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February 9 - June 19, 2021
The idea of “the breath” is a complex concept built from other concepts: that we’re a separate being; we have a body; we have a nose that’s part of our body; our body is surrounded by air; air moves through the nose in two directions; and so on.
Meditative absorptions are flow states that occur in meditation, and are traditionally referred to as jhāna.
the meditation object for this jhāna is all the breath-related sensations occurring simultaneously throughout the entire body. You may arrive at this point by first working through every body part during the practice of experiencing the whole body with the breath. Or maybe you’re able to shift immediately from the nose to the whole body.
Always notice exactly what’s happening in the mind just before you enter jhāna. You will thereby become more familiar with those conditions, and it will be easier to re-create them in the future.
If you can consistently enter and remain in this first whole-body jhāna for up to fifteen minutes without interruption, you can start practicing the second jhāna, also using the whole-body method, described in Appendix D.
The transition from skilled to adept meditator essentially means shifting from training the mind to transforming the mind.
When the mind has become fully unified in Stage Ten, there is . . . Persistence of śamatha between meditation sessions.
Please understand, we’re not describing a trancelike state. Any strong or unusual tactile stimulus—say, someone touching your shoulder—will register in consciousness, though you may prefer not to respond. This shows that the mind continues to process sensory information at an unconscious level.
The arising of meditative joy is preceded by feelings of energy currents moving through the body. These currents grow stronger and more defined as meditative joy becomes more fully established.
Working with inner energy currents and channels is a recurrent theme in many traditions. This energy is variously called chi or qi, prāna, kriyā, kundalinī, or inner wind.
Tai chi, qigong, and yoga can all be helpful additions to formal meditation because they work directly with the energy movements in the body.
Remorse for things we’ve done in the past and worries about what may happen in the future fester, even when we’re not consciously aware of them. This agitation manifests as intense but obstructed energy flows in the body.
To speed up and smooth out the arising of meditative joy, cultivate joy at every opportunity in daily life as well.
“My concentration is nearly perfect. I sit day after day, and this is all I have to show for it? What’s the point? Where’s the rapture and bliss I’ve heard about?” Unfortunately, I quit practicing for quite a while as a result.
You’ll then experience the breath sensations as the rapid flickering on and off of separate moments of consciousness, or simply as vibrations. Some meditators interpret this experience of “momentariness” as the universe continuously coming into and going out of existence.
Focus your attention in particular on the quality of pleasantness, rather than the sensation that gives rise to the pleasantness.
The pleasantness will grow incrementally stronger, in fits and starts, until it suddenly takes off. You’ll feel as if you’re “sinking into” the pleasant sensation, or as if it has expanded to consume all your available conscious “bandwidth.” You’ve entered the flow state that is the first pleasure jhāna.
What makes this cessation experience the most powerful of all Insight experiences is what happens in the last few moments of consciousness leading up to the cessation.
The transformative power of a cessation event depends on how unified the mind was. Unification determines the overall size of the “audience” of sub-minds receptive to events in consciousness.
the same basic structure of the mind-system is repeated at many different levels.
This repeated organizational structure, in which the exact same processes that produce consciousness happen at deeper and deeper levels, shows the fractal nature of the mind-system. The only reason the particular information exchange process we call consciousness is “special” is because we experience it subjectively. And that subjective experience seems to be limited just to information exchange occurring at the highest level in the mind-system.11
With stable attention and powerful mindfulness, we can witness events in the mind-system that simply aren’t accessible to the untrained mind.
What we actually experience in consciousness, therefore, are binding moments, with the sense of time already embedded in each moment.
What we have called the conscious mind is not a place after all. It is simply the fact of information exchange at the highest level in the mind-system. Information exchange is the result of shared receptivity, and an expression of interconnectedness.
Think of your mind as an unknown territory where no one else has been, and no one but you can go.
Inevitably, you start to notice that the mind really isn’t that quiet after all, except when compared to everything outside of it. At the same time, you’ll become aware of an even greater stillness at the core of your moment-to-moment experience. This is called the Still Point. Find that Still Point, and make its stillness the focus of your attention.
First jhāna is characterized by profound calmness; a clear, sharp perception of the nimitta as the object of attention (vitakka and vicara); and awareness of joy, pleasure, and happiness (pīti-sukha). The mind is, of course, in a highly unified state (ekagata).
GETTING STUCK
Adept practice depends on everything you do, all day long, every day.
The antidote to aversion is deliberately cultivating love, compassion, patience, generosity, and forgiveness toward everyone, including yourself. The antidote to worry and remorse is practicing virtue in every aspect of your life. You can change bad habits and stop doing things that create the causes for worry and remorse.
the coarseness of the bliss of mental pliancy—its energetic, agitated quality—disappears, replaced by a serene happiness and tranquility. It’s a lot like a post-orgasmic state: physical pleasure has subsided, but a residue remains, and the intensity and excitement have also faded, but the joy and happiness persist.
Meditating on the mind itself involves bringing attention and awareness together in a completely open state. Essentially, you’re fusing attention and awareness.
The mind is as empty as the objects that arise within it. The more you engage in this practice, the deeper this Insight goes, penetrating into the most hidden recesses of your psyche.
Awakening is an accident, but meditating on the mind is a practice that will make you accident-prone.
Prior to śamatha, the mind is like a wild but powerful mountain stream. The mind is in a state of joy, but the accompanying flow of energy is exuberant and turbulent.
Joyful tranquility produces equanimity simply because the pleasure and happiness generated within are so fulfilling that you already feel completely satisfied.
The goal of Stage Ten is for the qualities of śamatha to persist after you rise from the cushion.
As equanimity grows stronger in meditation, the mind outside of meditation grows less prone to grasping, less compelled to pursue pleasant experiences, and less repelled by unpleasant experiences.
You’ll also enjoy pleasant experiences more fully because you’re no longer attached to them, hoping they continue.
Never lose sight of the fact that śamatha and vipassanā must work together. They are like two wings of a bird: you need both to arrive at your ultimate destination.
How “deep” the jhāna is depends on how unified the mind was in access concentration. The greater the unification in access, the deeper the jhāna.
How long you remain in jhāna depends on a kind of “momentum” you generate through intention before entering jhāna. Once the intention to remain in jhāna has been exhausted, you “pop out,” like a cork underwater bursting to the surface.
The meditation object for entering the first pleasure jhāna is a feeling of bodily pleasure (sukha), often combined with the energy sensations—currents, vibrations, etc.—that accompany the arising of meditative joy (pīti).
Access concentration must be stable and sustained for a reasonable period of time before you’re ready to take up this new object—ten to fifteen minutes initially, decreasing to as little as five minutes with more experience.
As you focus on the pleasantness, it will grow stronger. At some point, you may feel like you’re either sinking into the pleasant sensation, or like it has expanded to consume all your available conscious “bandwidth.” When this happens, you’ve entered the first jhāna.
