Dharma Treasure Community

Hi, Wiley, Ivan and Patrick!
I was hit by a virus knocking me out for a while after writing, so I haven’t thanked you for sharing your great insights.

It’s hard balancing the effort so that it is still wise 🙂
I mean, habitually I want to start a military bootcamp regimen of less sleep and hard tough meditation 🙂
But I do realize it is not…[Read more]

Hi Rob,
I understand there are most likely individual differences, but wow, does ‘When I entered stage four a lot of mental activity and dull dream-like states arose. It felt like I was in a meditative state “less advanced” than when I was back in stage two. I went into a spiral of judging and doubt over the practice.’ sound exactly rig…[Read more]

Hi Rob,
I understand there are most likely individual differences, but wow, does “When I entered stage four a lot of mental activity and dull dream-like states arose. It felt like I was in a meditative state “less advanced” than when I was back in stage two. I went into a spiral of judging and doubt over the practice.” sound exactly rig…[Read more]

I am blown away by allt he kind and informative answers!

Upasaka Culadasa, thank you so much for your very clarifying text. I do hope so that all on this forum that are experiencing frustration or having difficulties with this read your answer.

Blake, I understand that fully, and the thing is I did master stage three according to TIM.then…[Read more]

Hi Blake!
Thank you for the information about awareness (introspective or such)vs attention. It really means I can lighten up about that! It seems very useful to me!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have been following my breath quite well, but that I can’t recall afterwards if a breath was long or short. I experimented with identifying…[Read more]

Hi Blake and Jon,
I am so grateful for your replies. You are really patient and compassionate.
Blake, when you noticed your mind was alternating, that is not necessarely a gross distraction, right?

Jon, I think you pinpointed some of my traits quite well! It takes one to know one? 🙂
It’s like I need to be told where it is ok to step out of “the…[Read more]

Interesting observation!
In my case, I guess that continuing to practice diligently will reveal more, since I am so confused by the way I interpret the descriptions at the moment.

I have been very diligent for years now, and am somewhat at a point where the tug to “roll up the mat and leave” is strong (to use yoga-speak). I.e. stop practicing.
Of…[Read more]

Hi maryhill!
Yes, I totally agree with you regarding the connections between science and buddhism.
Sounds like good practice.
Thank you so much!

Thanks Kurt!
That is great advice.
It seems to me as a balance between not over-analyzing and trying to assess signs of stages.

In a sense I was more relaxed when I didn’t know about any stages, but then again, I believe the fact that I actually could progress towards nibbana in this lifetime was not as clear to me at that time.

Hi Matthew,
Interesting!
Initially I thought I had to wait for a certain sense of overwhelming emotion to view it as something connected to purification. BUT I have tried something a couple of times the last couple of times doing formal meditation. It seems to me that the dullness or fuzziness I experience is connected to pressure in my forehead…[Read more]

Hi Kurt!
I believe you’re right about the dullness!
Regarding the memory bit, I guess it’s more like I am attentive of the sensations of the breath and miss out on the whole concept of “a breath”. More like you speak about the focus. If I don’t intend to know the length of the breath, I know every sensation. But I am not sure that I, should you…[Read more]

Hi again,
An additional question. When I do formal meditation I tend to follow the sensations of the breath “in real-time”, i.e. I follow them and notice lots of changes as they occur, but there is very little cognitive processing. For instance, almost nothing seems to be committed to memory. If I ask of myself if that last breath was long or…[Read more]

Hi, Matthew and thanks for offering to help!

Regarding “always” – using absolutes to quantify frequencies of actions is always tricky 🙂 What I mean is that although I have changed meditation technique a couple of times throughout my life, I have been fairly consistent in sticking to that technique for those dedicated years. Now my intention till…[Read more]

Hi, Matthew and thanks for offering to help!

Regarding “always” – using absolutes to quantify frequencies of actions is always tricky 🙂 What I mean is that although I have changed meditation technique a couple of times throughout my life, I have been fairly consistent in sticking to that technique for those dedicated years. Now my intention till…[Read more]

Blake and Nelson,
Thanks for your very compassionate and also patient responses.
I would say that of course there is an expectaion and judgments of how practice should develop implicit in the disappointment I am experiencing.
I have been into meditation so long (practicing and reading about) that there is an intellectual understanding of relaxing…[Read more]

Hi Nelson!
Thank you for your great suggestions on how to use skillful means to deal with this phase.
I have done a fair bit of open-eyes meditation before, and I seem to be quite apt at zoning out with my eyes open as well.

My resources of meditation options are quite restricted at the moment trying to raise a toddler and doing household chores,…[Read more]