You have to really enjoy and tune into the senses, the texture
and details of the moment, and relax non-dually into the moment,
the experience, zoom into the clarity. Clarity is the most
important issue, but it is in inverse relationship with the
construct/projection of self/Self - as Thusness said in 2007:
Yes there is no beyond and everything is merely 'This'. When
we tok about awareness it has to be only One, this is what
Awareness is and it has to be so, non-dual by nature. Therefore
opening up is to give up all and everything relating to 'self'.
No-self and just 'the everything', clarity and Self is an inverse
relationship. The mathematical formula for it:
Clarity = 1/Self
That is, as Daniel Ingram says, "Turn into the sensuous nature
of this moment, "tripping" on the textures and qualities of the
visual field, the auditory field, the contact of anything with the
skin, in an open, really engaged way that attempts to lose one's
self in the beauty and perfection and satisfying simplicity of just
this in the most profound and yet direct way. This really is the
advice to stop and smell the roses taken to the highest degree one
is capable of. This is the most pleasant of the ways in. It is much
easier with the eyes open than eyes closed, so far, though this is
getting easier eyes closed."
There must be joy, there must be enough relaxation (into the
moment of whatever arises), and there must be clarity - that is you
must zoom into the texture of the moment and savor it like you are
born in a paradise for the first time (and you are - every moment
is a first time in paradise!), there must be a deep sense of
wonder. Take strolls in nature more if possible and fuse into
nature. It is helpful.
For example, I had an intense PCE* when I was dancing and really
tuning into the music and movement completely until the sense of
self/Self completely dissolves into sounds, sights and action in
its deep intense clarity, after which my entire practice shifted,
though I'm not suggesting that as some kind of practice (not so
healthy too - those places I used to frequent in the past,
especially binge drinking and stuff) - anything will do as long as
you can really tune into the moment and experience the clarity at
its uber intensity. People usually can get into the 'moment' or 'in
the zone' when doing dangerous stunts, mountain climbing, falling
off a plane on parachute, speeding, etc etc - it pauses
stop/conceptualization and there is only the 'moment' (any
distraction and they're dead! so there is only this moment of
action, next moment of action, one by one... no room for second
thought or a self/Self!) with utter alertness and heightened senses
- or even taking drugs like LSD with a particular aim or pointer in
mind. But I do not recommend any of these as these are mere
experiences and some people then depend on these stuff to 'get back
into the mood'. Then it becomes a sort of dependency and addiction.
It also comes with its risks and dangers. And without insight -
whatever peak experiences one has becomes very pointless
I personally did not undertake any of these dangerous endevors
so they are certainly not necessary. What is more important is
sincere, true practice and insight. Know the proper way of practice
- mindfulness taught by Buddha already covers it all, it is an
ingenious way to development of insight and tranquility, it is a
direct way to enlightenment as the Buddha himself said. With
insight, PCE becomes effortless - but it is difficult to have
insight without certain experience also.
The purpose is not to cultivate the PCE 24/7 (without insight it
will always be contrived) - it is only to let you have a clear
glimpse of non-dual luminosity, then with further insight that PCE
is made natural and implicit. Even this is only the beginning and
far from total liberating experience.
p.s. in teachings like Dzogchen, they teach movement meditation
like Vajra dance, singing song of vajra, etc etc - all of these are
about integrating Presence into the foreground. For me, it was
through dancing at a nightclub and at that time I didn't know there
were practices like that.
Actually every moment of life can be integration. Not only
pleasant experiences, every unpleasant experiences too and thats
the point! It is not just sitting meditation (although also
important).
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche tells us to maintain the Presence
we experience when we are alert and driving the car. You don't need
to be speeding, mountain climbing etc - the non-dual Presence is
more important and can be experienced in any moment. So my telling
you all those 'dangerous stunts' is not for you to try them out,
but to 're-enact that presence and clarity in every moment as far
as possible'. Even if you try to experience non-dual clarity and
there is a deep sense of Presence, it doesn't mean one experiences
non-dual - it is not so easy and takes some time. The sense of self
must completely dissolve into non-dual clarity/experience. But with
right view and practice eventually it will be experienced, and then
realized. Fake it till you make it.
Also keep in mind the stanzas of Bahiya Sutta - it will be very
helpful.
Happy journey! (indeed, JOY is necessary!)
* http://actualfreedom.com.au/library/topics/pce.htm
A PCE is when one’s sense of identity
temporarily vacates the throne and apperception occurs.
Apperception is the mind’s perception of itself … it is a pure
awareness . Normally the mind perceives through the senses and
sorts the data received according to its predilection; but the mind
itself remains unperceived ... it is taken to be unknowable.
Apperception is when the ‘thinker’ and the ‘feeler’ is not and an
unmediated awareness occurs. The pure consciousness experience is
as if one has eyes in the back of one’s head; there is a three
hundred and sixty degree awareness and all is self-evidently
clear.
This is knowing by direct experience,
unmoderated by any ‘self’ whatsoever. One is able to see that ‘I’
and ‘me’ have been standing in the way of the perfection and purity
that is the essential character of this moment of being here
becoming apparent. Here a solid and irrefutable native intelligence
can operate freely because the ‘thinker’ and the ‘feeler’ is in
abeyance. One is the universe ’s experience of itself as a human
being ... after all, the very stuff this body is made of is the
very stuff of the universe. There is no ‘outside’ to the perfection
of the universe to come from; one only thought and felt that one
was a separate identity.
Apperception is something that brings the
facticity born out of a direct experience of the actual . Then what
one is (‘what’ not ‘who’) is these sense organs in operation: this
seeing is me, this hearing is me, this tasting is me, this touching
is me, this smelling is me, and this thinking is me. Whereas ‘I’,
the identity, am inside the body: looking out through ‘my’ eyes as
if looking out through a window, listening through ‘my’ ears as if
they were microphones, tasting through ‘my’ tongue, touching
through ‘my’ skin, smelling through ‘my’ nose, and thinking through
‘my’ brain. Of course ‘I’ must feel isolated, alienated, alone and
lonely, for ‘I’ am cut off from the magnificence of the actual
world – the world as-it-is – by ‘my’ very
presence.
To get out of stuckness and induce a
Pure Consciousness Experience one gets off one’s backside and does
whatever one knows best to activate delight. Delight is what is
humanly possible, given sufficient pure intent obtained from the
felicity/ innocuity born of the pure consciousness experience, and
from the position of delight, one can vitalise one’s joie de vivre
by the amazement at the fun of it all ... and then one can – with
sufficient abandon – become over-joyed and move into marvelling at
being here and doing this business called being alive now. Then one
is no longer intuitively making sense of life ... the delicious
wonder of it all drives any such instinctive meaning away. Such
luscious wonder fosters the innate condition of naiveté – the
nourishing of which is essential if fascination in it all is to
occur – and the charm of life itself easily engages dedication to
peace-on-earth. Then, as one gazes intently at the world about by
glancing lightly with sensuously caressing eyes, out of the corner
of one’s eye comes – sweetly – the magical fairy-tale-like paradise
that this verdant earth actually is ... and one is the experiencing
of what is happening. But refrain from possessing it and making it
your own ... or else ‘twill vanish as softly as it
appeared.
When one remembers a PCE – or
precipitates another – then one is well on the way to freedom ...
this is what actualism is all about. Scattered along the wide and
wondrous path to an actual freedom are as many PCEs as one may need
... repeated peak experiences may very well be brought about on
maybe a daily basis with constant application of reflective and
fascinated contemplation . In such pure contemplation, ‘I’ cease
seeing and seeing takes place of its own accord. ‘I’ can never be
here now in this actual world for ‘I’ am an interloper, an alien in
psychic possession of the body. ‘I’ do not belong here.
All this is impossible to imagine
which is why it is essential to be confident that the actual world
does exist. This confidence is born out of knowing, which is
derived from the PCE, and is an essential ingredient to ensure
success. One does not have to generate confidence oneself – as the
religions require of one with regard to their blind faith – the
purity of the actual world bestows this confidence upon one. The
experience of purity is a benefaction. Out of this blessing comes
pure intent, which will consistently guide one through daily life,
gently ushering in an increasing ease and generosity of character.
With this growing magnanimity, one becomes more and more anonymous,
more and more self-less. With this expanding altruism one becomes
less and less self-centred, less and less egocentric. Eventually
the moment comes wherein something definitive happens, physically,
inside the brain and ‘I’ am nevermore.