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The Five (and More) Senses
Shoshin
No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran
Found this 2017 article from LiveScience quite interesting "The Five (and More) Senses" especially what's sometimes called the sixth sense "Proprioception" -to grasp one's position in space...
It reminds me a little of when being present minded AKA Mindfulness..
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I don't know if this is a proper comment, folks can delete it if it's not, but one time, in my teenage years, I smoked an ungodly amount of marijuana and it messed with my proprioception for four days afterward.
It was bizarre. My body always "felt" like it was in a different place. I'd look at my arm and say, "That's not where you are supposed to be." Walking, my legs left like they should be much more to the left than they both were, despite them being under me like normal.
Proprioception is a very subtle sense. Also don't abuse drugs. Moral of the story.
In Buddhism the mind is the sixth sense, and is described as working similarly to the five "physical" senses.
I'd assume that it's primarily vision which tells us where we are?
Not true! Have you ever tried closing your eyes and raising your hand up to your face? You can tell when it’s in front of you even without seeing. Ajahn Sucitto did a lot of this with us in September. He didn’t use the word proprioception. He described it more in terms of energy and connectivity—the two parts of the body communicating on an energetic level. It was great stuff. I highly recommend Ajahn Sucitto’s work for “embodied” practice.
Talks:
https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/9/
Books:
https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/authors/ajahn-sucitto?language=English
And I’m finding this little manual particularly helpful:
https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/meditation-an-outline?language=English
Those in the anthroposophical schools have identified as many as 17 senses, including temperature (your body tells you when it’s hot), balance, and life (raised when you’ve been active).
Very interesting 🙏🏽
Stillness means we become distracted by/aware of the sense inputs as in @adamcrossley training post.
I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
From the film 'Serenity'
Another example of stilling the senses under duressis Iceman Hof
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof
In other words the gross and subtle senses can be quietened ... and awareness remain ...
So how exactly does this relate to Buddhist practice? I mean apart from Ajahn Sucitto talking about something quite different (maybe we could post on-topic?).
I work regularly with the sense bases, and this sort of speculative theorising doesn't seem relevant.
Isnt the point is to just notice the continual movement of senses and mind? I mean as opposed to indulging in self-indulgent new-age speculation about the mechanics of it?
@DairyLama, I thought it was on-topic actually. Ajahn Sucitto is really not New Age. Is it the word “energy” that puts you off?