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, September 22, 2024
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna
RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mind
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 mind is not liberated, one is aware: “The mind is not
liberated”. . . One is just aware, just mindful: “There is mind.” And
one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
Reflection
Consciousness
itself is open and empty of defining characteristics. Its function is to
reflect like a mirror whatever object presents itself—to simply be
aware of it. The mind is bound by the emotions, attitudes, and
viewpoints it becomes entangled in, and these bonds change from moment
to moment. In meditation one can sometimes distinguish between “just
knowing” itself, and the mind’s many other more elaborate
co-activities.
Daily Practice
The mind is not
liberated most of the time, meaning it is bound by various habits,
influences, assumptions, projections, and other residue accumulated
through past activity. Mindfulness of mind is the practice of just
observing the mind, however it naturally manifests in experience.
Practice simply noticing what is there, without commentary and without
elaboration. Sometimes its bound, and sometimes its free.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna)
With the fading away of joy, one
abides in equanimity; mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure
with the body, one enters upon and abides in the third phase of
absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: “One has a pleasant
abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.” (MN 4)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna
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