Mark Foote

too soon truth revealed all is well, all is well; slide the ways to the sea Post of a conversation with Apech, here; please do comment!

Apech: I was trying to remember about some research on the pulse in the cerebral fluid which I think you know about. Do you remember this? MF: http://www.shareguide.com/Upledger.html--that's John Upledger explaining cranial-sacral osteopathy in laymen's terms. Apech: I have of late been having interesting sensations at the top of my head which feel like pulsing and give the image of an underwater creature like a jelly fish. I was thinking about that cerebral pulse thing and wondering if my practice was having some affect on my head/skull. It's really helpful to read that article again. MF: You probably know that the medicos would panic to hear you say that you have a pulsing at the top of your head: https://www.healthtap.com/topics/what-causes-pulsating-in-the-head God, there's even a thread about it on Dao Bums: http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/30853-pulsing-at-the-top-of-my-head/ Apech: I wasn't seeing the pulse as a problem - in fact its mildly pleasant - so I'll keep away from the medics! I'll have to read that thread as well. MF: I would think based on my own experience that the sensation at the top of your head is happening in conjunction with the regular cessation of habitual activity in the movement of breath, and that same cessation will bring the mind to one place or another over time to round out the involuntary activity connected with the sensation. Apech: I'm not quite sure what you mean by the 'cessation of the habitual activity in the movement of the breath' - can you explain that a little? MF: A lot of the time, the things we do by intention with our bodies dictate the movement of breath. However, we are equally dependent on relaxation that allows the movement of breath to dictate the activity of the body, in whatever posture we find ourselves. Gautama described the cessation of habitual activity as gradual, occurring first with respect to speech, then with regard to inhalation and exhalation, and finally with regard to perception and sensation. He described successive states of concentration, wherein he said these cessations occur. The most useful description to me went something like this: First state, dis-ease ceases. I settle into the stretch of whatever posture I'm in, and the activity of the posture or carriage follows automatically. Second state, unhappiness ceases. Oddly, the exercise of the senses whose coordination produces the sense of self seems for me to result in a cessation of unhappiness. Olaf Blanke is a Swiss neuro-biologist studying out-of-body experience, and his hypothesis is that it's the vestibular organs (sense of equalibrium), otolithic organs (sense of gravity), proprioceptors (sense of placement and motion in the muscles, joints, and ligament), and eyes that coordinate to provide the sense of self. According to his hypothesis, when these organs don't coordinate properly, some kind of out-of-body experience takes place. I think the cessation of unhappiness I experience corresponds with the role of these senses in sustaining pressure in the "fluid ball" of the abdomen (per D. L. Bartilink: http://www.zenmudra.com/zenmudra-best-of-ways.html) and the ability of the "fluid ball" to support the posture or carriage of the body in the movement of breath. Third state, ease apart from equanimity ceases. I wrote the following about this (http://www.zenmudra.com/zenmudra-shikantaza-Gautama-way-of-living.html): "The cessation of "ease apart from equanimity" that marks the third meditative state points to a strenuousness of the posture. Involuntary reciprocal activity in the muscles associated with the major ligaments of the body, such as those that connect the sacrum to the pelvis and the pelvis to the hips, only comes about because the ligaments and fascia are stretched to a point where they themselves generate the impulses necessary to contract the muscles for their resile. The induction of reciprocal, ongoing involuntary activity in the major muscle groups requires stretch that remains on the border of the generation of such impulses in the associated ligaments and fascia. Because of the need for resile that is felt at the level of stretch necessary to the third meditative state, ease does not exist apart from equanimity." Fourth state, happiness apart from equanimity ceases, and habitual activity in inhalation and exhalation ceases. In the same essay that included the quote above, I wrote this: "As to the cessation of happiness apart from a purified equanimity: I can say that for me, at some point only an acuity in the distinction of sense allows of happiness, yet at such a point there is no experience of sense that does not permit of happiness." Here's the latest post in my blog, which really summarizes my approach to states of concentration: "In the Pali teachings, there's a distinction between consciousness and the mind: consciousness is said to arise from contact between a sense organ and sense object, while the mind is simply considered to be one of the sense organs. Consciousness, said Gautama, is followed by impact and then by feeling, with regard to each of the six senses (1). The senses fundamental to the experience of self were not a part of the vocabulary of Gautama's day, except for the eyes. Sometimes I think that is why he made such a distinction between the mind and consciousness, and why dependent causation begins with ignorance: the senses most involved in the experience of the lack of any abiding self in the activity of breath (and in the activity of perception and sensation) were not known to him by name. Nevertheless, the descriptions he gave of the feelings associated with the initial states of concentration correspond exactly with these senses; for example, with regard to the first of the initial states: "...(one) steeps and drenches and suffuses this body with a zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease. ...as a handy bathman or attendant might strew bath-powder in some copper basin and, gradually sprinkling water, knead it together so that the bath-ball gathered up the moisture, became enveloped in moisture and saturated both in and out, but did not ooze moisture; even so (one) steeps, drenches, fills and suffuses this body with zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease." (2) Emphasis here is on equalibrioception (the "bath-ball"), and a combination of proprioception and graviception ("... steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses... so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded..."). In the experience of these senses, feelings similar to those Gautama described can be found, but it's the familiarity with these senses rather than any particular modality of feeling that allows for the cessation of habitual activity in connection with breath." 1) MN III 287-290, Pali Text Society Vol III pg 337-338 2) AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III pg 18-19" How's that. (Apech: thanks.)

yin and yang described overhanging branch and bow coffee, marshmallow

must be GOP cross-eyed and stumbling straight toward a hole in the ground

And I'm not Bernie but I can do your Bernie 'til your Bernie comes

lift your house your home with song to fill the rafters family and friends

Friend of mine took this at the end of February; the Golden Gate Bridge, actually being the same:

enlightened design encrusted with dew, at dawn fields of lace, lattice

but it is all luck one thing after another each petal a peach

Egg-xactly, Ms. Manitou! About your head not keeping up with me, my head can't keep up with me-- my latest blog post, I introduce my writing, and then I had to add this: 'I wrote to a friend and told him about my writing, and he said he looked forward to reading it. I wrote back to him: "I have to say, if I didn't have the opportunity to wash my head out on the dance floor on Saturdays at my local karioke parlor, I would feel like the caterpillar in the 'toad and the caterpillar' story, on account of my own verbage."'

First, for Karl: from Dogen's "Genjo Koan", three lines, not necessarily consecutive in the original: "When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point." "When you find your way in this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point." "Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be readily apparent." I'm hoping, Karl, that you saw the bit I quoted above, that attributes the identification of self to the integration of particular senses, namely, the vestibular, proprioceptive, and ocular senses (to which Olaf Blanke adds the otoliths); this correlation has been made, I believe, largely on the basis of Blanke's research into the particulars of out-of-body experience in the medical literature, and the clinical cases where the basis of such experiences was localized. First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is. I'll lift part of my essay entitled Dogen's Genjo Koan here: '"Layman Pang was with his whole family sitting around the fire. Layman Pang suddenly said, 'Difficult, difficult—ten bushels of oil hemp spread out on a tree.' Mrs. Pang said, 'Easy, easy—on the tips of the hundred grasses, the meaning of Zen.' Their daughter Lingzhao said, 'Not difficult, not easy—eating when hungry, sleeping when tired'." Yuanwu commented on the story: "Usually when I relate this story to people, most of them prefer Lingzhao's remark for saving energy, and dislike what Old Man Pang and Old Lady Pang said about difficult and easy. This is nothing but 'making interpretations by following the words'. People who think like this are far from getting to the root of the fundamental design." I find the descriptions given by Old Man Pang and Old Lady Pang a lot like my experience with "when you find your place where you are" and "when you find your way at this moment".' And, as I go on to point out in the essay, a lot like my experience with "although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be readily apparent." Manitou, your exercise with gravity I think is exactly "when you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point." Actually, there, you are exercising both your sense of gravity and your sense of consciousness generated by the proprioceptors; that is, consciousness generated by the proprioceptors in the joints, the ligaments, and the muscles all over the body ("butt in the chair"), rather than by the organ known as the brain. With regard to the senses giving us a feeling of separation, if you emphasize one more sense that I believe is there in your exercise anyway, that feeling of separation drops off (in my experience); that would be equalibrioception. Here's a nice description from the T'ai Chi classics, quoted by Cheng Man-Ch'ing: "In general, what the ancients called, 'straightening the chest and sitting precariously,' has to do with the work of self-cultivation. ...Holding the spine erect is like stringing pearls on top of each other, without letting them lean or incline. However, if one is tense and stiff, or unnaturally affected, then this too is an error." Emphasis on the "precarious", for equalibrioception (source for that quote can be found in my latest piece of writing). I myself look explicitly for the presence of pitch, yaw, and roll with the experience of location, sometimes (mostly when I'm unhappy 'cause my mind is overactive). If your eyes are closed, you can experience the feeling of location shifting around; no longer necessarily fixed, no longer necessarily in the head. This can be pronounced, right before I fall asleep. The senses have their boundaries. To open to all the senses, and to realize action instigated by what is beyond the boundary of the senses ("actualized immediately"), I find the recollection of the mind of friendliness and its extension beyond the boundary to be magic. "Sitting shikantaza is the place itself, and things. ...When you sit, the cushion sits with you. If you wear glasses, the glasses sit with you. Clothing sits with you. House sits with you. People who are moving around outside all sit with you. They don't take the sitting posture!" (Kobun Chino Otogawa, from the jikoji.org website "Aspects of Seated Meditation (Shikantaza)") Notice the cushion, sitting with the butt, above- ha ha!

When I was in college, I became vegetarian, then vegan; I tried to do without a lot of things. Within four years, I began eating eggs and cheese, and then meat again; I felt that some things were necessary to me, for whatever reason, but I had confidence in that (and I still do). The rendition that Yuanwu provided is a lot simpler, just having to do with ceasing habitual activity of mind and body (yeah, that's simple, right), letting go of activity. Is this the kind of contact with necessity that could relieve the sensation of running in circles? It is for me, so I offer it. Contact of the senses: "Bodily self-consciousness (BSC) is commonly thought to involve self-identification (the experience of owning 'my' body), self-location (the experience of where 'I' am in space), and first-person perspective (the experience from where 'I' perceive the world). ... BSC stems from the integration of visual, tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular signals." ("Visual consciousness and bodily self-consciousness", Nathan Faivre, Roy Salomon, and Olaf Blanke: http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/203878/files/reprint.pdf) Yuanwu was just talking about returning to life, coming back to one's senses. I find distinguishing the experience of gravity and the senses above from the eyes, at least some of the time, to be important in my happiness. Calms me down. Lets me feel the location of my awareness, instead of the location of the object in awareness relative to my eyes. The rest follows from that. I like what you and Apech had to say very much. I couldn't leave it at that, what a fool!

In my experience, there is no way around ascertaining one's own necessity. As in, what do I really need, to live. It's possible for me to discover my necessity, in one movement of breath: “You must strive with all your might to bite through here and cut off conditioned habits of mind. Be like a person who has died the great death: after your breath is cut off, then you come back to life. Only then do you realize that it is as open as empty space. Only then do you reach the point where your feet are walking on the ground of reality.” ("Zen Letters: Teachings of Yuanwu", translated by J.C. and Thomas Cleary, pg 84) "Died the great death" is letting go of any voluntary activity of body and mind. At some point, I find that holding still (as it were) cuts off the breath, that is "ascertaining my own necessity". Coming back to life is receiving all my senses (including equalibrioception, proprioception, and graviception). When I receive all my senses, the location of my awareness can move even if the rest of me is still, that is "open as empty space"; the rest of me can move when the location of my awareness is still ("the millstone turns but the mind does not"), that is "feet walking on the ground of reality". I can breathe. In my experience, there is no way around ascertaining one's own necessity, most immediately in the movement of breath.

washed by bitter rain east of the ponds, Alberta what will we give up

KundaliniLinguini, my experience may not match yours, but here's one more specific to concentrative states and letting go: Shikantaza and Gautama the Buddha's "Pleasant Way of Living" by yours truly. I may revise this, but I think you can get the gist.

to blow the man down give me some thyme, basil, sage but mostly garlic

Did this last week, I'm still listening to it (does that count?)- using a Tonewood amp on "plate" echo, low volume: sometimes I don't know why I like my own stuff, but if I do anyway, I keep it.

“But tell me, is it better to let go, or is it better to hold still?” (Yuanwu, from the Blue Cliff Record, 4th Case)

or be trump'd trying jack o' diamonds, ace of spades ... to blow the man down

thyme---(beats from ballads) my guests love ballad beets, them's what tomato brings. what tomato brings only thyme will tell- sage, pinch of salt and pepper (pinch sage, & lettuce season)

You could try this: "As (one) abides in body contemplating body, either some bodily object arises, or bodily discomfort or drowsiness of mind scatters (one's) thoughts abroad to externals. Thereupon... (one's) attention should be directed to some pleasurable object of thought. As (one) thus directs it to some pleasurable object of thought, delight springs up in (one's being). In (one), thus delighted, arises zest. Full of zest (one's) body is calmed down. With body so calmed (one) experiences ease. The mind of one at ease is concentrated. (One) thus reflects: The aim on which I set my mind I have attained. Come, let me withdraw my mind [from pleasurable object of thought]. So (one) withdraws (one's) mind therefrom, and neither starts nor carries on thought-process. Thus (one) is fully conscious: I am without thought initial or sustained. I am inwardly mindful. I am at ease. Again... (one) contemplates feelings... mind... (one) abides contemplating mind-states in mind-states, ardent, composed and mindful.... As (one) so abides contemplating mind-states, either some mental object arises, or bodily discomfort or drowsiness of mind scatters (one's) thoughts abroad to externals. Thereupon... (one's) attention should be directed to some pleasurable object of thought. As (one) so directs it, delight springs up in (one's being). In (one) thus delighted, arises zest. Full of zest as (such a one) is, (their) body is calmed down. With body calmed (one) experiences ease. In one at ease the mind is concentrated. (One) thus reflects: The aim on which I set my mind I have attained. Come, let me withdraw my mind therefrom. So (one) withdraws (one's) mind therefrom, and neither starts nor carries on thought-process. Thus (one) is fully conscious: I am without thought initial or sustained. I am inwardly mindful. I am at ease. Such is the practice for the direction of mind. And what... is the practice for the non-direction of mind? (First,) by not directing (one's) mind to externals, (one) is fully aware: My mind is not directed to externals. Then (one) is fully aware: My mind is not concentrated either on what is before or on what is behind, but it is set free, it is undirected. Then (one) is fully aware: In body contemplating body I abide, ardent, composed and minful. I am at ease. And (one) does the same with regard to feelings... to mind... and mind-states. Thus (one) is fully aware: In mind-states contemplating mind-states I abide, ardent, composed and mindful. I am at ease. This is the practice for the non-direction of mind." (SN V 154-157, Pali Text Society SN V pg 135-136) "My mind is not concentrated either on what is before or on what is behind, but it is set free, it is undirected"- gotta love that. I find I let go of thinking more readily when I recall that the senses have their boundaries, and look to extend good will out beyond those boundaries-- I also need to recognize that senses that are less well-known to me are at play, as in this piece I wrote earlier today: "That I could be alert to the location of my awareness as I was falling asleep, was probably due to the fact that I had awakened too early in the morning and was trying to get back to sleep. Looking for the motions of pitch, roll, and yaw in connection with the location of my awareness and staying alert to the sense of weight in connection with any fleeting consciousness of muscle, joint, or ligament helped me to realize a freedom of movement in "the place where I find myself to be"." That last is a reference to Dogen's "Genjo Koan", where he says: "When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point". And here's the neuroscience: "Bodily self-consciousness (BSC) is commonly thought to involve self-identification (the experience of owning ‘my’ body), self-location (the experience of where ‘I’ am in space), and first-person perspective (the experience from where ‘I’ perceive the world). ... BSC stems from the integration of visual, tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular signals." ("Visual consciousness and bodily self-consciousness", Nathan Faivre, Roy Salomon, and Olaf Blanke, http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/203878/files/reprint.pdf)

be an example of gravity collapsing dark star boogalu

Medium? Ghost write. Chalk and tuna, in the air wafting lofty prose

(thanks. Trying to get that "dual" reference in, was I!) with spaghetti sauce there is no try; only do drenched from the chin down