Meditation - how to?

[Master Logray]

5 hours ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

boredom is an emotion so it is treated like any other emotion, or any other thought, that arises.

observe it, allow it, and it floats on by.

 

whatever distraction arises is part of the practice.  

barking dog, loud leafblower, noisy neighbors.  listen for the silence that is in and around and between the noises.  there is always an underlying stillness, so i can rest in that awareness.

 

 

 

My idea of boredom is more like being bored, devoid of attractions and stimulation, that dull the senses, not so much as an emotion reacting to something.   

[steve]

One way to look at meditation is simply that meditation is life.

In the tradition I follow there are three basic steps.

First step is to recognize the proper view, to have an experiential understanding of the mind's foundation.

Second step is to cultivate familiarity and stability, to develop an intimate relationship with this foundation.

Third step is to take every experience of life as the path, that is to bring the meditation off the cushion and into life.

This is called integration.

 

A comment about boredom. I look at boredom as resistance, a form of aversion.

The mind is always trying to become, it is not often satisfied with simply being, with what is, at least not for very long.

This is its nature and that characteristic has some definite advantages, but also disadvantages as this endless longing for something else, something more or different, may be a major source of physical and emotional stress.

If I simply notice this tendency and develop the skill to be able to be with that boredom, eventually it eases and opens me to what is actually there, which is everything. In each and every moment of life we are surrounded by such beauty, such magic. We take so much for granted but if we can see what is all around us with fresh eyes and an open heart/mind, it is nearly impossible to be bored. 

 

Sitting on my front porch this morning, surrounded by the leaves and grass, a raccoon, squirrels, a beautiful family out for a walk, birdsong, the moisture of an overcast day... thoughts and distractions coming and going.... magnificent!

[BigSkyDiamond]

here is a question for those whose practice may include or consist of resting in pure awareness,

it is a "what happens when you do this, how do you experience it"

within the following parameters

 

when  you are sitting eyes closed in "meditation" or quiet sitting

and resting in silence, stillness, spaciousness

deep breathing, just observing

resting in pure awareness, being awareness 

 

let's say you are awareness.  and nothing else.  

only awareness, pure awareness.  that is you.

 

what happens, how do you experience it, when you expand the awareness that is you

so that it extends beyond the physical body that is sitting with eyes closed.

the you that is awareness now fills the whole room.  you contain the whole room, 

and you expand further and you contain the whole building. 

 

if (since) i am pure awareness, then i am not contained within a physical body.  i am not limited to the physical body but extend far beyond it.  rather it is the other way around.  The physical body is contained within the me that is pure awareness. 

 

 

how do others experience this, what is your sense of it.
thank you.

 

 

[Cobie]

 

11 minutes ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

... i am not contained within a physical body.  ... how do others experience this, what is your sense of it. ...

 

imo during this life I am only inside my own body; all else is in my mind's eye.

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by Cobie

[Cobie]

 

17 minutes ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

... how do you experience it, when you expand the awareness that is you ... and you contain the whole building. 

 

i do recognise the experience; and it is imo vital to allow my mind to flow to its outer limits. 

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by Cobie

[BigSkyDiamond]

3 hours ago, steve said:

In the tradition I follow there are

 

paging Dr. Steve, there is a Dzogchen question over on another thread, response requested.  i sent  you the  link.  Thank you! 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by BigSkyDiamond

[Mark Foote]

20 hours ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

 

i always like revisiting the book in link above.  The drawings and names, of bones and muscles, help me visualize and locate and work with specific areas.  I am fond of anatomy and physiology books and charts

 

And yes it is a great exercise to move my point of awareness around within the physical body.  Typically it rests behind my eyes.  I believe it IS important, because for me it illustrates and reiterates that "i am not my body."

 

A teacher has us do additional exercises in this vein.  One is to move the point of awareness outside the physical body, and view the body from that vantage point, say up in the corner of the room and see myself sitting typing at the computer. 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

[Cobie]

’one-pointedness’, that’s why Laozi has a one-pointy head 

 

 

“One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean shit.” (Curly)

 

 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Cobie

[forestofclarity]

10 hours ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

how do others experience this, what is your sense of it.

 

The mind tries to shape and crate it, turn it into an object so it can grasp, cling, and manipulate it.  

[BigSkyDiamond]

2 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

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.

 

I dont think of it as leaving the body or astal traveling. That is never my intention or goal or desire.  I practice none of those and actively avoid those.   Nor is it an altered state.  I stay away from those also and don't seek to force or induce those by any means (no chemicals, no moving or storing or forcing of energy anywhere).  It is a shift in awareness, and it is a shift in belief.

 

The awareness that is me  (i am awareness; it is me being awareness, not me having awareness, i make that distinction) is still in the body and yes, i am conscious of the body inhaling and exhaling.  So the awareness that i am, does not leave the body, it just expands and extends beyond the body.   It does not leave the body.  It just gets bigger and expands beyond the borders of the body.  

 

 

if there is an essence of me  (my own shorthand , what is the "truth of who i am") then it is i am awareness.

 

this follows along the lines of OK, i am not my body,  i am not my thoughts feelings emotions, I am not my career, bank account, personality, i am not my personal history achievements or accomplishments, i am not my education knowledge  religion or trauma, i am not my mind or heart or intellect or any of my chakras or medridians.  Etc.   So since i am not any of those then what who am I.  For me the answer is i am awareness.  (again I AM; not i have, not i use, but I AM).

 

I can "visualize" the awareness that i am shrinking into a single point, or expanding to fill the physical body, or extending further to fill the room; or expanding bigger to contain the building and the neighborhood.   When i try to go beyond that, for me it feels clunky and turns into a mental exercise insteaad of actually experiencing it.

 

an analogy might be, if there is space and objects in space, then it is identifying with and being the space and not the objects.   I am the awareness (space, silence, stillness) not the objects contained in that space (physical body, mind, intellect, thoughts, feelings, chairs, table, zebras, universe and everything in it)

 

Edited 5 hours ago by BigSkyDiamond