Question regarding a detail in some of the illustrations.

Front Page Forums Meditation Question regarding a detail in some of the illustrations.

This topic contains 4 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by  Black Ghost 6 years, 11 months ago.

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  • #1883

    Black Ghost
    Member

    Hi – I was wondering if someone involved with writing the book or anyone else who knows the following:

    In figure 35, showing the ‘fully-alert’ flow – what exactly does the image of the person sitting represent? It would be useful to know for sure as it’s used in a few of the figures.

    Also, I only just noticed, despite looking at it a few times previously that there’s also an image (in the middle) of half a face with a heart above it, which I have no idea what it is?

    Many thanks.

    #1888

    Anonymous

    Hello Black Ghost,

    I am sorry about the delay in my replying to your question. Perhaps you have found the answer, but if not…

    Both the images that you have asked about represent examples of perceiving moments of consciousness.

    The “sitting person” image in Figure 35, represents the perception of pain as an example of a perceiving moment of consciousness, in this case knee pain. Please see Figure 33 on page 161 for a larger copy of this image.

    The image of a face with a heart above it represents a thought or emotion as an example of a perceiving moment of consciousness. For a large copy of this image see Figure 27 on page 149.

    Hope this helps,

    Colleen Vaughn, Dharma Treasure Teacher-in-Training.

    #1890

    Black Ghost
    Member

    Hi Colleen, thanks for the reply.

    I understand the explanation of the face/heart image but I’m a bit confused about the other images I think.

    In Fig 33 I’m unsure what the difference is between the image of the knee itself and the image of the sitting person with the knee pain highlighted.

    Then in figures 34 and 35, I wouldn’t have thought the sitting person image represents anything to do with pain? For example, in figure 34, under ‘exclusive focus’ the moments are either images of attention to the breath or images of the sitting person. Reading the text on page 163, it says ‘..stable attention simply means that most of your moments of attention are devoted to the meditation object. As you can see from the illustration, it also includes moments of peripheral awareness”.

    So I guess the sitting person must represent moments of peripheral awareness? I hadn’t noticed this before as I was reading up on Dullness on pages 164/165 and figure 165.

    #1891

    Black Ghost
    Member

    ..sorry the last sentence should say figure 35, not 165.

    #1892

    Black Ghost
    Member

    And, to have a go at answering my own 1st question from reading the text on p160 – the person sitting with the knee pain highlighted in fig 33 represents peripheral awareness of the knee pain and the image of the knee itself represents the pain becoming a gross distraction.

    I’m more than happy to be corrected on any of the above – I’ve read through these sections quite a few times already and am realising there’s lots still to understand :>

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