What aspects are there to increase silence in our perception?

[4bsolute]

We put all of our senses in emptiness.

 

So far I personally know of self-experience:

• looking at space between the objects
• feeling space around us
• hearing silence between sound

Today I have made the complete experience of all three. This has been performed with this waking consciousness while not sitting in meditation. A slight altered way of perception happened each time.
 

• looking at the space between objects

This is being done by focusing a few feet infront of you at a distance between objects. Not at objects themself but at the space between you and an object. That obect can and is surely best a blank wall. The eyes and all sensory perception related to sight will focus on nothingness.

I personally have done this while sitting in a comfortable position.
 

• feeling space around us

This is being done by completely dissolving once physical identification with this body with the surrounding space. Sounds extraordinary but it is simply relaxing to the fullest while having no physical stimuli. Wind distracts, pain distracts. Eventually we manage to be so comfortable that we feel we become the space all around us.

 

I personally have done this in the

(video attached with a great instruction). I did this without knowing what I was doing and it felt so pleasant that even larger birds flew right 10cm past my body not seeing any difference. Lateron my mind tried to reconstruct What was actually happening there. Now it knows better.
 

• hearing silence between sound

This is being done by - I can't quite explain yet. And to me it was the most difficult in terms of actual comprehension. Because our environments are soo noisy. So where should there be silence?

I pesonally have discovered it this morning and it was beyond pleasant. I woke up early and heard many birds outside singing their beautiful hymn to the Sun. No other sounds. I went back to bed and listened very comfortably and there it happened intuitively:

I was knowing what I was doing but I can not reconstruct it (for now). I was listening and letting go of the sounds. It required concentration and I have never consciously concentrated on sound before. But it happened and appeared to be that the rhythm of each song fragment was setting like the Sun in my audible perception. It was extraordinary fluent. As if each bird song fragment from start to finish was being birthed and died again. A sense of deep peace overcame me.

A pleasant feeling was being felt in my kidneys and I remembered that my ears are quoting TCM directly related to my hearing sense. That the kidneys are opening up "into" the ears. Mantak Chia also spoke about putting the ears to rest on the kidneys regarding "Sealing the Five Senses". Which seems to be nothing else than increase the space element in all of them and bringing them to a peaceful state.


So far my self-experience.

 

I am sure surrendering in meditation would be the most direct transformation. What other techniques are there to increase Nothingness in our Perception?

[doc benway]

The Bönpo practice of the three doors is similar to what you are working with. 

It is the practice of seeking the inner refuge as taught by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.

It is a core practice of the Bönpo dzogchen system.

 

The first refuge is resting in the stillness of the body.

    - We first feel a sense of peace and stillness in the physical body. In the beginning this takes attention and effort. Over time the effort is released and then we develop stability resting in the stillness of the body. Gradually you can extend that sense of stillness beyond the limits of the physical body and rest in the stillness of being. At first it's much easier to feel this while still. With stability it can be accessed even during physical activity and movement.

 

The second refuge is resting in the silence of the speech.

    - We find the silence inside by first actively listening to it. We are used to listening to sounds but not to silence. With practice we can focus on and listen to the silence. Then connect with and hear the silence. First we practice with listening to and hearing the silence in our heads, the absence of the narrator, the absence of thoughts, the absence of conversation. Gradually we can begin to hear the silence that lies within and beneath the sound both inside and outside. The key is to first listen, then hear, then release the effort, and finally rest in the silence. 

 

The third refuge is resting in the spaciousness of the mind. 

    - For the Tibetans, the mind resides in the region of the physical heart. We first focus attention on feeling a sense of spaciousness in the heart area. That spaciousness is a physical feeling of space but also an intention of openness, openness to what is, whatever that maybe. A yielding to what is, an acceptance. That openness and spaciousness is gradually felt in every cell of the body and then beyond, in the very fabric of being. First we feel that, work at connecting with that, then let go of the effort, then simply rest in that openness and spaciousness.

 

With time, we learn to access this place of inner stillness, silence, and spaciousness without necessarily going through these steps but rather just knowing what it is and opening to it. This is a place of support and power, beyond creation and destruction, and beyond words. 

[4bsolute]

The Bönpo practice of the three doors is similar to what you are working with. 

It is the practice of seeking the inner refuge as taught by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.

It is a core practice of the Bönpo dzogchen system.

 

The first refuge is resting in the stillness of the body.

    - We first feel a sense of peace and stillness in the physical body. In the beginning this takes attention and effort. Over time the effort is released and then we develop stability resting in the stillness of the body. Gradually you can extend that sense of stillness beyond the limits of the physical body and rest in the stillness of being. At first it's much easier to feel this while still. With stability it can be accessed even during physical activity and movement.

 

The second refuge is resting in the silence of the speech.

    - We find the silence inside by first actively listening to it. We are used to listening to sounds but not to silence. With practice we can focus on and listen to the silence. Then connect with and hear the silence. First we practice with listening to and hearing the silence in our heads, the absence of the narrator, the absence of thoughts, the absence of conversation. Gradually we can begin to hear the silence that lies within and beneath the sound both inside and outside. The key is to first listen, then hear, then release the effort, and finally rest in the silence. 

 

The third refuge is resting in the spaciousness of the mind. 

    - For the Tibetans, the mind resides in the region of the physical heart. We first focus attention on feeling a sense of spaciousness in the heart area. That spaciousness is a physical feeling of space but also an intention of openness, openness to what is, whatever that maybe. A yielding to what is, an acceptance. That openness and spaciousness is gradually felt in every cell of the body and then beyond, in the very fabric of being. First we feel that, work at connecting with that, then let go of the effort, then simply rest in that openness and spaciousness.

 

With time, we learn to access this place of inner stillness, silence, and spaciousness without necessarily going through these steps but rather just knowing what it is and opening to it. This is a place of support and power, beyond creation and destruction, and beyond words. 

 

Now that you have mentioned the heart and spaciousness of the mind, this thread is complete.

 

Thank you for sharing.