to stay with the same friend in

the beginning so that you can build your

collectedness

we replace the word concentration with

the word collectedness to help clarify

that we are not forcing our minds to

stay on only one object of meditation in

a forceful

fixed way rather we want our mind to

rest lightly on the object

if your mind wanders use the six ares

when there are no distractions there is

no need to exert any effort to keep your

mind on its object

it just stays there by itself that is

really an amazing process to see

again there may be times that some

random thoughts and sensations arise

while you are with your object of

meditation but which are not strong

enough to pull your attention away

completely from it

when this happens ignore those and stay

with your meditation object

these thoughts and distractions will go

away by themselves

there is no need to six are them so

let's review

1. sit for a minimum of 30 minutes

why is explained later 2.

begin by radiating kind and happy

thoughts and wishes to yourself for

about 10 minutes

3. switch to your one chosen spiritual

friend for the remainder of your sitting

at least 20 minutes

and radiate kind and happy thoughts to

them for the rest of the session

stay with just the same friend and do

not switch to anything or anyone else

even if you think they deserve your

attention such desires are just more

distractions

the mind can be very sneaky four

use the six areas to overcome

distractions

when the feeling of meta starts to

become stronger notice it and sink into

it

smile into it and let it develop by

itself

if you find that you are subtly

verbalizing the phrases and the

verbalizing starts to cause some

tightness

let go of the verbalization and just

feel the wish

this will allow the feeling to grow even

stronger

stay with the feeling and just be in the

moment without pushing or leaning into

it

this practice will take time to master

in a sense this is a kind of not doing

you are not controlling or pushing the

feeling

you are just gently directing it if

there is tension in your body from

trying to send it out

then you are putting in too much effort

there should just be the wish for

happiness

in the same way you wish someone good

luck on a journey

you stand and wave as they go you don't

stand and try to push a feeling out to

them

similarly with meta meditation you

simply smile and wish this feeling of

gentle loving kindness

after doing the six areas and getting

the hang of it there will be a hindrance

that arises

finally u6 are the last little bit of

tension from it

and it disappears completely craving is

eliminated for the first time

a small amount of craving is gone never

to arise again

as a result of the hindrance

disappearing joy arises and

for the first time you are experiencing

the first tranquil aware janna

there will be more to go as you progress

along this path

as your practice advances you will find

that the joy is there

it can be goosebumps thrills or just

excitement arising

a pleasant tranquil feeling will follow

it

as you go deeper your confidence gets

stronger and you understand that what

you are doing is right

also you will notice there is a much

deeper state of quiet in your mind than

you have ever experienced before

it is like someone turned off the

refrigerator you never even realized was

on

you might notice that you are not aware

of parts of your body unless you direct

your attention to them

this is a normal development as your

body starts to lose tension and

tightness

and this indicates progress finally

as you get deeper the feeling of loving

kindness may rise into your head

never try to control the feeling if it

wants to move there

then let it move now you have become an

advanced meditator

when this happens you will be ready for

the next step of the meditation practice

contact us through our website

we will not cover that here as this is

now advanced practice and requires more

instructions

you are now on your way through the

tranquil aware genres to the experience

of awakening

forgiveness meditation there may be some

of you who have difficulty bringing up

and sustaining the feeling of loving

kindness

even after following all the

instructions and guidance here

you may bring up a phrase may i be happy

may i be content and this causes

self-aversion or hatred to arise

i don't deserve it i am not a nice

person may arise in your mind

you try the six r's and it doesn't

really work

there is no loving kindness there your

heart just has no feeling and is dry and

may be hard

you may find the practice of forgiveness

meditation will help with this

we find now a not so small percentage of

students benefit tremendously from

switching to forgiveness in which you

radiate forgiveness to yourself and

forgiving everything that comes up and

as people come up

you forgive them until they forgive you

you can find out more about this

practice at the dhamma sukkah website

and in a book called forgiveness

meditation by bonnie vimala ramsay

forgiveness is about letting go of the

past and softening our minds

everyone can benefit from practicing

forgiveness

in fact the forgiveness book is now

included in this book at the back

walking meditation

an important part of the meta practice

is walking meditation

please do not ignore it you need to walk

to keep your energy up

especially after longer sittings you can

use walking meditation to build energy

or uplift your mind

before sitting if you feel sleepy or

have low energy

sometimes when your mind is distracted

walking will make it easier to calm a

restless mind so that you can go back to

sitting

walking meditation on the other hand can

add energy to your sitting by getting

your blood flowing

walking meditation is a powerful

meditation on its own but

in conjunction with meta meditation it

helps you to incorporate meta into your

everyday life and activities

please do remember that this is an all

the time practice

find a place to walk that is at least 30

paces and is straight and level

walk at a normal pace as if you are

taking a stroll in the park on a sunday

afternoon

not slowly like a turtle but at a speed

that is neither too fast nor too slow

your eyes should be directed down in

front of you six to ten feet ahead

do not put your attention on your feet

instead

stay with your spiritual friend please

do not look around

as that will distract you from your

meditation this

is not a nature walk but part of the

actual practice where you are radiating

kind and happy thoughts to your

spiritual friend

as much as possible stay with that

practice the entire time you are walking

it is just like when you are sitting

with the only difference being that you

are walking instead of sitting

you may do this inside or outside as the

weather permits

it is best done outside in the open air

but try to avoid the heat of direct

sunlight

you can also walk inside in a circular

path around a room or down a hallway

some meditators make a lot of progress

while walking it can go quite deep

do not take this instruction lightly as

it is an important part of the practice

it also helps us learn how to practice

meta in our everyday life where we are

more active out in the world

walk for about 15 to 30 minutes and

never more than an hour

as this much walking will tire your body

out however

do walk at a good pace so that by the

end of it you will feel your heart

pumping and you may be slightly out of

breath

then you can sit and be fully alert

walking can bring calmness

clarity or energy depending on what you

need at the time

keep it going 30 minutes of meditation a

day is the minimum to start

from our experience it takes 15 to 20

minutes to get the mind to settle down

then you are giving yourself another 10

productive minutes where you can truly

watch and observe

45 minutes is better just the fact you

are sitting and not moving permits the

mind to calm down

the longer you sit the more your mind

will come on its own

without you doing anything else so

sitting longer and not moving is vital

to progress to deeper states

on retreat you will at first sit at

least 30 minutes

walk 15 minutes then sit again

alternating like this for the whole day

your sittings will naturally get longer

and longer throughout the retreat and

may eventually last as long as two to

three hours

in your daily life sitting twice a day

is very helpful

once you're comfortable try to stay

completely still throughout the sitting

period

if the mind insists on moving six are

the desire to move

the six ares are very helpful in

dissolving tension and finding deeper

ease

if pain arises please watch how it

arises

you can tell if the pain is genuine by

noticing what happens when you get up

from sitting

if the pain goes away very quickly it is

a meditation pain

which is in fact a mental pain and is

not caused by anything harmful

it is just a distraction if it returns

when you sit

try to remain still and 6r if

when you get up the pain lingers and

stays with you

it is best not to sit that way in the

future because this would be actual

physical pain manifesting

if we try to get rid of painful or

unpleasant feelings forcefully

whether mental or physical we just add

more greed and aversion to the mind

this fuels the vicious cycle of samsara

however if we approach an unpleasant

feeling openly and without taking it

personally

we view these unwholesome qualities with

wholesome awareness

this pure clear awareness gradually

melts that disturbing feeling

moreover you might notice the feeling

linger but your attitude toward it has

changed

if you get sleepy sitting inside try

sitting outside but not in the direct

sun

the outdoors tends to wake you up you

can even try doing the walking practice

backward after you walk forward 30 paces

instead of turning around just walk

backward to the starting point

meditation and its benefits increase if

you can continue to cultivate awareness

throughout the day

smile and send meta whenever you think

of it when you notice difficult feelings

coming up

six are them do this with a sense of fun

and humor at just how crazy mind can be

if you get serious and try to control

the mind that is just more craving

you may wear yourself out and become

frustrated

so do this lightly but with as much

continuity as possible

add meta to everything you can bring

loving kindness into everything that you

do

generally you will do your sitting at

home but you can also smile and radiate

well-being and happiness to all beings

when you are out and about

if you are just going out walking or

shopping you do not have to stay with a

spiritual friend

stay with a general feeling of meta

smile more

notice and six are emotional upsets that

arise

when unwholesome states of mind arise

see them as opportunities

let them be and bring up wholesome ones

this is the meaning of right effort in

the buddha's no late fold path

progress in jhana as you make progress

with the meditation

you will see all kinds of new phenomena

joy and other pleasant experiences will

arise

some of them will be really worth the

price of admission

the first time you truly and completely

let go of a hindrance

you will have your first experience of

the janek state and be on your way to

going even deeper

you will start to be friends with fun

stuff like joy contentment

equanimity and more good times are on

the way

brahma viharas and nabana

the buddha talked about four divine

qualities of mind that are particularly

wholesome

they are called the brahma viharas and

consist of loving kindness

meta compassion karuna sympathetic joy

mudita we actually prefer just joy and

equanimity

a pekka this is the practice you are

starting now

you will gradually go through all these

states very naturally as meta becomes

quieter and turns to compassion and so

on through joy to equanimity

you do not need to change the practice

as you go the states themselves will

develop and arise on their own

once you become an advanced meditator

you just have to keep the meditation

going

the brahmavi hair is developed naturally

one by one

without you having to bring up each of

these states as its own separate

meditation object

when the next state arises then you take

that state

whether it be compassion or joy as the

feeling to be the object of meditation

and continue radiating that out now

this is another important difference

from how other practices have you

developed meta

the buddha taught that when the

meditation is properly practiced

all four divine states arise on their

own one after the other

you will learn how to radiate any of

these four states to all of the six

directions and then to all directions at

the same time

as this happens the jhanas will arise

naturally on their own as well

the word jhana is a loaded word it has

been translated in many different

ways but we refer to the genres as

levels of understanding

we do not want to confuse them with

their one-pointed absorption jhana

cousins

they are related but these are ones in

which the meditator keeps awareness of

their body

whereas the others do not the buddha

taught that the key to understanding

craving and distractions is to realize

that mind and body are one process that

cannot be separated

tension and tightness are bodily

processes while thought and images are

mental processes

we not only want to pay attention to the

mind but also be aware of what is

happening in the body and not ignore or

repress this awareness through one

pointed focused concentration

we call the genic states that we

experience with this meditation the

tranquil awareness

there are eight of them four rupo or

material genres

and four arupa or immaterial genres

beyond the highest immaterial jhana lies

the experience of nibana itself

your mind will become so quiet that it

just stops

when the mind comes back from that

cessation experience

it will be incredibly bright and clear

with no disturbance

like a blackboard with nothing on it at

that point

when the next mental process arises you

will see with astonishing clarity every

link and part of this process that we

call life as it arises and passes away

this process is what the buddha called

dependent origination

there are 12 links in each moment of

experience and you will see how all of

these arise and pass away

you will see how all of these

dependently arise one upon the other

when you see very deeply into this

process you will understand

at a profound personal level that all of

the aggregates that make up you or the

eye

are actually impersonal and without any

sort of enduring self or soul

this experience is so profound that

nibana will arise

and you will understand the true nature

of all existence

you will have attained awakening in this

very life

there will be so much relief

experiencing awakening

nibbana happens for many people who

follow these simple directions

it does not take years or decades the

buddha said that this practice is

immediately

effective in the saudi patana suthay off

the midshima nikaya

he says that this experience can take

place in as little as seven years

or even seven days it can truly happen

that fast

we have seen it take place within a

single eight-day retreat

so start now and you too can experience

the initial stages of awakening

just follow the instructions exactly

benefits of loving-kindness

there are many benefits to practicing

loving-kindness meditation

in the suthas it says that when you

practice meta-meditation

you go to sleep easily and sleep soundly

you have no nightmares

when you wake up you awaken easily and

quickly

people really like you animals like you

your face becomes radiant and beautiful

you have good health

these are just a few of the benefits

when you practice loving kindness

your mind also becomes clear and quiet

and your progress in the meditation is

very fast

meta in daily life continue to sit and

practice

listen to talks read our books and study

more

about the concepts surrounding this

practice there are many resources on our

website

when starting any new practice it is

usually best to immerse yourself in that

practice

setting aside other practices you may

have done in the past until you

understand the new practice deeply and

thoroughly

otherwise you may be confused with the

various opinions and practices that are

out there

remember that we are not basing our

teaching on views or opinions

but rather on the study of the suthas

themselves and the direct experience of

the meditation practice

we invite you to follow this path as

well the best way to experience deep

immersion into tranquil wisdom inside

meditation is to come for a retreat or

if you cannot get away

do an online retreat with us check our

website for more information

once you master staying with a spiritual

friend there are more instructions for

breaking down barriers and radiating the

feeling of meta in all directions

the teacher will give you those

directions and advise you when you are

ready

this is where the practice of the brahma

v heras really takes off

more phenomena will arise and a teacher

can guide you based on your progress

there are more steps in the practice but

they are advanced and are for another

book

for now master the ability to stay with

your spiritual friend perfectly and then

contact us

or just come and do a retreat with us

again

when you are outside moving around in

daily life remember to smile and radiate

meta to all beings

use right effort to recondition your

mind bring up the wholesome quality of

loving kindness instead of allowing

whatever ho-hum mind is there

stuck in a long line at the checkout

line radiate meta

it is a tough job being a cashier at a

store so smile at the cashier and be

friendly

traffic bogged down and you just can't

move

rather than getting upset radiate meta

to your fellow drivers

six are your upset mind and replace it

with a wholesome uplifted mind

put a cd in the car player and listen to

a dhamma talk to learn more about the

eightfold path of the buddha

rather than wasting your own time ho

humming your way through life

share what you have learned with other

people and let them benefit from your

practice

pay this practice forward once you

understand it

don't proselytize just talk about what

happened to you and your own words

how is it helping you be happier be the

buddha rather than a buddhist

can't find a sitting group in your area

start your own

as soon as you find one more person you

have a group

meditate for at least 30 minutes listen

to a talk

have some tea and discuss what you have

learned right there

you have just created your own sitting

group little by little

like drops of water filling a cup you

will soon come to supreme awakening

it is possible to do this right now the

buddha showed us the way

just follow the instructions exactly now

let's get into the jhana states and see

ultimately

how nabana arises chapter six

first jhana joy

when your attention stays with the

feeling of loving kindness and your

spiritual friend

for about three to five minutes then joy

will arise

congratulations you have arrived at the

first tranquil aware janna

how does a jhana arise first a

distraction arises

fueled by one or more of the hindrances

whatever it happens to be

greed hatred or restlessness as you let

it go

relax and come back to your object of

meditation

the hindrance begins to weaken when a

hindrance arises

it is not your enemy to fight with

rather

it is a friend for you to invite in

allowing it to show

you where your attachments are every

time you six are the hindrance

it grows weaker why because you have

released the craving which is embedded

in the distraction arising

finally you do one last six hour process

and the hindrance completely disappears

it just has no further energy from this

release and resulting relief

the first genre arises and mind enters

into a pure state

when the hindrance runs out of energy

you have a real sense of relief

you feel joy arising which is an

exciting happy feeling

you will feel light in both your mind

and body

quite nice hindrances are constantly

tightening down on our awareness and

pulling our mood down

they lead to a lot of frowning and

stress now you see the beginning of real

happiness arising

it is like you have been in a coarse

painful state your whole life and

someone just switches it off

you feel joy pity in the head in the

chest

and throughout the body it may feel full

or warm or light

it may be like bubbles popping it may be

subtle or

for some it may be felt as more extreme

joy

there might be some mental and visual

activities or even fireworks going on

behind your closed eyes

this will settle down after a period of

time a few hours or a day

the mental state will be energized and

joyful and it will definitely be a

pleasant feeling

there will be no hindrances at this time

this is a big relief

right after the joy fades away mind will

become very tranquil and comfortable

this is called happiness or sukkah mind

just stays on its object with almost no

effort at all

you have never experienced happiness and

clarity like this before

i will insert some comments from past

students taking a physical or online

retreat with this practice

i was able to generate loving kindness

and radiate the feeling to my spiritual

friend

within a few seconds i felt an

overwhelming wave of joy

it was like my spiritual friend was

radiating meta back to me

i cried out of joy again i returned to

my meditation object

spiritual friend but again i felt the

wave of joy

this time i just felt tremendously

grateful em california what is joy

excitement and a happy feeling are the

nature of joy at this beginning stage

a man in a desert who is dying of thirst

spots in the distance an oasis and a

pool of cool water

he becomes very excited and happy this

is the feeling of joy

the moment he sees it joy arises this is

what happens in the first jhana

the joy in the first jhana is followed

by a feeling of tranquility and

relaxation

you are still in the first jhana but it

is changing

you will feel this you will be smiling

and radiant

the jhana will last for a while until

another hindrance pops up

sometimes the joy is not strong and

meditators are not

sure they have achieved anything so they

don't mention it

on a retreat over the course of the

daily interviews

the teacher will inquire about what is

happening to you

they will ask you is there any joy the

teacher will get a hint when you say you

can stay on your meditation object for a

longer period of time

let's follow this similarly a bit longer

and do a brief explanation of the next

three jhanas so you can see how the

practice develops

as you continue meditating your joy from

the first jhana will deepen

there will arise a feeling of strong

confidence

this is a quieter deeper joy where both

mind and body become very light

almost like floating both mind and body

become very tranquil comfortable

and peaceful this is the second janna

when the man finally arrives at the pool

of cool water and jumps in

the temperature of the water is just

right both his mind and body kind of

give a gentle sigh of relief

this is where he experiences happiness

and contentment

this is the feeling of happiness sukha

and a developing sense of mental balance

that occurs in the third jhana

this happiness will fade away just

leaving a stability of mind that is a

feeling of equanimity

apeka which is the fourth jhana

the suthas explain the janas

the anupata suda one by one as they

occurred number 111

from the medeshima nikaya mn explains

the entire process and all the

characteristics of the janna's up to the

attainment of nibana

i will use this auto explained

throughout the rest of the book that

john is one by one

and the subsequent progress to awakening

the sutham 111 starts

and the states in the first jhana the

thinking and examining thought

the joy the happiness and the

unification of mind

you have let go of a hindrance and joy

arises

there are five different kinds of joy

the first kind of joy is like goosebumps

it is there for just a moment and then

it goes away

the next kind of joy is like a flash of

lightning it's very intense for a very

short period

and then that fades away the third kind

of joy is as if you are standing in the

ocean and you have these waves of joy

washing over you

it's just wave after wave these three

kinds of joy can happen to anyone for

any reason when the conditions are right

the last two types of joy only arise

from mental development

the fourth kind of joy is called

uplifting joy

you feel very light in your mind and

light in your body

you feel very happy and there is

excitement in it

this is the joy of the first and second

janus

the fifth and last kind of joy is called

all pervading joy

it just kind of comes out of everywhere

it bubbles out all over and pervades

your whole mind

this kind of joy is also called the

awakening factor of joy

this is the joy you feel when you attain

nabana

so the fourth type of joy arises and

right after that

when it fades away you feel very

tranquil and comfortable in your mind

and in your body

this feeling is what the buddha calls

sukha which is the pali word for

happiness

your mind does not wander very much in

your meditation

it doesn't get lost there is still the

thinking and examining mind

you still can internally verbalize

thoughts about your experience

you are still thinking but now only

wholesome states are there

though it is still a bit noisy as

compared to the states that come later

you are not carried away by unwholesome

thoughts

there is no craving now thoughts that

occur are thinking and examining

thoughts that have to do with what you

are feeling right now

in the present you feel very peaceful

and collected

in pali the word for this state is

and if you look up the word in the pali

dictionary akaga means tranquility

peacefulness and stillness of mind it

doesn't mean one pointed or absorption

but rather collected and unified the

soothing explains there are five factors

in the first genre

thinking and examining thought joy

happiness

and unification of mind the suda goes on

to explain what else is there

mn the contact feeling perception

volition and mind the five aggregates

body feeling perception formations

volitions and consciousness are also

present in this genre

this means that all the foundations of

mindfulness are there and will be

observed

these comprise who you are and you can

see all the aggregates there without the

veil of craving

you see with little dust in your eyes

then the sutha says

t he enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

known to him those states arose known

they were present

known they disappeared what are we

talking about here

we are talking about impermanence you

begin to see impermanence while you are

in the genre

you see these things arise and pass away

one by one as they occur

the factors listed in the sutha don't

necessarily follow the order that

they're given here

they come up whenever they're going to

come up these are the first initial

insights or understandings

deepasana and pali that arise for you

mn he understood thus so indeed

these states not having been come into

being

having been they vanish an obstacle that

sometimes comes here is that some

meditators will try to six are the joy

and happiness that arises

thinking that they might get attached to

it they think they should try to

suppress it and not allow it to be there

you do not need to do this you should

let this happy feeling be there with

full acceptance

but still go back to your spiritual

friend and continue the meditation

this joy is a fruit of the practice and

is wholesome

just let it be it is okay for you to

have joy

it's okay to be happy it's kind of a new

idea to let happiness be there and not

push it away

and to even develop it and keep the

happy state going which is the last part

of right effort

if you have excessive thoughts and start

thinking about what just happened

the joy arising you can six are those

thoughts and let them go

as you've started to take the joy

personally and become attached to it

that is craving and that keeps us on the

wheel of samsara

the wheel of suffering again you should

never push the joy away

just six are it allow it but don't get

involved in it

it is a wholesome state and wholesome

states are what we are striving for

the buddha said it is part of right

effort to notice an unwholesome state

and bring up a wholesome state

he didn't say to replace a wholesome

state with an even more wholesome state

wholesome is wholesome just let it be

it is enough gradually this happy

feeling will subside

or possibly it may come up again and

again over a few days

it will be there as long as it is there

there was a fellow who had tears rolling

down his cheeks

and everyone thought he was upset it was

joy and

finally he was told just to get a towel

and let the tears fall on that

no need to make it stop it will stop on

its own

after some time you will lose this happy

feeling and the hindrances will come

back

you will certainly start to think oh if

i could just get that experience again

this is craving and should be 6 art

often

at this stage if you fail to follow the

teacher's instructions to 6r

you might go around trying to figure out

how to get that state back

and you won't subsequently you might

crash and burn

and the next day you will be frustrated

at not being able to bring back the

experience

some meditators are smarter than others

they just go back to the meditation as

they had practiced it before and

continue following the instructions

some may take an extra day and that's

okay

we all have to learn wanting something

only creates frustration in mind

we need to six are that too

meditation instruction on a retreat

the teacher will now give you further

instructions

for those of you using this book on your

own please pay attention to this next

instruction

after you feel this joyful feeling

arising you can drop the verbalization

for your spiritual friend

may you be happy may you be peaceful etc

just feel the wish for their happiness

without mentally verbalizing

there is no further need for the phrases

as they may cause tension and tightness

in your head

and we certainly don't wish to create

more tightness

this is a sign of progress in your

meditation

your thoughts have quieted down and you

are starting to experience the quieting

presence of the second jhana

more about this jhana in the next

chapter the teacher will not tell you

what jhana you are in until you have

gotten to the fourth jhana

at that stage you will have a firm grip

on the technique and how to six or

distractions

you understand that these are just

levels of understanding and tranquility

that you are going through

as your meditation progresses you start

to develop some equanimity and won't

care so much what state you are in

at that point the teacher will tell you

that you have become an advanced

meditator and congratulate you on your

progress

but there is more to do walking

meditation and the jaundice

walking is an important part of this

meditation as it helps to sustain energy

overcome sloth and torpor and maintain

health generally when you are sitting

for long periods of time

however one of the most important

purposes of walking meditation is to

enable you to practice integrating twin

meditation into your daily life

the purpose of meditation is to bring

change to all parts of your life all the

time

not just while you are sitting walking

meditation will help you to accomplish

this

while you are sitting you are staying

with your spiritual friend and six ring

distractions

now the only difference is that you are

walking just strolling normally

and keeping your mind on radiating kind

thoughts to your spiritual friend

in the same way when you were sitting

see a guide to twim for an in-depth

discussion of how to do walking

meditation

one of the mistakes many people make

when they are talking about jhanas is to

think that a jhana only arises while

you're doing your sitting meditation

however you can take any one of these

jhanas and stay with it while you get up

and do your walking meditation

you can also be in this state when

you're washing the dishes you could even

be taking a bath or standing in the

checkout line at the store

staying with your object of meditation

while you are walking and during all

your activities will help you to

progress further

unlike being in absorption jhana any one

of the tranquil aware genres can arise

during your daily activities

this is one of the reasons that you keep

your meditation going all the time

it doesn't matter what you are doing

it's all part of the practice

everything you do is practice if you

train in this way

then you will make progress be aware of

what your mind is doing all the time

remember to stay with the meditation

practice as much as possible

that's the first part of mindfulness

remembering to practice

remember what observing mind's attention

moving from one thing to another

chapter 7 second jhana noble silence

mn 111 section 5 again

monks with distilling of thinking and

examining thought

sarah put it entered and abided in the

second janna which has self-confidence

and

stillness of mind without thinking and

examining thought

with joy and happiness born of

collectedness the joy that arises in the

second jana is stronger than the first

and deeper

you feel much lighter in your mind much

lighter in your body

sometimes it feels like you are floating

in your chair

there are students that say they felt so

light that they had to open their eyes

because they thought they were going to

hit the ceiling

this is the uplifting type of joy from

attaining a meditative state

the happiness you experience is a

comfortable peacefulness

there is a calm feeling in your mind and

in your body

mind quiets down like when a

refrigerator turns off

you hadn't even noticed it was on and

then the compressor clicks off

it's a level of quiet that you never

thought possible

confidence appears you feel you are

really starting to understand the

meditation

you feel like you have no more doubts

about how to do this practice

you are starting to understand the six

ares when you're in the first jhana

you can still have thoughts and you can

still have thinking and examining mind

which means a wholesome observing mind

that is thinking about the experience

when you enter the second genre this is

where true

noble silence begins this is real noble

silence

it is not writing notes on retreat

instead of talking all the while your

mind is speeding along

it is noble silence because your

internal verbalizing has essentially

stopped

while you are in this state if you try

to make a wish-like

may i be happy this will cause more

tension and more phrases mentally

repeated will cause your head to get

tight

you then are advised to stop making

verbal wishes as it explains below

meditation instruction

again for meditators using this book as

a guide

now let go of internal verbalizing of

the wishes

simply wish loving kindness for your

spiritual friend

bring up the feeling without the phrases

when you are in the second genre and you

repeat phrases you will find it causes

tension in your head and mind and you

can't do it comfortably

that is your signal to let go of

internal verbalization

chapter eight third jhana

happiness m n colon 1 11 section 7.

again monks with the fading away of joy

sarah put a abide in equanimity and

mindful

and fully aware still feeling pleasure

happiness

with the body still feeling happiness

with the body

he entered upon and abided in the third

janna on ac

count of which noble ones announce he

has a pleasant abiding who has

equanimity and

is mindful when you get into the third

genre you start losing body awareness

this is a way to mark your progress

you'll be sitting and all of a sudden

you think

i don't feel my hands or i don't feel my

leg or my shoulder disappeared

unless you consciously put your

attention there and then you feel them

you feel very tranquil and sometimes it

can be a heavy

yet pleasant feeling this is a sign that

you are starting to truly understand the

use of the six ares

this is not a state of absorption where

if someone pokes you

you would not feel it this is a state

where your attention is not on the body

unless there is contact

it can be an outside force demanding

your attention as in the teacher calls

you

or someone taps your shoulder whenever

the attention is drawn somewhere

it is because there is craving there

when a feeling arises

you want to feel it and check it out

there is a little craving in every part

of the mental stream

if a pleasant feeling arises craving

arises

and we launch into liking or disliking

that feeling

then the thoughts and stories come up

about the feeling what the feeling is

about

the perception that comes with the

feeling and the story about the feeling

again we 6r and continue when you get

into the third jana

you let go of a lot of mental tension

when you let go of that mental tension

you start letting go of physical tension

as well

bani said that one meditator came to him

and told him she felt just like her head

was sitting on the floor

there was nobody there just a head

rolling around

at one point i couldn't feel my

extremities not because they were asleep

or anything

they just disappeared i was much less

distracted and was able to focus more

i studied the six r's more and was able

to really use them when needed

cg missouri a loud noise like a

motorcycle might be heard outside

and you know that this happened you have

a balanced mind about it

there is much more equanimity in the

third genre

sounds don't make your mind shake they

don't make your mind flutter

your mind just says okay there was a

sound

never mind relax come back to your

object of meditation

there is this strong balance that occurs

you feel more comfortable than you've

ever felt

very much at ease in your body bodily

tension has all but disappeared

whereas in the first and second john as

you had joy coming up

now it starts to fade away you will ask

where has the joy gone i like that

i want it back you have gone beyond that

coarser level of excitement and arrived

at a deeper

more content state the word used here is

happiness

sukha along with contentment this is not

joy anymore

sometimes the student needs to be

reassured it's okay not to have joy

this is progress your mind is going

deeper

mind becomes very tranquil and very

unified not in a one-pointed way where

the senses are shut out

but it stays on one object it just sits

there

and there is no need for control it is

happy there

everything is okay you are starting to

see with a quieter mind

you can notice when mental movements

first start to arise

you can let them go and relax you'll

start to see that mind begins to flutter

a little bit

and then it flutters faster and faster

and then it gets completely distracted

away

you'll begin to observe how that process

works

when you first notice this fluttering if

you relax right then

your mind stays on your object of

meditation

as you go deeper your wandering mind is

six-hard sooner

metta takes you to the fourth jhana

in the samyatta nikaya there is a

section on loving-kindness meditation

that refers to the factors of awakening

this suta is a real revelation because

it is talking about practicing

loving-kindness in the fourth jhana

the reason that this is a revelation is

that it is widely held that loving

kindness can only take you to the third

jhana

but there it is in the suda talking

about experiencing the feeling of meta

in the fourth jhana

the suthas disagree with the bishop maga

about this

in reading the sutha accompanied by

loving kindness number 46 section 54

4 from the samyata nikaya it says that

on the other hand metta or

loving-kindness

goes to the fourth jhana compassion goes

to the base of infinite space

the first arupa jhana joy goes to the

base of infinite consciousness

the second arupa-jhana and equanimity

goes to the base of nothingness

the third arupa-jana the practice that

is being taught here is not only loving

kindness

it is the complete practice of the

brahmavi eras

there are four abodes or divine abidings

of brahma that make up the brahma v

heras which are loving kindness

meta compassion karuna joy

mudita and equanimity apeka

loving-kindness is the first part of

this larger system that eventually leads

to the experience of nibana

the loving-kindness meditation that we

are talking about here is not just a

side meditation to help us calm down

after a long day at the office

or to prepare for our meditation on the

breath it is a powerful system in its

own right as part of the brahmavihara

meditation path and does

indeed culminate in full awakening

bonnie vimela ramsay talks about some of

his malaysian students who would come

off a difficult vipassana retreat and

request to take a meta retreat with him

he said that they said their minds had

been hardened by those retreats and that

they needed to return to a more balanced

happy state who could think that a

method that buddha taught would cause

hardness

not lead directly to the goal and need

meta to recover from it

were these other retreats being taught

in the way the buddha instructed

if they had added the relaxed step then

this could have been avoided

meta is a very important practice that

the buddha taught which can take you

directly to nibana

that misunderstanding that it will not

take you to the goal needs to be

corrected

meta is just the first part of the

brahma v harris system that you

experience as you go deeper into your

practice

it automatically leads to the other

three viheras but you have to continue

the practice

meta is indeed the doorway to the

unconditioned

after all the definition of right effort

is to one recognize there is an

unwholesome state

two to let go of that unwholesome state

three bring up a wholesome state

four keep it going four parts

and what is more wholesome than meta you

just keep it going and it will lead you

to nibana with no other methods needed

this is what it says right in the text

themselves

chapter nine fourth jhana the beautiful

mn colon 111 section 9. again monks

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

and with the previous disappearance of

joy and grief

saraputta entered upon and abided in the

fourth jhana which has neither pain nor

pleasure and purity of mindfulness due

to equanimity

in the fourth jhana the loving kindness

energy moves from the chest and heart

area

up to your head it is like the feeling

of meta is starting to radiate from the

top of the head

the spiritual friend smiles back and

there is no more warmth in the chest

area from the loving kindness in no

circumstances should you try to push the

feeling back down to your heart area

again

it should be allowed to go where it

wants to based on the sincerity of your

loving kindness

some meditators make the mistake of

trying to make a feeling arise by

focusing on their heart and chest area

that's not right they should be bringing

up sincere wishes of loving kindness

which they really mean and honestly

believe

then the feeling appears on its own and

it goes where it needs to

in the fourth jhana the contentment

turns into a deeper peaceful feeling

full of equanimity it is a non-reactive

state of balance

it doesn't mean that there cannot be a

painful or a pleasurable feeling arising

it means that it doesn't make your mind

shake you see it for what it is

and you have this beautiful balance

towards it the fourth jhana in some

texts is called the beautiful

ultra strong balance when i finish the

meditation

i was blissed out not intense joy just

very relaxed

a strong feeling of equanimity totally

still and silent

and lots of automatic smiling in the

meditation itself

it was very easy to see the people i

sent loving-kindness to

smile the loving-kindness stayed in the

head and once again i lost perception or

sense of body consciousness

just felt floaty light and expansive

sd california you don't notice

sensations arising inside your body

but you do notice external contact if an

ant walks on you

you know it you have such balance that

nothing bothers you

a mosquito comes around and he bites you

it's okay

so what no big deal mind is in balance

to all feeling

in the fourth jhana pain in your body

will disappear as your mind no longer

reacts with an i don't like it mind

of course when the next hindrance occurs

you can fall out of that state

and the pain will come back also there

are reports of golden light pervading

your mind and this wonderful feeling

pouring out of the top of the head

in the fourth jhana because there is

contact with the ground while you're

walking

you will feel sensation from your feet

this is because of contact with the

ground

bodily sensations will not draw your

attention

your sense of self-awareness will have

moved up to your head area now

you have now given up your beginner

status you're not a novice anymore

you've become an advanced meditator but

interestingly you are balanced and not

over excited with that

it's just more self-discovery and you

don't get a big head about it

whereas at the first jhana you might

have thought you were pretty good

now it is just another step on the path

with no looking back

advancing breaking down the barriers

you are now told that you have developed

the meditation skills to a higher level

you are told this so that you have

confidence in the practice and gain more

enthusiasm

previously you weren't informed of what

was happening because it would just lead

to more mental wanderings

now that you have some more equanimity

and your mind has calmed

you are told where you are day by day

what exact genre you are in

as it happens if you ask about it you

see that sutham 111 is real

and like sarah putta you are just

watching the progress step by step as it

occurs

meditation instruction

now you are to change your spiritual

friend

you have completed the practice to this

point and have now advanced

it's time to move ahead let go of the

friend you have been working with and

change to the people listed below

go through each group one at a time

until you see them smiling and happy

pick three more spiritual friends

any gender living and not a family

member

and one by one radiate loving kindness

to them until they smile back or you

feel there is a connection of loving

kindness with them

living family members either male or

female

gender no longer matters one by one

radiate loving kindness to them until

they smile back

four neutral people either male or

female

one by one radiate loving kindness to

them until they smile back

a neutral person is a casual

acquaintance that you occasionally see

like the bus driver or the cashier at

the store

you don't really know them but you say

hello every now and then

enemies are last send meta to any

troublesome people

whoever arises enemies are those people

we don't like

we may hold a grudge or we know they

don't care for us

it might be public figures or any person

who comes to your mind when you do this

one by one radiate meta to people who

pop into your mind until you can't think

of anyone else

if hatred or even dislike arises while

radiating meta to an enemy

go back to a neutral person until you

can let go of the aversion and come back

to that feeling of loving kindness

then begin again radiate meta to your

enemy and continue until that hostile

energy is dissipated and they smile back

it doesn't have to be that deep just

have a friendly feeling for them

or even a neutral feeling in which they

don't bother you

remember everyone has some good

qualities

you can focus on those you can do the

process above in as little

as 20 to 30 minutes but you should spend

no more than an hour on this

if you cannot get beyond this step then

perhaps some forgiveness meditation will

be suggested by the teacher

information and directions for

forgiveness meditation may be found on

the dhamasuka website and practiced from

the book on this topic by bonnie

vimalaromsi

forgiveness is a very powerful practice

by itself and is highly recommended to

everyone

but especially to those who cannot bring

up a genuine feeling of loving-kindness

for any of these groups of people

this morning i did my first breaking

down the barrier sitting

it went so well i saw everyone smiling

at me pretty quickly

then i got to my enemies there is a

woman i'm quite jealous of

i forgave myself for it i wished her

love

peace and happiness then i saw the smile

the second one is my niece's husband

i've never seen him smile in real life

so i don't even know what that would

look like but

as i was wishing peace for both of us it

felt like a lightning bolt went through

my heart

i knew that i am wrong for the hate i'm

feeling toward him

only love can beat hate cg missouri

radiating to the six directions

meditation instruction

after the process of breaking down the

barriers is complete

you will report back to the teacher or

if you are working on your own then

simply continue below

you will be now instructed to radiate

loving kindness from the head

not from the third eye or forehead but

from the area in the middle of or the

top of your head

you radiate to each of the six

directions forward

backward right left above and below

for five minutes a piece that is 30

minutes total

for the rest of the sitting you then

radiate to all beings in all directions

at once

to the whole universe without

limitations sit and glow with this

feeling of loving kindness and let it

warm the whole cosmos and beyond

like a candle let the feeling radiate to

all beings

don't push or force just let it radiate

and see it just going out by itself

now the fun begins i was completely

immersed

at one point there was no me all i saw

was the light going in all directions

it was like a fountain going up down and

in all directions

i was so absorbed when my timer went off

i jumped

my husband said i looked like i was

radiating full of joy and peace

cg missouri you should sit for more than

one hour if you can

you are encouraged to sit even longer if

you are comfortable

don't stop when you feel good or think

you have made progress

go longer don't stop if you get edgy or

want to quit

try another five minutes just to see if

you can do it many times a few more

minutes will get you through that short

period of restlessness

radiating the four brahmavi harris

successively as they arise

to all directions will now be your

practice into the highest states of the

meditation

please note that i am describing the

technique as it is presented in the

texts

i am only explaining the texts here and

not creating a new sort of meditation

you are now practicing the brahmavihara

practice exactly as it is described and

taught by the buddha in the texts

this practice of meta and the rest of

the brahma v heras are actually

mentioned much more frequently

in 12 suthas in the midshima nikaya

versus the breath or on upon a city

practice which is only found in four

suthas

which one do you think the buddha taught

more often he did appear to favor the

brahma viharas over the breath practice

bonnie vimala ramsay states that metta

is six times quicker than breath and

gets you to the goal much faster

he says it takes six weeks for someone

to experience jhana with breath versus a

week

or less with meta this has been our

experience

and thus we always recommend meta first

he will teach breath to certain

personality types that have a hard time

with the feeling of loving kindness

but he does have the relaxed or

tranquilized step

chapter 10 the base of infinite space

compassion

the buddha taught that there are four

major jhanas but he broke up the fourth

jhana into four more parts

the sooth is called the last four part

spaces or realms

we will primarily use the term bases but

will shift back and forth at times

between base and urupajana just to make

sure you understand the connection

now you have arrived at the arupa or

immaterial jhanas

the first four janas are called rupa are

material genres

rupa means realm of the body and arupa

means realm of mind

more precisely the a and arupa means no

so not of the body

the word realm is also used in addition

to base for these higher parts of the

fourth jhana

this is because the buddha stated that

if one were to attain any of these four

jaunas including the four immaterial

realms

then the power merit of that act would

cause them to be reborn into a realm of

existence that corresponds to the

meditation level attained

there are 31 planes of existence and the

jhana based brahma realms are the

highest

most pleasant and longest lasting the

higher the jhana

the longer the lifetime in that

corresponding realm and the more sublime

the state

mn colon 111 section 11. again

monks with the complete surmounting of

gross

perceptions of form with the

disappearance of gross

perceptions of sensory impact aware that

space is infinite

sorry putta entered upon and abided in

the base of infinite space

this means you have surmounted the

physical and now are entering the subtle

mental realms

you are no longer paying attention to

the five senses and are paying attention

to what's in your mind only

you start feeling a quieter loving

kindness now

you will realize that there is less

warmth less movement of the meta

it is softer like cotton this is karuna

or compassion

you have gone beyond the coarser state

of loving kindness and entered a more

sublime

tranquil state you report back that the

feeling of loving kindness has no limit

but is very big

it is as immense as the sky your head

feels like it gets larger

you feel like things are expanding

outward maybe you feel as if the floor

drops away and you are suspended in

space

you may even feel like you are flying up

into space

this is a very pleasurable kind of

feeling it is pretty awesome

there is a continuous expansion outward

there is no center point to be seen

there may be an exclamation of oh wow

when explaining this delightful state to

the teacher

wow as i progressed through the four

meditation sittings today

each an hour or so long it was like the

spaciousness became larger

larger and larger i did the radiating of

meta for the five minutes in each of the

six directions and then radiated outward

throughout the rest of the meditation

to all six directions at the same time

the sphere of meta grew in size and just

kept growing without stopping

the meta itself also transformed it was

magnetic

as if intensifying and creating a strong

energetic force field

floating feeling intensified never felt

such spaciousness and expansiveness

before

there was insight into how awareness of

feeling and perceptions arose and ceased

infinitely and how i was not in control

sd california

meditation instruction

you will now change from meta to

compassion as your new object of

meditation

you expand this new feeling outward with

no limits to the six directions

as you have been doing with loving

kindness begin each meditation session

radiating compassion for five minutes in

each direction

and then radiate compassion to all

beings in all directions at the same

time for the remainder of the sitting

loving-kindness has now automatically

switched to the state of compassion

bani vimela ramsay tells us that this is

the state that so many teachers refer to

when they talk about the buddha's

infinite compassion

bani's opinion is that when the buddha

refers to compassion

the state that he is talking about is

the base of infinite space or the first

rupijana

it is not just a general state of caring

or nurturing

but actually the genetic state of

compassion bani further explains that

the buddha did this practice every

morning

getting into the jhana of infinite space

with compassion as his object of

meditation

from this state the buddha would then

survey the world for people who needed

his compassion and were ready to

understand his teachings

he would then go to them and instruct

them in the dhamma

he saw people who had little dust in

their eyes and were ready to attain

awakening

mn colon 111 section 12. and the states

in the base of infinite space

the perception of the base of infinite

space and the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception volition

and mind you still experience the five

aggregates

even though you're in an arupa or mental

genre

this says that you're still practicing

the four foundations of mindfulness even

while you are in the erupa-jhana state

you are now in a mental realm and

awareness of your body has faded away

unless there is contact

notice that the soothing quoted above no

longer includes experiencing pleasure in

the body

now you are told you have no body so

please don't pay attention to it anymore

six or any tugs and pulls back into any

awareness of the body

now you know your body is still there

sitting quietly

but your awareness is very much focused

on mind

mn colon 111 section 12 kant

te enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

known to him those states arose known

they were present

known they disappeared he understood

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment

he confirmed that there is still more

meditation instruction

continue sending your compassion to the

six directions to see how it expands

outward

the brahmavihara meditation develops in

sequence through the four divina bitings

automatically these states will arise on

their own when you are ready

don't bring them up they will come up

just keep going and see what happens

next

chapter 11 the base of infinite

consciousness

joy mn colon 1 11 section 13.

again monks by completely surmounting

the base of infinite space

aware that consciousness is infinite

sara putta entered upon and abided in

the base of infinite consciousness

this is a fascinating state for one

thing

the compassionate feeling automatically

changes again to a feeling of altruistic

joy

but that's not as clear a definition as

it could be

it is a feeling that's very different

from the compassion experienced

previously

it is a feeling that bonnie prefers to

call just joy or joyfulness

whereas before joy was an exciting type

of joy

pity now it becomes sublime and tranquil

this is pity versus modita regardless

you now go from a feeling of compassion

to a feeling of joy

meditation instruction

now you start radiating joy in all

directions instead of compassion

joy is now your object of meditation

what happens is

your awareness starts to be so good and

so sharp you begin to see individual

consciousnesses arise and pass away

continually

you see firsthand how truly impermanent

everything is

there's no doubt in your mind anymore

that everything just comes into

existence and then fades away

sometimes your eyes just pop open there

can be so much energy

if you try to close them they just stay

open so you just let them be open

the arising of awareness was automatic

and its ceasing too was automatic

it was all impersonal and uncontrollable

the

sense of i disappeared and reappeared

over and over and over

there were moments where awareness

ceased completely there was nothing in

between the arising and ceasing

the lapse in awareness grew in frequency

and length as well as far as i could

tell but as soon as i saw this

i was back to seeing the arising and

ceasing and then the spaciousness

when i finished the final sitting

meditation my mind was still

clear and sharp mind and emotions never

felt so pristine

calm and pure before nothing i can say

here except excellent

sd california after you sit with this

insight into impermanence and

impersonality for a little while

something interesting happens some

students report

well yes i see all these consciousnesses

the eye

the ear the nose the tongue the body

and mind i see these consciousnesses

arise and pass away

and it's really tiresome what you see

now is not only impermanence but

suffering

and you're seeing there's nobody home

there's no control over this process

it happens all by itself you see anika

impermanence dukkha suffering and anata

non-self up close and personal while

you're in the urupajanas

in buddhism these are the three signs of

existence

anything that exists has this nature and

now you see it

it isn't on a thinking level but in a

direct way

you know it bonnie vimela ramsay tells a

story of a monk who is a famous monk in

burma

he is invited to a person's home for

lunch and is offered the finest of

curries and rice

the entire time the monk eats he says

dukkha

dukkha suffering suffering

he is trying to think his way to see the

signs of existence

and that doesn't work all it does it is

to create an aversion to whatever you

are labeling or noting and that's

developing an unwholesome state

not insight at all this experience

answers a lot of questions that you may

have had brewing

before this everybody was talking about

things happening so fast

but now your awareness is so sharp that

you actually see each part of the

experience

the 12 links of dependent origination

are starting to come into focus

and you are beginning to see separate

links moreover

you are beginning to see that they

follow each other and that each link is

dependent on the link before it

after a while it does appear this

constant arising and passing away of

consciousness does become tiresome

you wonder will it ever end is this all

there is

it doesn't matter whether you're doing

your walking meditation or eating

or going to the toilet you see all these

consciousnesses continually

is there a way out of this as you

instructed

i first radiated joy in all directions

beginning with sending it out to

individual directions five minutes each

then expanding the sublime joy outward

it grew larger and larger without

stopping

there was once again insight into the

impermanence of eye as it arose and

passed away

the gaps in between each arising and

passing away grew larger

and my focus shifted subtly to those

blanks where then the joy radiating in

all directions was shifted to equanimity

there was total disinterest in the

impermanence of i and insight into the

silliness of identifying a non-existent

permanent eye with every feeling

thought and action deeper experiential

realization that feelings and thoughts

were not under my control and that

thoughts or mind objects in general were

like what odors were to the nose

or sounds were to the ears they came and

went without me being involved

i continued to 6r nonetheless sd

california

meditation instruction

small pinpoint lights may arise like

little stars that twinkle and then fade

away

these are the start of craving they are

indications of tanha just starting to

arise

these are thoughts that are just

starting to form you feel a pull from

those lights

a tightness you realize that if you six

are then the moment they arise then

thoughts don't arise

you see the relief in this the six areas

will return you to a state of balance

and tranquility

be sure to six are them as soon as they

arise these lights are sticky as they

are little seeds of craving coming into

existence

you now see the craving that exists in

all thinking

and you see that is why constant

thinking is so tiring and annoying to

your mind

consider the other night when you

couldn't get to sleep because you were

thinking so much

it was suffering being successful with

this meditation practice brings you the

benefit of getting to sleep easily and

having no bad dreams

this is one of the 11 benefits of meta

meditation

you might see illuminations expanding

out like small suns

these are called nimita no we are not

talking about the nemeta or what some

practices call signs that are used as

focus points in concentration

meditation but these are merely forms

and shapes that arise

this is the true meaning of nimita let

go of these and six

are them you do not switch over and

start focusing on them

they are just interesting phenomena that

might distract you

don't get involved with them if you were

to take these lights as your meditation

object

then that would be a concentration

absorption meditation practice

and that is not in the suttas the buddha

had previously tried all these types of

meditation

and he rejected that practice as leading

to true awakening

when you practice concentration with the

breath meditation lights can arise

as well and if you take these lights and

concentrate on them

then again you are not practicing what

is in the suttas

please six are them this is the

influence of the commentaries like the

vishetti maga

the vijudi maga has included many

practices that are not in the suthas

this conflict should cause us to

question which one is right

in the base of infinite consciousness

some people have visions of devas

kuan yin buddha jesus or muhammad

this is based on their belief systems

that all needs to be six are so you can

progress

if you feel very happy and joyful

sometimes there will be tears of joy

allow the tears to come out that is the

sign of the mudita or joyful state in

which you are abiding

you may feel like things are slowing

down like watching a movie in slow

motion

you may see each frame of consciousness

arising and passing away

whether it is at the eye door or your

door you may wobble and feel like you

are woozy

don't get attached to any of this six or

all of it

none of these experiences are to be

taken personally as me or mine

they should just be allowed your

mindfulness is now getting very sharp

sharp enough to see individual

consciousnesses

meditation instruction

you will then be asked to start noticing

the spaces between the consciousnesses

try to become more aware of the silence

and the tranquility that is there

and dwell in this quiet let everything

else go

you will think there is nothing

patiently let this state deepen

this will lead you to the next base and

the last of the brahmaviras

this is upeka or equanimity sometimes

around this level

the meditator may have the thought if i

have no self then i should just die

fear can arise i have no control over

anything

what can i do you just do what you

always have

you never had a self in the first place

so nothing has changed

this is insight it isn't suicidal

thoughts by any means so don't worry

the teacher will remind you that this is

just your mind playing games

have a good laugh and lighten up you

won't die

not even close soon you are moving into

deeper

even more exciting territory i was able

to get more solidly into the realm of

infinite consciousness in which i

observed various things such as swirling

colored geometric

patterns interrupted by strobe lights

sometimes i saw millions of tiny colored

lights flashing randomly

the swirling patterns with strobe lights

were the most common

i remembered you advised me to pay

attention to the stillness between

consciousness as i looked between the

strobes and six art

the colors came to a halt and

disappeared but i found if i looked

closely there were subtle ripples in the

black nothingness

i six are these and found the slowed or

disappeared but never for long

my mind was in an incredibly still state

and yet i was not quite sure i was still

in the meditative state

i reasoned that if i was still

meditating that i should be able to

return to radiating joy

so i brought up joy in the colored

patterns and strobe lights returned

again i sard that and returned to

stillness

rm japan there was once again insight

into the impermanence of i

as it arose and passed away the gaps in

between each arising and passing away

grew larger

and my focus shifted subtly to those

blanks then the joy radiating in all

directions was shifted to equanimity

sd california

12 the base of nothingness equanimity

mn colon 111 section 15.

again monks by completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness

aware that there is nothing sara putta

entered upon and abided in the base of

nothingness

previously you saw the world existing as

outside of yourself

now you see things as all in mind only

you still see different movements of

mind

but they're not outside of mind you have

had a concept of yourself being in the

world

which is constantly in the background of

your thinking

we all see ourselves in relationship to

the world as a separate self or entity

taking things personally means we see

ourselves doing things in our mind

we see ourselves having done things in

the past

we see ourselves doing things now and we

see ourselves doing things in the future

we only exist in our minds this idea

or concept of self only exists in our

mind and now we see it

outside of the thinking mind there is

only seeing

hearing touching tasting and smelling

just sensations that are arising and

passing away

yet we identify these as having this

self this existence laid over the top of

it

this me that is doing this planning to

do that thinking about this

being a part of a team to create that

you are an actor in this dream of

existence

it is all in your head you are

constantly creating this illusion of

self

moment to moment they are just images

now you finally start to come out of the

dream and only see what is there

gross thinking stops conceptual

engagement stops

now in the seeing there is only seeing

in the hearing only hearing

etc nothing happens in the past and

nothing happens in the future

it is all happening now and in this

clear present

there is no self there is only awareness

of what happens at the sense doors

moment to moment

it becomes very quiet you have never

experienced this before

this is the awareness and experience of

the base of nothingness

this jhana is like the part in the

matrix movie where keanu reeves wakes up

from his dream existence in this

machine-created mental world and

realizes that he is in a pod just

dreaming his life experience

like him we are waking out of our dream

of self to find nothing but an

impersonal process

a never-ending stream of events now it's

like your consciousness stops paying

attention to general body awareness and

sensations and jumps up into your head

you are no longer paying attention to

the awareness that has anything to do

with the body

you see everything as happening from

mind and physically from the head area

you are only attentive to mind concepts

stop

thoughts are now just observing thoughts

and not being taken personally

they are not defining your world anymore

in fact

most thoughts simply stop since concepts

come from thoughts

and things come from concepts no things

leads us to the realm of nothingness

you are now seeing clearly without the

noise and without creating stories about

everything

some people will say it even feels like

being in the desert all alone

in total desolation there is nothing

around but sand

it is pleasant yet different from

anything you have ever felt

you start to understand the lengths of

dependent origination called nama rupa

or mentality

materiality name and form there is mind

that is dependent upon the body

both are distinct yet work together

one cannot be without the other but now

you see

with direct insight that there is the

body itself separate from mind

for example there is the breath going in

and out and then the mentality or mind

which is made up of feeling

perception and consciousness there is

the physical breath

and there is the knowing the perception

of the breath and knowing what it is

doing and how it feels

this is the mentality slash materiality

link of dependent origination

with the dropping of the concept of

things out there and of your perceived

feeling of your separate existence in

the world

your awareness pulls in the ever-present

worrying dream of you disappears no more

thoughts that carry you away into the

future or the past

no more thoughts are creating this or

that world

you just exist in the present your

awareness is clear and free of your

conceptual self-image

without these concepts there is only the

present the arising and passing away of

feeling and sensations

this is all that you see no past or

future lives now

this is mine's attention without craving

embedded in it without the overlaying of

the idea of self or soul

in this silence of nothingness you start

to see much more subtle phenomena that

were hidden by our noisy minds

very interesting things are here there

is definitely not nothing

mn colon 111 section 16

and the state's in the base of

nothingness before

in the second arupa jhana if infinite

consciousness you are radiating joy in

all six directions

where you were feeling joy before now

you're feeling equanimity that is very

very strong and you have this very fine

balance of mind

now you take this equanimity as your

object and radiate it to all beings in

all directions

this particular level of mind is by far

one of the more fascinating states that

are experienced in meditation

now there is no sadness nor happiness

just balance

when asked how you feel you will always

report that you are fine

everything is fine i have nothing to say

just fine from an online retreat report

sitting number one one hour joy for 19

minutes

i saw patterns and glowing balls i six

rdd these

then went into equanimity i saw golden

stupas

buddha statues and a celestial being

emitting a brilliant light

i six are these as they came up next 30

minutes was with

sending equanimity in all directions

with golden light emitting from my crown

i six art whatever came up 15 minutes

was the best with keeping my mind on the

object of my meditation

cb sri lanka from an online retreat

report

after about 10 minutes i could feel

myself going deeper before the descent

stopped

after five minutes or so at that level i

started to descend again to the next

level

my notes record got deeper and plateau

like steps and that was what it was like

i must have gone down in three or four

steps spending five minutes or so before

moving down to the next plateau

at one plateau i recall seeing a vista

like a black clear night sky with

thousands of tiny pin pricks of light

twinkling away

on the next level down i saw what i can

only describe as a really big area

covered with rows and rows of

ball-shaped translucent shapes

the skirts of which were gently rippling

i described them as jellyfish because of

their translucent nature

the oddball slash jellyfish would

occasionally speed off away from this

vista

but mainly the visual field was still

and quiet

after the jellyfish the next descent was

longer at the bottom of which the

blackness was unmoving

absolutely still i can remember

wondering whether i was dead

whether i was or wasn't was of no

interest the possibility certainly

didn't upset me

around this point at the deepest level i

didn't move down from this level

what i describe as tingles move

throughout the body and waves

after a couple of passes this stopped

and the absolute still quiet remained

at this point of the sit the quiet was

quite solid

not the quiet when you turn off a radio

and think that's quiet

but rather a quiet where there's

absolutely no point from which any noise

could originate

an absence of anything that could

disturb a quiet slash stillness that is

not capable of being broken

lm australia others feel the tranquility

coming from you

there seems to be a glow in your face a

radiance

any stress lines have all but

disappeared if you do not put quite

enough energy into watching that

equanimity

your mind gets dull you don't have

sleepiness

but a dullness can occur if you put in a

little bit too much energy

your mind gets restless now you must

steady your energy

this is where you are balancing the

seven factors of awakening

we will go through these later if

restlessness arises because you put in

too much energy

you are no longer in the you're caught

by a hindrance

and because of the way the hindrances

work they don't just come one at a time

for example when you have restlessness

it's not just

restlessness it's the restlessness as

well as the dislike of the restlessness

so you have two hindrances that you get

to work with

hindrances pile up on top of hindrances

it's quite easy to let restlessness go

and balance your energy by this time if

you are patient

it's like walking the finest tightrope

you've ever seen like walking on a

spider web

it's that fine being in that kind of

balance

it just takes a little tweak a little

twerp and whoop

you could be knocked off balance and

then you should work with it again

bring in a little more energy some more

mindfulness

if this is too much back off again

this is where working with the energy is

incredibly interesting and subtle

the most important thing here is using

your mindfulness to observe what is

there in mind and to balance it by

backing off or adding energy to your

practice

by observing these states you will

affect them naturally

therefore mindfulness is the most

important factor of awakening

the investigation factor arises when

mind's movement is clearly seen

investigation balances both energy and

lack of energy automatically by seeing

what is out of balance and changing it

in quantum physics it is positive that

you can change a process by observing it

this is what mindfulness does mind

observes itself

and change takes place sometimes you may

not make progress because something is

nagging at the back of your mind

it is a subtle desire that you are

identifying with you are looking for

something to happen

perhaps wanting nabana to come and

looking for it by thinking about it

it should be six art it can be a pesky

desire

but eventually you will get tired of it

nibano will never happen if there is

this craving there

nabana will happen when mind loses all

its craving and movement

again you may have fear arise and think

that you don't exist

as before you should just six or that

fear and continue

it will disappear soon enough that is

just more craving

mn colon 111 section 16.

and the states in the base of

nothingness the perception of the base

of nothingness and the unification of

mind

the contact feeling perception volition

and mind equanimity gets very deep here

and this should be your object of

meditation now

you should imagine yourself surrounded

and enveloped by the feeling of

equanimity

you should radiate this feeling outward

from your whole mind

keep a small smile going as this will

warn you of unwholesome states coming in

like a candle emits heat and light you

simply sit and let the equanimity

radiate out by itself

you almost see it go out if there is

stress from sending out the feeling

then you are pushing too hard you should

just let it seep out like a fog but

point it to the direction in which you

intended to go

if there is tension then just six are it

do not push the feeling of equanimity

out pushing it will create more tension

that is trying to control feeling with

your thoughts

it doesn't work a lighthouse emits light

in all directions

it doesn't push anything the light just

shines outward

all you do is switch on the light if you

are distracted by a sound or a touch

then six are in and come back to

radiating the feeling but only six are

if it draws your attention away from the

feeling if you see small movements

or there are wispy thoughts in the

background yet you are still aware of

and collected on your meditation object

radiating equanimity in the six

directions ignore those small

distractions

that is just noise don't 6r unless your

attention is drawn away

meditation instruction

now you are starting your sitting using

the feeling equanimity as your object

you radiate the feeling of equanimity

each of the six directions for five

minutes each and then to all directions

at the same time for the rest of the

sitting

when you do the walking meditation you

radiate equanimity to all directions at

the same time and six are any

distractions

sit longer now one hour one and a half

hours

two hours three hours if you feel like

you want to get up

then sit another five minutes and see if

that urge goes away

mental activity gets quieter and quieter

just observe what is there at the moment

mind will feel bright and energetic with

little movement

you will start to see the link of

consciousness arising and passing away

this is a potential you will see this

start of the movement

and then it blossoms into your awareness

as something be it seeing

hearing or a tangible feeling it is like

you know that you are going to see

something

and then you do gradually you will see

all the processes and the links of

dependent origination that occur before

contact

you perceive that everything you

experience takes place within your mind

only

what makes up the real you is mind and

mind objects coming and going

do you really have a body or do you just

see this image and call it a body

are you hearing a sound or is it only

sound consciousness arising and a

perception of you hearing it

what is consciousness you see now that

consciousness knows itself

you stop identifying with it as you it

reflects the form that is in front of it

like seeing a red rose in a mirror biku

natananda

the author of concept and reality calls

it a hall of mirrors in which the mirror

itself is self-aware at that moment with

whatever side or sound form is cognized

there is nobody in the room itself but

it is the mirrors themselves that are

aware of being aware

the mind overlays a concept of self but

there are only the mirrors and the

reflections

the consciousness arises and then it is

gone

there was nothing before it and nothing

after it

there was never anyone in the hall

except the mirrors

you just thought there was you now see

what is there directly without concepts

you see that consciousness only

experiences itself with no experiencer

the concept of self is not there anymore

there are thousands of moments that make

up each event of hearing or seeing

you exist for that moment only then

there is another moment

and you hear again there is a space

between these moments where there is

nothing

now you are perceiving the silence and

the arising and passing away of objects

in that silence

if the sound had not arisen then you

would not have arisen

you would not have been born into

conscious awareness had there been no

sound as a condition

that is rebirth moment to moment right

there and since there is nothing between

the consciousnesses

how can there be an idea of an

all-pervading soul or self

you live for a moment and then die

physical death is just one moment from

this body to another

you really die every moment your body

dying has nothing to do with you dying

meditation instruction

when things get quiet you might try to

add something

adjust something or try to watch

something

since nothing is arising you might get a

little bored

in this case notice the craving mind

wanting to make something happen

wanting to control six are that mind

right there and let it go

then just be there with no movement six

are the concept of a controller

just be in the feeling of equanimity as

it radiates

do not move in mind at all like the

beatles song

let it be let it be

distractions that arise how to adjust

too much energy you become restless you

need to reduce your energy

take tranquility as your object of

meditation

this will bring in calm six are your

desire to control the process

add added to the feeling of equanimity

not enough energy

you become sleepy or dull you need to

add more effort and increase your

curiosity about what is happening

take more interest you can also get up

and walk to arouse energy

do some fast walking find some stairs to

go up and down

the longer you sit the more you should

walk

many meditators avoid the walking but

then wonder why they doze off or zone

out when they sit for long periods you

need to keep your blood moving and your

energy up

the buddha and his monks walked

everywhere they went and thus kept their

bodies very healthy

alms rounds could be very long and

strenuous but it would pay off in energy

for the meditation

six are any boredom a subtle aversion

reaction

and get through it at times very little

happens

and you must be very gentle and patient

then you will go deeper

you silenda one of bondi's teachers

would always tell him

patience leads to nibana there are seven

awakening factors at work

these factors need to be adjusted don't

worry too much about doing the balancing

at this point

just let the mindfulness do its job some

meditators will control too much and try

to make their mind calm with whatever

factor they think they need

but too much of this will lead to

restlessness you must balance the desire

to balance by backing off and letting

things get into balance by themselves

venerable bonnie vimalaromsi often

reminds his advanced students to

remember that their job as a meditator

is to simply observe how mind's

attention moves from one thing to

another

mindfulness is not about controlling any

movements

one of the most difficult things to do

is to just observe without trying to

control anything

seven factors of awakening one

sati mindfulness two de mavicaya

investigation of experience three

varia energy four

pity joy five

pacity tranquility relaxed in mind

6. samadhi collectedness of mind

seven apeca equanimity

some people may complain about

distractions happening in their body

they can feel pain somewhere in their

body this is not real pain but a really

subtle hindrance coming up in their mind

do not pay any attention to your body

anymore

most pain will now be what is known as

meditation pain

this is different from a real pain an

actual pain comes because you are

sitting too long or sitting twisted in a

weird way and you are hurting your body

this meditation pain is the pain of the

hindrances coming up it mostly is the

pain of restlessness

restlessness is a painful feeling but it

is in your mind

and you must determine to not be moved

by it but soften into it

let it be and relax the tension and

tightness that is there

you are only concerned with mine now you

should sit for long periods of time

sit one hour two hours and even three

and four hours

the longer you sit the more time mind

has to calm down

so far the record for bonnie's students

is two days in one sitting completed by

a man in indonesia and recently a man in

the usa

and that really paid off the results

were phenomenal

and he just got up and walked away with

no pain or stiffness

he felt just fine eventually

mind will become very calm and

equanimity will become very profound

we then come to the next arupa janna

where we leave all the brahmaviras

behind

chapter 13 the base of neither

perception nor non-perception

mn colon 111 section 17

again because by completely surmounting

the base of nothingness

sarapota entered upon and abided in the

base of neither perception nor

non-perception

now you will not be able to radiate the

feeling of equanimity anymore

it will just naturally stop it just

isn't there anymore

and if you try to radiate it then that

will cause some tension to arise

if you notice this happening then just

sit in the silence and observe

if you are unsure then try radiating

equanimity again

and if it comes up then continue it once

again until it finally fades on its own

if you bring up the feeling and now it

causes a slight tension

in your head even radiating that feeling

then you can stop and just be in this

quiet mind

meditation instruction

you should now take clear quiet mind as

your object of meditation

notice the stillness and the tranquil

feeling that is there

let yourself sink into that now the

instructions will change a little

six are any movements or vibrations as

soon as they start to arise

and then go back to a clear quiet state

of mind

you take this empty silence as the

object of meditation and watch for any

movements arising

six are as soon as they arise and relax

the tension out of any of the movements

and come back to just this quiet and

peaceful state

you might see a flicker or a light or

some movement there

six are that as soon as they arise soon

the this exquisite stillness becomes

your object

before in earlier sittings mine was

expanding

now it becomes so still and subtle that

it is hard to tell whether anything

arises or not

your mindfulness now has come to a level

where there is nothing that escapes your

6r tool

you have a sense of power over the

arising phenomena that you have never

felt before

by allowing things to arise and relax

into them you actually

in a way have achieved control over them

no more feeling you now have come to the

end of the meditation of the brahma v

heras which has the four divine abodes

as its objects

you started with the meditation object

of meta or loving kindness

progressed automatically to karuna or

compassion

and then to mudita or joy and this

finally transformed into a pekka or deep

equanimity

now even that is gone you begin the next

phase of the meditation

just observation of movements within

mind as the feeling of equanimity which

brought you to this point fades away

you are now going to be mindful of mind

and mind objects

you will start to observe what is there

and subsequently

see very small movements arise as soon

as you see any movement or vibration

you need to relax your mind will become

very

very still for long periods of time this

deep quietness of mind and lack of any

distractions at all can last for 20

minutes or 30 minutes

and even for an hour this exquisite

silence is where mind is absolutely pure

the longer you can sit with this still

mind the better

from an online retreater sitting number

three

i went straight into equanimity i saw

some images initially

six are these as they came up i radiated

equanimity from my crown

i six hard whatever came up it felt like

things were coming up fast

i felt a little restless because of this

eventually

the equanimity stopped radiating what i

noticed was golden energy from the base

of my spine rose up to my crown

golden light all around eventually it

dissipated

after some time i was in quietness for

around 20 minutes

the time felt like 8 p.m as it was very

quiet even from my noisy surroundings

we live in colombo near a noisy main

road

lots of horns etc but it felt like 8 p.m

when there is little traffic and noise

cb sri lanka gradually the nothingness

jhana gives way to the realm of neither

perception nor non-perception

the fourth arupa jhana mind is so subtle

at this point that the only way you know

that you've experienced that state is

that when you come out

you can reflect on what you saw there

some feeling was still there

although it's subtle and perception is

kind of there and kind of not now your

instructions are to simply observe mind

objects that are arising and passing

away in this bright clear mind

you don't want to start this observation

before the time is right

you begin your sitting by radiating the

feeling of equanimity to each direction

however you may not be able to if you

try to generate any feeling at all

it may cause tension in your mind never

create tension where there was none

before

if you have doubt then you can try

generating a feeling of stillness to see

if stillness comes up and will flow out

on its own

this stillness can be likened to looking

up into the night sky

so tranquil and still if you feel like

you are forcing it

then just stop this means now that it is

time just to observe

if on the other hand you can radiate

then just continue doing that until it

stops again

as you watch mind and six or any

movements or vibrations that start to

arise

all activity will slow down mind's

activity will almost flatten out to

nothing at all

there are things in mind but they are no

longer pulling at your conscious

awareness

an obstacle here can be a tendency to

get involved in everything that arises

and analyze where it came from

why did it arise where did it come from

these questions are not valid here that

is just more thinking

a sort of restlessness to do something

let all the analyzing go the analyzing

is for the therapists and psychologists

and is not a part of the buddha's path

there is no end to it anyway there is an

endless amount of stuff coming and going

and you can never analyze it all one of

venerable bonnie vimela ramsay's

teachers

the most venerable sayadaw yupundita

told him that analyzing things is a

western disease

one meditator reported that past lives

would arise as little bubbles

he would go off and investigate them to

see what was there

in the end this was harmful to his

practice and he was letting craving get

the better of him

it took many years for him to get tired

of this and finally six are these memory

bubbles dispassionately

psychologists will want to look at where

these thoughts come from

but we don't we are just observing the

process and how it arises

if you look at it this way when you

start meditating your mind has big jerky

kinds of movements

as you get deeper into your meditation

the movements become less and less

when you get into the arupa-janas the

movements start turning into just

vibrations

as you go higher into the arupa-janas

the vibrations become faster and finer

when you get to the state of neither

perception nor non-perception

there are only slight movements that are

very subtle it is hard to tell if they

are there or not

your awareness will start to go inward

or some say mind appears to grow smaller

mind is there but it is hard to perceive

it is like a jigsaw puzzle that is now

starting to lose pieces

gradually there is only just a

glimmering of what was there

so few objects are arising now that it

appears there is less and less of you

there at all

this is the time when you want to make

sure that you have developed that habit

of relaxing continually

all the time that way when you get into

this state

you're doing this as an automatic habit

meditation instruction

the only way you know that you've

experienced this very subtle state is by

reflecting afterward what happened while

you were in that state

when you come out take a few minutes for

reflection and six are anything that

arises

don't get into stories about it just

reflect and let go

since you haven't experienced this

before your mind will naturally think

about what happened

just six are those thoughts don't stop

them

just let them be and fade away relax

into them

what is this relaxing doing when you

relax

the movement of mind becomes less and

less until you finally get to a state in

which you cannot see any gross movement

but there is still a little bit of

vibration

the more you relax the more the

vibration slows down

because it is the craving that is

creating the movement

relaxing removes the craving and mind

settles further

you still have those small movements

even when you get into neither

perception nor non-perception

if you are working with a teacher you

will likely be asked

were you in a state that is like you

were asleep but you were awake

movement of mind slows to smaller and

smaller activities

you start having gaps in your awareness

there is no longer a fully consistent

conscious awareness

mind slows like ice freezing there are

levels of neither perception

at first mind may slow down like you are

in a dream

there might be a story going on yet like

a dream

when you come out of that state it makes

no sense though it did make sense when

you were experiencing it

for example it might have made sense if

a bird was talking and you were

completely fine with that in the dream

but when you come out of this state you

wonder why you thought birds could talk

in this state there can be images that

arise colors

shapes patterns you should six or all of

those if you are aware enough at that

moment

but at times your awareness just isn't

strong enough to notice them

it's like telling someone to be mindful

in a dream

later in or after you're sitting if you

start to reflect on what happened you

can six are at that time

still your mindfulness gets

progressively sharper as you go in and

out of this deeper level and

eventually all of the dreamy images or

patterns just disappear

there is barely anything left at all

there might even just be what appears to

be a blank screen

just blackness but you knew you were

there when you came out

nothing actually stopped since you were

aware of time passing during that state

be aware that during your sitting

generally you may go into a dreamy state

and

since you have heard that the base of

neither perception nor non-perception is

a dreamlike space

you may wonder whether you are

experiencing this jhana

actually this may only be sloth and

torpor which needs to be 6-ard

here you have confused the state of

dullness with the deeper state of the

arupa-jana

this vague torpor-like state can be

completely blank

this is very definitely a low-energy low

mindfulness state

when you wake up out of this state it's

more like waking up out of sleep

there will be some energy but it is weak

and doesn't last

were you just maybe drowsy you might

think this low energy state is special

but it's just an absence of awareness

the difference between these states is

that when you go into the neither

perception state

it will be from a bright and energetic

clear space

you will be very mindful and alert it

might be confusing to you later but

going from a low energy

dull state into a far away torpor state

is not the way to go deeper

be watchful and question yourself about

this

you may be overestimating your level of

awareness when it is just a torpor state

if so then you need to build up your

mindfulness and use your six aries more

when you go into the fourth aruppajana

your energy will be very high

but the tranquility and stillness will

be even stronger

you can be guaranteed that coming out of

this deeper state you will not be sleepy

you will have more energy than ever

before if you do feel low energy

then it is time to get up and do some

brisk walking to get the body energy

restored

as you sit more and for longer you may

go into neither perception

several times in a sitting and each time

you will go deeper than before

when you come out of this state please

don't get up from your session

just continue in six or any disturbances

that show up

keep sitting six are whatever you

remember that happened in that state

your mind will be more active and full

of energy coming out

but you should just let it settle back

each time you go into the jhana

it will be deeper than the last mn colon

111 section 18.

he emerged mindful from that attainment

having done so

he contemplated the states that had

passed ceased and

changed thus when you sit for long

periods in deeper meditation you will

get into this neither perception nor