Методика Суреша де Зойсы

Автор Ассаджи, 18:34 30 ноября 2015

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Ассаджи

Суреш де Зойса из Коломбо прислал письмо с описанием найденной им методики. Он будет благодарен за отзывы.

Being mindful 24X7 as taught by a Buddha and it's purpose

Dear Friends in Dhamma in Russia
My encounters. Your review is appreciated.
To hear the Damma translated from Pali and understand the theories in it is "Saddharma Shrawanaya", to see these intricate things happening in you as it happens is "Yoniso Manasikara".... The awesome twosome as I felt it....
I searched,  How Can I be free, Be free of What..?
I saw the whole purpose of Buddhist meditation practice  aims at one thing. Pali verse - "Vineyya loke abhidhya domanassanang" .To restrain the turbulent state of mind in the presence of the desires and Sadness...! Extreme or Minute, pleasures and annoyances
A few remarkable insights and experiences I earned, I'd like to share with you.For the Dhamma of a Buddha can only be shared and preserved through ones realizations.The Pali and it's translations can only provide a guideline to realization.
I wondered what am I really doing as Meditation. The results are obvious. A great relaxation , Awareness... But what do I really do as meditation or Pali - sathipattana..?
In plain English I would say Focus my attention to something like Breath..Movement etc. I sought a bit more in the context of the Dhamma I had heard and read.
We seem to be dealing with an "Indriya" or a "Faculty" as translated to English. Usually an "Indriya" or a "Faculty" is associated with the Body. They are physical.Like the eye,ear, nose,tong and skin , the sensory instruments are called "Indriya" or translated to English as Faculty.
In meditation we seem to be dealing with a faculty or "Indriya" called "Sathi".  Like the eye lined to sight, The faculty of Sathi is linked to "focus". Along with Sathi the Buddha mentions of 4 other such Faculties.
Shradha links to (Will),
Veerya links to (Energy),
Samaadhi links to (Absorption) and
Pragnaa links to (Knowing).
Non of these are physical Faculties and I realized they are faculties of Mind as taught by Buddha. The great Naama Damma or Non-physical element.

( Dhamma classifies that a living thing is made of 4 states of matter - solid,liquid,gas and temperature plus Vinyana, The Mind plus Space, the shape of body that occupies a defined space)
Instead of being controlled, one could learn to control the Mind. When you are not controlled by anything , you begin to feel , Freedom.
The way "Sathi" works...
What does it really do ?. The Damma explains Sathi as "What keep reminding" is Sathi.
I could notice this happening in me with little effort.The formation of countless "Abstract Thoughts"..!
Time to time we seem to  "Cling" to some of these thoughts and start "Thinking", which seem to be an actual act with intention. The line between these two (An abstract thought and Intentional Thinking) is extremely, extremely faint and hard to notice.
I saw two characteristics of these abstract thoughts,which are the results of the workings of the Faculty - Sathi or focus.

One - They occur based on my past experienced Likes and Dislikes. Now, there is an act we do with intention called "Remembering". In this case we purposefully Recall Memories.In Dhamma and Pali this is mentioned as "Smurthiya" and seem quite different from the seemingly unaided abstract thoughts, or the works of Sathi.
Two -  a thought is a "Mixture" of various memories.The memories that contain feelings (anger, happiness, anxiety, joy etc) ..
For example, a memory of a color that I like, a memory of a garment that fit best, makes  an abstract "thought" of me having a garment of that color I like. A memory of being cheated and the feeling I experienced of rage at that time - perhaps decades a go, A memory of a complete different person I dont like and an abstract "thought" that person is cheating me with regard to a complete different matter....!. It gets me to start intentionally "Thinking"  of beating that guy left ,right and center...funny,crazy,absurd and utter confusion.
These thoughts, a "Mixture" of various memories seem to have documented in the Dhamma.  A "mixture" is called "a Samyogaya" or "Samyojanaya" in Sinhalese.You can find a classification called "10 (dasa) samyojana" in the Dhamma, translated to English as 10 Fetters.
Based on the cause and result of thoughts, the working model of "Sathi",it seems to me that, Dhamma teaches the 10 or Dasa Samyojana which actually "Binds" one to the sansaara or existence and thus can be called  a Fetter.
The occurrence of these abstract "mixtures" of memories we generally call "Thoughts" are caused by the nature of Sathi, a faculty of Mind.
In meditation the primary function is to Focus the faculty of Sathi to something intentionally. It result in Awareness, so called mindfulness and the Eventual cessation of the abstract thoughts, which result in a "Scattered Mind".
Lets see what we need meditation for in the first place. Even the Buddha teaches a quite a number of uses. Pali - Dukka domanassanang attangamaya - To relieve from Stress is one of them.
If this is the desired aim of ones meditation, yes concentration on a described object would do. One would feel the "Result" of meditation - Relaxation, Relief from stress. Not necessarily "Know" how and why it happens. Such meditations of "Focus" was taught by many teachers at the time of Buddha.Even the Buddha learnt this type of meditation from two or three such teachers in his search. The practice of Yoga that has gained popularity in recent times is one such meditation.
In this Focus meditation (Pali - Samatha Bhavana), Relaxation is achieved by keeping the mind off "Troublesome thoughts". Experiencing beautiful or pleasant things along with such "Focus" can further enhance the experience. Pleasant  music and natural sounds of birds etc, Pleasant natural remote environments...It further relaxes mind with Metta by eliminating anger, one of the most stressful feelings taking place within one self. In deed,it produces noble results.
I found that Buddhist Mindful meditation promises something much more outstanding. (Pali - Gnanassa adhigamaya, Nibbanassa sachchakiriyaya) - To Discover the way... To attain Nibbana (Nirvana). This seemed to answer my search.How to be free,...Be free of what..?

Two Tiny Twists to the mainstream, A world of a difference to the practice of Meditation
I personally had an intense goal of seeing and understanding the "Thanhaa" commonly and insufficiently translated to English as Craving. "THANHA" the Desire....for the simplicity of the word, we think we know it....!
Out of all the jargon of Dhamma,to become Arahath or defeat Sin, the one thing that need doing is to Eradicate the Thanha. That gives an indication to the depth and gravity of the norm.I persisted in my practice of sathipattana relentlessly. I had this example in my mind. I was walking in a thick dark night in a road full of pitfalls. Then I light a torch and begin to see where I go. When the torch goes off, I face the same dark road with pitfalls.Whenever I focus my Sathi to the Breath, it creates awareness and I could see the pitfalls in my way.When the session is over , back to normal. Walk in the dark not knowing until anger or lust hit you out of nowhere.
I realized the so called "Meditation Session" is like striking a match. It flares heavily so that the stick catch fire...! Awareness or Mindfulness is something that need to be developed to a state of "Persistence" or "to last 24X7 with the same intensity of a seated concentrated session".For me, that would be the Developed Sathi, not seeing things in a trans, like commonly thought, at times.
Breath is something that is happening all throughout the day, all throughout what ever you do.Its the same except for varied intensity of it (in meditation - this variation is refereed as longer or shorter breath).It prevails in all four positions, walking, standing,sitting and reclined.

When I practice in my "Session" to focus on the breath, I slowly open my eyes , still with my Sathi focused on the breath,When the seated session is over, I trained to walk about, eat, listen, run, do most of my day to day work , keeping the Sathi focused on Breath.Initially, I felt a bit mis-coordinated. That was a very brief encounter.
In the start,when I did walking meditation, I did not focus on movement.Leg up ..move forward...keep down.. I still focused on my breath with all my energy. I could still feel each movement explicitly in my awareness but the focus was on Breath..! This is the First tiny twist to the mainstream teaching.Focus my Sathi on my Breath alone..! Yet I can feel every movement I make so explicitly.
Naturally,as one part or mechanism of our mind, our Sathi is focused on what we do. To walk it simply requires the "Sathi" to focus on walking. To eat, it simply requires the "Sathi" to focus on focus on eating. When we do too many things at the same time, like thinking about a friend and drive  while eating a sandwich , focus gets lost. One could straighten this out by learning to do one thing at a time patiently or simply being at the present moment.
But the faculty of "sathi" always focused on a relatively unchanging entity, that's our Breath,makes your focus "Equal" despite what ever you do. A better way to focus on breath is explained below in my other tiny twist.The need for a meditation session or even a quiet place, is a thing of the past, as long as you are quiet yourself and focused in your breath. Solitude can exist in the middle of a busy town, yet it need nurturing in a quiet place...
When you drive if your focus is on driving , surely it will help you drive properly. But if another guy cuts in to your lane abruptly, you will get enraged.
Focus of Sathi on "what you do" does not seem to work so well because you change what you do quite often. After Driving when start reading a book you focus can naturally get back to the scenarios of driving if it was particularly intense. Its natural for the Intensity of a event to draw the faculty of Sathi again and again to it.
When you drive if you focus is your breath, you will not only drive properly but "know and feel" why you are going,feel each of your movements explicitly,perceive the obstacles like other bad drivers on the road, + + +. You will not get in to an "Intense" situation while doing anything.
A fuller picture is in your awareness. You could avoid getting enraged. You could stop all the abstract thoughts that leads to disturbed thinking, eventually.

Second tiny twist to the mainstream - In Aanaapaana sathi or focus on breathing, The Buddha goes on to teach...So sathowa assa sathi...one would know he is breathing in, out,next step -  longer breath in , longer breath out. How would you actually know your breath...? You would know your breath by the "Feel" of it. You will Know it through Pali -  "vedana" or "Feeling" to put it in English. By the "sense" of where ever the breath touches the respiratory passage or by the contractions of the abdominal tissues. Yes, this would be the first step.The first step is to know the breath by it's Feeling or "Vedana" in Pali and Sinhalese.Then the Buddha goes on to mention a parable..! Many fail to see this as the second stage of Aanaapaana Sathi. It's Not just a parable.The parable in English - like a lathes man or his apprentice, Marking a long mark he know he is marking long, Marking a short mark he knows that he marks short....know your breath.A lathes man I assume is a guy who work with steal. When you mark something on steal or for that matter on any thing , how would you know it. You really need to make a mark,  a long line and a short line on a piece of wood or something to know this. Please try it. A practical experience of your own will teach you much more than external information.You would NOT know this by a "Feeling" . Instead you will know this by the "Energy" you put in to Marking the line...!When put in to context of the Dhamma, Feeling is a physical brain induced phenomenon (an Upadaana Skandha) while "Energy" equals to another faculty of the Mind itself  - Veerya indriya...(Faculty of Veerya) ! A significant changeover of focus.

Possibly insignificant in appearance, but a fundamental deviation from the standard "Samatha " meditation of the other contemporary yogis and teachers of the time of the Buddha.
You begin to focus Sathi, a faculty of mind to "Veerya" or Energy, another faculty of mind..!
When you transform your focus from the "feeling" of the breath to the energy you exert to breath , it becomes a whole new world. So called Beautiful breath is an instant. The level of focus increase and persistent. When you walk,run your focus of "Sathi" is on your  "Energy" exerted on it, not the Feeling of the movements .Please try this for just 3 days or sessions to experience the benefit and the difference.This is not a mere translation.It's a realization.
It created something more than "Awareness" or "Mindfulness". It created an element of  "Control".
The torch will start to burn throughout.Mindfulness 24X7 except the times you are a sleep. You will begin to know where you tread all the time. Anger and Lust can not hit you from no where any more...!. When it does , you will know The anger prevails, The lust prevails and the reasons and repercussions to it in crystal clear vision.
I have begun to get a glimpse of the Thanha the Desire..! as it happens in me.just a glimpse so far.
Suresh

Ассаджи

Further Contemplation......
Impermanence - Three aspects beyond the obvious
Impermanence , the impressions the word leaves in our minds - Not lasting, changing all the time etc.,
At the beginning, as per instructions I read and heard in  translations of Damma, I tried to firm-up the perception of "impermanence" by looking at things arising and becoming non existent.Like a feeling arise, disappear, hear a sound, next it becomes non existent.A man is born and alive next he dies, and so on...
I realized that I am contemplating at something that is already obvious to the mind. The mind already "Fully Perceives" such things as "impermanent".
Sir Isaac Newton only saw an apple fall.A pretty ordinary thing that many, including himself would have seen earlier. Yet at this particular instance, he realized something out of ordinary and discovered something that was always there..Gravity.
1st aspect of Impermanence -
One day something fantastic became obvious to me out of a pretty ordinary event, though I am not Sir anything..!
When I was having a good time with my friends, I noticed in mindfulness, that I wished and wanted  it to last for ever.... The mind wants "Good Times" to last forever...But for one reason or another the good times does not last for ever in reality.
This nature of "Not Lasting" is something the mind never ever understands at all. It never ever perceives this. A child would stop crying when it gets what it's mind "wants".
This instinct of "want" prevail in us all the time throughout our lifespan.The means of "Satisfying" does not last or is "Impermanent" in the face of these unrelenting wants. Aptly referred to as (Pali - Yadanichchang thang dukkang) - translates to - what is impermanent is Dukka.
Looking further on this it became stark obvious how the Mind wants to "live for ever", The mind wants "To be young forever",The mind wants "To be in good health forever"...The very specific things The Buddha mentioned in the first noble truth as the Dukka...!
I realized that Impermanence is not just things becoming and passing, The Budda's concept of impermanence is, What mind "Wants" to last... and such things DO Not in real world.
I have just begun to see the mechanism of "Thanha". The very cause for Dukka as preached in the 2nd noble truth.
The Cause for the "Wish" for things to last forever..!
The understanding of Impermanence can lead you to find it's evil twin,Anaatma. What mind "Wants" to prevent .... Death, ill health, bad times, depart from loved ones ...Such thing DO happen in real world.The concept and fact that it's beyond our control is "anaatma"or Anatta..
2nd aspect of Impermanence -
We feel 3 segments of time. Past , Future, and Present. The past is "a by gone thing", The future is "a not come thing",The present is what we feel "as reality". In meditation, people try to be in the "Present time". Try and notice What the present time is...! The future becomes present and present become past....All the time.There is no specific present moment. We can only measure it in years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds and even nano seconds.
The so called present and it's reality "Does not Last" as a solid moment and this too is an aspect of Impermanence that mind needed to be trained to perceive.
What we perceive as Time, is the "Vedana Skanda" or "Feeling". A brain induced physical phenomena.
3rd aspect of Impermanence -
100 dollars can be "big money" if it's for a price of a loaf of bread. Yet a 100 dollars is insignificant when it comes to a price of a real estate."Magnitude" helps perceive insignificance.
The Buddha tries to show us the extent of time in "Parables".
Contemplate and try to grasp the "magnitude" of time or our existence in order to comprehend the 3rd aspect of impermanence.
In pali "1 Yoduna" translates to a distance of 16 miles . The Buddha tells to imagine a granite block of "1 yoduna" each dimension.Given 1 mile equals 1.6 KM,  granite block is 25 km high, 25 km long and 25 km wide.A rock covering a great part of a city extending 25 km in to the sky, twice as much the flying range of commercial air crafts.If some one wipes this rock with a cloth smooth as silk, once in 100 years and as a result of that "friction" the rock becomes the size of a mango seed..such time is called a "Maha Kalpa". And the sansara or the time consist of uncountazble such Maha Kalpas.
If the mind perceives the magnitude of time or one's existence , the present life time is a insignificant fraction of a nano second. In this context, one realizes that all the trouble we take to build up the self image is a sheer waste, all the trouble we take to collect and gather things is a sheer waste.
Love and Regards,
Suresh
skype - suresh.dez