Seeing, Recognising & Maintaining One's Enlightening Potential

[C T]

Awakened heart can always be discovered like that. It does not take gearing up or struggling to achieve. When strategies are not yet formed and we feel uncertain about which way to turn, in those moments of vulnerability, bodhichatta is always there. It manifests as basic openness, which Buddhists call shunyata. It manifests as basic tenderness, basic compassionate warmth.

 

When we walk around like we’re expecting to be attacked, we block the seeing of this awakened heart. When we release the tension between this and that, the struggle between us and them, that’s when bodhichitta will emerge.

At the relative level, this awakened heart is felt as kinship with all beings. At the absolute level, we experience it as ground-lessness or open space.
 

 

~ Pema Chödrön ~ When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
 

Edited June 2, 2016 by C T

[manitou]

Awakened heart can always be discovered like that. It does not take gearing up or struggling to achieve. When strategies are not yet formed and we feel uncertain about which way to turn, in those moments of vulnerability, bodhichatta is always there. It manifests as basic openness, which Buddhists call shunyata. It manifests as basic tenderness, basic compassionate warmth.

 

When we walk around like we’re expecting to be attacked, we block the seeing of this awakened heart. When we release the tension between this and that, the struggle between us and them, that’s when bodhichitta will emerge.

 

At the relative level, this awakened heart is felt as kinship with all beings. At the absolute level, we experience it as ground-lessness or open space.

 

 

~ Pema Chödrön ~ When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

 

 

I needed this this morning.

 

I am just preparing to do a healing ceremony for my brother, who I just found out last night has stage 3b melanoma skin cancer, which has gotten into his blood (myeloma)  My head is in a spin, there are so many reasons why he could be manifesting this.

 

Death is tapping him on the shoulder, looking him in the face.   He has been walled off from others since he was young, the pressure for perfection put so heavily upon him.  In my moment of vulnerability, bothhichatta may emerge to find the right symbolism, as it may suddenly emerge in him as he stares this in the face.

 

He walks around expecting to be attacked; he labels people as enemies and does not ever forgive.  it is these things which I will address in a symbolic ceremony; a ceremony performed in Awareness that we are all One Mind, and all Time is here and now.

 

May his heart awaken, and my heart awaken and See what needs to be brought from the metaphysical to the physical to try and reverse this lifelong imprint.  Stranger things have happened.

 

These words by Pema Chodron will be central to this ceremony this morning, out in my beautiful gazebo next to the pond.  Please send your kind and loving thoughts to my brother Steve as he goes through this painful time in his life.  This is the first painful thing of this nature he has ever had to face.  His life, to this point, has been seeming 'perfection'.  It seems the piper has shown up to be paid.

Edited June 2, 2016 by manitou

[manitou]

The ceremony was beautiful.  I had a statue of Flower Glow (my resident boddhisatva) sitting on the table in the gazebo.  There was a red candle lit on his/her lap.

 

The symbolism came to me, in the form of some weed killer (the poisonous kind) that Joe had put on the floor of the gazebo.  I put a drop of that in a vial of water, symbolizing the 'bad' blood in Steve.  I had another vial of clear water with flowers in it, symbolizing the 'good blood' that Steve will have/has now.  I pricked my own finger with a pin and placed a drop of my own blood (the blood of my brother) in each vial.

 

I also have a tree in the yard whose name is Flower Glow as well.  It is a dogwood.  I took an old leaf off this tree and placed it in the vial with the poison, saying during the ceremony that Flower Glow was 'spilling his blood' for Steve, just as I was.  At that precise moment, the red candle overflowed onto the front of the statue, and down onto the table in the gazebo.  Joe and I were both astounded at the synchronicity.  It looked just like blood spilling.

 

I also took a young set of leaves and placed it in the good vial; both Joe and I took a drink from the good vial with the drop of blood in it.

 

We did several other things having to do with Steve's heart being walled off for so long, and his propensity for judgment.  We burned a piece of paper with the words 'Judgment toward others', Judgment of self, Non-forgiveness, written on the paper.  This we burned during the ceremony.

 

The words that were posted on this thread this morning were central to the ceremony.  We did a couple other things as well having to do with smashing a mirror (Steve's reliance on his image to others, which is real important to him).  All the remnants of these things - the mirror, the bad blood, the burned words of judgment - all these were buried up at the top of our property.  Flower glow was in attendance at all of this.

 

I have a warm glow in my heart, ever since the ceremony.  Results are to be expected.  His heart can awaken Just Like That.  Time and Space are all Here and Now, and it was in that awareness that the ceremony was performed.

Edited June 2, 2016 by manitou

[manitou]

At the relative level, this awakened heart is felt as kinship with all beings. At the absolute level, we experience it as ground-lessness or open space.

 

 

~ Pema Chödrön ~ When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

 

 

 

I've experienced a shift inside the past several days since thinking more about Space.  About a week ago I listened several times to a CD by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, 'Sacred Space, the Practice of Inner Stillness'.  For some reason I've been subsequently focused not only on the space within my own body and own thoughts, but also the space of the universe as being All One - with distance being only an illusion, as is the phenomena contained within.  It is the Space that is the Real.

 

This seems to have the subtle effect of making one feel 'at home' regardless of wherever we are in Space - here, there, or anywhere.  This can be put to use in healings as well - Time and Space are Now and Here; and the sequence of things doesn't make any difference at all.  It occurred to me this morning that I should have strained the 'blood' in the ceremony yesterday, that I had missed an important component in the ceremony.  And then the thought came to me that I could just as easily do it today; to use a strainer (I still have the pure water sitting in front of Steve's picture, with the flowers in it), and I will put the strained water into the recirculating pond.  The symbolism is complete; the metaphysical is brought down to the physical.  the strained and cleaned blood recirculates through his system as the water circulates through the pump and beautiful fountain.

 

It doesn't matter whether this is done today, tomorrow, or yesterday.  It's not linear at all.

[manitou]

Please forgive me for one more time derailing this with specific talk of a particular problem.  I'll be finished here real soon, I promise.

 

The above quote speaks of two levels:  the relative, and the absolute.

 

At the relative level, time is linear, as I see it.  Steve had pet and ct scans done prior to our ceremony yesterday and this morning. It would not make sense, at the relative level, that the ceremony would have affected anything, as the testing had already been done.

 

Both the pet scan and the ct scan results came back all clear this afternoon.  No nodes or organs affected.

 

At the absolute level, however, time is not linear.  It is Present only.  Is it too mind boggling to think a ceremony could be effective retroactively, at the absolute level?  I don't know.  But maybe Schroedinger's cat would.  Could different dimensions come into play if a ceremony is done within the framework of the absolute level, wherein the words are spoken that time is not linear, that the Awareness of the Nowness is brought into the ceremony?

 

We'll never know.  He is meeting with the two foremost melanoma specialists in the country next week.  The melanoma, according to the initial finding, was 'in transit'.  More to come, no doubt there will be treatment.  But I'm a very happy camper at this moment.  Ceremony or no ceremony, it appears that my brother will be fine.

 

There is more metaphysical stuff that I didn't mention earlier, too extensive to go into here, that was brought into the ceremony.  The melanoma was the changing of shape and color of a birthmark that he has had since, well, birth.  Two things at play with that;  1) he is scared to death to see blood, particularly his own, and 2) he despises the fact that his father was born a 'bastard' (his word) because his father's mother wasn't married.  This goes to 'bloodline'.  All of this was brought into the ceremony too.  It's an ancestral resentment that runs very deep within him, given to him by our father.

 

Lots of 'blood stuff' here.

[子泰]

no khaleesi!! not blood magic!!!

[C T]

[manitou]

LOL.  Sorry, folks.  I won't bring it up again.  Let's remain dual.

Edited June 5, 2016 by manitou

[C T]

Anyway, attachment is the main defilement of human beings—we know how to be attached to so many things, we are more capable of complex attachment than animals. Animals have attachment but they have attachment for simple things. Their attachment is very fixed and predictable, but our attachment is very sophisticated. Sometimes we don’t know ourselves, we also get confused about ourselves—attachment can have all kinds of overlapping attachment, attachment to having no attachment for example. So all of these things we have to deal with ................... step by step.

 

So generosity is not just to make poor people rich, it is so much deeper than that. If it were just to make poor people rich, then we would first have to define who is poor because there are so many different levels of poor—money-poor, knowledge-poor, wisdom-poor, capability poor, appreciation-poor, satisfaction-poor, contentment-poor, all kinds of poor. So which one do we have to deal with first? And how do we make them all rich—knowledge-rich, wisdom rich, financially-rich, contentment-rich—all of these combined, or some of them, or what exactly? That way we would never reach the paramita. We would have to make all sentient beings in the entire universe rich in everything, which is not realistic and could even be harmful thinking. But it’s not that. The basis must be realized... When we are free from triplicity, when we are free from duality, then we have reached the generosity paramita.

 

~ Tai Situ Rinpoche ~ 

Edited June 5, 2016 by C T

[manitou]

attachment can have all kinds of overlapping attachment, attachment to having no attachment for example. 

 

what an interesting statement.  No striving for you.  Naxt!

[steve]

So generosity is not just to make poor people rich, it is so much deeper than that. If it were just to make poor people rich, then we would first have to define who is poor because there are so many different levels of poor—money-poor, knowledge-poor, wisdom-poor, capability poor, appreciation-poor, satisfaction-poor, contentment-poor, all kinds of poor. So which one do we have to deal with first? And how do we make them all rich—knowledge-rich, wisdom rich, financially-rich, contentment-rich—all of these combined, or some of them, or what exactly?

 

 

[Orion]

Enlightenment, or awareness of what is real, seems to be about restfulness. Concepts are important in order to provide guidance and structures which in turn point us toward specific experiences, but without adequate surrender, the overlaying complications keep asserting themselves. It's a form of resistance. The word surrender triggers a lot of people, but perhaps the word "restful" is more easy to sink into.

 

When we are at rest, we are peaceful. When we are peaceful and quiet, we are in our truth.

 

Restful doesn't mean that you have to literally be physically inactive. It's a state of being. It's perhaps about not taking things on, or at least not taking on what is unnecessary, and through this practice developing the wisdom to discern the difference. You bring that restfulness with you anywhere, even into your busy life.

 

One thing that's cool about observing nature is that animals only expend energy when needed. Everything is about that. Where is the nourishment, and what is worth expending nourishment on. Have you ever seen rock climbers do what they do? They climb sheer rock faces, which is a tiring feat, but they find micro-rests along the way.

 

I've noticed that the biggest obstacle to feeling restful in any situation is attachment.

[steve]

Enlightenment, or awareness of what is real, seems to be about restfulness. Concepts are important in order to provide guidance and structures which in turn point us toward specific experiences, but without adequate surrender, the overlaying complications keep asserting themselves. It's a form of resistance. The word surrender triggers a lot of people, but perhaps the word "restful" is more easy to sink into.

 

When we are at rest, we are peaceful. When we are peaceful and quiet, we are in our truth.

 

Restful doesn't mean that you have to literally be physically inactive. It's a state of being. It's perhaps about not taking things on, or at least not taking on what is unnecessary, and through this practice developing the wisdom to discern the difference. You bring that restfulness with you anywhere, even into your busy life.

 

One thing that's cool about observing nature is that animals only expend energy when needed. Everything is about that. Where is the nourishment, and what is worth expending nourishment on. Have you ever seen rock climbers do what they do? They climb sheer rock faces, which is a tiring feat, but they find micro-rests along the way.

 

I've noticed that the biggest obstacle to feeling restful in any situation is attachment.

 

There's an interesting phenomenon that occurs regarding that feeling of restfulness vs effort.

If we are doing something we really enjoy and value, it is generally effortless and restful.

When we are doing something we despise, even if it is much less demanding or strenuous, we tend to feel exhausted.

So I think a part of that relates to how much resistance (aversion) we feel towards the task at hand.

[manitou]

There's an interesting phenomenon that occurs regarding that feeling of restfulness vs effort.

If we are doing something we really enjoy and value, it is generally effortless and restful.

When we are doing something we despise, even if it is much less demanding or strenuous, we tend to feel exhausted.

So I think a part of that relates to how much resistance (aversion) we feel towards the task at hand.

 

i've also noticed that being mindful of spaciousness is a great energy saver.  When the concept of total space is kept in mind, there is no tension for some reason.  There is no 'oh, I have to do this now'.  It is merely staying in awareness that all we really have is space, and that it is unlimited.  Our actions are unlimited, as though there is no differentiation between doing this or doing that.

 

I've discovered that my own hesitations are my worst enemy in this regard - that the inner dialogue of even the slightest negativity about 'having' to do something is an energy robber.  It makes no difference whether we are doing this or doing that.

 

This is just impossible to put into words.

 

I just figured out what it is.  To stay within spaciousness also seems to serve to remove the crunch of Time, for some reason.  I'm guessing they're joined at the hip.

Edited June 6, 2016 by manitou

[steve]

Space - the final frontier and the greatest of healers!

[Orion]

There's an interesting phenomenon that occurs regarding that feeling of restfulness vs effort.

If we are doing something we really enjoy and value, it is generally effortless and restful.

When we are doing something we despise, even if it is much less demanding or strenuous, we tend to feel exhausted.

So I think a part of that relates to how much resistance (aversion) we feel towards the task at hand.

 

Yes, that's definitely true. At the same time, things we enjoy are a comfort zone, and comfort zones are easy to sink into in a non-resistant way. Our real work arises when we are confronted with things we don't like, which challenge and stress the organism. There is discomfort and then there is suffering, the latter of which tends to arise from attachment to narratives.

 

On another level, living a life that's completely out of alignment is bound to breed resistance, but even so, if one is restful, one can spot the areas of true resistance and make changes accordingly. Not saying that it's easy, just that restfulness is practically a virtue, like patience is. People who live so completely out of alignment tend to not have awareness practices or there is attachment to a belief that it has to be that way. No judgment intended there either... living a life of resistance is about learning through contrast, which is a valid method for wisdom gathering.

 

A mind that is turbulent is not going to be able to discern one way or another though.

[C T]

Insightful article on the integration of meditative absorptions (Jhanas) and the Brahma Viharas. 

 

http://www.leighb.com/jhnbrmvhr.htm

[Tibetan_Ice]

Insightful article on the integration of meditative absorptions (Jhanas) and the Brahma Viharas.

 

http://www.leighb.com/jhnbrmvhr.htm

Leigh Brasington is trying to redefine his own version of the term "jhana" into to some form of non absorptive jhana.

His practices and interpretation are being labeled as "lite jhanas", very different from the Visuddhimagga's absorptive Jhanas, and very different from Ajahn Bham's as well.

 

The is from his latest book (where he openly admits flunking the first jhana)

 

 

It has been mentioned earlier that there seems to be quite a difference in the understanding of exactly what constitutes the jhānic states between what is described in the suttas and what is described in the later Abhidhamma and commentaries. The Visuddhimagga describes the first jhāna in such a way that it is a state of nonperception. There are no body sensations; no sounds are heard; there is not even the sense of time passing.5 Now this is very different from the description of the suttas where one not only has body awareness but even “drenches, steeps, saturates and suffuses one’s body with the pīti and sukha.” In fact, the description of the first jhāna in the Visuddhimagga sounds quite a bit like a state of no feeling and no perception: saññāvedayitanirodha. This correspondence has been pointed out by Roderick Bucknell in his very interesting article “Reinterpreting the Jhānas.”6

 

I personally don’t have much experience with the Visuddhimagga jhānas. But I do have a bit. I have attended two long retreats with the Venerable Pa Auk, who teaches exactly what is described in the Visuddhimagga. During the second one, after being on retreat for almost five months, I did enter a state where there was no feeling, no perception, no body sensations, no sounds, and no passage of time. My approach to this state corresponded step by step exactly to what is found in the Visuddhimagga, and it was later confirmed to be the first jhāna. But my experience also exactly matches what is described in the suttas for the cessation of perception and feeling. This state is attainable—with lots of deep practice. But since I was only able to get there once, I have no real experience of its usefulness for gaining insight into the nature of reality.

 

For more info see

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=19787

Edited June 6, 2016 by Tibetan_Ice

[C T]

Leigh Brasington is trying to redefine his own version of the term "jhana" into to some form of non absorptive jhana.

His practices and interpretation are being labeled as "lite jhanas", very different from the Visuddhimagga's absorptive Jhanas, and very different from Ajahn Bham's as well.

 

The is from his latest book (where he openly admits flunking the first jhana)

 

 

For more info see

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=19787

that article was written by Lloyd Burton. 

Edited June 6, 2016 by C T

[Tibetan_Ice]

that article was written by Lloyd Burton.

It says: "This is a condensation of some talks, practice instructions, and guided meditations I offered at a retreat led by Leigh Brasington"

[manitou]

Insightful article on the integration of meditative absorptions (Jhanas) and the Brahma Viharas. 

 

http://www.leighb.com/jhnbrmvhr.htm

 

 

What an incredibly wonderful article, CT.

 

 

     

     "Experiencing sukha – the liberated and liberating joy of letting go that rises from within – facilitates the experience of mudita, which can be thought of as a combination of intending that others might experience that same innate joy rising within themselves, and taking delight in the recognition of that joy when you see it in others."

 

    This seems to be a nice, useful tool to use during the day.  How often, when we're caught up in a maelstrom of our own bad feelings, does the joy of another irritate us?  Rather, to convert the observation of the other's positive energy and joy to something useful to ourselves, contagious even, seems to be a way to convert any negativity we may be caught up in.

 

 

   "......of realizing that beyond all the busy-ness of self-creation and even of the busy-ness of all religious rituals and spiritual practices, there is ultimately nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no one to be.

 

 

To fully integrate this, that there is ultimately nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no one to be - seems to me to be the essence of the practice.  It is so easy to know these things intellectually - and yet our own feelings and demeanor belie the truth of our own essence.  To know that 'there is no one to be' shouldn't be looked at as a dualistic goal - and yet - if one must, what a worthy one!

 

I look forward to the joy that is my birthright, and the absence of any free-floating anxiety that can sneak up on me.  In the meantime, may I borrow the joy of those around me.  May i borrow the energy of the young child running down the aisle of the supermarket.  And may we all live in the spaces between the words, between the thoughts, between the matter.

  

Edited June 7, 2016 by manitou

[C T]

It says: "This is a condensation of some talks, practice instructions, and guided meditations I offered at a retreat led by Leigh Brasington"

Yeah, the talks were offered by Lloyd Burton, whose article was linked above. 

 

You brought attention to the seeming weakness of Leigh Brasington, who led the retreat, but did not write the article in question. Im assuming Lloyd was one of the speakers at the retreat. 

 

I dont see any particular reason as to why you need to nit-pick. If the article is useful then take what is good and leave the rest. I understand it may not be adequate for a lofty practitioner, but hey, its good enough for me cos im still learning. 

[manitou]

The Beginner's Minds Anonymous meeting is at 8:00 tomorrow.

[Tibetan_Ice]

Yeah, the talks were offered by Lloyd Burton, whose article was linked above.

 

You brought attention to the seeming weakness of Leigh Brasington, who led the retreat, but did not write the article in question. Im assuming Lloyd was one of the speakers at the retreat.

 

I dont see any particular reason as to why you need to nit-pick. If the article is useful then take what is good and leave the rest. I understand it may not be adequate for a lofty practitioner, but hey, its good enough for me cos im still learning.

Lloyd and Leigh are hurting Buddhist jhana practices. They are bastardizing them, redefining them so that the regular person can pretend that they reach the jhanas too. It is a shame.

 

This is Leigh's instruction, from his book:

So to summarize the method for entering the first jhāna: You sit in a nice comfortable upright position and generate access concentration by placing and eventually maintaining your attention on a single meditation object. When access concentration is firmly established, then you shift your attention from the breath (or whatever your meditation object is) to a pleasant sensation, preferably a pleasant physical sensation. You put your attention on that sensation, and maintain your attention on that sensation, and do nothing else.

 

So, instead of sticking with the breath until the nimitta appears, his practice veers off and seeks the "pleasant sensation".

 

You'd think that because Lloyd referenced Ajahn Chah that he speaks what Ajahn Chah teaches. But that is also not so.

 

Apart from the fact that I've never heard of "vicarra dukkha" or "vitakka dukkha" before (did they make that up?), I've never heard that metta is a remedy either. Metta is a wonderful practice but where exactly did the Buddha say it is a remedy for lack of directed attention and lack of sustained attention? The remedy is practice, not switching to an entirely different practice.

 

What does Ajahn Chah say about what to do after hitting access concentration?

 

From "Evening Sitting" - Ajahn Chah

So it might be that you are just sitting there and there’s no breath. Really, the breath is still there, but it has become so refined that it seems to have disappeared. Why? Because the mind is at its most refined, with a special kind of knowing. All that remains is the knowing. Even though the breath has vanished, the mind is still concentrated with the knowledge that the breath is not there. As you continue, what should you take up as the object of meditation? Take this very knowing as the meditation object – in other words the knowledge that there is no breath – and sustain this. You could say that a specific kind of knowledge has been established in the mind.

 

At this point, some people might have doubts arising, because it is here that nimitta1 can arise. These can be of many kinds, including both forms and sounds. It is here that all sorts of unexpected things can arise in the course of the practice. If nimitta do arise (some people have them, some don’t) you must understand them in accordance with the truth. Don’t doubt or allow yourself to become alarmed.

 

At this stage, you should make the mind unshakeable in its concentration and be especially mindful. Some people become startled when they notice that the breath has disappeared, because they’re used to having the breath there. When it appears that the breath has gone, you might panic or become afraid that you are going to die. Here you must establish the understanding that it is just the nature of the practice to progress in this way. What will you observe as the object of meditation now? Observe this feeling that there is no breath and sustain it as the object of awareness as you continue to meditate. The Buddha described this as the firmest, most unshakeable form of samadhi. There is just one firm and unwavering object of mind. When your practice of samadhi reaches this point, there will be many unusual and refined changes and transformations taking place within the mind, which you can be aware of. The sensation of the body will feel at its lightest or might even disappear altogether. You might feel like you are floating in mid-air and seem to be completely weightless. It might be like you are in the middle of space and wherever you direct your sense faculties they don’t seem to register anything at all. Even though you know the body is still sitting there, you experience complete emptiness. This feeling of emptiness can be quite strange.

 

As you continue to practise, understand that there is nothing to worry about. Establish this feeling of being relaxed and unworried, securely in the mind. Once the mind is concentrated and one-pointed, no mind-object will be able to penetrate or disturb it, and you will be able to sit like this for as long as you want. You will be able to sustain concentration without any feelings of pain and discomfort.

 

Having developed samadhi to this level, you will be able to enter or leave it at will. When you do leave it, it’s at your ease and convenience. You withdraw at your ease, rather than because you are feeling lazy, unenergetic or tired. You withdraw from samadhi because it is the appropriate time to withdraw, and you come out of it at your will.

 

This is samadhi: you are relaxed and at your ease. You enter and leave it without any problems. The mind and heart are at ease. If you genuinely have samadhi like this, it means that sitting meditation and entering samadhi for just thirty minutes or an hour will enable you to remain cool and peaceful for many days afterwards. Experiencing the effects of samadhi like this for several days has a purifying effect on the mind – whatever you experience will become an object for contemplation. This is where the practice really begins. It’s the fruit which arises as samadhi matures.

 

 

 

 

In Leigh's book, there is no mention, explanation or development of the nimitta stage. It is totally abandoned.

 

Here is Ajahn Brahm's instructions. At no time does he say to abandon the breath in favor of "pleasant sensation"

http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Ajahn_Brahm_The_Jhanas.pdf

 

 

 

Yup, lite jhanas. Easy. Easy to market and sell...

 

I resent people who make up their own practices and pretend like that is what the Buddha taught. In twenty years from now Buddhism will be so diluted that nobody will have an inkling about what it was truly about.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Tibetan_Ice

[C T]

Lloyd and Leigh are hurting Buddhist jhana practices. They are bastardizing them, redefining them so that the regular person can pretend that they reach the jhanas too. It is a shame.

 

This is Leigh's instruction, from his book:

So, instead of sticking with the breath until the nimitta appears, his practice veers off and seeks the "pleasant sensation".

 

You'd think that because Lloyd referenced Ajahn Chah that he speaks what Ajahn Chah teaches. But that is also not so.

 

Apart from the fact that I've never heard of "vicarra dukkha" or "vitakka dukkha" before (did they make that up?), I've never heard that metta is a remedy either. Metta is a wonderful practice but where exactly did the Buddha say it is a remedy for lack of directed attention and lack of sustained attention? The remedy is practice, not switching to an entirely different practice.

 

What does Ajahn Chah say about what to do after hitting access concentration?

 

From "Evening Sitting" - Ajahn Chah

In Leigh's book, there is no mention, explanation or development of the nimitta stage. It is totally abandoned.

 

Here is Ajahn Brahm's instructions. At no time does he say to abandon the breath in favor of "pleasant sensation"

http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Ajahn_Brahm_The_Jhanas.pdf

 

 

 

Yup, lite jhanas. Easy. Easy to market and sell...

 

I resent people who make up their own practices and pretend like that is what the Buddha taught. In twenty years from now Buddhism will be so diluted that nobody will have an inkling about what it was truly about.

Are you unequivocally stating here that your Buddhist practice is absolutely pure and to the letter?