Mark Foote

Better live than lip-synched, I think. Nobody dancing?

The Karanīya Metta Sutta comes from the Sutta Nipāta, which is found in the Khuddaka Nikāya--the 5th Nikaya. According to A. K. Warder, some early Buddhist schools did not have a fifth Nikaya at all (although some of the texts were incorporated into the rules of the order in those schools). On happiness: I know that while my father, the Sakyan, was ploughing, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, I entered on the first meditation, which is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness, and is rapturous and joyful, and while abiding therein, I thought: ‘Now could this be a way to awakening?’ Then, following on my mindfulness, Aggivissana, there was the consciousness: This is itself the Way to awakening. This occurred to me, Aggivissana: ‘Now, am I afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind?’ This occurred to me…: I am not afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind.’ (MN 36, tr. Pali Text Society [PTS] vol I p 301) “…What do you think about this, reverend Jain: Is King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha, without moving his body, without uttering a word, able to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for seven nights and days?” “No, your reverence.” “What do you think about this, reverend Jain: Is King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha, without moving his body, without uttering a word, able to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for six nights and days, for five, for four, for three, for two nights and days, for one night and day?” “No, your reverence.” “But I, reverend Jain, am able, without moving my body, without uttering a word, to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for one night and day. I, reverend Jain, am able, without moving my body, without uttering a word, to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for two nights and days, for three, four, five, six, for seven nights and days.” (MN 14, tr. PTS vol I pp 123-124) Whatever happiness, whatever joy, Ananda, arises in consequence of these five strands of sense-pleasures, it is called happiness in sense-pleasures. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus: ‘This is the highest happiness and joy that creatures experience’—this I cannot allow on [their] part. What is the reason for this? There is, Ananda, another happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, a [person], aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, enters and abides in the first meditation that is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness and is rapturous and joyful. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus: ‘This [the first meditative state] is the highest happiness and joy that creatures experience’–this I cannot allow on [their] part. What is the reason for this? There is, Ananda, another happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, [an individual], by allaying initial and discursive thought, [their] mind inwardly tranquillised and fixed on one point, enters and abides in the second meditation which is devoid of initial and discursive thought, is born of concentration, and is rapturous and joyful. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and joyful than that happiness. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus… And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, [an individual], by the fading out of rapture, abides with equanimity, attentive and clearly conscious, and [they] experience in [their] person that happiness of which the [noble ones] say: ‘Joyful lives [the one] who has equanimity and is mindful’. And entering on the third meditation [they] abide in it. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus… And what, Ananda is the other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, [an individual], by getting rid of happiness and by getting rid of anguish, by the going down of [their] former pleasures and sorrows, enters and abides in the fourth meditation which has neither anguish nor happiness, and which is entirely purified by equanimity and mindfulness. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. “Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus: ‘This [the fourth meditative state] is the highest happiness and joy that creatures experience’-this I cannot allow on [their] part. What is the reason for this? There is, Ananda, another happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, a [person], by wholly transcending perceptions of material shapes, by the going down of perceptions due to sensory impressions, by not attending to perceptions of difference, thinking: “Ether is unending’, enters and abides in the plane of infinite ether. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. …[a person], by wholly transcending the plane of infinite ether and thinking: ‘Consciousness is unending’, enters and abides in the plane of infinite consciousness… …[a person], by wholly transcending the plane of infinite consciousness, and thinking: ‘There is no thing’. enters and abides in the plane of no-thing… …[a person]. by wholly transcending the plane of no-thing, enters and abides in the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. …[a person], by wholly transcending the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. enters and abides in the stopping of perceiving and feeling. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness.” (MN 59, PTS vol II p 67) … the situation occurs, Ananda, when wanderers belonging to other sects may speak thus: ‘The recluse (Gautama) speaks of the stopping of perceiving and feeling, and lays down that this belongs to happiness. Now what is this, now how is this?’ Ananda, wanderers belonging to other sects who speak thus should be spoken to thus: ‘Your reverences, (Gautama) does not lay down that it is only pleasant feeling that belongs to happiness; for, your reverences, the Tathagatha (the “Thus-Gone One”, the Buddha) lays down that whenever, wherever, whatever happiness is found it belongs to happiness. (MN 59, tr. Pali Text Society vol II p 69)

That for me is a hallmark of the things I love in Eastern culture, that and the importance that is laid on action out of union with one's own nature, as opposed to in opposition to one's own nature.

Huh … ? c. 2 millennia later? That's my understanding. Asked a nun who had spent much time in Thailand about it once, and she confirmed it (for what that's worth). dates? On rereading, I find that the 5th Nikaya was collected at the same time as the others, at the First Rehearsal approximately 500 B.C.E.. One source I see online says it was during the first rainy season after Gautama's passing. However--from A. K. Warder's "Indian Buddhism": ... Ksudraka Agama (outside the first four agamas there remained a number of texts regarded by all the schools as of inferior importance, either because they were compositions of followers of the Buddha and not the words of the Master himself, or because they were of doubtful authenticity, these were collected in this 'Minor Tradition'). ... It has been suggested that some schools did not have a Minor Tradition at all, though they still had some of the minor texts, incorporated in their Vinayas, hence the 'Four Agamas" are sometimes spoken of as representing the Sutra. (published Motilal Barnarsidass, 2nd ed 1980, pp 202-203) John is more like 2 decennia later (synoptic gospels c. 70-85 AD, John c. 90-100 AD) I see where Turbingen school dated it later, but what do I know!

The metta chants I believe are a fairly recent addition to Thai Buddhist ceremony, 19th century. That's my understanding, though a Google search failed to shed any light. The main sutta that is mentioned is from the 5th Nikaya, that is historically of later composition than the first four. Sort of like, John versus the synoptic gospels, John being a later composition with the accent on love. Hope you're happy, 'Bob.

integration 中 cool beans. Wind, water, ditto. waves on the water

... in Nahuatl speaking communities I have never met anyone who considered the word /a:wakatl/ to refer to anything but avocadoes. Molina himself gives a clue that this is the case because if you look in the Spanish part under compañon. Here, he does not give auacatl as a possible translation only the word atetl, which is a normal, anatomical, non-slang word for testicle in Nahuatl today and clearly also in the past (another common word is xitetl). It would appear that the anatomical meaning is a euphemism, based on a certain similarity of shape, the same kind of euphemism that we make use of when we refer to a penis as "a wiener" or to testicles as "nuts" (or when Spanish speakers refer to testicles as "huevos" "eggs" or cebollas "onions"). We would however not generally consider it to be "partly correct" to say that "wiener schnitzel" kind of means "Penis schnitzel" or that "nut case" kind of means "testicle box". Nor would Spanish speakers consider it meaningful to say that "torta de huevo" kind of means "testicle sandwich". https://nahuatlstudies.blogspot.com/2016/02/no-snopescom-word-guacamole-does-not.html

Sitting shikantaza is the place itself, and things. …When you sit, the cushion sits with you. If you wear glasses, the glasses sit with you. Clothing sits with you. House sits with you. People who are moving around outside all sit with you. They don’t take the sitting posture! (“Aspects of Sitting Meditation”, “Shikantaza”; Kobun Chino Otogawa; http://www.jikoji.org/intro-aspects/) Who's sitting! From here you must still go on to master transcendent action. An ancient worthy said, ‘Find the seat and put on the robe, and afterward see for yourself.’ (“Zen Letters: Teachings of Yuanwu”, translated by Cleary & Cleary, 1st ed pp 65)

Can you keep "one-pointedness" and be aware of inhaling and exhaling? I ask because Robert Monroe discovered that the sure-fire way for him to get back in his body (after he had gone astro-traveling) was to become aware of his breathing. Makes me wonder if the out-of-body experiences you describe are possible while being aware of breathing. Can you stay conscious as a "point of awareness", from moment to moment? That's the practice in "waking up and falling asleep". Not about moving the "point of awareness", about the "point of awareness" moving. Yes, the anatomy is essential to me. The guidance that's helpful to me on posture is from "The Blue Cliff Record", it's in my book in "Common Ground" (the "turtle-nosed snake") and "Applying the Pali Instructions" ("turning to the left, turning to the right, following up behind"). I seem to also have to understand why these bits are helpful, and that's in the kinesiology. The kinesiology is mostly in "The Diamond Trap, the Thicket of Thorns", but as I said there, "applying past understandings to the experience of the present can be like swallowing a thicket of thorns." That's where the practice of "waking up and falling asleep" comes in.

I look at the color and skin condition, watching for white on the skin at the bottom (or anywhere--rot, sometimes when they're not even ripe). I pick them up in my hand, that way I can tell how soft they are without squeezing. Just barely starting to soften is good, sometimes need a day or two before they go in the fridge. Taken me years to be mostly successful in my store picks. I frequently take none, as they are too ripe or underripe. I run a knife around them from pole to pole and back again, use the knife to break them into two halves, one with the seed. I take a spoon and turn the seedless half out so I can see if there are black spots on the skin side of the meat, if so dig 'em out with the spoon. Put the half with the seed in the fridge for another day, they keep fine uncovered if you don't mind the discolored exposed edges. a little salt, mmm good.

Look ma, no hands! No mention of meditation, at all! No where to go, nothing to do. Written almost fifteen years ago, now. Waking Up and Falling Asleep I have a practice that I’d like to offer, something that I believe is already part of the general repertoire of this community, even though the details I will provide here are new. The practice I have in mind is a practice that everybody is already familiar with, even if they don’t think of it as a practice. What I’m referring to is waking up in the morning, or falling asleep at night; if you’ve ever had a hard time waking up or falling asleep, then you know that there can indeed be a practice! In my experience, the practice is the same, whether I am waking up or falling asleep: when I realize my physical sense of location in space, and realize it as it occurs from one moment to the next, then I wake up or fall asleep as appropriate. This practice is useful, when I wake up in the middle of the night and need to go back to sleep, or when I want to feel more physically alive in the morning. This practice is also useful when I want to feel my connection to everything around me, because my sense of place registers the contact of my awareness with each thing, as contact occurs. Just before I fall asleep, my awareness can move very readily, and my sense of where I am tends to move with it. This is also true when I am waking up, although it can be harder to recognize (I tend to live through my eyes in the daytime, and associate my sense of place with them). When my awareness shifts readily, I realize that my ability to feel my location in space is made possible in part by the freedom of my awareness to move. I sometimes overlook my location in space because I attach to what I’m feeling, or I’m averse to it, or I ignore it. The result is that I lose the freedom of my awareness to shift and move, and I have difficulty relaxing or staying alert. When I allow what I feel to enter into where I am, then my awareness remains free, and I can relax and keep my wits about me. To me, a lot of what this community is about is living life from exactly where we are. When we really live from where we are, we discover that everything and everyone around us is a part of where we are, and that our actions truly belong to where we are. This kind of action is the only really selfless action I know. There’s nothing special about having a sense of place, and yet I find my peace of mind depends on my sense of place most of all. That is why I would like to recommend the practice of “waking up and falling asleep” to everyone. Wrote a book about it: https://zenmudra.com/A-Natural-Mindfulness.pdf

Well, I had posted "The Tubes" playing "What Do You Want from Life", but it was too depressing. Sorry about that...

Today I sat in the middle of the afternoon, just my usual sloppy half-lotus. My practice seems to have circled back around to something like: There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. yet I am drawing on Gautama's description of mindfulness of the body: … Setting mindfulness in front of (oneself), (one) breathes in mindfully and mindfully breathes out. As (one) draws in a long breath (one) knows: A long breath I draw in. [As (one) breathes out a long breath (one) knows: I breathe out a long breath.] As (one) draws in a short breath (one) knows: A short breath I draw in. As (one) breathes out a short breath (one) knows: I breathe out a short breath. Thus (one) makes up (one’s) mind: I shall breathe in, feeling it go through the whole body. Feeling it go through the whole body I shall breath out. Calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe in. Calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe out. (SN 54.1, tr. Pali Text Society vol V pp 275-276; masculine pronouns replaced) I do so in the context of what I consider to be the actionable elements in the sixteen elements of the mindfulness that made up his way of living: 1) Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation; 2) Find a feeling of ease and calm the senses connected with balance, in inhalation and exhalation; 3) Appreciate and detach from thought, in inhalation and exhalation; 4) Look to the free location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation. "Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation" is my real-world application of "calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe in. Calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe out", "relax" instead of "calm" to differentiate the experience from "calming down the mental factors", which constitutes the eighth element of Gautama's way of living and really does involve calm. The key to continued mindfulness is the last element. The first three you could say are practices of "form is emptiness", and the last a practice of "emptiness is form". Another way to describe that last element: Translated into the language of the neurobiologists, concentration begins when consciousness is retained at the “specific position in space” of “embodied self-location”. ... There can come a moment when the experience of consciousness retained with “embodied self-location” becomes the experience of “embodied self-location” retained with consciousness. ("The Place Where You Stop and Rest") Gautama's description of that last: Again, a (person), putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. … just as a (person) might sit with (their) head swathed in a clean cloth; even so (one) sits suffusing (their) body with purity… (AN 5.28, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III pp 18-19) My explanation: The “purity” that suffuses the body is the pureness of the mind without any will or intention with regard to the body. I believe that activity of the body solely by virtue of the location of consciousness is what Shunryu Suzuki referred to as “just sitting”. “Doing something” with regard to the body or the breath, whether “known and deliberate” or “concealed from the consciousness by habit”, has ceased. ("The Place Where You Stop and Rest") "Unbounded awareness"--the first of the further concentrations is “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of the mind of compassion through "the first quarter [of the world], likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; just so above, below, across; [one] dwells having suffused the whole world everywhere, in every way, with a mind of compassion that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence." That concentration Gautama said was "the infinity of ether".

… a good (person] reflects thus: “Lack of desire even for the attainment of the first meditation has been spoken of by [me]; for whatever (one) imagines it to be, it is otherwise” [Similarly for the second, third, and fourth initial meditative states, and for the attainments of the first four further meditative states]. (MN 113, tr. Pali Text Society vol III pp 92-94)

Carroll was a mathematics don at Oxford, so you know he had to talk nonsense once in a while... Gautama's great insight was that mindfulness of thought is only one of four pins kept up in the air in mindfulness, the other three pins being mindfulness of the body, of the feelings, and of the state of mind. Gautama described the mindfulness that made up his way of living, both before and after his enlightenment: … Setting mindfulness in front of (oneself), (one) breathes in mindfully and mindfully breathes out. As (one) draws in a long breath (one) knows: A long breath I draw in. [As (one) breathes out a long breath (one) knows: I breathe out a long breath.] As (one) draws in a short breath (one) knows: A short breath I draw in. As (one) breathes out a short breath (one) knows: I breathe out a short breath. Thus (one) makes up (one’s) mind: I shall breathe in, feeling it go through the whole body. Feeling it go through the whole body I shall breath out. Calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe in. Calming down the bodily aggregate I shall breathe out. Thus (one) makes up (one’s) mind: Feeling the thrill of zest I shall breathe in. Feeling the thrill of zest I shall breathe out. Feeling the sense of ease I shall breathe in. Feeling the sense of ease I shall breathe out. (One) makes up one’s mind: “Aware of all mental factors I shall breathe in. Aware of all mental factors I will breathe out. Calming down the mental factors I shall breathe in. Calming down the mental factors I shall breathe out. Aware of mind I shall breathe in. Aware of mind I shall breathe out. (One) makes up one’s mind: “Gladdening my mind I shall breathe in. Gladdening my mind I shall breathe out. Composing my mind I shall breathe in. Composing my mind I shall breathe out. Detaching my mind I shall breathe in. Detaching my mind I shall breathe out. (One) makes up one’s mind: Contemplating impermanence I shall breathe in. Contemplating impermanence I shall breathe out. Contemplating dispassion I shall breathe in. Contemplating dispassion I shall breathe out. Contemplating cessation I shall breathe in. Contemplating cessation I shall breathe out. Contemplating renunciation I shall breathe in. Contemplating renunciation I shall breathe out. (SN 54.1, tr. Pali Text Society vol V pp 275-276) My summary: 1) Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation; 2) Find a feeling of ease and calm the senses connected with balance, in inhalation and exhalation; 3) Appreciate and detach from thought, in inhalation and exhalation; 4) Look to the free location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation. The sense of ease is the ease of automatic activity by virtue of the retention of consciousness with the singular point of "embodied self-location".

"Got no money, oh but honey, ain't we got fun!" (29) Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty." ("Gospel of Thomas", tr. Thomas O. Lambdin) “Udayin, as an emerald jewel, of all good qualities, might be strung on a thread, blue-green or yellow or red or white or orange coloured; and a [person] with vision, having put it in [their] hand, might reflect; ‘this emerald jewel... is strung on a thread, blue-green... or orange-coloured’–even so, Udayin, a course has been pointed out by me for disciples, practising which disciples of mine know thus: This body of mine... is of a nature to be constantly rubbed away... and scattered, but this consciousness is fastened there, bound there....” (MN 77, tr. Pali Text Society, vol II p 217) Dzogchen tantras explain that rigpa can be located in the center of the human body, in the heart centre. The Realms and Transformations of Sound Tantra states: "The jewel present within the heart in the center of one’s body is great pristine consciousness." (Smith, Malcolm (2016). Buddhahood in This Life: The Great Commentary by Vimalamitra. Simon and Schuster.)

There are a lot of parallels, although your language is poetic and mine is based on neuroscience! In one of Dogen’s most famous essays, called “Genjo Koan”, he wrote: When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. (“Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Kazuaki Tanahashi) Dogen said nothing here about sitting up straight or paying close attention to the breath. Instead, he asserted that “practice occurs” as a natural consequence of finding “your place where you are”. Dogen went on to say that the activity effected by practice is precisely “actualizing the fundamental point”, even though he never explained what the “fundamental point” was. Neuroscientists describe “your place where you are” as your “embodied self-location”: A key aspect of the bodily self is self-location, the experience that the self is localized at a specific position in space within one’s bodily borders (embodied self-location). (Journal of Neuroscience 26 May 2010, 30 (21) 7202-7214) Dogen’s “Genjo Koan” can be paraphrased in terms of “self-location”: When you find the “specific position in space” where you feel your bodily self to be, activity in the body begins to coordinate by virtue of that place. A relationship between the place of “embodied self-location” and activity in the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, practice occurs. Through such practice, the point that is the “specific position in space” of embodied self-location is manifested in activity. ... Here’s Gautama’s description of the initial concentration: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN 48.10, tr. Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parentheticals paraphrase original) The feelings of “zest” and “ease” are to be extended as a part of that concentration: … (a person) steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses this body with zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease. (AN 5.28, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III pp 18-19) Words like “steeps” and “drenches” convey that a sense of gravity accompanies the feelings of zest and ease as they are suffused throughout the body. In Gautama’s description of the first concentration, concentration begins when a person lays hold of “one-pointedness”, something Gautama also referred to as “one-pointedness of mind”. Translated into the language of the neurobiologists, concentration begins when consciousness is retained at the “specific position in space” of “embodied self-location”. The zest and ease of the initial concentration are a result of the effortlessness of the automatic activity initiated by gravity where one-pointedness of mind takes place. To drench the entire body with the feelings of zest and ease such that “there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded” ensures that the consciousness retained with “embodied self-location” can remain “one-pointed”, even as the “specific position” of “embodied self-location” shifts and moves. There can come a moment when the experience of consciousness retained with “embodied self-location” becomes the experience of “embodied self-location” retained with consciousness. Dogen continued his “Genjo Koan”: When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point… (“Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Kazuaki Tanahashi) To paraphrase: “When you find your way at this moment”, a relationship between the freedom of consciousness and the automatic activity of the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, practice occurs. Through such practice, the place of occurrence of consciousness in the moment is manifested as the activity of the body. “When you find your way at this moment”, the activity of the body in posture and in the movement of breath becomes solely by virtue of the singular location of consciousness. (“The Place Where You Stop and Rest”)

In one of the sermons of the Pali Canon, Gautama the Buddha described “seven (types of) persons existing in the world”. Here are the first two “persons”, followed by an explanation of Gautama’s terminology: And which, monks, is the person who is freed both ways? As to this, monks, some person is abiding, having apprehended with the person those peaceful Deliverances which are incorporeal having transcended material shapes; and having seen by means of wisdom (their) cankers are utterly destroyed. I, monks, do not say of this (person) that there is something to be done through diligence. What is the reason for this? It has been done by (them) through diligence, (they) could not become negligent. And which, monks, is the person who is freed by means of intuitive wisdom? As to this, monks, some person is abiding without having apprehended with the person those peaceful Deliverances which are incorporeal having transcended material shapes; yet, having seen by means of wisdom (their) cankers are utterly destroyed. This, monks, is called the person who is freed by means of intuitive wisdom. I, monks, do not say of this (person) that there is something to be done through diligence. What is the reason for this? It has been done by (them) through diligence, (they) could not become negligent… (MN 70; tr. Pali Text Society [PTS] vol. 2 pp 151-154; more on “The Deliverances”, DN 15, PTS vol. ii pp 68-69; pronouns replaced) “Those peaceful Deliverances which are incorporeal having transcended material shapes” are the last five of nine states of concentration that Gautama regularly taught. He would generally describe a set of four “corporeal” concentrations, and then describe the set of five “incorporeal” concentrations. “Corporeal” is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “relating to a person’s body”. The four corporeal concentrations can be said to relate to the body, in that they culminate in a cessation of habit and volition in the activity of the body. In particular, they culminate in a cessation of habit and volition in the activity of inhalation and exhalation. About the five “peaceful Deliverances which are incorporeal having transcended material shapes”, Gautama said very little. My understanding is that they have to do with the experience of things that are beyond the range of the senses (MN 7, PTS vol. I p 48; SN 46.54, PTS vol. V p 100). According to Gautama, the “incorporeal” concentrations culminate in a cessation of habit and volition in the activity of the mind, in particular a cessation of habit and volition in the activity of feeling and perceiving. The three “cankers” were said to be three cravings: “craving for the life of sense”, “craving for becoming”, and “craving for not-becoming” (DN 22; PTS vol. ii p 340). When the cankers are “destroyed”, the roots of the craving for sense-pleasures, the roots of the craving “to continue, to survive, to be” (tr. “bhava”, Bhikkyu Sujato), and the roots of the craving not “to be” (the craving for the ignorance of being) are destroyed. I believe “freed both ways” refers to freedom both through “those peaceful Deliverances which are incorporeal having transcended material shapes” and through “intuitive wisdom”, though there are other interpretations in the literature. Gautama went on to describe five additional “persons”, all of whom had “seen by means of wisdom”, but none of whom had completely destroyed the cankers. Consequently, they each had “something to be done through diligence”. (One Way or Another, from my site) Here's the first of the remaining five "persons existing in the world”: And which, monks, is the person who is a mental-realiser? As to this, monks, some person is abiding, having apprehended with the person those peaceful Deliverances which are incorporeal having transcended material shapes; and having seen by means of wisdom some (only) of his cankers are utterly destroyed…. This, monks, is called the person who is a mental-realiser. I, monks, say of this monk that there is something to be done through diligence…. I read that to say that the successful attainment of all the "jhanas" (concentrations), even combined with "having seen by means of wisdom", doesn't necessarily suffice for the utter destruction of the cankers. As to the value of teachers--this with regard to Buddhism, but I believe the same applies to teachers in other faiths, though the nomenclature may be different: If a person can exhibit a mindfulness like Gautama’s without having become enlightened (without having utterly destroyed the cankers), and can have “seen by means of wisdom” without having completely destroyed the cankers, then how can one know who to trust as a teacher? Gautama’s advice was to go by the words of the teacher rather than any claim to authority, to compare the instructions of a teacher to the sermons Gautama himself had given and to the rules of the order that Gautama himself had laid down (DN 16 PTS vol. ii pp 133-136). Nevertheless, activity (of the body) solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness, the hallmark of the fourth concentration, has been conveyed by demonstration in some branches of Buddhism for millennia. The transmission of a central part of the teaching through such conveyance, and the certification of that transmission by the presiding teacher, is regarded by some schools as the only guarantee of the authenticity of a teacher. The teachers so authenticated have in many cases disappointed their students, when circumstances revealed that the teacher’s cankers had not been completely destroyed. Furthermore, some schools appear to have certified transmission without the conveyance that has kept the tradition alive, perhaps for the sake of the continuation of the school. (ibid, parentheticals added) Amazing, the things that one can learn from some very old books, things that no one teaches anymore.

Ok--I'll admit, that's a simplification.

Ya think I'm bad, hope you checked out Suzuki, above!

Some interesting takes on posture in zazen: You should sit zazen with your whole body; your spine, mouth, toes, mudra. Check on your posture during zazen. Each part of your body should practice zazen independently or separately; your toe should practice zazen independently, your mudra should practice zazen independently; your spine and your mouth should practice zazen independently. You should feel each part of your body doing zazen separately. Each part of your body should participate completely in zazen. (Whole-Body Zazen, Shunryu Suzuki; Tassajara, June 28, 1970 [edited by Bill Redican]) It will take at least six months before you get your own right posture. Everyone has their own right posture... (True Zen, Shunryu Suzuki, published, January, 1962, Wind Bell #2) In this posture you have big power to accept you difficulties. In this posture you have big power to accept things. Whether your posture is right or wrong it is out of question. So when you sit you have enormous power to accept things as it is whether it is agreeable to you or disagreeable to you, you can accept things as it is. (The Marrow of Zen, Shunryu Suzuki, January 26, 1966 Los Altos) Anyway, for the beginner, it is difficult to sit. Anyway, it is difficult. While you are—you are practicing, continue your practice some part[?], you will find out your own posture—your method[?]. Then you can say, you’ll begin to—to put some more strength when make yourself[?] your view[?] further[?] your back[?]. That you have some posture—some—your own posture is at the same time maybe bad habits [laughs]. But without bad habit, you [laughs] cannot improve your posture! It’s [laughs] necessary to have bad habits [laughs]. But you ask me, what is right posture? [laughs]. You know, that is also mistake. Whatever you do is right. Nothing is wrong with what you do. But some improvement is necessary. Some—something should be done with what you have attained. Even though you attain enlightenment like Buddha, something should be done to human[?]. That is his enlightenment. So, the point is, whether your posture is right or—is not whether your posture is right or wrong—the point is constant effort or way-seeking. (The Way-Seeking Mind, Shunryu Suzuki, March 26, 1966)

I think the sixth image is a reference to Gautama's third concentration: … free from the fervor of zest, (one) enters and abides in the third musing; (one) steeps and drenches and fills and suffuses this body with a zestless ease so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this zestless ease. … just as in a pond of blue, white, and red water-lilies, the plants are born in water, grow in water, come not out of the water, but, sunk in the depths, find nourishment, and from tip to root are steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with cold water so that not a part of them is not pervaded by cold water; even so, (one) steeps (one’s) body in zestless ease. (AN 5.28, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III pp 18-19) My experience: The water-lilies I believe represent the influence of the legs, the arms, and the head on activity in the abdominals, and consequently on stretch in the ligaments of the spine. The feeling of a combined influence of the extremities in the abdomen could be said to be like lilies of three colors floating under the surface of some body of water. The exact influence of each extremity remains unclear (zest ceases), yet with a sense of gravity and a stretch in particular ligaments, I can arrive at an ease. Gautama declared that the sages abide in the third concentration. I remind myself that the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation tends toward coordination by the free placement of consciousness, and look for ease. (Applying the Pali Instructions) About the third concentration, Gautama said: “… by the fading out of rapture [zest], [one] abides with equanimity, attentive and clearly conscious, and [one] experiences in [one’s] person that happiness of which (it is Said): ‘Joyful (easeful) lives [the person] who has equanimity and is mindful’.” (MN 59, Vol II pg 67) The "consciousness-informed body" being the ox: I like the flute-playing. Also sort of like allowing the inflation of the air sack to displace the fascia behind specific vertebrae, whilst the three abdominals and the ligaments of the spine dance: From my latest post on my own site, beginning with a quote from a neurobiology paper: A key aspect of the bodily self is self-location, the experience that the self is localized at a specific position in space within one’s bodily borders (embodied self-location). (Journal of Neuroscience 26 May 2010, 30 (21) 7202-7214) In Gautama’s description of the first concentration, concentration begins when a person lays hold of “one-pointedness”, something Gautama also referred to as “one-pointedness of mind”. Translated into the language of the neurobiologists, concentration begins when consciousness is retained at the “specific position in space” of “embodied self-location”. The zest and ease of the initial concentration are a result of the effortlessness of the automatic activity initiated by gravity where one-pointedness of mind takes place. To drench the entire body with the feelings of zest and ease such that “there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded” ensures that the consciousness retained with “embodied self-location” can remain “one-pointed”, even as the “specific position” of “embodied self-location” shifts and moves. There can come a moment when the experience of consciousness retained with “embodied self-location” becomes the experience of “embodied self-location” retained with consciousness. “Embodied self-location” retained with consciousness: But wait--there's more, including the six ginzu steak knives! Gautama described the "excellence of the heart's release" through the extension of the mind of compassion throughout the four quarters of the world, above and below, all without limit, as the concentration of "the infinity of ether". Similarly, the excellence of the heart's release though the extension of the mind of sympathy was the concentration of "the infinity of consciousness", and the excellence of the heart's release through the extension of the mind of equanimity was the concentration of "the infinity of space", or "the infinity of no-thing". Bearing in mind that Gautama also said: “Lack of desire even for the attainment of the first meditation has been spoken of by [me]; for whatever (one) imagines it to be, it is otherwise” [Similarly for the second, third, and fourth initial meditative states, and for the attainments of the first four further meditative states]. (MN 113, tr. Pali Text Society vol III pp 92-94.)

Said the man whose avatar is flying on a carpet...

I believe the ox-herding pictures were originally eight, in China. The last two, the blank slate and the marketplace scene, would therefore be later additions. Speaking of uncertainty as to what constitutes the light... Tommy, I'll bet you could relate to my latest post--here's the first part of it, and a link: “The Place Where You Stop and Rest” In one of his letters, twelfth-century Ch’an teacher Yuanwu wrote: Actually practice at this level for twenty or thirty years and cut off all the verbal demonstrations and creeping vines and useless devices and states, until you are free from conditioned mind. Then this will be the place of peace and bliss where you stop and rest. Thus it is said: “If you are stopping now, then stop. If you seek a time when you finish, there will never be a time when you finish.” (“Zen Letters: Teachings of Yuanwu”, tr. Cleary & Cleary, Shambala p 99) In my teenage years, I became keenly aware of the “creeping vines” of my mind. I read a lot of Alan Watts books on Zen, thinking that might help, but I soon found out that what he had to say did nothing to cut off the “creeping vines”. I was looking for something Shunryu Suzuki described in one of his lectures, though I didn’t know it at the time: So, when you practice zazen, your mind should be concentrated in your breathing and this kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being. If so, how you should use your mind is quite clear. Without this experience, or this practice, it is impossible to attain the absolute freedom. (Thursday Morning Lectures, Shunryu Suzuki; November 4th 1965, Los Altos; emphasis added) I began to try to sit zazen, based on the illustrations in the back of “Three Pillars of Zen”, by Philip Kapleau. Zazen is almost always taught to beginners as sitting with a straight back and paying close attention to inhalation and exhalation. With regard to the straight back, Moshe Feldenkrais wrote: “Sit straight!” “Stand straight!” This is often said by mothers, teachers, and others who give this directive in good faith and with the fullest confidence in what they are saying. If you were to ask them just how one does sit straight or stand straight, they would answer, “What do you mean? Don’t you know what straight means? Straight is straight!” Some people do indeed stand and walk straight, with their backs erect and their heads held high. And of course there is an element of “standing straight in their posture. If you watch a child or an adult who has been told to sit or stand straight, it is evident that he agrees that there is something wrong with the way he is managing his body, and he will quickly try to straighten his back or raise his head. He will do this thinking that he has thereby achieved the proper posture; but he cannot maintain this “correct” position without continuous effort. As soon as his attention shifts to some activity that is either necessary, urgent, or interesting, he will slump back to his original position. (“Awareness Through Movement”, Moshe Feldenkrais, p 66) For many years, whenever I sat at a zendo with a teacher who walked the room during a sitting, the teacher would invariably stop behind me and correct my posture. I generally couldn’t maintain their correction to the end of the sitting. With regard to close attention to inhalation and exhalation, Shunryu Suzuki described such attention as only a “preparatory practice”: … usually in counting breathing or following breathing, you feel as if you are doing something, you know– you are following breathing, and you are counting breathing. This is, you know, why counting breathing or following breathing practice is, you know, for us it is some preparation– preparatory practice for shikantaza because for most people it is rather difficult to sit, you know, just to sit. (The Background of Shikantaza, Shunryu Suzuki; San Francisco, February 22, 1970) Shikantaza, or “just sitting”, is emphasized in the Soto school of Zen Buddhism, the school to which Shunryu Suzuki belonged. (“The Place Where You Stop and Rest”)

must you encourage him..