Lovingkindness Part Three

and on page Ninety-Two, Sayadaw suggests practicing lovingkindess up to the 'breaking down of barriers'.   How to do it? From Access to Insight: 

By order is meant visualizing objects, one after the other, by taking the path of least resistance, in a graduated sequence, which progressively widens the circle and therewith the mind itself. The Visuddhimagga is emphatic about this order. According to Acariya Buddhaghosa, one must start the meditation on metta by visualizing oneself, and thereafter a person for whom one has reverence, then one's dear ones, then neutral people, then hostile persons. As one radiates thoughts of love in this order, the mind breaks all barriers between oneself, a revered one, a dear one, a neutral one and a hostile one. Everyone comes to be looked upon equally with the eye of loving-kindness.
In the Visuddhimagga Acariya Buddhaghosa gives a very apt analogy for the breaking of the barriers: "Suppose bandits were to come to the meditator who is sitting in a place with a respected, a dear, a neutral, and a hostile or wicked person and demand, 'Friend, we want one of you for the purpose of offering human sacrifice.' If the meditator were to think, 'Let him take this one or that one,' he has not broken down the barriers. And even if he were to think, 'Let none of these be taken, but let them take me,' even then he has not broken down the barriers since he seeks his own harm, and metta meditation signifies the well-being of all. But when he does not see the need for anyone to be given to the bandits and impartially projects the thought of love towards all, including the bandits, it is then that he would break down the barriers."

Sayadaw also suggests practicing recollection of the Buddha, and of the foulness of the body. 

Lovingkindness Part Two

On Page Ninety One,  Sayadaw suggests that becoming adept at white kasina meditation will help the meditator to hold the object of lovingkindess.  To reiterate, simply achieve the fourth jhana of breathing meditation, then the 32 parts of the body, then skeleton meditation and then white kasina meditation.   Then when he imagines the smiling face of the person, it will Not Fade Away.

Lovingkindness Part One

On Page Ninety, Sayadaw discusses the 'orthodox procedure' of using the four protective meditations of lovingkindness, recollection of the Buddha, recollection of death, and 'foulness meditation.'   He references the teaching of lovingkindess tha the Buddha gave to the monks who were scared by spirits in the forest.  He notes that these monks were expert in the ten kasinas and eight attainments (the jhanas).

A Few Points

on Page Eighty-nine, while still answering the question posed a few pages ago, Sayadaw makes a couple of points.

1. The Noble Truth of suffering is the five aggregates
2. The Noble Truth of the origin of suffering is dependent origination, these are also called formations, which must be understood to have the three marks. 
3. Four-elements meditation must be practiced until tiny particles called rupa-kalapas are discerned.   I think I saw one go by on the bus today. 

Wheel

On Page Eighty-eight, Sayadaw explains that mentality-materiality (of which the five aggregates are made) are the dhammas of suffering.  He then emphasizes the  need to understand dependent orgination through insight knowledge.  Ironically, it is this wheel that has 'no footing' and a 'maze of many (negative) methods' until it becomes the subject of awareness.

Citta, please, stirred, not shaken.

The next question, on page Eighty Seven is
Why don't we, after attaining the fourth jhana, go straight to the aggregates and instead have to meditate on the body, skeleton, kasinas, elements, materiality, mentality, dependent origination, and Vipassana?

Oh c'mon!  If you don't know you shouldn't ask.
I did not know, so it was news to me.

Sayadaw says, to begin with, we must see the three marks of the three other (of the four ultimate realities excepting Nirvana, which are consciousness, mental states and matter <<I did not know that>>).....

Well now just hold on, I'm reading all about these realities:

WHEW

Anyway, although matter and consciousness and mental states are subject to arising and passing away and Nirvana is not, they are thought of as 'ultimate' because there really isn't anything else around except concepts (and there are a lot of those).

Feeling, formations and perception hang out in the mental states area.

Here from the above link is

the citta with mindfulness, occurring through the mind-door, taking the perished vipaaka citta as its object, will prevent the arising of causative unwholesome cittas that lead to future suffering.

Balance

Despite the emphasis on developing the five faculties first, Sayadaw goes on to explain how they need balance.

1. Faith can produce too much emotion that gets in the way
2. Too much effort and the mind is restless
3. Excessive concentration produces laziness
4. Too much wisdom and a yogi ends up just discussing anapanasati ad nauseum (oh I've been witness to that)....

I did not see a warning about too much mindfulness here.......

Strengthening the Faculties First

Page Eighty Five begins a series of questions and answers.  The first question here is a good one. 
How should beginners balance the faculties of concentration of wisdom? and How should they practice wisdom in anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing)?


Sayadaw explains that although there is a lot of restlessness in beginning meditators (I can attest to that), there is not much need for balance, as the controlling faculties are not yet developed and any one or more of them will not come in to sweep out the others (the five are faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom).  Also he notes that just being mindful of breathing brings about some balance with concentration and the faith of practice.   It is a matter of making the faculties stronger by using them.

Page Eighty-Four

is blank.

Looking Back and Forward

On Page Eighty three, Sayadaw concludes by reflecting on having shown the way to the ten kasinas, the eight attainments, the four fine-material jhanas, and the four immaterial jhanas.  The next section will deal with the four sublime abidings (the brahmaviharas), and the four protective meditations.

Fully Absorbed

And FINALLY;

on Page Eighty two, how to develop the Base of Neither Perception or Non-Perception.  Back to Gunaratna: 

The fourth and final immaterial jhana, the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, is reached through the same preliminary procedure. The meditator can also reflect upon the unsatisfactoriness of perception, thinking: "Perception is a disease, perception is a boil, perception is a dart... this is peaceful, this is sublime, that is to say, neither-perception-nor-non-perception" (M.ii,231). In this way he ends his attachment to the base of nothingness and strengthens his resolve to attain the next higher stage. He then adverts to the four mental aggregates that constitute the attainment of the base of nothingness — its feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness — contemplating them as "peaceful, peaceful," reviewing that base and striking at it with applied and sustained thought. As he does so the hindrances are suppressed, the mind passes through access and enters the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

This jhana receives its name because, on the one hand, it lacks gross perception with its function of clearly discerning objects, and thus cannot be said to have perception; on the other, it retains a very subtle perception, and thus cannot be said to be without perception. Because all the mental functions are here reduced to the finest and most subtle level, this jhana is also named the attainment with residual formations. At this level the mind has reached the highest possible development in the direction of pure serenity. It has attained the most intense degree of concentration, becoming so refined that consciousness can no longer be described in terms of existence or non-existence. Yet even this attainment, from the Buddhist point of view, is still a mundane state which must finally give way to insight that alone leads to true liberation.

Paragate

On page Eighty one, is how to develop the Base of Boundless Consciousness.  This is not well described here, it is only to have no desire for the previous Base of Boundless Space, to concentrate on the consciousness.  Gunarata is of help:

Since the space taken as the object by the first formless jhana was boundless, the consciousness of that space also involves an aspect of boundlessness, and it is to this boundless consciousness that the aspirant for the next attainment adverts. He is not to attend to it merely as boundless, but as "boundless consciousness" or simply as "consciousness." He continues to cultivate this sign again and again until the consciousness belonging to the base of boundless consciousness arises in absorption taking as its object the boundless consciousness pertaining to the first immaterial state (Vism. 331-32; PP.360-61).

Also here is how to develop the third immaterial jhana, the Base of Nothingness.  Ready?  Back to Gunaratna: 


the meditator is to focus upon the present absence or non-existence of the consciousness belonging to the base of boundless space, adverting to it over and over thus: "There is not, there is not" or "void, void". When his efforts fructify there arises in absorption a consciousness belonging to the base of nothingness, with the non-existence of the consciousness of boundless space as its object. Whereas the second immaterial state relates to the consciousness of boundless space positively, by focusing upon the content of that consciousness and appropriating its boundlessness, the third immaterial state relates to it negatively, by excluding that consciousness from awareness and making the absence or present non-existence of that consciousness its object.

Not Cake

On Page Eighty, Sayadaw discusses the Base of Boundless Space, to first reflect on the disadvantages of materiality.  Take my body. . . please.

All you gotta do, is you gotta reflect on the disadvantages of materiality and reflect on the more peaceful nature of the immaterial jhanas. Then expand the nimita to boundlessness.  Then develop the five masteries, namely;

mastery in adverting, in attaining, in resolving, in emerging and in reviewing.[16] Mastery in adverting is the ability to advert to the jhana factors one by one after emerging from the jhana, wherever he wants, whenever he wants, and for as long as he wants. Mastery in attaining is the ability to enter upon jhana quickly, mastery in resolving the ability to remain in the jhana for exactly the pre-determined length of time, mastery in emerging the ability to emerge from jhana quickly without difficulty, and mastery in reviewing the ability to review the jhana and its factors with retrospective knowledge immediately after adverting to them.

It's not cake.

Way Out Stations

On Page Seventy nine, Sayadaw finishes up the kasinas with the 'space kasina' which one can visualize through a hole, looking at the sky and concentrate on space.

He continues with "Once you have attained the four jhanas with each of the ten kasinas, you can proceed to develop the four immaterial jhanas which are:

1. The Base of Boundless Space
2. The Base of Boundless Consciousness
3. The Base of Nothingness
4. The Base of Neither perception-nor-non-perception

And he notes that these bases can be devloped with all of the kasinas except the space kasina.

The third and fourth jhanas above are exactly what the Buddha's teachers Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta had attained to.   High practice, but stations on the way nonetheless.

More kasinas

More kasina development on page Seventy eight;

For fire, use a candle or other flame, even if only a memory of it.  You can make a screen with a hole in it and a fire on the other side of the hole.

For wind, the sense of touch or sight of wind, such as wind coming in through the door or trees waving and concentrate on 'wind, wind'.

For light, look at rays of light as they stream into a room, or you can put a candle in a pot and watch the rays stream out.

Trippy stuff!

You Can Draw!

On Page Seventy Seven, the earth kasina. Simply find a piece of plain earth that is reddish brown like the sky at dawn, then with a stick draw a circle around it about a foot across.  Then go!  Ready, go!  He says to avoid concentration on the characteristics of color or roughness but only the concept of earth.

He follows similarly with the water kasina, just get a bowl or bucket, again until the nimitta appears, up to fourth jhana.


I meditated on a stone, although less simply and far less well, for a year: Stonemeditation blog.

Hello

On Page Seventy-Six, Sayadaw moves on to the other color kasinas as follows;
brown, blue and black using head hairs, yellow on fat or urine, red on blood and grossly on.  When these are developed, then one can use the meditation on flowers or other external objects. He says poetically, All yellow flowers are calling out, inviting  you to develop the yellow kasina. 

He states that in the Pali texts, the Buddha taught ten kasinas, the four colors and the six of earth, water, fire, wind, space and light.

I am glad to be moving on from the colors of the body found in the most disgusting and scary parts.

High Lonesome

And on Page Seventy-Five, Sayadaw suggests expanding that white kasina even further to all ten directions until 'all you see is white.'

From the Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya):
"Monks, there are the ten kasina devices (for concentration). What are the ten? Someone perceives the earth kasina, above, below, on all sides, undivided, unbounded; another person perceives the water kasina... the fire kasina... the wind kasina... the blue... yellow... white... red kasina... the space kasina... the consciousness kasina, above, below, on all sides, undivided, unbounded. These are the ten kasina devices. Among these ten, this is the highest — when one perceives the consciousness kasina above, below... unbounded. There are, indeed, monks, such persons who perceive in that way. But even for persons who thus perceive, change takes place, transformation takes place.
"When seeing this, monks, a well-taught noble disciple is repelled by it; being repelled, he becomes disenchanted about the highest, not to speak of what is low.

So White

On Page Seventy-Four, more on the white kasina skeleton meditation.  Sayadaw says to use the fourth jhana breath meditation powers to stay with the white kasina for two hours.  Gee whiz, meditating for 25 minutes will just never do.

White Out

And after one has fully developed jhana on the skeleton, then ok to go, on Page Seventy Three, to Kasina meditation.  He suggests using the colors blue, yellow, red and white, beginning with white and, reestablishing jhana, concentrate on the white parts of the skeleton.  Soon, Sayadaw introduces other parts of the body for the other colors. Again, ew.

Steal Your Face

While most of this book is taken from the Vissudhimagga of Buddhagossa (Sri Lanka 430AD), a lot of this section here refers from the Abhidhamma, the third 'basket' of the Tipitaka, the three 'baskets' of Buddhist teachings.  Attributed to the Buddha, it was written down around 250 BC.

Here we are practicing skeleton meditation (in all ten directions) until 'all you see is skeletons.'

That is cool.

Another Kind of Freedom

On Page Seventy-One, Sayadaw explains how joy and happiness can arise with the repulsiveness of the skeleton as an object:

A question arises: ‘How can joy and happiness

arise with the repulsiveness of the skeleton as object?’

The answer is that, although you are concentrating

on the repulsiveness of the skeleton, you have under

-

taken this meditation because you have understood the

benefits of it, and understand that it will help you to

eventually attain freedom from ageing, sickness, and

death. Joy and happiness can arise also because you

have removed the defilements of the five hindrances,

which make the mind hot and tired.

It is just like a scavenger would be delighted to

see a big heap of garbage, thinking, ‘I will earn a lot of

money from this.’ Or like a person who is severely ill

would be happy and joyful when relieved by vomiting

or having diarrhoea. 

Oh yeah.. Whew

There's That

On Page Seventy, Sayadaw reveals that the Buddha, in the Mahasatipattana Sutta taught three entrances to Nirvana, as 1) Color Kasinas meditation, 2) Repulsiveness meditation, and 3) Voidness of self (the 32 parts meditation). 

He starts with repulsiveness meditation, and says that one can use the 32 parts, or any part and he uses skeleton meditation as an example.

I think I get the basic idea.  I do at times resist repulsiveness awareness, choosing to rest in some belief of eternal beauty and health.  But repulsiveness awareness, I believe, is not to say that there is only decay, more so to bring awareness to delusion.

The heavy metal dudes know.

Only 32 Parts

Head hairs.  They cling to my head.  I am very attached to them.  They are like ten thousand bones flung from me.  They are not much attached to me.  They must be maintained.  They are solid, with an illusion of lightness, aliveness.

Sayadaw moves lightning fast through a lot of material  I could spend a year on hairs.  Most people would not pick up a book about meditation upon  hairs.

On Page Sixty-Nine Sayadaw suggests discerning the other being in front of you and then expanding a 'fourth jhana' concentration outward to include many other animals and beings, and then seeing them as only 32 parts, attain wisdom.

Head Hairs

And then, on page Sixty-Eight, Sayadaw suggests to discern the parts in the given order, one at a time.  "Try to see each part as distinctly as you would see your face in a clean mirror."  At age 53, I like my mirror a bit foggy. 

He goes on to suggest arousing jhana before using the bright light of concentration on each part.  Then, after each part, discern another being and each of the same parts on that being.

I'll try head hairs.  Here I go.

Ew!

On Page Sixty-Seven, Sayadaw begins the section How You Develop Absorption on Other Subjects, pointing out ways to further develop samatha concentration, including the thirty-two parts of the body, which are:

25 earth elements:

• Head hair, Body hair, Nails, Teeth, Skin
  (Kesa, Loma, Nakkha, Danta, Taco)
• Flesh, Sinews, Bones, Bone Marrow, Kidneys
  (Masam, Naharu, Atthi, Atthiminjam, Vakkam)
• Heart, Liver, Diaphragm, Spleen, Lungs
  (Hadayam, Yakanam, Kilomakam, Pihakam, Papphasam)
• Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Stomach, Feces, Brain
  (Antam, Antagunam, Udariam, Kerisam, Mattagunam)

12 water elements:

• Bile, Phlegm, Pus, Blood, Sweat, Fat
  (Pittam, Semhan, Pubbo, Lohitam, Sedo, Medo)
• Tears, Grease, Saliva, Mucus, Oil of the Joints, Urine
  (Assu, Vasa, Kelo, Singhanika, Lasika, Muttam)

Ick!

Totally Blank

Page Sixty-Six

Pretty Much Blank

Page Sixty-Five is

Sold Out

On Page Sixty-Four, Sayadaw notes the Five Hindrances (desire, ill-will, sloth, restlessness and doubt).  He points out that these are opposite to jhana concentration.  In my experience, concentration is so helpful because the five hindrances cannot exist there.

Satnam Futna

On page Sixty-Three, a list of the seven stages of purification and the sixteen insight-knowledges.

They are:

1. Morality, mind, view, overcoming doubt, what is and is not the path, vision of the way, and knowledge and vision. 
2. Materiality-mentality, discernment of cause and condition, comprehension, arising and passing away, dissolution, terror, danger, disenchantment, desire for deliverance, reflection, equanimity, conformity, change of lineage (?), the path, fruition, and reviewing. 

Excellent.  Some of them seem very much to be further acceptance and awareness of what the mind is and what the mind does.  Sayadaw and others, including Vivekanada, believe that these knowledges occur in a sequence to the yogi who is ardently practicing vipassana. Here's all Vivekananda's stuff at Dharmaseed, I have listened to a few of them, and if you can take his 'satnam futna' Tourettes, its great, really great.