mindful1983 practice notes

Hello. Glad & grateful to be here

hit third path June 21
Leading to and onwards from third path, similar to others' experience, strong crown and third eye chakra chi and pressure. What's been most apparent though is the base and sacral chakra really opening up. The third eye chi has caused me to see a lot of aura the past month. 2nd path for me was very painful in my gut. A lot of dukkha in my stomach for several months.

I now feel like an alien who has a new body that he's trying on and still learning.
I feel guilty because I havn't been meditating and I seem to have arrived here undeservingly.
I havn't tried checking out Nirodha yet or the jhanas though. I now understand the 3 gears teaching. I never really got the logic behind it why it was arranged that way. Now I understand the use of the self-inquiry technique w/c I never really liked because I felt more at home with Vipassana.

Dispassion has really gone up a notch compared to 1st and 2nd path. Everything is a bit more 'signless' and empty to what I'm used to. Is it just because I'm new here? Will it return? Or will it stay like this, so effortless.

Other info:
hit 2nd path Aug 23, 09: doing Noting
hit 1st path Aug 3, 09: doing Noting

Thanks for reading,
Metta, Mudita!

Hi Mindful1983,

How do you know you attained 3rd Path? Just making such an announcement out of the blue doesn't help us to learn about your practice or make it possible to give you feedback. It would be more helpful if you could set up the circumstances for us and lead us step by step to see if we arrive at the same conclusion. Can you describe your experience?

You wrote, "I havn't tried checking out Nirodha yet or the jhanas though."

The ability to attain either the Pure Land jhanas or Nirodha Samapatti are the only reliable indicators of 3rd Path. Without them, there is no particular reason to suspect the 3rd Path attainment. And without any jhanas at all, the odds that a yogi has attained even 1st or 2nd Path would seem to be quite low.

I was following Nikolai's progress and line up my experience the same way. I feel above the previous place i was. its been 9 days and the experience is holding up. I think I have just completed 1 insight cycle since and got a fruiton just a few minutes ago. The arising passing away stage was distinct, so was dissolution and equanimity. Distinct, but not as strong as pre-first path, but this is probably becoz i was meditating hardcore at those times and now i dont meditate as much.

Regarding the jhanas, i have always been a dry-vipassana meditator. I only remember about 3 times where I went thru the jhanas and experienced them as rock-hard. Pre-stream entry and before 2nd path. I remember staying in the 7th jhana hard, 8th though, i dont remember distinctly getting there.

Since then, I probably get to the jhanas but just naturally and not from concentration practice. If ever I do go to the formless jhanas, it is probably just for a couple of seconds, and I don't know that that was it because it is soft.

I just read the instructions on this site on the Jhanas and Nikolai also gave me some tips on developing my concentration.

Since last June 21 though, my concentration skills seem to have been upgraded. 2nd path was a monkey-minded and up & down path, but now I feel like I've been locked into easy concentration for a couple of days, even in dissolution.

I will work to attain pure land jhanas

Hey mindful,

Remember when you post your practice notes here, try and refrain from calling it this jhana, and that jhana, etc. Don't speculate too much. It will be helpful for you and others here if you just describe in detail what is happening to you without any naming of experiences. Just bare boned gritty explanations. That will be more helpful for people, especially Kenneth, in helping you progress. Keep honing those concentration skills and let us know how it is going.

Nick

Mindful1983, I'm going to lock this thread because I want to make a point. This forum is not a place to make unsubstantiated claims. It's a place where you can share the details of your practice and interact with other practitioners. It isn't enough to say "I have attained 3rd Path." That is an unsubstantiated claim. If, on the other hand, you give us a careful, phenomenological account of your practice, step by step, as it occurs, we can actually learn something useful about you and your practice. We can offer help and guidance and we can tell you whether or not we agree with your appraisal of your own practice.

I don't know where you are on the maps, because you haven't given us any information beyond your self-appraisal. Self-appraisals are useful; I always like to ask people where they think they are. But by themselves, self-appraisals are not nearly enough.

You are welcome to start another thread in which you carefully document what happens in your practice on and off the cushion, but please refrain from making unsubstantiated claims.