Beginner daily life mindfullness question

Hi all,

Let me first off how appreciative I am for websites like this.

I'm still a beginner to the practice but have learnt about buddhism and meditation now for quite a while now.

I am aiming to complete the mahasi vipassana style practice to at least first path. So far I have probably been through to the mind and body stage, but am not too sure.

My conundrum is whether to use the 2nd gear during daily life (at work whilst on computer, studying, commuting, etc) as a means of paying attention as much as possible or to stick to 3rd gear. So far, in my experience the 2nd gear self-inquiry practice has more of an effect when practicing during the day whereas 3rd gear practice is very difficult to do correctly (as when comparing to on-the-cushion noting practice).

I have read or maybe got the perception that one should not do 2nd gear and 3rd gear practice if one is to aiming to complete the mahasi vipassana style practice to at least to first path. Is this because when doing mahasi style vipassana that the instructions should be followed meticulously.

Please note this the question related only to daily mindfullness practice and not to the on the cushion noting practice.

Any help is much appreciated.

A

Hi Putthajana,

3rd Gear practice is a little tricky, because you can only do it all the way or not at all. There is no building up to it. So, you can either recognize primordial awareness in this moment or you can't. I'm not sure from what you've written so far if you have been able to do that. So, should you do 1st or 2nd Gear? If you want to get 1st Path, there is probably no more efficient way to do that than to stick with Mahasi practice, both while on the cushion and during daily life activities. 2nd Gear (self-enquiry) practice is always good, always beneficial, but as far as using it to develop upward through the 4 Paths of enlightenment, 2nd Gear practice really becomes the "go-to" practice after 2nd Path. For you, for now, I would stick with 1st Gear and attain 1st Path.

Best,

Kenneth

Thanks very much Kenneth. That clarifies quite a lot for me.

No, I am not able to recognise primodial awareness in the moment so 3rd gear practice is not usefull for me at this stage.

Just thought I would let you know that in my experience, the 2nd gear practice as a daily mindfullness tool gives my mind a quality of freshness and attentiveness, though there is less ability to note clearly sensations as they arise and pass. When using 1st gear practice as a daily mindfullness tool I tend to get hooked up on what I should be feeling and how every sensation should be noted precisely, which leaves me a little frustrated. This is something I should keep in mind and be careful to avoid and to just note as best as possible. Also, in my case when doing the 1st gear practice as a daily mindfullness tool I tend to get a lot of throbbing short bursts of acute pain which I have noted coincide with my pulse, that also kind of leaves feeling annoyed. Guess this is something that occurs to me in particular and is something to get used to. Perhaps it may be because my samatha quality is quite low during everyday activities.

I notice in my previous post that said 3rd gear practice instead of 1st gear (vipassanna). Apologies for the confusion.

Thanks heaps.

A