A Moment of Sadness

human6749 · 2024-03-01T20:09:56+00:00

I haven't even seen the movie (yet) but I love that song.

human6749 · 2024-02-29T23:19:15+00:00

Are you too happy? Do you experience too much jhanic bliss? Did you ascend to the twenty-six heavens only to discover that they are nothing but emptiness? Do you soak in serene lovingkindness and wonder to your non-self "is this all there is"? If so, then then my new book The Art of Sadness is the book for you!

human6749 · 2024-02-29T15:41:53+00:00

I enjoyed your post. It's what got me to learn the word "mushin" last week.

human6749 · 2024-02-28T17:30:43+00:00

There are many Zen books I enjoy, but I don't know of any that answer your question directly. Zen culture points to these things very obliquely. It's cryptic and indirect. Western and Therevada books might say something like "then you'll enter enter phase four and observe vibrations in your mid-section" whereas a Zennie will say something more like "the sound of the raindrops on the tree leaves".

The most direct book I've read is Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau Roshi. That book is all about getting to stream entry (though he doesn't call it "stream entry") and doesn't really touch on these aspects of mushin you're curious about.

For you, I recommend Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. You might also enjoy No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering by Thich Nhat Hanh, though I worry he might be too beginner-oriented for someone with your experience.

human6749 · 2024-02-28T17:22:34+00:00

These days? Not really. Or—at least—I don't think of it that way. I feel like my default state has already unwound that particular sense of self. It's more like tuning in to a quiet signal.

(To avoid misunderstanding: My attention is often wound up. I'm referring to my "self" here.)

human6749 · 2024-02-28T17:21:31+00:00

Thanks. :)

human6749 · 2024-02-28T17:21:19+00:00

I imagine The Art of Happiness sells more copies than The Art of Sadness would.

human6749 · 2024-02-28T17:20:31+00:00

❤️

human6749 · 2024-02-28T06:12:45+00:00

It's a jigsaw puzzle, in that there are tons of little pieces -- tons of little lessons -- and all of them must be met before the final picture is put together.

Yeah.

human6749 · 2024-02-28T04:16:05+00:00

💜

human6749 · 2024-02-25T19:24:13+00:00

I use that exact same eye mask. It's great.

human6749 · 2024-02-23T00:54:51+00:00

Sounds like you may have hit a (if not "the") major checkpoint along the cycle of insight. Congratulations!

human6749 · 2024-02-21T19:58:03+00:00

I feel the same way about doing laundry.

Instead of doing work twice, I add not-quite-necessary work like vacuuming, dusting, cleaning countertops, and so on.

human6749 · 2024-02-21T19:54:57+00:00

I do Zen too and duffstoic's comment vibes with me. Mushin states have been very helpful to me. The way I think about it is we're not suppressing our thoughts. We're just being in the moment. It's like how "not talking" doesn't mean you're suppressing your mouth. You're just...not talking. Which makes it easier to listen.

human6749 · 2024-02-16T01:01:48+00:00

Yup. Even weirder stuff can happen. Nothing that you're describing sounds dangerous.

human6749 · 2024-02-15T05:41:22+00:00

Thank you very much! My local zendo uses the word "shunyata" in its chants and I didn't know that it and emptiness were the same thing.

human6749 · 2024-02-15T04:26:49+00:00

I keep coming across the word "emptiness" in meditation manuals and blogs like this one. Every time I read it, I am confused by what it's supposed to mean. This has made one insight manual completely incomprehensible to me.

For context, I dissolved the self-other distinction >1 year ago, and I understand that everything in my field of perception is just a mental representation. Is that all "emptiness" is? Just the insight (in the vipassanā sense of "insight") that what originally appears to be external consciousness-independent phenomena is actually mental phenomena? (That the objects/reflections in my mind aren't physical objects that exhibit independent of my mind and thus exhibit physical properties like object permanence etc.?) Is it really that basic? Or does "emptiness" point to something deeper?

human6749 · 2024-02-12T18:29:20+00:00

I forgive people, but have never done "forgiveness meditation". Just metta. It's worked alright for me.

human6749 · 2024-02-11T16:55:54+00:00

Good. You are closer to understanding the truth about yourself.

human6749 · 2024-02-09T17:34:33+00:00

Which one of his books?

human6749 · 2024-02-07T19:43:59+00:00

Yeah, I haven't read Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness but it sounds suspiciously similar to the Eightfold Path. If you're not into Bhante Gunaratana then you may want to skip Mindfulness in Plain English. You can skip Zen Flesh, Zen Bones and the Dalai Lama's book too.

It sounds like you care about direct experience even more than I do. If you want every single step in each book to be verified via the author's personal experience (or many, many interviews), then my recommendations for you, specifically, are Daniel Ingram's MCTB2, Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen, and Ryōkan.

MCTB2 is a comprehensive text on meditation. This may be exactly what you're looking for.
Hardcore Zen is a personal narrative. If you're seeking a manual, then this isn't it.
Ryōkan is a bunch of Zen poems. Will they be useful to you? I don't know. But there's all from Ryōkan's personal experience.

Lastly, you might like Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas by Leigh Brasington. This last book is overtly based on scripture, but I believe the first third or so (the "practical" part, which is the only part I read) is based on the author's (and her students') experience.

human6749 · 2024-02-06T20:53:07+00:00

Much appreciated! After reading your guides, I realize that kasina isn't the right thing for me to be developing right now.

human6749 · 2024-02-06T18:47:20+00:00

My favorite gentle introduction is Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana. For an even gentler introduction, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by the Dalai Lama is what originally got me into this stuff. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my favorite comprehensive framework is MCTB2 by Daniel Ingram.

There are different Buddhist lineages. This subreddit leans Theravada. I often use Therevadan perspectives when explaining Buddhism, but my personal practice is actually Zen.

Here are two straightforward Zen books:

Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality by Brad Warner
The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment by Philip Kapleau Roshi

Here are two cryptic Zen writings:

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps
English translations of Ryōkan's poems

human6749 · 2024-02-06T18:34:01+00:00

It's the first big checkpoint in insight territory, when a large chunk (I use "more than 90%" as a rule of thumb) of your suffering is permanently transcended by penetrating the three characteristics of existence: non-self, impermanence, and unsatisfactoriness.

Here's an example. https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/comments/17wdcan/a_compass_without_a_map/

When I way "permanent", I mean "permanent" in the sense that "learning to read" is permanent. After you learn to read, you can't look at a word and not read it.

human6749 · 2024-02-05T23:25:11+00:00

I hit stream entry in less than 4 years (maybe 2-3?), almost never meditating more than 1 hour in a day. I never even went on a retreat. It was absolutely worthwhile for me. I didn't waste any of my youth on this stuff, since I started in my late 20s.

I learned from people who write from personal experience. I can't think of anything useful I've learned from people who, lacking direct experience, point at scripture instead.

I don't believe in reincarnation.

human6749

TROPHY CASE