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"Getting stuck in Samatha Jhana" vs "Kundalini Sickness"
There's a lot of concern among hard-core insight practitioners about "getting stuck in Samatha Jhana", and I can certainly understand the reasoning, and know some of the horror stories of people mistaking the formless realms for enlightenment.
On the other hand, there is a fair share of "Kundalini Sickness" stories out there about people overdoing the insight practice (or something related) at the expense of, variously, their health, sanity, etc. Even Nathan here at DhO has darkly hinted at personal experiences with some of the more unpleasant effects of the lower vipassana Jhanas.
Not being advanced enough in my practice to have personally encountered either extreme, I'm very curious about your opinions or experiences on how (if at all) more samatha practice might attenuate some of the kundalini-like effects of vipassana.
Cheers,
Florian
Posted:
Aug 6 2008, 3:27 PM EDT by
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Dozing off
My S.O. winked at me maliciously after my meditation session last night. "Sitting indeed. You were snoring in there! A fine meditator you are!" - "Was not" - "Too!" and so on :)
Anyway, I usually notice when I start to doze off, and yes, sometimes only after the fact... and I duly note the event, trying to catch as many sensations of it as I can. It still is a tricky object for meditation :)
So, what are your recipes for dealing with drowsiness?
Apart from visualizing brightness and taking deep, invigorating breaths, and getting up for a walk?
Cheers,
Florian
Posted:
Aug 6 2008, 2:38 PM EDT by
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How to investigate no-self?
Dear Dharma Overground
Any good hints on investigating the no-self characteristic in meditation, specifically when noting?
In my practice I currently use the time-honored notes "not-me" "not-mine" and "not-myself" (actually not the last one, since the difference to "not-me" seems to subtle for noting). As a variation, I also often note these as questions: "me?" "mine?".
Cheers,
Florian
Posted:
Sep 23 2008, 12:21 PM EDT by
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How to minimize unprofitable discussion
So far this wiki/forum has been doing fairly well, but from time to time we get threads that get way too much attention, though being basically about not much. Also, from time to time - and it will grow as our member base grows - we get posts that seek attention in a personal manner, trying to present one's own story and one's very own angle - usually not an original one, and often flatly uninformed - only to argue about this or that point while losing all sight of what this whole thing is about in the first place, namely goal-oriented practice and non-speculative, non-dogmatic exchange of dharmic tips and tricks. So let me quote from Dan's intro:
"...pragmatism over dogmatism, diligent practice over blind faith, openness regarding what the techniques may lead to, a lack of taboos surrounding talking about attainments, and the spirit of mutual, supportive adventurers on the path..."
So, how do you see us moving in that direction and gently restoring such movement whenever we find the discussion straying into biographic irrelevance, obsession over personal feelings and opinions, entertaining speculation over ill-understood concepts, guessing instead of finding out, and wishcraft instead of vigorous practice? How do we cultivate not just courteous, not even just conscious, but enlightened communication?
Posted:
Sep 3 2008, 3:09 PM EDT by
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Instability of Jhanas
Here's a question that's been plaguing me in my meditation practice: what can I do to increase the stability of each new meditative state?
For whatever reason I can get centred and stay in the first Jhana for a good ten minutes. At that point, fully half the time, the state becomes unstable and I lose it.
I've been trying to figure out what I'm doing differently (when it does or doesn't happen), but I can't see any difference.
Any thoughts on why we lose it? Or (even better!) how not to?
Tips and advice always welcome. After all, perfect practice makes perfect.
Posted:
Feb 25 2008, 4:30 AM EST by
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Meditating on Dukkha
Usually when doing noting practice, I end up investigating impermanence, vibrating sensations.
The other night, I felt very noticeable pain in the back and legs, so I decided to go into a little more detail than simply noting "pain, pain".
At first, I tried to find the "borders" of the painful feelings. Tricky! The pain shifts around a lot, it turned out. At one time, I thougt I had found a "nucleus" of pain, but it vanished after a few moments, of course.
I didn't have such a hard time keeping my attention from rushing in on the pain, or turning elsewhere - I was able to just note these impulses.
But after a while, it all just became so awful, so annoying, so unasked-for, that I decided to stop meditating. "Woa! Almost followed it! Just note that impulse." After a few minutes, the same. It almost felt like a few years ago, when I started sitting for longer periods of time - the slightest pain would stongly draw my attention. Only this time, it wasn't the pain itself, but an unusually forceful "being-fed-up-with" meditating. "Is it time yet??" "Note: Wish to stop" "I'm really fed up with this" "Note: Aversion" and so on.
Afterwards, thinking about the experience, I had a nebulous hunch about the relationship between desire (second noble truth), and the defilements.
Anyway, what are your experiences with investigating unsatisfactoriness? What techniques do you use? How do you decide when to investigate unsatisfactoriness as opposed to impermanence or not-self? Do you mix these?
Cheers,
Florian
Posted:
May 6 2008, 9:34 AM EDT by
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Noting Practice Questions
I've been experimenting with noting practice for a few weeks now. Up until now, I would just pay attention without consciously forming words. Some questions:
Which kind of words do you use? Nouns or gerund verbs (i.e "in-breath" or "breathing in")? Does it matter? I found that short words more useful.
Also, for longer sensations, do you note repeatedly or in a drawn-out fashion? "itch, itch, itch" or "iiiiiiiiiitch"?
When a sensation "overlays" the breath, do you alternate between noting the breath and that sensation? "itching, rising, itching, rising..."? Non-verbally, I could watch both without a sense of alternating, but perhaps there was (very quick) alternation after all.
When a memory or an anticipation arises, verbalizing "memory" or "anticipation" seems to stop it quite abruptly. My previous practice of non-verbal attention allowed me to watch it sputter out.
All in all, noting practice has a very alert, active flavor, and I'll stick with it for now. I tried non-verbal attention again the other day, for comparison, and found that my thoughts would wander far more often. But maybe that was just the state I was in that day.
Posted:
Feb 26 2008, 3:44 PM EST by
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One Word
If you'd have just one word to express your core practice at this point, what would it be? What is the signifier you'd use as the finger pointing for you at this time, at this point on your path? What comes to mind first? Give your word, and then - if you need to, and definitely if you must - elaborate on that.
Posted:
Mar 17 2008, 7:50 PM EDT by
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