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, November 10, 2024
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling and the Second Jhāna
RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling
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)
Reflection
Feeling tones
are always present, but we tend to notice only the really strong ones.
In between the obvious pleasures and pains of the body, and the more
dramatic pleasant and unpleasant mental states, is a midrange of
sensation. As pleasure and pain become increasingly subtle, they
gradually merge into a neutral state in which a sensation is neither
pleasant nor painful. See if you can notice this in your own experience.
Daily Practice
Learn to become
more sensitive to the feeling tones arising and passing away in your
mind and body by deliberately becoming aware of them. Notice when
sensations in your body hurt and when they feel good; notice also how it
feels good to think about some things and painful to think about
others. A great deal of our experience is neutral, however. There is
still a feeling tone, but it is neither pleasant nor painful.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Second Phase of Absorption (2nd Jhāna)
With the stilling of applied and
sustained thought, one enters upon and abides in the second phase of
absorption, which has inner clarity and singleness of mind, without
applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of
concentration. (MN 4)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
No comments:
Post a Comment