Stages, Part the Third

So we have samatha practices, in which the object can range from something as gross as a candle flame to something as subtle as "the silence that is beyond thought" or "the present moment just as it is." (Right? You keep coming back to these objects no matter how many times the mind wanders off, and they can be gross or subtle.)
We have vipassana, which is the direct investigation of the objects of awareness.
Is it wrong to think of this other mode, in which one pays such close attention that any sense of self or other disappears, as a samatha practice, albeit one that is at the very farthest end of the gross-subtle spectrum, where there is no object per se other than "just this"? It seems to me that Krishnamurti was all about this last approach: "the thinker is the thought," "the observer is the observed." If so, it seems like we're just talking about the traditional formulation of samatha and vipassana working together like the wings of a bird. Maybe this is just semantics.

I won't erase the above post, but I apologize: I should have read more about direct perception mode and dug into some of these other threads before posting the question.

"Some people are battling over which is true, but you're saying both are." -- betawave

Yes.

A little elaboration on the theory:

Until recently I had always felt myself to be out of sync with things. And so I was. 4th path happened and the out of sync-ness was revealed for what it is -- mistaking things for me. Mistaking the arising of what is unsatisfactory and impermanent as the arising of me. Expecting this knowledge to relieve me of suffering I found myself continuing to be subject to karma and to the pain of the first arrow.

The alluring thing about direct perception mode is that it somehow manages to put me in sync, not with the emptiness of things but with the apparent solidity of things. So much so that I can quickly dissipate any form of suffering or strong emotion. What does that mean? Does that mean objects aren't empty? I don't think so. I think it is a reflection of the fact that objects are really both empty and not empty and I can choose the view of them to adopt at any given time. If I enter direct perception mode I seem to be relieving myself of the painful truth of emptiness, of being out of sync. Experience just flows, the phonograph needle plays just the present moment (that's all it can do) and I am mesmerized by what is right here, right now. Emotions are like interference, resistance or friction. They amplify any arising out of sync-ness. Pain without emotion is just pain. Pain with aversion, with anger, with sadness, is real suffering. If by being focused in the solidity, the natural flow, I can ground and dissipate the interference, the suffering dissipates with it.

Then....

This does not mean that objects aren't empty -- impermanent, unsatisfactory, not me. If I enter the clear light this emptiness becomes very, very obvious and I can see that it is an enduring truth. It's timeless, spaceless, never changing. It is uncaring and, as always, just IS. But that does not relieve my suffering. I cannot hold onto the clear light and function in daily life. I can thus know the truth of things in this clear light sense of emptiness, or I can know the peace of things. I can see the world in this way, or in that way. So yes, betawave, both are true but I can only experience one at a time. Most of my time is spent in between, somewhere.

I find this fascinating and satisfying at a very deep level.

I'm going to shut up for a while and practice. I'm getting too tied up in the ideas. That's a trap!

Peace, ya'll

freaking empty ideas

imagemacros.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/its_a_trap.jpg

lol

Let's be honest about truth. It seems to me there is one truth, and only one, and we call it form and emptiness or, when combined, we call it non-duality. That's all we have. Everything else appears to me to be completely up for grabs.

And now, since I still seem to have magical moderator powers and because this thread is getting very old and long, too long, I'm going to lock it and start a new one.