On Oct 18, 2008, at 3:30 PM, TurquoiseB wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
how is the state of attention described, as the one to adopt while
remaining conscious through the Bardo and onto rebirth? i am just
curious how specific it gets, and which attributes are mentioned.
I studied Phowa for only about a year, and so
I have to go on record as being too much a novice
to comment authoritatively. Vaj or others here
may feel confident to reply more fully.
When awareness cleaves off of the Clear Light, there's an instant
death, a swoon, fainting as you briefly change channels--but the
states in between the bardo-gaps one can hang there for as long as
ones meditational expertise will let them. Re-entry back into waking
consciousness is the most difficult as the body is sensitive to any of
the things you relaxed or tensed during the various transitions,
you've radically relaxed all of your muscles. When you're in the
bardo, it's like all the muscle groups which subtly held these
tensions inside awareness, relax. If you're not relaxed on re-entry,
all the muscles re-tense and cramp.
It's like you were worked over by a summo wrestler masseuse, it hurts
like hell.
But the hardest thing to get used to was being able to let go and just
die. Once you get used to that, it's easier. The other thing I found
hard to get past was the fact that while in these states I was still
simultaneously aware of my body and my environment. Normally that's no
big deal but in this case your at the same time intimately aware that
your samadhi is holding your breath and certain muscles on it's own--
and you can feel the body wanting to breathe. Together with that
there's an incredibly intense energy roaring through your body like
the sound that started the universe and an energy that feels as if it
could tear you apart. So it does take some getting used to. In that
sense samadhi meditation is very helpful, as the tools you gain from
that are really the same tools for managing these states and their
transitions.
