Mark Foote

Okay… So, have your hands in the cosmic mudra, palms up, thumbs touching, and there’s this common instruction: place your mind here. Different people interpret this differently. Some people will say this means to place your attention here, meaning to keep your attention on your hands. It’s a way of turning the lens to where you are in space so that you’re not looking out here and out here and out here. It’s the positive version, perhaps, of ‘navel gazing’. The other way to understand this is to literally place your mind where your hands are–to relocate mind (let’s not say your mind) to your centre of gravity, so that mind is operating from a place other than your brain. Some traditions take this very seriously, this idea of moving your consciousness around the body. I wouldn’t recommend dedicating your life to it, but as an experiment, I recommend trying it, sitting in this posture and trying to feel what it’s like to let your mind, to let the base of your consciousness, move away from your head. One thing you’ll find, or that I have found, at least, is that you can’t will it to happen, because you’re willing it from your head. To the extent that you can do it, it’s an act of letting go–and a fascinating one. (“No Struggle [Zazen Yojinki, Part 6]”, by koun Franz, from the “Nyoho Zen” site https://nyoho.com/2018/09/15/no-struggle-zazen-yojinki-part-6/) I’ve written about my approach: I begin with making the surrender of volition in activity related to the movement of breath the object of thought. For me, that necessitates thought applied and sustained with regard to relaxation of the activity of the body, with regard to the exercise of calm in the stretch of ligaments, with regard to the detachment of mind, and with regard to the presence of mind. I find that a presence of mind from one breath to the next can precipitate “one-pointedness of mind”, but laying hold of “one-pointedness of mind” requires a surrender of willful activity in the body much like falling asleep. (Response)

Did not mean to imply that Sahampati was a figment of Gautama's imagination, only that the connection to the experience of psychic phenomena may be through heightened activity in the pineal. Certainly, many of the other miracles Gautama described appear to be a part of the general lore of other cultures (though how it got to be so, I think is uncertain). Walking on water, diving through the earth as though it was water, floating on the air--miracles recounted in many cultures. I have a friend who, one day, heard a knock on his door. When he opened it, three men came in, and sat with him at a table making conversation for hours. He finally asked them to leave--they said, "are you sure?", and when he said yes, they just walked out through the wall. Datura, of course. Don't think Gautama was doing datura, or anything else. He had followers who purportedly could make it rain, and one chief disciple who could generate earthquakes with his toe, but Gautama said his only miracle was his ability to teach others. What, then, to make of his psychic radio, informing him as to whether someone was a once-returner, a never-returner, a stream-winner, or what. Realizing that his past teachers were dead, after his enlightenment, and seeing Brahma Sahampati. I identify with the notion that the action occasioned by "determinate thought", or volition, somehow returns to the individual. That it doesn't actually move the state of the universe, but returns the "do'er" to find action again in the absence of volition (wúwéi, "effortless action"). Even if there is no abiding essence, or soul, that retains the personality, there is this principle at work in the universe--that's my belief. "If you go right ahead, you cannot move a step."--Bodhidharma to Huike ("Transmission of the Lamp", Denkoroku, tr Cleary, Shambala p 111)

Chang Wu-tzu said, "Even the Yellow Emperor would be confused if he heard such words, so how could you expect Confucius to understand them? What's more, you're too hasty in your own appraisal. You see an egg and demand a crowing cock, see a crossbow pellet and demand a roast dove. I'm going to try speaking some reckless words and I want you to listen to them recklessly. How will that be? The sage leans on the sun and moon, tucks the universe under his arm, merges himself with things, leaves the confusion and muddle as it is, and looks on slaves as exalted. Ordinary men strain and struggle; the sage is stupid and blockish. He takes part in ten thousand ages and achieves simplicity in oneness. For him, all the ten thousand things are what they are, and thus they enfold each other. (The Complete Works Of Chuang Tzu, tr Burton Watson; emphasis added) Wuf.

The four elements of the sixteen that Gautama said belonged to "mindfulness of mind": Aware of mind I shall breathe in. Aware of mind I shall breathe out.” (One) makes up one’s mind: “Gladdening my mind I shall breathe in. Gladdening my mind I shall breathe out. Composing my mind I shall breathe in. Composing my mind I shall breathe out. Detaching my mind I shall breathe in. Detaching my mind I shall breathe out. (SN V 312, Pali Text Society Vol V p 275-276; tr. F. L. Woodward; masculine pronouns replaced; all sixteen, see Appendix--From the Early Record) I. B. Horner's translation prescribes more experience than action (but some, "concentrating thought", "freeing thought"): One trains oneself , thinking: ‘I will breathe in… breathe out experiencing thought… rejoicing in thought… concentrating thought… freeing thought.’ (MN III 82-83, Pali Text Society III p 124; all sixteen, see Old Habits) Shunryu Suzuki: So, when you practice zazen, your mind should be concentrated in your breathing and this kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being. If so, how you should use your mind is quite clear. (“Thursday Morning Lectures”, November 4th 1965, Los Altos)

Right, that's my understanding. Open the mouth to speak, exercise volition and interrupt the natural movement of breath, no one-pointedness of mind. Compassion, and the extension of the mind of compassion to the four quarters and around the world-- the "excellence of the heart's release" through the extension of the mind of compassion, the first of the further concentrations. He had to speak, Brahma Sahampati made him do it, right? Maybe more thorazine? Why do people take vows of silence? In the Vinaya, there's a rule explicitly forbidding monks from taking vows of silence at retreats. Gautama upbraided a group of monks who did that, saying that there were people who need to hear the dhamma. He said that those who correctly practice “mindfulness of death” apply his teachings “for the interval that it takes to swallow having chewed up one morsel of food”, or “for the interval that it takes to breathe out after breathing in, or to breathe in after breathing out”. I think that's telling, in that he's referring to the moment when the movement of breath may seem to be interrupted, and yet "one-pointedness of mind" is presumably still possible, so that automatic activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation can somehow still incorporate these things.

I know the sermon you're referring to, old3bob. Yer right, a celestial being appeared to Gautama, and upbraided him for his reticence to teach. Is it any wonder that the naked ascetic Gautama first encountered after his enlightenment said, "good luck", and walked on! My personal impression is that Gautama could dink with his pineal gland, there on the sphenoid, and that was the source of the psychic phenomena he experienced. Certainly, there's a chapter on the development of psychic power in volume V of Samyutta Nikaya, where he gave the following advice: So he abides fully conscious of what is behind and what is in front. As (he is conscious of what is) in front, so behind: as behind, so in front; as below, so above: as above, so below: as by day, so by night: as by night, so by day. Thus with wits alert, with wits unhampered, he cultivates his mind to brilliancy. (SN V 263, Pali Text Society vol V p 235) With regard to the last line, he explained that a person “cultivates (their) mind to brilliancy” when that person’s “consciousness of light is well grasped, (their) consciousness of daylight is well-sustained.” Pineal gland, isn't it? Jives well with John Upledger's notion of cranial-sacral fluid volume rhythm, and subtle movement of the sphenoid. So yes, you're quite right, how was he following his own advice to be a lamp onto himself?--except that his advice to "trust no authority but one's own" was tempered by his explicit qualification that being a lamp onto oneself was: (one) continues, as to the body, so to look upon the body that (one) remains strenuous, self-possessed, and mindful, having overcome both the hankering and the dejection common in the world (similarly for the feelings, the mind, and the mental states). I looked it up. It was Brahma Sahampati that appeared to him ("Aryan Quest", MN Vol I). I've never known what to make of Gautama's acceptance and affirmation of psychic phenomena, especially when he lists one of the six miracles possible as "stroking the sun and moon with the hand". Uh-huh. Predicting how people will be reborn, until he got so sick of his attendant Ananda asking him how people were reborn that he told Ananda just to figure it by how they lived their life. Gautama was a man of India, a man of his times. I tend to think of his teaching in terms of before and after: before the suicide of scores of monks a day due to his having advised them to meditate on "the unlovely" (aspects of the body), and after, as when he convened the monks after the suicides and advised them that his way of living ("the intent concentration on inbreathing and outbreathing") was a thing “peaceful and choice, something perfect in itself, and a pleasant way of living too (Sanyutta Nikaya V PTS pg 285)”. Forget about enlightenment. Go with the sixteen elements of mindfulness he described, including the contemplation of the cessation of ("determinate thought" in) action of inhalation and exhalation. I think that was an acknowledgement of the impossibility for most of his followers of attaining the concentration associated with Gautama's enlightenment, the conscious cessation of "determinate thought" in feeling and perceiving. After all, Gautama had studied under two of the foremost teachers of his day, who had not attained to that cessation (they were the first people he thought to share his news with, but they had both passed away). It's not necessary to attain that cessation, and with it a certainty of dependent causation and the nature of suffering, Gautama's enlightenment. I would surmise, based on my experience, that most Zen masters don't attain that cessation. They are familiar with relaxed calm and the detachment of mind that makes the witness of automatic activity in inhalation and exhalation possible. When they speak, you can see them return to that when they pause, they know a way to use their minds that refreshes their minds even if they don't witness the ceasing of perception and sensation regularly (if at all), the effortlessness of that has drawn them in.

He did say he could be happy for seven days and seven nights without moving. And that he liked walking on the highway with no one in front or behind him, and he liked that more than answering the calls of nature, sometimes (the elders who composed the Pali Canon immediately added a second sermon, where Gautama says he liked answering the calls of nature better than walking on the highway--god knows what kind of problems the monks would have had, trying to imitate Gautama). And he did have problems, convincing the five ascetics who were his initial audience to trust that he had something to teach. They knew him very well, since he had been the foremost ascetic among them for years, but he had given up the ascetic path. The first person Gautama encountered after his enlightenment was a wandering ascetic. Gautama said something like, "I am the world-turner", and the ascetic said essentially "good luck" and walked on. I've said before, my approach to being a light onto myself now goes something like this: I begin with making the surrender of volition in activity related to the movement of breath the object of thought. For me, that necessitates thought applied and sustained with regard to relaxation of the activity of the body, with regard to the exercise of calm in the stretch of ligaments, with regard to the detachment of mind, and with regard to the presence of mind. I find that a presence of mind from one breath to the next can precipitate “one-pointedness of mind”, but laying hold of “one-pointedness of mind” requires a surrender of willful activity in the body much like falling asleep. The Tai Chi classics talk about "t’ing chin, listening to or feeling strength” and “comprehension of chin”, where “chin comes from the ligaments”. Gautama said that after he spoke, he returned to that first characteristic of concentration in which he constantly abided. He had a happiness in concentration, but he gave that up, constantly, to teach. Nevertheless, his way of living, primarily thought applied and sustained after "laying hold" of "one-pointedness", was him being a light onto himself.

Even so... is the Parable of the Raft dhamma taught by me for crossing over, not for retaining. You, ... by understanding the Parable of the Raft, should get rid even of (right) mental objects, all the more of wrong ones. (Alagaddupama Sutta MN I 135; Pali Text Society MN Vol I p 173-4) In that sermon, Gautama makes the point that a Tathagatha is untraceable. At the same time, Gautama taught "the intent concentration on inbreathing and outbreathing" as his way of living, both before and after his enlightenment, and "the intent concentration on inbreathing and outbreathing" consisted of sixteen thoughts to be applied and sustained, each in the course of inhalation and exhalation. Just before he died, Gautama emphasized that an individual should be a light onto themselves, hold fast to the truth and not to anyone else. That gets quoted a lot, but the next paragraph, where he describes the way to be a light onto oneself, the way to hold fast to the truth, not so much: Herein, … (one) continues, as to the body, so to look upon the body that (one) remains strenuous, self-possessed, and mindful, having overcome both the hankering and the dejection common in the world (similarly for the feelings, the mind, and the mental states). (Digha Nikaya ii 100, Pali Text Society DN Vol. II pg 108) In short, the four arisings of mindfulness, which in Gautama's way of living became the sixteen elements of "the intent concentration on inbreathing and outbreathing". The lynch-pin of the sixteen is: "Contemplating cessation I shall breathe in. Contemplating cessation I shall breathe out." That's the cessation of "determinate thought" in action of speech, action of body, or action of mind. Gautama spoke of "the fifth limb" of concentration, the "survey-sign" of the concentration, to be arrived at after the cessation of (determinate thought in) action of the body (action of inhalation and exhalation). I take that to mean that for the most part, the cessation that was a part of the sixteen elements of his mindfulness was "the cessation of inhalation and exhalation". How to arrive at the conscious experience of automatic activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation, that is the subject of a thousand meditation manuals. Gautama emphasizes "one-pointedness" as common to all the states of concentration, and in the fourth concentration, automatic activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation follows from "one-pointedness" that moves as though in open space. The effortlessness of the generation of automatic activity, even if the activity is strenuous, is a natural draw. Many rivers to cross, apparently. The raft reassembling itself daily, and then at a moment's notice, apparently. Relaxation of the activity of breath, calming of the mental factors, detachment of the mind, and the contemplation of cessation as a way of living, apparently. Hard to make sense of, but own nature has a natural draw!

Although I agree that "it's not possible to intellectualise one's way to the settling into samadhi as spoken of by Gautama", I will pick a nit about the permanency of "this settled state". Gautama said that after he lectured, he returned to concentrating his mind: And I… at the close of (instructional discourse), steady, calm, make one-pointed and concentrate my mind subjectively in that first characteristic of concentration in which I ever constantly abide. (MN I 249, Pali Text Society vol I p 303) “That first characteristic of concentration” is “one-pointedness of mind”, as here in Gautama’s description of “right concentration” (“right concentration”, part of “the eight-fold path” that leads to the end of suffering): And what… is the (noble) right concentration with the causal associations, with the accompaniments? It is right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right mode of livelihood, right endeavor, right mindfulness. Whatever one-pointedness of mind is accompanied by these seven components , this… is called the (noble) right concentration with the causal associations and the accompaniments. (MN III 71, Pali Text Society vol III p 114; similar at SN V 17; “noble” substituted for Ariyan) Gautama spoke of laying hold of “one-pointedness” in the induction of the first “trance”: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; “noble” substituted for Ariyan) (A Way of Living) I think that says that when Gautama spoke, he did not have one-pointedness of mind. He returned to that characteristic of concentration after he spoke, and with it the "first trance". Everybody wants to go to heaven, permanently, nobody wants to have to die "the great death" over and over. I get that. I think it's as Shunryu Suzuki described it: So, when you practice zazen, your mind should be concentrated in your breathing and this kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being. If so, how you should use your mind is quite clear. Without this experience, or this practice, it is impossible to attain the absolute freedom. (“Thursday Morning Lectures”, November 4th 1965, Los Altos; emphasis added) Gautama described the "thought directed and sustained" of the first concentration as "the intent concentration on inbreathing and outbreathing" (F. L. Woodward's translation). That's because each of the sixteen thoughts that he outlined was to be applied or sustained in the course of an inhalation or exhalation. Suzuki says, "when you practice zazen". Gautama spoke of the "intent concentration" that was his way of living, "especially in the rainy season". I think I'm just learning how I should use my mind--what a relief that is, after all these years. However, I don't believe attaining "absolute freedom" is the same as remaining in "absolute freedom".

keep a close watch, then for the intent most heart-felt catch the spirit drift

…I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. (AN III 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294) “When one determines”—when a person exercises volition, or choice, action of “deed, word, or thought” follows. But how can a person intentionally give up the exercise of intent? Willfully give up the exercise of will? By "determinate thought", give up the exercise of "determinate thought" in speech, body, and mind, so as to contact a freedom of action, an action, perhaps, unfolding spontaneously from the heart-mind? “…I have seen that the ceasing of the activities is gradual. When one has attained the first trance, speech has ceased. When one has attained the second trance, thought initial and sustained has ceased. When one has attained the third trance, zest has ceased. When one has attained the fourth trance, inbreathing and outbreathing have ceased… Both perception and feeling have ceased when one has attained the cessation of perception and feeling.” (SN IV 217, Pali Text Society vol IV p 146) Gautama described the induction of the initial state of concentration: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; “noble” substituted for Ariyan) How does a person "lay hold of one-pointedness"? From my last piece: “Automatic” activity in the movement of breath also follows as one “lays hold of one-pointedness”, but in order to “lay hold”, carriage of the weight of the body must fall to the ligaments and volitive activity in the body must be relinquished. Body and mind dropped off is the beginning of our effort. (Eihei Dogen, “Dogen’s Extensive Record, Eihei Koroku, #501, tr Leighton and Okumura p 448) “One-pointedness” can shift, as every particle of the body (with no part left out) comes into the placement of attention. At the moment when “one-pointedness” can shift as though in open space, volition and habit in the activity of inhalation and exhalation ceases. (from my A Way of Living) Exactly how the weight of the body comes to be borne through the stretch and resile of ligaments--I would say that's mostly about relaxing particular activity and calming the stretch of particular ligaments. How volition in activity is relinquished, how "determinate thought" in speech, body, and mind is abandoned in favor of action free of intention--not so simple: But a good (person] reflects thus: ‘Lack of desire even for the attainment of the first meditation (concentration) has been spoken of by [Gautama]; for whatever (one) imagines it to be, it is otherwise” [Similarly for the second, third, and fourth initial meditative states, and for the attainments of the first four further meditative states]. (MN III 42-45, Pali Text Society Vol III pg 92-94; emphasis added) If I focus too much on the weight being borne by the ligaments, and forget to resume “one-pointedness” as though in open space, I lose awareness of the ligaments. If I focus too much on "one-pointedness", and ignore the lesson in the activity and stretch of the body, I lose my ability to relax and sink. What's a mother to do.

It doesn't get old for me, old3bob, sorry if it does for the rest of the Bums here! Yes, Gautama studied under Rama and then Alama, mastering "the sphere of no-thing" under Rama and "the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception" under Alama. Both teachers acknowledged his mastery of what they had to teach, and invited him to remain with them and teach others. He joined the five ascetics, and practiced austerities for awhile. After he made himself so weak from starvation that he almost drowned, but pulled himself out of the river by a branch and recovered his health, he had the following insight (as recorded in a conversation with the Jain Aggivessana): I know that while my father, the Sakyan, was ploughing, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, I entered on the first meditation, which is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness, and is rapturous and joyful, and while abiding therein, I thought: ‘Now could this be a way to awakening?’ Then, following on my mindfulness, Aggivissana, there was the consciousness: This is itself the Way to awakening. This occurred to me, Aggivissana: ‘Now, am I afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind?’ This occurred to me…: I am not afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind.’ (MN 1 246-247, Vol I pg 301) The four initial states are marked by "equanimity in the face of multiplicity (of the senses)", the four further states are marked by "equanimity in the face of uniformity". Gautama's advice for those who attain Alama's "neither-perception-nor-yet-non-perception": “Because of lack of desire, …by means of lack of desire, get rid of and transcend that equanimity in face of uniformity. connected with uniformity. Thus is the getting rid of it, thus is its transcending.” (MN III 220, Vol III pg 269) All the states, including what remains on the transcendence of the further states, are marked by happiness (according to Gautama). ... I, reverend Jain, am able, without moving my body, without uttering a word, to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for one night and day. I, reverend Jain, am able, without moving my body, without uttering a word, to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for two nights and days,, for three, four, five, six, for seven nights and days. (MN I 94, Vol I pg 123-124) Not sure about Ananda and the lack of a question about the fate of the Tathagatha after demise. I'm guessing you're right, but here's a dialogue with a brahmin named Dona that definitely addresses the subject: Your worship will become a deva? No indeed, brahmin. I'll not become a deva. Then your worship will become a gandarva? No indeed, brahmin, I'll not become a gandarva. A yakka, then? No indeed, brahmin. Not a yakka. Then your worship will become a human being? No indeed, brahmin. I'll not become a human being. ... Who then, pray, will your worship become? ... Just as, brahmin, a lotus, blue, red, or white, though born in the water, grown up in the water, when it reaches the surface stands there unsoiled by the water,--just so, brahmin, though born in the world, grown up in the world, having overcome the world, I abide unsoiled by the world. Take it that I am a Buddha, brahmin. (AN Book of Fours 36, Pali Text Society AN Vol 2 p 44) Not sure what he meant by "Buddha", actually. As I'm sure you know, there were categories of attainment according to what would happen after death, and he was something more than a "never-returner", which is really all the above conversation implies. Likely there just is no terminology to describe the dissolution he expected: "take it that I am a Buddha". I love a parade... sorry, guys.

On the topic of "body, speech, and mind": Gautama’s teaching revolved around action, around one specific kind of action: …I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. (AN III 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294) “When one determines”—when a person exercises volition, or choice, action of “deed, word, or thought” follows. Gautama also spoke of “the activities”. The activities are the actions that take place as a consequence of the exercise of volition: “And what are the activities? These are the three activities:–those of deed, speech and mind. These are activities.” (SN II 3, Pali Text Society vol II p 4) Gautama claimed that a ceasing of “action” is possible: And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’. (SN IV 145, Pali Text Society Vol IV p 85) He spoke in detail about how “the activities” come to cease: …I have seen that the ceasing of the activities is gradual. When one has attained the first trance, speech has ceased. When one has attained the second trance, thought initial and sustained has ceased. When one has attained the third trance, zest has ceased. When one has attained the fourth trance, inbreathing and outbreathing have ceased… Both perception and feeling have ceased when one has attained the cessation of perception and feeling. (SN IV 217, Pali Text Society vol IV p 146) The “activity” of speech ceases in the first trance—that would imply that the “word” occasioned by “determinate thought” has ceased. Gautama spoke of the “activity” of deed, but when he spoke of the ceasing of the activities, he spoke of the ceasing of “inbreathing and outbreathing”. Even when “determinate thought” is not directly involved in the movement of the diaphragm, actions in the body that are occasioned by “determinate thought” affect the movement of breath, and can leave a residue of habit that further affects the movement of breath. If “activity” in inbreathing and outbreathing” has really ceased, then the “determinate thought” that gives rise to “activity” in the body of any kind must likewise have ceased. (A Way of Living) As you say, Robin, "I know that the need to achieve anything is seen as a hindrance in both categories of practice...". Gautama said: [The bad person] reflects thus: ‘I am an acquirer of the attainment of the first meditation.’ [Such a person] then exalts [him or her self] for that attainment of the first meditation and disparages others… But a good (person] reflects thus: ‘Lack of desire even for the attainment of the first meditation has been spoken of by [Gautama]; for whatever (one) imagines it to be, it is otherwise” [Similarly for the second, third, and fourth initial meditative states, and for the attainments of the first four further meditative states]. And again … a good [person], by passing quite beyond the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, enters on and abides in the stopping of perception and feeling; and when [such a person] has seen by means of wisdom [their] cankers are caused to be destroyed. And… this [person] does not imagine [his or her self] to be aught or anywhere or in anything. (MN III 42-45, Pali Text Society Vol III pg 92-94) The transition from "neither-perception-nor-non-perception" to the cessation of (determinate thought in) "feeling and perceiving", he attained through "lack of desire, by means of lack of desire" (MN III 220, Pali Text Society Vol III pg 269). All that is to say, there's a necessity in the core that places attention, first with respect to the movement of breath, and finally with respect to feeling and perceiving. Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, Pali Text Society vol V p 174; “noble” substituted for Ariyan) My understanding is that Gautama spent most of his time in that first trance, with "one-pointedness of mind" and with thought applied and sustained with regard to the four arisings of mindfulness (body, feelings, mind, and mental state)--each thought applied or sustained with respect to the movement of an inhalation or exhalation.

I finished a post on my own website about a week ago (A Way of Living), and I added a link to the post to my Facebook page, "Zazen Notes". Randy Raine-Reusch commented on that post, saying "enlightenment just is, it is not a goal." I replied: I write in the piece, "There can also come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence." I wrote: "I would say that the placement of attention by the movement of breath is actually a common experience for everyone, if at no other time, then in falling asleep." I think to a certain extent the same kind of necessity underlies 'the cessation of ("determinate thought" in) feeling and perceiving', the attainment associated with Gautama's enlightenment, so in that sense you could say that the attainment that underlies enlightenment "just is". Gautama's enlightenment, though, I think is considered to be his insight into the dependent origin of suffering. I go into that more in my post Response. "A Way of Living" goes into some detail about Feldenkrais's notion of "automatic movement", with my thesis being that such movement stems in part from allowing the weight of the body to rest with the ligaments, in the stretch and resile of ligaments. I quote from Cheng Man-Ching's "Thirteen Chapters", where he recounts the three levels/nine stages in the development of ch'i, and the ligaments play a major role. The other part of "automatic movement" in the body is relinquishing volition in the activity of the body. As you say, there are two sides in my approach. The first I summarize in "A Way of Living" as: In my experience, the “placement of attention” by the movement of breath only occurs freely in what Gautama described as “the fourth musing”: Again, a (person), putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III p 18-19, see also MN III 92-93) The “pureness of mind” refers to the absence of any intention to act. Suffusing the body with “purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind” is widening awareness so that there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot become the location where attention is placed. The second would be: (The placement of attention by necessity in the movement of breath) can shift, as every particle of the body (with no part left out) comes into the placement of attention. At the moment when (the placement of attention) can shift as though in open space, volition and habit in the activity of inhalation and exhalation ceases. Very helpful to me of late is Hida Hiramitsu's suggestion for seated meditation: We should balance the power of the hara (area below the navel) and the koshi (area at the rear of the pelvis) and maintain equilibrium of the seated body by bringing the center of the body’s weight in line with the center of the triangular base of the seated body. (Hida Haramitsu, “Nikon no Shimei” [“Mission of Japan”], parentheticals added--as found in Omori Sogen's “Introduction to Zen Training”) This I take to be a recipe like the one Feldenkrais provided, to engage "automatic movement", but where Feldenkrais spoke of activity in the legs in standing, I believe Haramitsu is addressing the engagement of automatic activity in the movement of inhalation and exhalation. Nevertheless, as Sogen comments: … It may be the least trouble to say as a general precaution that strength should be allowed to come to fullness naturally as one becomes proficient in sitting. We should sit so that our energy increases of itself and brims over instead of putting physical pressure on the lower abdomen by force. (“An Introduction to Zen Training: A Translation of Sanzen Nyumon”, Omori Sogen, tr. Dogen Hosokawa and Roy Yoshimoto, Tuttle Publishing, p 59) Also important to me is my understanding of kinesthesiology, which I summarize in my piece: I would posit that the patterns in the development of ch’i reflect involuntary activity of the body generated in the stretch of ligaments. There is, in addition, a possible mechanism of support for the spine from the displacement of the fascia behind the spine, a displacement that can be effected by pressure generated in the abdominal cavity and that may quite possibly depend on a push on the fascia behind the sacrum by the bulk of the extensor muscles, as they contract (see my Kinesthesiology of Fascial Support). One thing Haramitsu's advice seems to accomplish for me is engaging the abdominals, and if I relax the abdominals and calm the corresponding stretch of ligaments around the sacrum and along the spine, I can recover the experience of "one-pointedness" in the placement of attention and the relinquishment of volition in the activity of the body. For what it's worth.

Ok--thanks for the counsel, silent thunder, I appreciate that.

I don't know if it's public domain. Terebess has many sacred works and works dedicated to the sacred, available without charge.

"No longer bound by the worldly categories, 'part' and 'whole', he discovers that he is coextensive with the Tao." The PDF I sourced above opens with: "The One Mind, omniscient, vacuous, immaculate, eternal, the Unobscured Voidness, void of quality as the sky, self-originated Wisdom, shining clearly, imperishable, in Itself that Thatness .. . To see things as a multiplicity, and so to cleave unto separateness, is to err" — The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation. I have a friend who disliked my characterization of "one-pointedness of mind" as the mind that moves. Reading the above, I realize that he identifies "mind" as the open space itself (he's big on the "Book of the Great Liberation"). I changed my characterization of "one-pointedness of mind" to a singularity of attention placed out of necessity in the movement of breath, and sustained through the presence of mind. That definition allows me to say: “One-pointedness” can shift, as every particle of the body (with no part left out) comes into the placement of attention. At the moment when “one-pointedness” can shift as though in open space, volition and habit in the activity of inhalation and exhalation ceases. I think my friend has given up on me.

Link removed on advice from Silent Thunder. Can't seem to get rid of the image, though!

Gautama described the fourth concentration by saying: ... seated, (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. And I explain that as: The “pureness of mind” refers to the absence of any intention to act. Suffusing the body with “purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind” is widening awareness so that there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot become the location where attention is placed. The emphasis on the particle level awareness is the common thread, I guess, between the lama's description of "seeds" and Gautama's description. Slicing and dicing cosmic mumbo jumbo! "Jambalaya, crawfish pie and fillet gumbo... Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou!"

Ah--the north coast, of course! Butter factory, my kind of place!

Name names, Nungali--"north coast towns"? I've lived in Petaluma, Sebastopol, and even in Humboldt County, though that was in the country. It's great that you were turning it out, and performing in front of the public with your material. IMHO. Yours truly, in the charming town of Sonoma: I never got to the verses, that night: did you ever see someone vanish right before your eyes like they're made out of light rays and suddenly they just rise walking, walking walking between the stars did you ever hear someone laughing and feel your heartbeat start in the space of an instant they touched some deeper part walking, walking walking between the stars

Some poetry is better than others, in that respect, I think. I like a lot of Mary Oliver, for example. I GO DOWN TO THE SHORE I go down to the shore in the morning and depending on the hour the waves are rolling in or moving out, and I say, oh, I am miserable, what shall- what should I do? And the sea says in its lovely voice: Excuse me, I have work to do.

Saw the Byrds at the San Jose Civic around that time. Caught the tail end of Hendrix's set at the Fillmore, before the Airplane. Clouds above Mount Konocti at Clear Lake, yesterday:

everything is a joke everyone a cosmic fool keep a close watch, then

I think it was in one of Alexandra David-Néel's books, that I read about a Tibetan belief that the presence of a sage in the territory helps to keep the weather propitious. I can't remember, but I think that was somehow connected with sages often choosing to live in the desert.