Good Article

last SG · 2011-03-29T13:36:31+00:00

http://www.vincenthorn.com/2011/03/21/the-place-of-practice-integrating-perspectives-and-clinging-to-nothing/ Not bad... though what is important is the 'mi...

An Eternal Now SG

Yes, there seems to be a perciever, or doer, and maybe like you said it, sense of self is in abeyance.

Huh.. so is there a sense of self or not?

Anyway here is something by Thusness that may be of relevance here (and as suggested here, mindfulness must complement with right view otherwise the insight into non-dual and anatta will not arise):

Hi Kim123,

Just to add a lil, see whether it makes sense to you.

As a start it is almost not possible not to feel dualistic. An observer observing the observed is our ordinary experience and it will appear that this is an experiential fact. Therefore we should not rush into anything but just simply recognize the ‘cause’. The cause that made us see in such a way is termed ‘ignorance’. Try to understand ‘ignorance’ not as not knowing but a form of knowing instead. See it as a very deep form of ‘dualistic knowing’ that we have taken it to be truth. We then proceed to overcome this wrong view in 2 steps; one by strongly and firmly establishing the right view to replace our existing ‘dualistic and inherent view’ and second, practice seeing in bare attention to lessen the grip of views. Practice being bare in bodily sensation till there is a very strong clear mirror feeling in bodily sensation. Then with the right view, non-dual will dawn. Without the right view, it will most likely turn into a mirror reflecting phenomena experience.

Practices can take decades and often quite frustrating and challenging during the journey. But have faith, be patient and have confidence, all effort will proof worthwhile eventually.

A simple summary I use to help my practice:-

When there is simply a pure sense of existence;
When awareness appears mirror like;
When sensations become pristine clear and bright;
This is luminosity.

When all arising appear disconnected;
When appearance springs without a center;
When phenomena appears to be on their own without controller;
This is no doer-ship.

When subject/object division is seen as illusion;
When there is clarity that no one is behind thoughts;
When there is only scenery, sounds, thoughts and so forth;
This is anatta.

When phenomena appears pristinely crystal;
When there is merely one seamless experience;
When all is seen as Presence;
This is non-dual Presence.

When we feel fully the unfindability and unlocatability of phenomena;
When all experiences are seen as ungraspable;
When all mind boundaries of in/out, there/here, now/then dissolve;
This is Emptiness.

When interconnectedness of everything is wholly felt;
When arising appears great, effortless and wonderful;
When presence feels universe;
This is Maha.

When arising is not caged in who, where and when;
When all phenomena appear spontaneous and effortless;
When everything appears right every where, every when;
This is spontaneous perfection.

Seeing these as the ground of all experiences;
always and already so;
This is wisdom.

Experiencing the ground in whatever arises;
This is practice.

Happy journey. :)

An Eternal Now SG

However,I feel day to day mindfulness is actually more important and useful.

Mindfulness must complement with right view, then insight of anatta can arise... without which we will not able to experience true liberation.

Weychin SG

What do you mean by 'sensing but no referencing'? How is it different from pure experience.

Let me use an example, imagine you are listening to a lecture,

Weychin SG

Because a perceived movement in time arises when you are comparing and contrasting, it arises when you separate yourself from this moment of experience. If you are 'in the moment' so to speak, you do not perceive time.

If for example you hate the job you're doing... time passes slowly. Why? In that moment of aversion you separate yourself from the moment of experience... and perceive time and movement.

An Eternal Now SG

i see. u are describing a state of mindfulness... not exactly a pce but its good that you are cultivating the non referencing sensing

An Eternal Now SG

yes our experience is punctuated by apperception and conceptual perception

as ven gunaratana said,

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe13.html

When you first become aware of something, there is a fleeting instant of pure awareness just before you conceptualize the thing, before you identify it. That is a stage of Mindfulness. Ordinarily, this stage is very short. It is that flashing split second just as you focus your eyes on the thing, just as you focus your mind on the thing, just before you objectify it, clamp down on it mentally and segregate it from the rest of existence. It takes place just before you start thinking about it--before your mind says, "Oh, it's a dog." That flowing, soft-focused moment of pure awareness is Mindfulness. In that brief flashing mind-moment you experience a thing as an un-thing. You experience a softly flowing moment of pure experience that is interlocked with the rest of reality, not separate from it. Mindfulness is very much like what you see with your peripheral vision as opposed to the hard focus of normal or central vision. Yet this moment of soft, unfocused, awareness contains a very deep sort of knowing that is lost as soon as you focus your mind and objectify the object into a thing. In the process of ordinary perception, the Mindfulness step is so fleeting as to be unobservable. We have developed the habit of squandering our attention on all the remaining steps, focusing on the perception, recognizing the perception, labeling it, and most of all, getting involved in a long string of symbolic thought about it. That original moment of Mindfulness is rapidly passed over. It is the purpose of the above mentioned Vipassana (or insight) meditation to train us to prolong that moment of awareness.

An Eternal Now SG

http://actualfreedom.com.au/richard/articles/attentivenesssensuousnessapperceptiveness.htm

When one first becomes aware of something, there is a fleeting instant of the clean perception of sensum just before one recognises the percept (the mental product or result of perception) and also before one identifies with all the feeling memories associated with its qualia (the qualities pertaining to the properties of the form) and this ‘raw sense-datum’ stage of sensational perception is a direct experience of the actual. Clear perception is in that instant where one converges one’s eyes or ears or nose or tongue or skin on the thing. It is that moment just before one focuses one’s feeling-memory on the object. It is the split-second just as one affectively subjectifies it ... which is just prior to clamping down on it viscerally and segregating it from the rest of pure, conscious existence. Pure perception takes place sensitively just before one starts feeling the percept – and thus thinking about it affectively – which takes place just before one’s feeling-fed mind says: ‘It’s a man’ or: ‘It’s a woman’ or: ‘It’s a steak-burger’ or: ‘It’s a tofu-burger’ ... with all that is implied in this identification and the ramifications that stem from that. This fluid, soft-focused moment of bare awareness, which is not learned, has never been learned, and never will be learned, could be called an aesthetically sensual regardfulness or a consummate sensorial discernibleness or an exquisitely sensuous heedfulness ... in a word: apperceptiveness.

(Dictionary Definition: ‘apperceptive’ (a.) of or pertaining to apperception (the mind’s perception of itself). Thus: ‘apperceptiveness’ (n.): the condition or quality of being apperceptive; also: ‘apperceptively’ (adv.): the experience of being apperceptive and: ‘apperceptivity’: (n.): the capacity to be apperceptive).

In that brief scintillating instant of bare awareness, that twinkling sensorium-moment of consciousness being conscious of being consciousness, one apperceives a thing as a nothing-in-particular that is being naught but what-it-is coming from nowhen and going nowhere at all. Apperceptiveness is very much like what one sees with one’s peripheral vision as opposed to the intent focus of normal or central vision. One experiences a smoothly flowing moment of clear experiencing where one is interlocked with the rest of actuality, not separate from it. This moment of soft, ungathered sensuosity – apperceptiveness – contains a vast understanding, an utter cognisance, that is lost as soon as one adjusts one’s mind to accommodate the feeling-tone ... and subverts the crystal-clear objectivity into an ontological ‘being’ ... a connotative ‘thing-in-itself’. In the process of ordinary perception, the apperceptiveness step is so fleeting as to be usually unobservable. One has developed the habit of squandering one’s attention on all the remaining steps: feeling the percept, emotionally recognising the qualia, zealously adopting the perception and getting involved in a long string of representative feeling-notions about it. When the original moment of apperceptiveness is rapidly passed over it is the purpose of ‘How am I experiencing this moment of being alive?’ to accustom one to prolong that moment of apperceptiveness – a sensuous awareness bereft of feeling content – so that uninterrupted apperception can eventuate.

(Dictionary Definition: ‘sensuous’ (a.): Of, derived from, or affecting the senses aesthetically rather than sensually; readily affected by the senses, keenly responsive to the pleasures of sensation. Also, indicative of a sensuous temperament. Apparently first used by Mr. John Milton, to avoid certain associations of the existing word ‘sensual’. Thus: ‘sensuousness’ (n.): the quality of being sensuous; also: ‘sensuously’ (adv.): the experience of being sensuous; and: ‘sensuosity’ (n.): the capability of being sensuous).

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