Rod's Practice Journal

[Rod1]

Thanks Nick - this raises a big question that puzzles me. Kenneth has talked about in his writings the need for pre-SE folks to really crank up their concentrations skills, citing that the Jhanas and Nanas access the same mental strata and so being able to reach and stay at those strata is key. So my puzzlement is about if its really necassary to 'see' the nanas inorder to pass through them. In other words, if I just keep doing Jhanas and noting in 4th etc, am I still making progress through the nanas even though I cannot experience them. Daniel Ingram does mention that jhanas tend to lubricate the passage through nanas and makes the path easier than for 'dry' vipassana practitioners. So this is my question. If it is true that be having strong concentration and refining jhana practice with noting daily and in 4th jhana will enable equivalent progress through the nanas to SE, then of course I will continue doing that. If however it requires one to actually watch and experience each nana consciously inorder for progress to occur then I will have to change my practice significantly which I am prepared to do of course but just can't find out a reliable answer on this.
Interested in your thoughts on this, or anyone else who has a reliable view on this. Thanks again

[Rod1]

Log Update 09/04/2013

Sat last night for 65 Mins then lying down for 40 mins. Worked through jhanas and stabilised in each to 4th. Once in 4th, I watched the breath continuously intensifying concentration and becoming aware of rising energy at the top of my head. Watched the build of a need for something to happen with this energy. This resulted in a strong feeling of lightness of body and a 'need' to 'lift off'. I stayed with this feeling which became a stable state. Then tried to envisage infinite space to see if I would naturally move to the next jhana. This appeared to happen. But the feeling of rising energy was strong. Then a shift occurred and suddenly the energy that was centred at the top of my head flipped down to my navel area and then felt like a pillar up through me. It seemed a more balanced/aligned state to be in. I watched and noted sensations. Transferred to lying down and continued but with stronger emphasis on watching breath and noting sensation.

Woke up at 6.00 and watched breath and noted from 4th jhana till 7.00am

Noted on the bus to and from work. (40 mins each way) - used iPhone app.

[NickP]

I'm not authoritative but here's my take:

Concentration, as in the spiritual faculty, is part and parcel of insight meditation. Concentration, as in the training, is a great support for insight meditation, but is not insight meditation. Absorption (jhana) is embracing the illusion of solidity, whereas insight is trying to debunk it. Both are good and go hand in hand, but they are two separate things. You can crank up your concentration levels massively, while not entering an altered state of consciousness, and that's actually great for vipassana.
Each samatha jhana accesses the same mind stratum as the corresponding vipassana jhana. Ñana-wise, 1J corresponds to 1Ñ, 2J to 4Ñ, 3J to 5Ñ and 4J to 11Ñ. Have a look at the "20 strata of mind" model from the old KFD archives if you haven't done so already.
Going all the way up to 4J in samatha practice and starting noting once up there, is something that I tried to do in my early practice. Back then, 4J was much more accessible to me than the EQ ñana from dry insight, so I used that as a shortcut. I became bored too often, and although profoundly peaceful, those experiences weren't very insightful. Too few, repetitive objects to note, and felt like hitting a dead end. Perhaps I gave up too quickly and there was a shortcut to SE that I didn't see, but it didn't feel right to continue trying that way.

[Rod1]

Hi Nick, appreciate your comments here. This point is always confusing - I know about the 20 stage map of Kenneths - my problem is how to use it properly. I am not too keen on experiencing the Dukkha nanas full faced if its not absolutely necessary. I have fairly strong concentration now and have started to split my practice to non/jhana and jhana as I am feeling that I am not progressing much and don't want to stagnate and become unmotivated. I am also noting off cushion as much as I can - this is gradually improving although I still get the feeling I am not doing it properly but will forge on.

[Rod1]

Log Update 10/04/2013
Sat last night for 60 minutes then lying down for 60 mins. Concentrated on breath for half of sit watching and noting sensations than felt I was in similar territory to 4th jhana so tried to get into 4th jhana which happened easily. Continued noting sensations in 4th jhana and noted that mind was unusually agitated so noted wandering and kept bringing back. Then moved awareness to infinite space and absorption level increased with very sharp erratic energy darting around and almost at a point where I would lose awareness which seemed like a good thing to focus on. Didn't quite 'black out' but got close. Interesting. Once lying down, I continued this excercise and reached a similar point and noted the darting erratic energy. I then went to sleep.
Woke up at 3.30am and realised that energy in my visual field (closed eyes) was still darting around but this time it was as if I was just catching the end of something all the time. Interesting but not sure what it means - will continue to explore if possible. I watched and it continued till I drifted off again maybe 30 minutes later. I woke up at 6.00 and had short meditation for 30 mins till 6.30 when had to get up for early meeting. Watched breath for this session.

Reflective Note: Concerned that current practice quality is not what it could be. Hard to get clear view on how Jhanas and Vipassana work together in practice other than just splitting practice to half sits in jhanas and half in Vipassana. So started changing practice to this with noting through day as currently doing. Just received copy of Nyanaponika Thera's book 'The Heart of Buddhist Meditation' so will read through this or greater guidance. Strange, I recognise this book from 20 years ago but didn't really appreciate it then. Also received Connected Discourses, Middle Length Discourses and Long Discourses of the Buddha. So although references, will gradually work through these over the rest of my life!

[Jack H]

[quote="Rod1"]Thanks Nick - this raises a big question that puzzles me. Kenneth has talked about in his writings the need for pre-SE folks to really crank up their concentrations skills,
===============
A good teacher might tell one student one thing and another student something different according to where they are on the path so what I am about to say might not be right for you. I asked Kenneeth whether I should do jhana work. His response was that my mind has only so much capacity. It would be better for me to use this capacity for 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear work not jhana work.I am pre SE but have lots of meditation experience.

I offer this as something you should consider not something that is necessarily right for you.

jack

[Rod1]

Thanks for checking in on my log and appreciate your point Jack. I will discuss with Kenneth next session. I just want to make sure that whatever practice I do is not wasted time or effort.

[Rod1]

Log Update 13/04/13

Split sits over the past couple of nights - 60 mins non-jhana and 60 mins (average) jhana - usually lying down. Over the past couple of nights, woke up in the middle of the night and noted sensations, watched breath for about 30 mins each. In the mornings, min 60mins 4th jhana noting. Noting through the day on bus to work and coming home from work - usually 40 mins each. No particularly exceptional phenomenon except noticing generally high level of concentration through the day which results in a very peaceful baseline. Reading 'Heart of Buddhist Meditation' (Thyanopnika Thera) to explore mindfulness in greater detail to improve technique in this area. I also seem to have some skill with jhanas so my intention is to learn more about how to effectively utilise them in progress on the path - Kenneth is definitely helpful here.

Today was a great day for practice - I took a flight. Noted in the taxi on the way to airport (20mins), meditated on the flight to destination, bad weather with 3 landing attempts and 1.5 extra hrs of circling over airport meant a turn back to home airport - so I read 'Heart of Buddhist meditation' on the way back. Noted on the train back from the airport. Met my wife and enjoyed the setting sun of a sunny autumn day at home, walking back together from the station. Really bad day otherwise - but great day for practice and a great opportunity to watch my own response and everyone else's responses to the problems. The whole day was a great comedy between the weather and the incompetance of the airline in handling the problem and passengers who were the casualties (if only Richaerd Branson were there?! ).

Reflective Note: Bit of a ramble (what better thing to do on a Saturday night?!......don't answer that! ) This morning had good session with Kenneth. As I was explaining my experiences and questions from over the past couple of weeks, he brought to my attention a couple of things I said which indicated answers in plain sight. If I reflect on the past 6 months of practice, I realise that prior to that I was typically brimming with churning thoughts and the usual emotional and idea conundrums occupying my mental time. Now I have much lower mental churning, not getting caught in content and can pick and head off speculations of future or wanderings in the past relatively effectively. I am starting to experience how helpful noting is in being able to do this too. Basically, I have much less suffering and states of dissatisfaction than I did before I started practicing. Its quite significantly less as I think about it and Kenneth raised the obvious point that this is the what its all about - right? One of the very reasons I started doing this is actually being fulfilled and I was so intent on achieving it that I am not seeing it occurring. Of course there is a long way to go.
This led me to considering the concept of surrender (often discussed at length in religion such as Christianity in the context of having a 'God' to surrender to - gross description but serves the purpose here) but I could see on a deeper level than intellectually how it ties in with this kind of 'godless' practice in that its all about giving up deluded perceptions etc and trusting the process which is part volitional and part non-volitional, effort to ensure progress and effort to get out of the way (not wanting to offend anyone here in equating God with a process). So getting away from God, I can visualise push-starting a manual car - effort to get to a speed that matches 1st gear, releasing the clutch then letting the engine start and stabilise - crude analogy but anyway. I realised that (and probably like most of my comments in this log, this will seem like the bleeding obvious to a casual reader) this process is not only working to break the fetters that hold the self model perception etc in place but also about actually recognising when they have been loosened or broken - kind of like pinching yourself to check you are not still dreaming. I don't know if I have broken any of the classic fetters described by the Buddha yet but I am sure some have been loosened a little and I need to ensure I see that too because sometimes it is subtle and me being a fine product of modern Western culture, I only equate progress with intentional, obvious effort and corresponding obvious results.

[NickP]

Amen. A few of these nuggets of wisdom hit close to home.

[Rod1]

Log Update 14/04 2013

Sat for 40 mins about 30 mins watching breath on dry insight, then 10 mins going up to 4th jhana and mapping the territory around 4th as I find there are a few substates around 4th so wanted to determine boundaries between them. Transferred to lying down and continued for 60 mins. Worked on blockage I had identified in my head that appeared to be limiting energy release out of the crown. Had worked on this with Kenneth and continued watching the blockage and characterising it, then scanning through the rest of body for corresponding tensions - relaxed all sections as I progressed. This appeared to reduce the solidity of the blockage but I was tired and will need to continue next time. Woke up at 1.20am feeling like II had slept 8 hours. Noted breath for about 30 mins and feel asleep. Woke up at 5.20 and noted breath and all sensations for about 30 mins then for 2 hours worked through jhanas up to 4th and continued to map territory. Whilst trying to 'visualise' infinite space to return to test if I was getting into 5th or just sub-sets of 4th, I felt that practicing metta would be a good idea as it had a common approach in as much as it 'visualises' sending loving kindness to all beings in all realms so felt that it was appropriate to do this (I know, not very disciplined) and so finished off doing that.

Walked to shops and did shopping - noted walking using iphone app (1.5 hours round trip) interspersing walking sensation of each foot with other sensory stimuli as they arose. It occurred to me how amazing the mind is being able to manage so many different operations simultaneously as I tried to multiple note stimulii occurring at once or in very close succession. I had to dispense with noting method and move to awareness of sensations as micro touch points inorder to consciously cope. Hard and requires alot of practice I imagine.

Also working on what I call 'micro-happiness/contentment' which I guess has similarities to AF and HAIETMOBA but its a way of enjoying and dropping. I love nature - and when I walk through the neighbourhood, I really feel uplifted by seeing trees and gardens and just generally ..well...nature - especially on beautiful sunny days - but anytime - even at night. I have noted this and whilst have not got to the bottom of the reasons for this, I see benefit in enjoying things for what they are so have devised a way to do so that supports happiness and aids investigation - I enjoy these things as they are and let them pass at that moment - thus the name micro-happiness. It also enables me to analyse these snapshots as isolated samples rather than mixed in the normal 'soup' of experiences - kind of like specimens in a petrie dish I guess. I have extended this to relationships and beyond but it really shines as a practice when I am walking through natural environments etc. Seems to enable me to steal a little more peace, happiness and insight from an object whilst noting before consciously dropping it. Maybe one day, it will help me to realise happiness in all experiences? Just my version of probably well defined techniques - not sure but, whatever. I realise its still dualistic and I guess at some point will be shed as well or combined.

This afternoon spent time reading about how to integrate Jhana practice and insight meditation and read the following:
* 'One Tool Among Many - The Place of Vipassana in Buddhist Practice': Thanissaro Bhikkhu
* 'The Jhanas' Stephen Snyder & Tina Rasmusson
* 'Reinterpreting the Jhanas' Roderick Bucknell
* 'The Jhānas in Theravāda Buddhist Meditation' Mahāthera Henepola Gunaratana
* 'Should We Come Out of Jhana to Practice Vipassana?' Bhante Gunaratana

It could be a life study of course but next stop is to read what the Buddha said. There are a range of interpretations of what they are and how they can be used. Gunaratana himself seems to have changed his view from one favouring out of jhana insight to a later essay on why it is imperative to stay in Jhanas to do Vipassana. For my part - I just want to confirm a reasonable approach. As Shoshin stated, its a very old dispute and whilst interesting and involving becoming familiar with alot of historical/cultural context around key texts and authors such as Visuddhimagga, Vimutthimagga and the Pali canon etc, interesting nonetheless, don't want to spend too much time on it - practice is more important at this stage