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, October 27, 2024
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 equanimity is internally present, one
is aware: “Equanimity is present for me.” When equanimity is not
present, one is aware: “Equanimity is not present for me.” When the
arising of unarisen equanimity occurs, one is aware of that. And when
the development and fulfillment of the arisen awakening factor of
equanimity 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
You will know
equanimity is internally present when you feel your mind is in balance,
tipping neither toward what is pleasant nor away from what is
unpleasant. Normally the mind is lurching up and down, like a seesaw
pushed and pulled by our desires. But it is possible to experience
pleasure without being pulled into it and to experience pain without
pushing it away. When the mind is attentive but not tilted, this is
equanimity.
Daily Practice
Become familiar
with what equanimity feels like internally. Start with something
simple, like a slight pain in your knee when you are sitting in
meditation, and simply be aware of it as a sensation rather than as
something to resist, resent, or wish away. Do the same with any slightly
pleasant sensation, such as in parts of your body that feel comfortable
when you sit. Learn to simply observe these sensations as phenomena,
with equanimity.
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 as a result of
equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished,
rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to
imperturbability. (MN 4)
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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