Location: Maps of Meditation

Discussion: Confusion with the Stages

Keyword tags: insight maps jhanas stages

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nathan28
nathan28		 Confusion with the Stages
Jun 26 2008, 1:05 PM EDT
It may be the case that I am having trouble with the maps and seeing their value besides as a helpful indicator of progress or the lack thereof, but I have some questions:

1. Those who aren't stream-enterers will essentially start at zero, though their degree of "samadhi" and conditions may speed them through to their current full capability on the progress of insight? So even though specific phenomena might manifest (e.g., goddamn recurring spontaneous physical movements, unusual energetic phenomena or difficult mind-states) as markers of progress, anyone will slip and slide forwards and backwards in a given sitting, and likewise the stages themselves have a seeming "fractal" or cyclical nature?

2. The way one needs to treat the chosen object varies somewhat in each stage? If I understand, this means to avoid artificially solidifying the pleasant broadness of the first vipassana jhana, avoiding turning the kundalini/rapidity of the second v. jhana into a solid state, and broadening the object in the third?

It may be obvious that I feel like I am playing snakes and ladders here, but I've got a lot of consternation with these issues. 2  out of 2 found this valuable. Do you?    

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