A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Sunday, August 6, 2023
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna
RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects
A person goes to the forest
or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having
crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence
of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: “Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I
am content.” (SN 47.10)
When the awakening factor of joy is internally present, one is
aware: “Joy is present for me.” When joy is not present, one is aware:
“Joy is not present for me.” When the arising of unarisen joy occurs,
one is aware of that. And when the development and fulfillment of the
arisen awakening factor of joy occurs, one is aware of that . . . One is
just aware, just mindful: “There is a mental object.” And one abides
not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
Mindfulness
practice is about looking very closely at the details of our experience.
Every single moment something different is happening, and we train our
mind to notice as much as we can, rather than running on automatic or
making educated guesses. Here we are selecting one particular emotion,
joy, and observing the dynamics of its arising and passing away and how
it can be encouraged and developed with practice.
Daily Practice
Get in touch
with the sensations that well up when you experience joy. To do this,
call to mind something joyful and see how it feels. Remember: Joy is an
emotion with mental as well as physical manifestations in experience.
Then notice when these sensations are not present, when joy is absent.
This is the kind of detailed investigation mindfulness practice entails.
But remember not to cling to anything—just watch it pass through.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna)
With the abandoning of pleasure
and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one
enters upon and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has
neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to
equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished,
rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to
imperturbability. (MN 4)
One practices: “I shall breathe in liberating the mind”;
one practices: “I shall breathe out liberating the mind.”
This is how concentration through mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated
so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna
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