Nikolai's Practice notes, Phase .2.

Could it be taking the pure consciousness of the 13th jhana as a samatha object? I do that a lot with nothingness in 7th jhana and it really boosts the concentration power when I come out.

Well, the wording there is "infinite consciousness" which is the 6th jhana, which is the jhana Kenneth talks about having the Witness as the main focus. The 13th jhana is not even talked about in any texts, as far as i know. The 13th jhana is like this flow of "knowing" for me. A bit different from the Witness.

Hmm... Yeah it makes sense. I always wonder what exactly I'm experiencing in J13 vs J6. The witness consciousness has something of a different flavor to it than the pure knowing of J13. It's almost as if J13 is a distillation of J6, without the impersonal, detached quality. I must confess though, I'm not a big fan of the subjective experience of the witness. Now I want to try taking them both as kasina objects and seeing what the after effects look like.

I am feeling so normal these days. normal in a no-wow factor way. Like the mind has become completely accustomed to all the changes that happened. But WITHOUT INSIGHT DISEASE!!!!. Man, I really look back and see how it really molded me into the person i became. 10 long years of being this hardcore spiritual nutcase and now I can be a normal bloke who drinks a normal beer without thinking about whether it is gonna suck my concentration away. Man, was I one anal yogi. A chronic anal spiritual nutter. How unnecessary!!!! It is so liberating not having to be that neurotic miserable bastard no more. **wipes brow and sips corona**

So i am feeling a change in my concentration skills even after a couple of days of kasina practice. I'm getting into it as I am actually seeing results. I just had a day full of English lessons and my mind is feeling very one-pointed still as opposed to the muggy state it used to end up as after such a day at work. Big test tomorrow though as I've got 7 classes of stuck up university kids to teach. Man, it's good to be normal (as normal as I can be hehe!)

I'm in a playful mood so sue me and plus i already called myself a fool so bllrrrrrrpp!!!!**sticks tongues out**

Some of my new superpowers:

* I now don't believe my thoughts like Kenneth. Awesome power!
* I can now waffle like a pro without any worry of the consequences when I have not prepared an English lesson I have to
teach.
* People seem really happy to be around me. My boss actually said to me that I am a calming presence. Hell yeh!!! I have
no idea how to prove this one but I'll take it as a superpower.
* I get angry and then smile and laugh within 3 minutes of anger or irritation arising. I think this is awesome in my opinion
and so does my fiancee who is taking advantage of my shorter moody spells. (I guess this power cancels out the calming presence until i
laugh again)
* I don't seem to give a rat's arse about my looks. Well, I probably never have before, but I look at myself less in the mirror. Haha! (This might not be a superpower as all my clothes look old and tattered. Maybe I should buy some new clothes...and comb my hair....man, I wish i combed my hair for the jhanic arc videos.......meh!)
* I cook a mean dhal. (This is has nothing to do with awakening but is still a superpower...oh and chai, real Indian chai!)

BOOYA!!!!

I'll take a delicious plate of dhal over the pure land anyday... haha actually I prefer to just have both...

I used to joke that the only siddhis to which I aspired were to see what was in front of my nose; and the 'siddhi of nothing to prove'.

What has developed so far is the siddhi of being very easily amused; and having grown bushels of hair, like a real oldtime wild yogini.

I would love to have them bushels. I am such a bushel man. But alas, my fiancee would take a pair of scissors to them while I slept.
I am adding the superpower of being amused easily...not by others but by myself, to my list.

Nik, sounds lovely!

Glad it's good times!

P.S.
My superpower lately is waking up nauseous in the morning (which is, strangely, not that bad. Better than being super anxious).

I am getting back into a work routine again, and thus have little time nor actual desire to post much.

I have been sitting occasionally. Several times with a red kasina. But most is just sitting. There is no desire to do anything when just sitting like this. No pull anyway at all. Just sitting. Yesterday while doing this for awhile I noticed something interesting. There seem to be an endless flow of mind moments arising and passing away. I am not sure if I am placing the term mind moments on the experience is a good way of describing what is perceived. Hmmm, how to explain...?

Ok, the focus will be mainly within the head, and there is this natural detachment from everything going on there. What is seen is just an endless parade of fragaments of things....a fragment of an image, a sensation at the third eye, image, the begining of a thought, image, begining of another thought(they never hatch and continue) a sensation at the third eye(more within the brain). It just goes on and on. Nothing clung to. It really feels like a flow of mind moments blipping in and out very very fast. This occured to me because I had the thought of "Do I still sense an idenitfication with something as being "Nick"? (set off by soemthing Kenneth had written on Mike's thread about the self after 4th path. )

This inquiry kind of stilled the mind and this very obvious flow of what I'm calling mind moments was easily seen. No self to put my finger on. Nothing to hold onto. Just a flow of mind moments. This viewpoint was not paid attention to previously, or that i can remember doing. And I can stop whatever I'm doing and return the mind to just watching this continuous flow of fragmented phenomena. The mind gets extremely still when this is done. Man, it's a frickn trip not having that centrepoint no more.

I like what Kenneth said about karma becoming that reference point. It makes sense. I seem to be testing the boundaries of what the law of karma brings forth. If I think thoughts of misery, then negative sensations abound. Thoughts of love and compassion , pleasant sensations abound. It seems all about sila now. Not in a "these are the rules" way, but from my experience of actions and their results.

This kind of newish viewpoint seems to have snapped me out of a lazy patch. Phases indeed!

Nice!

Funny little animated video from decades ago on the Task of the Enlightened.



What do you think?

Another karma cartoon:

www.billyblob.com/cartoons/karma-ghost.html

"
Funny little animated video from decades ago on the Task of the Enlightened.



What do you think?"

Jed McKenna mentions this story in one of his books as well. I wonder if it can't be told in a more direct way?

"
Funny little animated video from decades ago on the Task of the Enlightened.



What do you think?"

This is Plato's allegory of the cave, from "The Republic."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

Hulk Vs. Buddha
tytempletonart.files.wordpress.com/2010/...size.jpg?w=500&h=939

Like Owen, I am using a candle flame as a kasina object. Extremely effective in getitng the mind to a level of concentration that feels otherwordly. I have been staring at the flame non-stop for about 30 minutes, letting the mind fuse with the flame. The flow of mind moments falls only on the flame. Truly this is the best way to get highly concetrated and very fast. I am impressed. After 30 minutes or so of staring I closed my eyes and brought up the mentla image of the flame in the mind's eye. The mind has nowhere to wander except for that image created in the mind's eye. It is willed to stick to it and nothing else. THere is a definite physical change in the brain when this is done. There is a flow of pleasant vibrations which gets activated at the thirdeye and they feel as if they flow directly towards the image of the flame. Like they are "falling" on it, a flow of flame obsessed mind moments. The concentration ramps up even more. I then find I got a succession of fruitions. And the mind is left blank and seemingly rebooting for longer periods. I think I went in and out of NS. The mind got even more blank and peaceful. I opened the eyes to focus on the flame again to ramp it up even further. The flame becomes the only thing in existence. A truly powerful experience. I'm gonna keep doing this till something happens.

First one to the lake is a rotten egg! ;0

I will beat you to the lake. Ten bucks.

Disclaimer: I am exploring stuff. No insight disease makes it easier. So don't copy me. Just get it done. Then you can explore.

**puts Indiana Jones fedora on**

So another candle flame sit just now. Some interesting things to share. I stared at it non stop for well over 40 minutes without much blinking. I am surprised my eyes didn't get watery at all. The mind got extremely concentrated once again. There seems to be certain physical shifts as the mind get more and more concentrated. I sense the shifts at the third eye primarily, within the brain. The flow of pleasant vibrations there gets stronger and feels more and more like it flows towards the object ie the candle flame. I made sure to not let the mind wander at all. It seems possible while observing the candle flame for the mind to spin off on a tangent. It becoems clear that even though the candle flame is well seen in the vision of the eyes, the mind is wandering elsewhere. To counter this, I looked at the flame with the intention for the mind to contemplate it's colour and form as it slowly waves back and forth. This seems to overload the mind with something to do, so there is no wandering at all. If this is continuously done, the contemplating of the candle flame, the physical shifts happen at the third eye. When i say contemplation, I don't mean thinking about the flame. I just mean "taking in" the colour as the object and really "seeing it", as opposed to just seeing a candle flame. I see the colour of it, and the shape as well.

Continued from above...

The form as well takes on all the importance and the curves and slightly darker colour at the centre of the flame become all important. The concept of "candle flame" drops away, and the shape and colour take precedence. The mind get s extremely subtle. The vibrations on the body also start to shift to a much more subtle bliss. At one stage, I noticed I wasn't breathing almost. The slight movement of the air at the nostrils almost diverted my attention, so I again focused on the shape and colour of the object before me.

At one stage, any sense of what i was doing (concentrating the mind) vanished, and it was just the flame, it's shape and colour only that was in existence. No yogi sitting here watching it, no idea or thought to concentrate the mind. Just the colour and shape of the object.

Continued from above...

After some time like this, just sitting there, nothing but the flame, the thought occurred suddenly to shift into 1st jhana. The mind shifted immediately to 1st jhana. The eyes still open. Then after several seconds I shifted it to 2nd and on and up till the 13th jhana. I tried maintaining the flame as the object in each jhana. Quite difficult as the natural focus of the jhanas changes and isn't always looking forward. Once at the 13th jhana, I had another thought occur to me. I have read somewhere that if there are so many jhanas that supposedly correspond to certain realms of existence then there should be jhanas for the lower realms of existence. i don't know why this thought occurred. but what happened next is extremely interesting and worthy of more exploration. However, I have to say, I am unsure if i was scripting or it was a real experience. So take it all with a grain of salty salt.

If there are jhanas that correspond to certain higher realms of existence, ie the brahma and deva realms, then there should be a jhana for the human, ghost, demon and hell realms. At the moment, it's all wild speculation that these realms exist for me, but I have always been interested in them as they are talked about all over the place in scriptures and stories I've heard.

Continued from above...

I have a technique which I have used ever since stream entry to experience what i wish to experience. I just will the mind to the experience I wish to experience with the mind state of "knowing" that it WILL happen. It is just this pure trusting mind state of "It will happen!", and it generally does...or some experience or another happens.

So I directed the mind first to the "Human realm jhana". There was an immediate shift in focus and vibrations. It is still to hard to tell what the difference is to the other jhanas, but there seems to be a difference all the same. More exploration needed. I then directed the mind to the hell realms. As soon as I did that, I felt the body get heavier, the mind seemed to sink into a kind of phunky state that is hard to describe. I then got images (and here is where I may be scripting) of demonic creatures, animalistic screams, gargoyle faces that would flash in front of me. And loud screams and growls. I kid you not. This could all be my imagination and a memory of The Exorcist, but that was the experience. The most striking thing was the fact that the sounds felt more mental than actual. And the weight of my body felt heavier. Almost oppressive.

I then willed the mind up the animal realm jhana (if there is one) and not just all animals, one in particular. I am sitting right next to our pet hedgehog. It was rustling around it's box so it tripped the idea to have it as the main object of this animal jhana. This is where it got interesting and I don't know how I could have scripted it. I felt the mind just go "black". My eyes shut down hard. The whole mind went black visually. Nothing there. And the whole focus shifted forward . I felt the contraction of self. The self felt concrete with the centre point in the head. But different. It felt very one-pointed. There were feeling of anxiousness and "searching". The mind felt like it was very cenrted on "looking" for something but anxious at the same time. Then it got even weirder. My face physically began to grow very tense and my breathing shifted drastically to breathing very quickly. It started to become almost difficult to breathe. Not impossible but like my nostrils had grown smaller and the sound of the breath grew stronger. Very strange. The mental visual field was completely black, there was a sense of "looking" for something but very anxiously. And my face seemed to be tensing up more and more, with my breathing growing very heavy and noisy. Although it become quite uncomfortable, I was experiencing a real curiosity for what was happening, but there was awareness that this was happening to no-one in particular, so there was no aversion for it.

I eventually willed the mind up to the 13th jhana again and saw how oppressive that state I had seemingly discovered (or scripted) was. Oof! All worthy of more exploration, in order to see if I am just talking out my arse.

This has gotta be the weirdest post Im typed.

I love the reports of your explorations Nick, keep it up