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Meditation road block

MickMick
edited June 2010 in Meditation
Hi everybody!

I have reached a bottleneck in my meditation practice and would appreciate it if I got a few pointers on how to proceed.
<O:p
I practice breathing meditation, specifically the technique taught by Ajahn Brahm. According to his book I am at stages 4 ( Full sustained attention on the breath) and 5 ( Full sustained attention on the beautiful breath.) The problem I am having is when the breath disappears I am not sure how to proceed.
<O:p
1. Does the breath really disappear or does it appear to disappear? This question is a distraction in my (reasonably) clear mind in meditation.
<O:p
2. What exactly does my subject of meditation become at this stage? In the book it says to focus on the “beautiful” but I am not sure how to conceptualise this.
<O:p
The stage of meditation I am at is very pleasant and sometimes quite blissful, but I a definitely at a loss on how to proceed.
<O:p
I would welcome any feedback on the matter.
<O:p
With metta:)

Comments

  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited June 2010
    <object width="660" height="525"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Ki74KbfPLs&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Ki74KbfPLs&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1&quot; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="660" height="525"></embed></object>
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited June 2010
    he's talking about powerful nimitta's but same principle always apply.

    hope this help ;)
  • MickMick
    edited June 2010
    Thank you for the info Pat.
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited June 2010
    Mick wrote: »
    Hi everybody!

    I have reached a bottleneck in my meditation practice and would appreciate it if I got a few pointers on how to proceed.
    <O:p
    I practice breathing meditation, specifically the technique taught by Ajahn Brahm. According to his book I am at stages 4 ( Full sustained attention on the breath) and 5 ( Full sustained attention on the beautiful breath.) The problem I am having is when the breath disappears I am not sure how to proceed.
    <O:p
    1. Does the breath really disappear or does it appear to disappear? This question is a distraction in my (reasonably) clear mind in meditation.
    <O:p
    2. What exactly does my subject of meditation become at this stage? In the book it says to focus on the “beautiful” but I am not sure how to conceptualise this.
    <O:p
    The stage of meditation I am at is very pleasant and sometimes quite blissful, but I a definitely at a loss on how to proceed.
    <O:p
    I would welcome any feedback on the matter.
    <O:p
    With metta:)


    "[13] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on inconstancy.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on inconstancy.' [14] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally, fading].' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on dispassion.' [15] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on cessation.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on cessation.' [16] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on relinquishment.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on relinquishment.'

    http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html

    http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/Books3/Buddhadasa_Anapanasati-Fourth_Tetra.pdf
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