--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "boo_lives" <boo_li...@...> wrote: > > The bubble diagram was an intriguing way to conceptualize what was > going on in meditation for me for years. Now, however, I find it to > be major mental maya. The whole concept that you need to "go" > somewhere to experience transcendence, not just away from sensory > experience with eyes closed etc, not just away from corporal > experience with cessation of breathing etc., but also to "go deeper" > inside the mind or down into the ocean consciousness -- I experience > all that to be a false and distracting concept. The only place I > think you go to in the mind is to another place in the mind.
That's why analogies will always be just that, but make good teaching tools. Actually, I agree with you, you don't go anywhere you just drop the mental fluctuations (vrittis) in the chitta or (feeling), consciousness is already there. > The bubble diagram makes it sound better to go deeper down, but that's > just imagery. The feeling of mental relaxation going on has its > benefits, but it's not necessarily in the "direction" of > transcendence, anymore than anything else the minds does. After I > started practices such as chigong and tai chi, my teachers often had > to stop me from "going away" inside whenever I began to feel more in > the present, more integrated. What I've learned is that "going away" > bubble style to "deeper levels" while experiencing this present > moment, no thought, unified awareness was actually limiting my > spiritual development, keeping it from becoming fully integrated, esp > in body/emotions. OF course this gets us to another tmo classic, the > dyeing the cloth analogy, which I also think is useful for the mind to > have when beginning meditation, but which I now find counterproductive > - either you experience transcendence as it naturally permeates all > experience, including in an integrated manner with your > body/emotion/thoughts, or you're not integrating it. > > (will try to post more on this later) >
