The Path to Nibbana by David C Johnson

Author:David C Johnson [Johnson, David C]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781508808916
Publisher: Begin To See
Published: 2017-02-09T23:00:00+00:00

—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 6R 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 6R 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 6R 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 your sitting, if you start to reflect on what happened you can 6R 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 jhāna. Actually, this may only be sloth and torpor, which needs to be 6R’d. Here you have confused the state of dullness with the deeper state of the arūpa jhāna.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.