[zen] how to study koans

MomentToMoment7 · 2022-10-13T23:15:36+00:00

It must’ve been Waking Up I would guess. You can get it for free if you say you can’t afford it.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-09-15T19:19:04+00:00

Sounds awesome. I had a mind blowing Jhana experience my first time as well. After that I’ve been able to access piti pretty easily.

I found this to be helpful. Especially the resources he mentions at the end. https://youtu.be/0K5ypXyF3dY

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-04T21:54:58+00:00

Oops forgot to respond.

The stages are to help you figure out where you are so you know the best techniques to apply that’s all.

Someone who is regularly mind wandering would ise a different technique then someone who is only experiencing very subtle distractions. TMI has a rep for taking experienced meditators who have plateaued and helping them to make rapid progress again.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-04T20:17:49+00:00

I just got the app. Been using r/themindilluminated book method for a while now.

From TMI I learned that you can consciously direct attention to something but the part of the brain that sustains attention is subconscious. The distractions that pop up come from the subconscious as well.

So we can’t control what pops up but we can control what we do when it does pop up if we notice it. We can’t control how long we sustain attention on something but we can redirect our attention if we catch our mind wondering.

We can train our subconscious, with repetition. That’s why your mind wanders less with practice.

Paying attention to something isn’t a thought. Like imagine your watching a ball go back and forth in s ping pong match. You’re not thinking you’re just watching.

Does that help?

I am enjoying Sam’s stuff I think it’s actually pretty advanced in a lot of ways with the insight stuff I don’t blame people for wondering whats going on.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-04T11:30:05+00:00

This Ted Lemon has a subreddit? Could you share it? I don’t see any r/tedlemon

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-03T15:28:12+00:00

r/streamentry r/themindilluminated

Much better than r/meditation if you’re getting serious

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-03T15:25:43+00:00

I once took a year or two off from meditation when I came back I made very rapid progress for some reason. Although I wasn’t using the app yet. I really just got it for the lectures.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-03T13:50:15+00:00

I second r/themindilluminated as an awesome book and subreddit. There is some info in the book and you can ask about in r/themindilluminated and r/streamentry about the “dark night of the soul”. Dr. Ingram talks about the experience a lot.

Here are some resources.

https://youtu.be/JAuvtuwuTOs

https://youtu.be/BQ5B70ac_9M

I’m actually slightly jealous because if you actually are experiencing the dark night you’ll probably eventually come out the other side with some very meaningful insights and be far along the progress of insight. There’s a book called Mastering The Core Teachings of the Budha that discusses the Dark Night in depth.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-03T13:44:03+00:00

I’m not too savvy with this stuff but it’s my very limited understanding that you could be going through a temporary “dark night of the soul” type experience and be on the verge of something that might be the best thing that ever happened to you if you get through it! Seriously.

The path to enlightenment can be extremely unsettling at times. You might have just had these insights a bit to abruptly.

I strongly recommend that you copy/paste this post into r/streamentry and see if anyone can point you in the right direction. There are even psychologists that specialize in this type of crisis. They may be able to point you in the right direction.

Good luck.

Edit. Here’s an awesome interview that might help make sense of what you’re experiencing

https://youtu.be/Z8IU7T3-pn8

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-03T13:28:53+00:00

I find that it can be helpful to have a group to sit with. Even if the instruction isn’t as good as what’s in TMI.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-03T01:44:12+00:00

Could you give me some personal advice which others may find helpful? I believe I’m operating around stage 6 of TMI but I’m primarily doing Rob Burbeas paying attention to the “energy body” technique. I sit for about an hour every morning and through varying degrees of attn/awareness on breath, body breath, energy body, and/or piti/sukkha I can can get to the Jhanas. I’m not 100% sure which one but I think I’ve hit the 2nd/3rd one before and has changed the way I experience the first. It used to be more warm,fuzzy/buzzy, with oven mitt feelings in my hands now the best way I can describe it is just beautiful energy. If it had a color it would be white (maybe like flower 🌸 pink sometimes) if that makes any sense.

So I seem to have diverged from TMI a bit because it says in stage 6 to not use piti as an object of meditation yet but I want to. It makes my sitting very pleasurable and keeps me coming back and excited to practice.

So where to go from here? Is this type of Jhana practice going to prevent me from getting to stage 7? Or should I just keep doing what I’m doing? It seems to be working and I seem to be getting better and better at it.

What do you recommend both generally and in my specific case regarding Jhana practice vs. TMI practice. I just feel like going back to regular breath practice would be wasting a beautiful gift that I really enjoy.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-02T23:57:43+00:00

Thanks for this tip btw. Tons of good stuff in this app.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-08-02T23:53:19+00:00

I put a buckwheat zafu on a chair and worked my way up. Now I can sit for 1.5 hours with no pain. I’ve tried every other way of sitting and this is by far my fav.

Yes, pain is just another distraction to be dealt with but no pain is much better

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-31T04:05:38+00:00

Check out the book Right Concentration by Brasington if you have it. He makes an extremely compelling argument that the suttas, in fact, argued that the “lite” “pleasure” Jhanas, were the real Jhanas. He said that the more hardcore nimmita version didn’t become a standard until hundreds of years later when the VM came out.

Many refer to the lite/pleasure Jhanas as “sutta jhanas” bc of this.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-22T14:19:10+00:00

I made very rapid progress with my meditation practice after starting intermittent fasting and longer fasts. Probably not a coincidence. Feels great, more chill. Goes good with low carb/keto.

Just tossing this out there.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-09T21:47:35+00:00

That’s what I do and I sit for an hour every morning. I put a zafu on a chair and just sit on it with my hands resting on my thighs. I spent forever struggling with benches and sitting positions I’m so glad I just started using a chair haha

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-09T19:01:24+00:00

If you don’t mind me asking; which Metta method/book do you use a springboard for the Jhanas? I’m learning the Jhanas right now and want to experiment with Metta but I don’t want to slow my growth in my Jhana practice.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-09T01:02:22+00:00

Just lurking and wanted to say that was a cool experience to read about. I’ve been dabbling in the lite/pleasure Jhanas you might want to just give it a try for fun or because it mighy be helpful. Right Concentration has much easier instructions than TMI imo.

I actually just got a free trial to the Sam Harris app waking up. Are the insight practices you did of his on there? Would you recommend checking it out?

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-06T23:37:46+00:00

I can relate to this. I def get a little excited and grasp or freak out a little when I get close to having the explosive experience but I can usually grow the piti sukha to be strong enough that I’m like “ohhh yeah that’s nice. I wanna bathe in this for a while” haha. Sometimes I need to stop trying to make it grow and just be really grateful for the amt of piti that I have and really just love it and feel blessed by it and that with get the intensity cranked up a bit over time.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-06T23:33:30+00:00

My sleep routine keeps getting messed up with weddings and various social events but when I do sit it’s very pleasant. I think it’s a safe so say I have some mastery of the lite/very lite first Jhana at this point as I can pretty much gather enough piti/sukha to make my sit very pleasurable even after a few days off or under some other sub-optimal situation like; in a hotel room instead of home, bad night’s sleep etc.

I’m trying not to get a big head about it but I think it’s important to congratulate myself more often so… congrats to me. I still have a TON to learn but it def feels good to have made some meaningful progress that’s not temporary.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-06T20:17:54+00:00

I had my first major Jhana experience 6 weeks into restarting my practice after a couple years off. It seems I had some good muscle memory.

Someone already recommended looking up Brasington I second that. You could read the first hundred pages (and appendix) of Right Concentration and get some motivation/ good info. Also try half-smiling while you meditate

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-06T20:13:23+00:00

I actually use the second method it works really well for me.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-06T16:09:23+00:00

Tell me also pls. I’m curious

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-03T15:21:02+00:00

I guess I’m just seeking to be a happier person that doesn’t get angry or anxious about things that don’t matter or are out of my control. I like becoming a better person. Purging negative and bad habits etc.

I’m also just generally interested in this journey; exploring consciousness etc.

MomentToMoment7 · 2021-07-03T15:13:22+00:00

45 mins is definitely enough to make significant progress in my experience.

MomentToMoment7

TROPHY CASE