Life in B Flat
(Science and Spirituality)

I was deep in meditation. I asked, "Is there a plan for my life? What is the plan!?" I heard a voice say "It's in the key of B", and I saw the symbol for a flat in musical notation. The plan for my life is in the key of B flat! I understood this immediately. I have a record of Pete Fountain playing the clarinet. It's a clarinet tuned to the key of B flat. I like to improvise on my guitar along with the record. The plan for my life is: "We're improvising!".

Sunday, April 26, 2020

An Overview of How To Practice Meditation and Mindfulness

This article is an overview of how to practice meditation and mindfulness.

1) Use meditation and relaxation exercises to produce a pleasant relaxed state (jhanas are optional) and try to maintain that state when possible after the meditation session by living and doing things in a quiet relaxed way, living mindfully (lucidly - especially with respect to emotions). The pleasant relaxed state is not an end in itself, it is a tool, it provides a neutral background upon which dukkha (unpleasant emotions / stress) is more easily discernible.

2a) Notice when unpleasant emotions arise (2nd noble truth = origin of dukkha) that interfere with the pleasant relaxed state - during meditation and after the meditation session when returning to daily life. Things that interfere with the pleasant relaxed state can involve more than just thinking about the past or future, or events that occur in the present. It can involve things like diet, types of exercise, intoxicants etc.

2b) Notice what is conducive to returning to the pleasant relaxed state (3rd noble truth = cessation of dukkha). This may involve more than just meditation and mindfulness. It could involve diet, types of exercise, renunciation etc.

3) Notice that allowing yourself to feel unpleasant emotions is less unpleasant than resisting the situation or resisting the emotions. (When you are ready to surrender you have won.) This is easier said than done but relaxation helps. (Also, some emotions may disappear when you become completely relaxed.) Surrender means that you understand you are going to have unpleasant emotions and being aware of them lucidly is preferable to the alternatives of suppression, overreaction, or struggling against or denying reality. The point of surrender is not to ignore problems that need attention but to be able to respond to them with compassion and reason rather than out-of-control emotion.

Most of the "action" of this practice occurs in daily life. The role of meditation is to 1) produce a pleasant relaxed state which acts as a background upon which unpleasant emotions become more noticeable. 2) To quiet the mind so one has the presence of mind to practice in daily life. 3) To slow down the activity of the mind so one can see what is happening.

Be aware of certain pitfalls:

A.) It is possible to overdo dwelling on unpleasant emotions. You might train yourself to produce them or you might produce a feedback loop kind of like a jhana of unhappiness. The balance between feeling emotions without over dwelling on them is something each person has to find for themself.

B.) Another pitfall is inadvertently suppressing an emotion when you think you are letting go of it by relaxing or allowing yourself to feel it. This kind of suppression may be recognized because it may produce tension and irritability.

One should make a distinction between emotions that you can notice arising as a result of specific thoughts and situations and some emotions that are more constant. Constant emotions can also be from thoughts and situations but sometimes they are just due to biological causes that are not going to be helped much by meditation and mindfulness practices. (For example, I find that my diet affects my mood, for good or ill in ways that meditation cannot influence.) However unpleasant emotions due to biological causes can cause additional emotional reactions (such as annoyance at or attachment to having the emotion) that can be eased by meditation and mindfulness practices.

The ultimate goal, the ideal, of the practice (although I don't claim it is possible to reach perfection) is to be relaxed (equanimous) in every situation. With equanimity comes compassion and good will which arise naturally when one is able to let go of unpleasant emotions.

Other points:

Dukkah = stress, letting go = relaxation.

When you observe unpleasant emotions arising you are observing dukkha in action, and learning to let go of emotions by relaxing and by surrendering is the cessation of dukkha.

One of the things I like about this practice is that it addresses the essence of Buddhism, the cause of dukkha and the cessation of dukkha, yet the practice is very simple and easy to do and the mechanism by which it works is very easy to understand. Another thing I like is that the practice doesn't require a lot of will power to keep up because you feel better when you do it. It is an fundamental principle of psychology that an organism is more likely to repeat behavior if it produces a reward. Feeling better is a reward.

Friday, April 17, 2020

The Relation Between Samatha and Vipassana Meditation

Someone on a discussion forum wondered if practicing samatha (serenity) meditation would lead to a self-anesthetized state that would lead one to neglect vipassana (looking at the activity of the mind to produce an understanding of the origination and cessation of unpleasant emotions). They asked if anyone experienced that.

This is approximately how I replied:

That is not my experience. Observing the breath to produce tranquility does not distract me from vipassana it enhances my practice of vipassana. If you try to stay self-anesthetized 24 hours a day you will inevitably fail and you will notice what upsets you and you will notice how you get back to the anesthetized state - you will observe the origination and cessation of dukkah (unpleasant emotions) - this is the essence of practice. You can't escape it. The deeper the anesthesia, the more subtle the disturbances you will notice. The anesthesia is not putting you to sleep, it is actually making you more aware (of subtle mental activity) by turning down the volume of the activity of (the noise in) your mind.

(The pitfall that I find can happen is that one can be suppressing thoughts and feelings by concentrating too hard or by trying too hard to self-anesthetize. The sign that this is happening is that meditation makes one tense and irritable. It can be a bit tricky to find the right balance between relaxation and allowing yourself to be aware of unpleasant thoughts and emotions (dukkha). You think you are relaxing but the result is the opposite. If that is not happening you are probably okay. Finding the balance is complicated because you don't want to suppress but you don't want to wallow in self-pity or train yourself to be unhappy, or create a jhanna like amplification of unpleasant emotions by focusing on them too intently. If you can relax while noticing unpleasant emotions that is probably the right way to do it.)

Self-induced anesthesia is a pretty good description of what the sutras call for (see below). The point is that when you are calm you can observe better the activity of the mind - the origination and cessation of dukkha - because the mind is calm (Dukkha = stress).

What I find is that when my mind is calm and peaceful and I am in a pleasant relaxed mood (the result of samatha meditation) then I notice very easily anything that disturbs that state (the origination of dukkha) and I notice what brings me back into that state (the cessation of dukkha), when I am meditating and during daily life. The "self-induced anesthesia" provides a neutral background against which it is easier to see the origination and cessation of dukkha.

Here is an excerpt from the Anapanasati Sutra translated by Thich Nhat Hanh in his book "Breathe You are Alive": It shows that self-induced anesthesia is exactly what one should be doing:

8. I am breathing in making and making the activities of the mind in me calm and at peace.

...

10. I am breathing in and making my mind happy and at peace.

This article (below) also discusses the relationship between samatha and vipassana.

https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/onetool.html

One Tool Among Many
The Place of Vipassana in Buddhist Practice
by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu

...

But if you look directly at the Pali discourses — the earliest extant sources for our knowledge of the Buddha's teachings — you'll find that although they do use the word samatha to mean tranquility, and vipassana to mean clear-seeing, they otherwise confirm none of the received wisdom about these terms. Only rarely do they make use of the word vipassana — a sharp contrast to their frequent use of the word jhana. When they depict the Buddha telling his disciples to go meditate, they never quote him as saying "go do vipassana," but always "go do jhana." And they never equate the word vipassana with any mindfulness techniques. In the few instances where they do mention vipassana, they almost always pair it with samatha — not as two alternative methods, but as two qualities of mind that a person may "gain" or "be endowed with," and that should be developed together.

You cannot really separate samatha and vipassana. Whenever you are meditating on the breath and your mind wanders for a moment or you notice a thought arising - you are observing the activity of the mind. You can't escape vipassana unless you have perfect concentration and your mind is perfectly still. The very fact of thoughts arising while you try to focus on the breath is a repeated reminder that you don't control your mind, that your mind is not "yours". You realize that other people experience the same thing - they don't control their mind - this understanding gives you compassion and reduces your ego. Even if you are not aware of that angle, it works on you unconsciously producing changes you might not be aware of.

Monday, April 13, 2020

Forgiveness: Much unpleasant emotion would cease if you would/could forgive.

A lot of dukkha (unpleasant emotions) would cease if you would/could forgive.

Forgiveness is easier said than done. How do you do it?

Like metta or the jhanas.

Look in your mind/body/heart and see if you can find an inkling or memory of the feeling of forgiveness.

Meditate (focus your attention) on that spark, on that glimmer of forgiveness.

Think of all people you could forgive, including yourself, and as well as the universe, fate, fortune, and/or God.

Notice how much better you would feel without all those unpleasant emotions.

Practice.

Sunday, April 5, 2020

How to Practice the Seven Factors of Awakening

If you meditate using the technique I describe on my website, it can be helpful to have an overall idea in mind of what you are trying to do otherwise it is easy to forget to do some part of the meditation technique. When I reviewed the seven factors of awakening the other day, I realized here was a list of the different aspects of the meditation technique. If you remember this list you won't forget anything when you meditate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Factors_of_Awakening

In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Awakening are:

Mindfulness. To maintain awareness of reality.

Investigation of the nature of reality.

Energy also determination, effort.

Joy or rapture.

Relaxation or tranquility of both body and mind.

Concentration, a calm, one-pointed state of mind, or clear awareness.

Equanimity. To accept reality as-it-is without craving or aversion.

Thich Nhat Hanh translates the word for equanimity as "letting go". I like that because I see letting go of attachments and aversions as a consequence of relaxation: to let go of something you are holding on to, you relax your grip on it. When I am relaxed I do not experience attachments or aversions (unpleasant emotions).

I also prefer "determination, effort" to "Energy" because to me, in English, 'energy' evokes a sense of hyperactivity which seems to contradict relaxation.

In my practice I find myself "noticing" and "observing" which is the same as investigating.

I find concentration and relaxation are interrelated. When you concentrate the mind, that calms mental turbulence which is part of relaxation. When you relax, that also calms mental turbulence which aids concentration.

When you begin a meditation session you can easily remember the complete technique by remembering the seven factors of awakening. (I think of them in this order):

How to meditate:

Relaxation (Factor 5, breathe in a relaxing way somewhat slower and deeper than normal).
Concentration (Factor 6, count the breath if your mind is turbulent, or observe the breath if your mind is calm).
Joy (Factor 4, observe the pleasant feeling of relaxation as you inhale and exhale, this can trigger the a feedback loop in the brain that produces feelings of happiness).

How to handle interrupting thoughts, emotions, and impulses:

Be lucid (Factor 1, mindfulness, observe thoughts, emotions, and impulses as they arise but don't get so carried away that you become distracted and stop doing the meditation technique).
Allow yourself to feel unpleasant emotions (Factor 2, investigation).
Let go of unpleasant emotions (Factor 7, equanimity, letting go of attachments and aversions).

What to do after the meditation session:

Continue practicing in daily life after the sitting meditation session is over (Factor 3, energy, determination, effort).

I don't recommend practicing super-intense concentration. If the mind is completely still, there is no investigation. I find some concentration helps with relaxation, elevating my mood, and mindfulness, but too much and it begins to cause problems such as suppression of thoughts and emotions which causes irritability.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

My Views on Gradual Awakening

I.

Traditionally, awakening is defined in four stages of increasing freedom from the ten fetters. I have posted before on gradual awakening and the fact that people can become awakened so gradually they don't notice it. This fact has some very important implications about what awakening is. It implies that the stages of awakening are not like a series of steps where you only get benefit when you have stepped up on the first step. Awakening is like a ramp where any level is possible. Most people already have some level of awakening (some level of freedom from the ten fetters) and you can increase your level gradually and continuously by meditating regularly.

The dictionary definition of gradual is: "moving, changing, or developing by fine or often imperceptible degrees"

Shinzen Young, and others, say people can awaken so gradually they don't notice it happening.

If that is right, then the moment of awakening can be imperceptible.

If the moment of awakening can be so subtle that it may not be noticed by the experiencer, then the change from not awakened to awakened can also be so small that it is imperceptible. If the change can be so small, someone who has just passed stream-entry (the first stage of awakening) might not be significantly different from someone who is just a little bit less awakened and has not passed stream-entry.

The development of awakening is not like a stairway with discrete steps. It is like a ramp where any level is possible. There aren't natural divisions or steps to awakening.

Awakening is a lot like equanimity. Everyone has some level of equanimity. Some people have little equanimity, some people have more equanimity and others have a lot of equanimity. Awakening is like that. Everyone has some level of awakening. Some people are little bit awakened, some people are more awakened, and others are very awakened. If you look at the definitions of the ten fetters, it should be obvious that different people will have different levels of attachment to them.

As I have shown above, someone who has passed stream-entry may not be significantly different from someone with a little bit less awakening who has not passed stream-entry. This indicates hat stream entry is an arbitrary level.

The stages of awakening divide the path into artificial and unnatural steps which causes people to become distracted into focusing on how to get to the first step. Instead followers of the path should be observing the activity of their mind and trying to see the origination of dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.

Everyone already has some level of awakening - some level of freedom from the ten fetters. People don't need to obsess about how to get awakened. If they will just practice meditation and mindfulness and observe the origination and cessation of dukkha in their own mind, they will get more and more awakened (more and more freedom from the fetters) gradually and easily, they will develop more and more compassion, good-will, equanimity and their ego will become less troublesome. When people understand this, they will see that arbitrary steps are irrelevant and a hindrance and they will let go of any attachments to those steps, and they will benefit more from their correctly focused practice.

II.

I posted a reply on a discussion forum to someone who complained that he had lost faith in awakening.

Did you ever hear that some people get enlightenment gradually instead of suddenly, and sometimes it is so gradual that they don't even know they have become enlightened?

Shenzen Young and others have said that it happens.

This means that enlightenment is not like a series of steps - it is like a ramp where any level is possible.

It is like equanimity - some people have little equanimity, some people have more, some people have a lot. And you can increase your level of equanimity gradually by meditating regularly. If people can become enlightened so gradually they don't notice it, then enlightenment must be like that too. Everybody has some level of enlightenment. Some people have little enlightenment, some people have more, and some people have a lot. And you can increase your level of enlightenment by meditating regularly .

So my advice is to try a kind of meditation that will reduce your suffering today (not sometime in the future maybe) and over the long term can increase your level of enlightenment (compassion, good will, equanimity, and unselfishness).

Stop worrying about that first step to get enlightenment. You are right it is a load of crap. It was invented to keep the monks organized. It is of no use the the average person.

Everybody including you already has some level of enlightenment. If you want, you can increase your level of enlightenment as much as you want by practicing meditation and mindfulness. Watch the activity in your mind and study the origination and cessation of dukkha.

Don't waste time expecting the earth to shake and the heavens to open and Buddha to jump down and shake your hand and congratulate you for becoming awakened. It doesn't necessarily happen like that. It sells books and retreats and makes money and gains followers for them, but it is not much help to anyone else.

III.

I also posted something approximately like this:

If your goal is enlightenment and you are expecting the BIG CHANGE to herald your awakening, then you wonder, "What do I have to do to get it? Go on a retreat? Read a book?

If you learn that people can get enlightened gradually without even knowing it, that you can be enlightened without experiencing the BIG CHANGE, then it makes sense that everyone already has some level of enlightenment and the purpose of practice is to gradually increase your level of enlightenment. You are not waiting for the BIG CHANGE, when you experience unpleasant emotions (dukkha) you do not think you need to go on a retreat or buy a book. Instead you watch your own mind during sitting meditation and during daily life. When you experience unpleasant emotions you wonder, Why am I not more compassionate? Why do I not have more good will? Why do I not have more equanimity? Why is my ego so troublesome? You examine the origination of dukkha. You observe the emotions in your mind and body and observe when they go away. You observe the cessation of dukkha.

When you are waiting for the BIG CHANGE, that is the focus of your obsession. It is distracting you from practicing correctly. And the BIG CHANGE itself is not what most people think. After the BIG CHANGE you still have emotions, what is different is that "they don't stick in your mind" or "you don't overreact" or "it is the aggregates that have the emotions". This is just what it is like for people who have a regular meditation practice for many years without a BIG CHANGE. You still have unpleasant emotions after the BIG CHANGE and you still have to practice if you want to experience the end of suffering. If you have the BIG CHANGE or not, you still have to keep practicing and observe the origination and cessation of dukkha.

When you understand the BIG CHANGE is not the only way to enlightenment, that it is not necessary, but is promulgated because it sells books and retreats and gains followers, then you can practice correctly: Just watch your mind and observe the origination and cessation of dukkha and you will gradually increase your level of enlightenment, your compassion, equanimity, and good will will increase and your ego will become less troublesome.

IV.

Then I posted this:

Some people have an insight all at once and are astonished.

Others have the same insight but realize it little by little over time so when they get the full idea it doesn't astonish them.

Some people see a sunset and are overwhelmed, all they want to do is to write poetry and sing songs about sunsets and tell everyone they can how beautiful sunsets are.

Other people see a sunset and think, "That's nice" and they are not overwhelmed.

But they are seeing the same thing.

Whether it's worth it or not is an individual choice.

Personally, I would not practice a form of meditation that might give me enlightenment some day in the future unless it also provided some benefit for me today in the meantime.

I started meditating to help me feel better after a meditation session, less stressed, more serene, long before I ever heard about enlightenment.

My attitude toward enlightenment now is that it's something that is incidental to meditation. If I advised someone to meditate, it would be to help them feel better after a meditation session. I believe everyone already has some level of enlightenment and that level will increase gradually if they meditate regularly - but passing some arbitrary threshold is not really something anyone needs to be worried about.

Passing an arbitrary threshold (stream-entry) only has utility if the stages of enlightenment are like a series of steps - you don't have any benefit until you step up on the first step. But if enlightenment is not like steps but is like a ramp where any level is possible, then you can get a lot of benefit even if you have not passed that arbitrary threshold because as you approach it your level of enlightenment increases gradually and continuously.

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