In impersonality you feel that everything is divine dance

The expression of cosmic intelligence and life

Do you have the following experience and insight:

"What is experiential insight

Yin Ling:

When we say experiential insight in Buddhism,

It means..

A literal transformation of energetic orientation of the whole being, down to the marrow.

The sound MUST literally hears themselves.

No hearer.

Clean. Clear.

A bondage from the head here to there cut off overnight.

Then gradually the rest of the 5 senses.

Then one can talk about Anatta.

So if for you,

Does sound hear themselves?

If no, not yet. You have to keep going! Inquire and meditate.

You haven’t reach the basic insight requirement for the deeper insights like anatta and emptiness yet!

Yin Ling:

Yin Ling: “Realisation is when

This insight goes down to the marrow and you don’t need even a minute amount of effort for sound to hear themselves.

It is like how you live with dualistic perception now, very normal, no effort.

Ppl with Anatta realisation live in Anatta effortlessly, without using thinking to orient. It’s their life.

They cannot even go back to dualistic perception because that is an imputation, it js uprooted

At first you might need to purposely orient with some effort.

Then at one point there is no need.. further along, dreams will become Anatta too.

That’s experiential realisation.

There’s no realisation unless this benchmark is achieved!”

Labels: Anatta, Yin Ling | "

"Soh:

what is important is that there is experiential realisation that leads

to an energetic expansion outwards into all the forms, sounds, radiant

universe... such that it is not that you are in here, in the body,

looking outwards at the tree, listening the birds chirping from here

it is just the trees are vividly swaying in and of itself, luminously

without an observer

the trees sees themselves

the sounds hear itself

there is no location from which they are experienced, no vantage point

the energetic expansion outward into vivid manifestation, boundless, yet

it is not an expansion from a center, there is just no center

without such energetic shift it is not really the real experience of no

selfxabir Snoovatar" - https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../the-difference...

On the radiance as forms of anatta, i wrote years ago:

"Strong and vivid radiance..

Even now the smell of food is standing out in intensity

...[sights have a] HD hypervivid quality...

...Actually more accurate description is magical and marvellous colors (as in the vivid 'textures' of what's called trees, sky, houses, people, streets, etc), sounds (as in the vivid 'textures' of a bird chirping, sound of traffic, etc), scents (as in the aromas of food, and plants, etc), etc. Complete perfection with a stark intensity...

Yet feels completely natural. Without slightest sense of distance or self/Self, even the tiniest details becomes starkly clear

This sense of perfection and magical radiance of everything is still there even when I'm physically tired and lack sleep on the previous night

By magical what I mean is a sense that there’s something very magnificent, almost like beauty but it is not beauty vs ugly and is not at all a subjectively imposed or affective feeling of beauty, but a sense of perfection.. like I look at the fly crawling on my skin, the fly is so completely perfect, like part of the paradise (note: this is different from Thusness's usage of the term 'magical')

Like a ball of radiance, except radiance as none other than the boundless world of forms, colors, textures and sounds, that is the very radiance, for it is the world that is the radiance and nothing else. Not a subjective radiance standing apart from forms.

There is nothing subjectively imposed here.. when I say “sense of perfection” that is already not quite accurate as it conveys some subjectively imposed interpretation of perfection.. rather it is the world that is the perfection and each moment carries the flavor of perfection

Perfection being merely a qualitative description of the pristine state of consciousness/radiant forms, not an affective feeling of "it is perfect" but neither is it an objective characteristic of some inherently existing object (there is neither subject nor object as subject and object is conceptual)

But this state of consciousness is not just heightened clarity... it’s like even the trees swaying is marvelously and magically alive and life reveals its significance and meaning all around. I think this is what Richard calls “meaning of life”.

The emotional model of AF makes some sense"

...

Driving around Singapore, it feels like I am experiencing Singapore for the first time.

...

…But the best thing in terms of affect so far is that the constant apperception is such a joyful, clean, pristine state of appreciating the boundless and radiant world that there isn't room for unpleasant emotions like sadness, boredom, depression, etc. There is certainly no more "Monday blues" or any kind of "blues" at all. It make sense now in my experience when Richard says his days are one perfect day after another. Even lying on bed, looking at the ceiling, the sound of the humming and background noises is joyful. Any added entertainment on top of that perfection is just another addition on top of perfection."

...

This state of apperception is effortlessly and naturally present from the very moment I wake up to the moment I sleep, for example when I wake up sometimes a sound is heard and I do not even know where I am (the body is lying on the bed but the mind hasn't cognized that on the very first moment of waking up) in contrast to the bird chirping or the fan humming as there is simply no 'I' to be located anywhere, there is only everything everywhere... it is almost as if I am at the sound of the bird chirping except there is no 'I' to 'be at' or 'be one with' the sound, there is only sound. The reflection of the orange rising sun over the window in the next building shines as vivid radiance with flawless perfection... the radiant energies courses through the body, energising and vitalising my day. All these informs me that it's going to be yet another perfect day in paradise even before I open my eyes. When driving, when walking, overlooking the long stretch of road over the horizon, there is no center, no reference-point, no center-of-reference, and no circumference... the whole universe is walking, is the walking, is the driving, where the movement of legs is not done or perceived by an 'I' (there is no doer, thinker, feeler, watcher, cognizer, being/Being whatsoever, only action) and this body is walking inseparably from the entire universe, it is not the case that there is a body here and a separate universe out there in which the body moves through.

(12:13 AM) AEN: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/15659-edo-and-the-self/

(12:38 AM) AEN: mikael says:

*i think I have a natural disposition toward the PCE

*i think i've had one before

*whenever I "naturally" try to meditate.. I concentrate on the senses and try to "become" the world, ignore feelings by just seeming them as impermanent physical sensations. thoughts are usually non existent because i'm concentrating

*i'm going to try to cultivate that

(12:44 AM) AEN: i think i know the difference between the first and second article... the awareness is the world is like talking about the 2nd stanza of anatta with the emphasis on luminosity as the universe, then the flow is talking abuot the 1st stanza of anatta... the insubstantiality of everything as

simply mind moments arising and passing without anything graspable whatsoever. like a thought is simply an arising bubble... but then the flow article fails to integrate the insight of awareness as simply the 'current', the universe, the sensations?

(1:58 AM) AEN: the new article still talks about river and current as if river is something inherent even though the current is part of the river... the previous article is talking about how there is no mind/awareness, only the manifestation/current

Session Start: Tuesday, 7 September, 2010

(11:15 AM) Thusness: PCE is simply non-dual experience except the realization is about manifestation (coming face to face with the actual stuff, i.e, the other five entries and exits) instead of coming face to face with "I AM".

ur answer is still no good

(11:15 AM) Thusness: although ur answer is quite near. You must also be aware of the part on there is no way u can have any 'concepts' of the flow. But the idea or 'right view' is still not there. Not having any 'fixed idea' or 'fixed view' is still not good enough.

Also, do you relate with this:

August 2010:

“(11:07 PM) Thusness: for example you see AF description of insight and experience are very similar to what i described in anatta article.

(11:11 PM) Thusness: there is no ending to this realization

(11:42 PM) Thusness: Allow the muddy waters of mental activity to clear;

Refrain from both positive and negative projection -

leave appearances alone:

The phenomenal world, without addition or subtraction, is Mahamudra/liberation.

-Tilopa

this is very good

(11:46 PM) AEN: oic..

(11:51 PM) Thusness: ask how will what he realize thus far can lead to the insight that The phenomenal world, without addition or subtraction, is Mahamudra/liberation.

ask luckystrikes

(11:52 PM) AEN: ok posted

(12:29 AM) AEN: Scott Kiloby: If you see that awareness is none other than everything, and that none of those things are separate "things" at all, why even use the word awareness anymore? All you are left with is the world, your life, the diversity of experience itself.

(12:30 AM) Thusness: very good.

(12:31 AM) Thusness: This is anatta

(12:31 AM) AEN: oic..

(12:32 AM) Thusness: what’s left in is the intensity of practice.

(12:33 AM) Thusness: until there is completely without trace of awareness” (Scott Kiloby wrote more recently: https://www.kiloby.com/.../the-case-against-awareness-a...)

Also:

“luminosity.

“Geovani Geo to me, to be without dual is not to subsume into one and although awareness is negated, it is not to say there is nothing.

Negating the Awareness/Presence (Absolute) is not to let Awareness remain at the abstract level. When such transpersonal Awareness that exists only in wonderland is negated, the vivid radiance of presence are fully tasted in the transient appearances; zero gap and zero distance between presence and moment to moment of ordinary experiences and we realize separation has always only been conventional.

Then mundane activities -- hearing, sitting, standing, seeing and sensing, become pristine and vibrant, natural and free.” – John Tan, 2020

“

- https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../no-awareness-does...

John Tan wrote the 7 stages back in 2006 (updated in 2009). He realised both anatta and twofold emptiness for decades, two decades. But he made tremendous progress since, and even last year had further breakthroughs which he attributed to his 3-4 hours of meditation per day (or more). This is consistent with what Jamgon Mipham (and all other Buddhist masters starting from Buddha) have said, the deeper obscurations/afflictions require the path of meditation to overcome.

At this point of the 8th bhumi you are also similar to a sravaka arahat in terms of overcoming all afflictions and cutting off cyclic rebirth (there may be some other differences between them but I digress). But a Bodhisattva proceeds on to put an end to the second obscuration through the full actualization of the emptiness of all phenomena (as opposed to merely emptiness of personal self), the cognitive/knowledge obscurations that blocks the omniscience of Buddhahood. This is accomplished at the point of Buddhahood.

Better to practice a skillful means that helps you train your concentration, one-pointedness, mindfulness, insight, tranquility, all the seven factors of enlightenment and so on. For example, mindfulness of breathing.

Many people think mindfulness of breathing is just some basic/elementary technique, 'not advanced', 'just for beginners', 'just basic shamatha' and so on. They are wrong on all counts.

It is only shamatha without vipashyana if one has not arisen the insights of vipashyana, such as into anatta and twofold emptiness. Anapanasati can become the shamatha-vipashyana conjoined, as expressed by Shunryu Suzuki here:

“When we practice zazen our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say “inner world” or “outer world,” but actually there is just one whole world. In this limitless world, our throat is like a swinging door. The air comes in and goes out like someone passing through a swinging door. If you think, “I breathe,” the “I” is extra. There is no you to say “I.” What we call “I” is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all. When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no “I,” no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door.”

- excerpt from https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../when-we-practice...

Anapanasati.

Buddha said:

On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Icchānaṅgala in the Icchānaṅgala Wood. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus:

“Bhikkhus, I wish to go into seclusion for three months. I should not be approached by anyone except the one who brings me almsfood.”

“Yes, venerable sir,” those bhikkhus replied, and no one approached the Blessed One except the one who brought him almsfood.

Then, when those three months had passed, the Blessed One emerged from seclusion and addressed the bhikkhus thus:

“Bhikkhus, if wanderers of other sects ask you: ‘In what dwelling, friends, did the Blessed One generally dwell during the rains residence?’—being asked thus, you should answer those wanderers thus: ‘During the rains residence, friends, the Blessed One generally dwelt in the concentration by mindfulness of breathing.’“

Here, bhikkhus, mindful I breathe in, mindful I breathe out. When breathing in long I know: ‘I breathe in long’; when breathing out long I know: ‘I breathe out long.’ When breathing in short I know: ‘I breathe in short’; when breathing out short I know: ‘I breathe out short.’ I know: ‘Experiencing the whole body I will breathe in.’… I know: ‘Contemplating relinquishment, I will breathe out.’

“If anyone, bhikkhus, speaking rightly could say of anything: ‘It is a noble dwelling, a divine dwelling, the Tathāgata’s dwelling,’ it is of concentration by mindfulness of breathing that one could rightly say this.“

Bhikkhus, those bhikkhus who are trainees, who have not attained their mind’s ideal, who dwell aspiring for the unsurpassed security from bondage: for them concentration by mindfulness of breathing, when developed and cultivated, leads to the destruction of the taints. Those bhikkhus who are arahants, whose taints are destroyed, who have lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached their own goal, utterly destroyed the fetters of existence, those completely liberated through final knowledge: for them concentration by mindfulness of breathing, when developed and cultivated, leads to a pleasant dwelling in this very life and to mindfulness and clear comprehension.

“If anyone, bhikkhus, speaking rightly could say of anything: ‘It is a noble dwelling, a divine dwelling, the Tathāgata’s dwelling,’ it is of concentration by mindfulness of breathing that one could rightly say this.”

Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith on importance of meditation:

Excerpts from https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../dzogchen...

Malcolm (Loppon Namdrol) wrote:

Rongzom makes the point very clearly that Dzogchen practitioners must develop the mental factors that characterize the first dhyana, vitarka, vicara, pritvi, sukha and ekagraha, i.e. applied attention, sustained attention, physical ease, mental ease and one-pointedness. If you do not have a stable samatha practice, you can't really call yourself a Dzogchen practitioner at all. At best, you can call yourself someone who would like to be a Dzogchen practitioner a ma rdzogs chen pa. People who think that Dzogchen frees one from the need to meditate seriously are seriously deluded. The sgra thal 'gyur clearly says:

The faults of not meditating are:

the characteristics of samsara appear to one,

there is self and other, object and consciousness,

the view is verbal,

the field is perceptual,

one is bound by afflictions,

also one throws away the path of the buddhahood,

one does not understand the nature of the result,

a basis for the sameness of all phenomena does not exist,

one's vidya is bound by the three realms,

and one will fall into conceptuality

He also added:

Dhyanas are defined by the presence or absence of specific mental factors.

The Dhyanas were not the vehicle of Buddha's awakening, rather he coursed through them in order to remove traces of rebirth associated with the form and formless realms associated with the dhyanas.

...

Samadhi/dhyāna is a natural mental factor, we all have it. The problem is that we naturally allow this mental factor to rest on afflictive objects such as HBO, books, video games, etc.

Śamatha practice is the discipline of harnessing our natural predisposition for concentration, and shifting it from afflictive conditioned phenomena to nonafflictive conditioned phenomena, i.e., the phenomena of the path. We do this in order to create a well tilled field for the growth of vipaśyāna. Śamatha ultimately allows us to have mental stability and suppresses afflictive mental factors so that we may eventually give rise to authentic insight into the nature of reality. While it is possible to have vipaśyāna without cultivating śamatha, it is typically quite unstable and lacks the power to effectively eradicate afflictive patterning from our minds. Therefore, the basis of all practice in Buddhadharma, from Abhidharma to the Great Perfection, is the cultivation of śamatha as a preliminary practice for germination of vipaśyāna.

...

In the early period of Budddhism, there were two yānas, śamatha yāna and vipaśyāna yāna; beginners went to Śariputra to training in vipaśyāna for stream entry; then they would go train in śamatha with Maudgalyana for further progress.

Lance Cousins wrote a very interesting article about this.