[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Patrick,

I think it will take some time and mental development to fully distinguish the difference between alternating attention and peripheral awareness. I struggled with this also, because I often didn’t feel that I had an awareness of something unless my attention alternated to it. But, I have since had some experiences that helped clarify it. On several different occasions, I have had an experiences when my attention alternated to something that was in peripheral awareness, and once this happened I knew that I had been peripherally aware of this object before my attention alternated to it.

I would like to further discuss the example with vision. Vision, like all senses, has and attentional component (focus) and a peripheral awareness component (peripheral vision). When you focus your vision closely on an object, this is attention. Anything else that you notice in your visual field is awareness.

Please try the following experiment. Keep your visual attention on your finger for 10 or 20 seconds. During this period, don’t “try” to notice anything else, or think about peripheral vision. After you have done this, answer the following question. Was I aware of anything in my visual field (however fuzzy) other than my finger? If you were, then this is peripheral awareness. This is a common enough experience that we use the term “peripheral vision” to describe it.

Please note that the objects in peripheral vision (awareness) will probably not be focused or clear, but they are typcially there.

Sometimes with peripheral awareness we have to ask ourselves after the fact if we were aware. If you try to check in on it during the experience it often causes the attention to alternate.

Good Luck in your explorations,

Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Patrick,

Welcome to the forum. I will attempt to explain extrospective awareness. Attention tends to analyze and investigate a single object while awareness is more holistic and inclusive. The easiest way to understand this is to focus your visual attention on an object such as your finger. While you attention is on your finger, you will notice you are still aware of other things in your peripheral vision. They are not particularly clear unless you shift your attention (visual focus) to one of these objects. At that point it becomes clear, and your finger may be a fuzzy object in your peripheral vision. The other senses work similarly.

If an object stands our from peripheral awareness, then your attention has shifted. If often happens that your attention is actually alternating between the breath and other objects in your awareness, and this is perfectly alright. We are not trying to overcome alternating attention at this point. Sometimes when your attention shifts you may realize that you were peripherally aware of that object before your attention actually moved. There is a subtle distinction between alternating attention and peripheral awareness, and you will need to investigate this for yourself.

For this example, lets just talk about the end of the out breath. When you are breathing out you feel a series of sensations. This is how you know you are breathing out. When this series of sensations ends, this is the end of the out breath. So the end is when you notice the absence of the previously occurring sensations. It might take you a moment to realize that they are gone. The end immediately transitions into the pause. The end of the in breath works the same way.

You state “I can’t perceive different points of the breath in continuous succession (that would take a huge cognitive effort for me)”. When you attempt to notice more sensations in a breath it should not take a large amount of effort. You merely have the intention to notice more sensations. At first you may only notice 2 or 3 distinct sensations during an in breath. As you continue to practice and your mind sharpens up, you may notice 4 or 5, and so on. Try to have acceptance with whatever you feel, and this will lessen the striving. It takes a while to learn to do things through intention without putting in unnecessary effort.

With this practice we are learning to direct our attention without necessarily being interested in the object of attention. Most people can keep attention on an interesting movie or book, but we are trying to go beyond that. So you can learn to work with the connecting practice even after you lose interest.

Even though all distractions are a form of noise. there is more you can learn about your mind by using a more specific label. For example are your distractions in the form of worry, remorse, planning, auditory sounds, anger etc.

Checking in is an “intentional” movement of attention to check in to see what your mind is doing. It need only take a second or two, and then you can move attention back to the breath. You are doing this practice to eventually develop continuous introspective awareness, so that even though your attention is centered on the breath you will have an awareness of what the mind is doing.

Dullness is a lack of clarity with the meditation object. For example you may notice 1/4 of the in breath and then you have non perceiving moments for the next 2/4’s of the in breath, and then you notice the last 1/4 of the in breath. It may not occur in such large chunks. When you are at your most clear you may notice 4 or 5 sensations on the inhale. When you are dull you may notice only 1 or 2 with non perceiving moments interspersed.

I would recommend spending more time doing stage 3 until these concepts become more clear to you through your direct experience.

Hope this is helpful,

Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training.

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Jacques,

In stage 4 you will work to more fully develop introspective awareness. This means you will still have an awareness of what the mind is doing while your attention is centered on the sensations of the breath. So you are literally aware of what the mind is doing while your attention is directed towards the breath. You will notice things like movements of attention, the way thoughts, feelings and other mental objects arise and pass away.

When you were practicing in Stage 3 did you do the checking in practice where you were periodically using attention to check in on the mind? The goal of this practice is to improve introspective awareness, so you are aware of what your mind is doing while you attention is centered on the breath. In stage 4, the introspective attention is replaced by introspective awareness, so you don’t need to redirect your attention in order to be aware of what the mind is doing.

This introspective awareness may involve an alternation of attention at first, and that is perfectly OK. Any time something clearly pops out of peripheral awareness it indicates that attention has shifted, however briefly. This is fine, when you notice that this happens, just center your attention back on the breath.

The distinction between attention and awareness is important to explore in your practice. A good example that might help is vision. When you vision is focused on a point, you are still aware of other visual objects in your peripheral vision. The objects in peripheral vision will not be clearly in focus, but there is an awareness. When an object in peripheral vision becomes clear it means that your visual attention has shifted. The other senses work similarly.

You say: “when I attend to both the background observer and the breath, I can mostly do so by keeping a distance between the two. So the breath becomes more distant and less precise (in connecting) than if I put my full attention on it.”.

I would guess that this is actually quickly alternating attention instead of attention on the breath and awareness on the mind. This is natural, at first, as your mind figures out how to do this. Over time, as the power of your mind increases, would be able to maintain both sharp attention and introspective awareness at the same time without deliberately alternating attention.

Different people will have different levels of purification at stage 4. I don’t think you need to wait for a certain level of purification in order to progress to stage 5. “You have mastered stage 4 when you’re free from both gross distraction and strong dullness.” When you can consistently do this you will be ready to move on.

Hope this helps,

Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training.

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Purple,

Stage 1 and Stage 2 often happen simultaneously. While you are establishing a daily practice, you are also practicing the techniques in Stage 2 when you actually meditate. I don’t think there is any harm with reading ahead as long as you don’t try to do practices from a more advanced stage when your average stage is lower. For example Stage 6 practices will not work well when you are at stage 2.

Hope this helps,

Blake Barton – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Chris,

I am not sure where you are traveling from, but I often make food ahead of time and freeze it in serving size containers, and then all I need to do is reheat and supplement with fresh vegetables and fruit.

Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi John,

You are welcome to post questions on stages 7 – 10 to this forum. There are several senior students of Culadasa that are members and some are completing the teacher training class with Culadasa. These members have access to Culadasa’s upcoming book which covers these stages in great detail, and we could also discuss your question with Culadasa in the teacher training sessions if necessary.

Thanks,
Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Chris,

The drumbeat analogy is a good one, and I think it is accurate based on my experience. Developing peripheral awareness is a skill you want to develop in parallel with attentional stability. As you improve the peripheral awareness you will notice when your attention moves to something other than the breath, and you can bring it right back before forgetting and mind wandering start.

Have you tried following the breath closely, where you notice the beginning, middle and end of each inhale, and the beginning middle and end of each exhale. This can be a game that makes the breath more engaging. However, you still want to hold the intention to maintain peripheral awareness.

As to the length of sit, I have heard Culadasa mention that you don’t necessarily want to sit for a long time just to be sitting for a long time. You don’t want to develop that habit of considerable mind wandering. Training attention is like training a muscle and you have to build up to it.

I would recommend that you experiment with a shorter sit (20-30 minutes) followed by a short break and then another 20-30 minute sit. You can see how this works for you. Alan Wallace also teaches the stages of meditation, and he often starts beginners with more frequent 24 minute sits.

Different people have different innate skills with attentional stability, and each person will progress through the stages at different rates. There is no “right” level of progress. There are people with ADD at one end of the spectrum and people for whom concentration comes very easily at the other end. Most of us fall somewhere in between, but closer to one end than the other.

Is your life hectic outside of meditation? This can have an impact on your meditations.

Every system of meditation has its strengths and weaknesses. The staged approach has many strengths, but in my opinion one of its weaknesses is judgement and grasping at one’s progress. It can make us feel that we have are a “self” that “should” be progressing at a certain linear rate. This is just the opposite of what we are trying to cultivate in this practice. We are trying to move towards less grasping. Acceptance and equanimity about our practice can be very helpful. When you sit I assume you are doing your best. If this is correct what more can you do?

Often you can practice samatha at a vipassana retreat if you wish. I have done this before. The issue is that the teachers might not be very supportive. Some vipassana teachers feel that developing samatha is a waste of time.

A retreat with Dan Brown could be compatible. Richard Shankman is leading a retreat March 21-29 entitled Steadying the Mind, Opening to Insight: The Practice and Path of Mindfulness, Jhana and Insight in Los Gatos CA.

While it is not the exact method that Culadasa uses he is at least supportive of samatha, and he actually knows Culadasa. Coming to Cochise Stronghold for a self retreat with Culadasa could also be a possibility.

Best Wishes,
Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the group! One way to know if you have enough peripheral awareness is whether or not you are noticing other things while your attention is on the breath. Does your attention alternate between the breath and sounds, or the breath and other body sensations. Do you notice thoughts?

If you attention is overly focused on the breath, you will not notice much else until five minutes later when you realize that your mind has been wandering.

It also sounds like you may have some expectations about the way you “should” be progressing. Do you notice this during or after your meditation session? Do you notice judgement or discontent? Are you giving yourself positive feedback when you remember to come back to the breath?

It is possible to maintain 2 hours per day of meditation as a lay practitioner with a job and a family. I would get up an hour early and meditate before work. I would then get another 50 minute session in after dinner. After a while it becomes a habit, and it becomes much easier. If you are tired in the evening walking meditation can be really helpful. I now work part time so it is easier to find more time for practice.

Richard Shankman teaches in the bay area. He does not teach the stages, but he does teach samatha.

Best Wishes,
Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi John,

Culadasa has decided to self publish the book, and last I heard he is targeting a Fall release. We will make an announcement here when it is ready.

Thanks,
Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Mitch,

Thanks for the reminder. This is information that will help all of us.

Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Using Culadasa’s technique, you are not supposed to consciously control the breath. So it is a good thing that you were able to let go of this control. Sometimes our unconscious mind does control the breath to make it easier to notice the sensations. That is OK as long as we do not intend to do this.

You should not be trying for one-pointedness in stages 4-6. It is only with the mastery of stage 6 that you are able to maintain exclusive attention on the meditation object. Trying for this too early can cause problems with your meditation.

When you notice subtle distractions just gently redirect your attention back to the sensations of the breath. Your mind will get better at noticing the subtle/weaker sensations. You can do things like following the breath (noticing the sensations that mark the beginning, middle and end of each inhale and exhale) to improve your clarity.

When you are breathing with the body scan, it is not important whether or not you actually feel sensations related to the breath in all body parts. For some body parts, you may not feel much of anything. For others you may feel sensations, but none caused by the breath. In others you may feel sensations caused by the breath. Try to do this practice without expectations. The intention to feel these sensations will increase your ability to notice subtle sensations over time even if you don’t actually feel anything.

I hope this is helpful, and I wish you good luck with your practice.

Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Mitchell,

I am glad you found that information useful. Good luck with your practice.

Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Mitchell,

Culadasa has mentioned that some students tend to feel nausea as their attention stabilizes and concentration improves. He has written the following on the topic that might be helpful.

“You may also experience intensely unpleasant energy sensations and severe pain in your chest or neck, or constantly feel like you’re falling over. There may also be dizziness, sweating, and nausea.

While a certain amount of this is normal, when it always happens and doesn’t improve, it’s a
sign that something is obstructing the development of physical pliancy and meditative joy. As
we explained in the Fifth Interlude, this may be caused by the hindrances of aversion and
agitation due to worry and remorse.

Obstacles to physical pliancy and the bliss of physical pliancy include ill-will, irritability, anger, hatred, fear, impatience, and judgmental attitudes – including self-judgment. So are more subtle negative attitudes like willfulness, dominance, manipulativeness, and stubbornness.

Worry, remorse, guilt, fear, and anxiety are obstacles to meditative joy and the bliss of mental pliancy. Joy cannot coexist with worry and remorse, nor can pleasure and happiness coexist with aversion and ill-will. To the degree that any of these are present, even at a subconscious level,the maturation of piti is prevented. Instead, you will experience strong and often unpleasant sensations, involuntary body movements, and painful energy movements. Episodes of physical comfort and pleasure will be all too brief and rare.

The antidote to worry and remorse is practicing virtue and rigorously observing Right
Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood12 in every aspect of your life. When you practice
virtue, you can change bad habits and stop acting in ways that create the causes for worry and remorse. As much as possible, make amends for things you’ve already done or failed to do. If you can’t make amends directly, do so through acts of kindness and service to those who suffer in the ways you’ve made others suffer. Seek others’ forgiveness, and most especially, forgive yourself. When you purify your mind of the causes for worry and remorse, meditative joy can arise.”

Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Paul,

Here is the link from the previous post. It didn’t go through the first time.

Blake

[Blake BartonKeymaster]

Hi Paul,

I think you are on the right track. The Buddha asked his disciples to experiences things for themselves and not take his word for it. There has been some research into children and remembering past lives.

Culadasa says that past lives memories may not be our own past life, but A past life.

Blake

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