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Noting a mind state vs. 'implied mind state'

  • modalnode
  • Topic Author
14 years 6 months ago #78525 by modalnode
In the last ten months of practice or so, my face has been every-more pulling into snarls, grimaces, etc. during most sits. Indeed, I have to be careful in public, since it can happen almost immediately if I go into a concentrated, body-aware state. Sometimes my face will pull into a position that implies, for example, great disgust. Sometimes that is accompanied by an obvious mind state of disgust, but many times it isn't. In fact, I can often note the 'grimace' or 'tension' or 'pulling' or 'cramping' of the disgust face, and the upward flow of energy in my neck or upper head that often triggers it, but feel (say) great calm, or acceptance, or boredom, or contentment, or humor, etc.

In this case, I'm challenging myself to make sure I'm not repressing or ignoring disgust. But if the mind state doesn't seem to be there, I sometimes take the technique of noting, for mind-state, 'implied disgust', or 'disgust face', to at least open myself to the potential that disgust might actually me there. (Indeed, I am seeing a disgust responses more clearly in myself in daily life that may have been previously repressed.) At the same time, I don't want to create something that isn't there by labeling what I think it should be rather than what I really observe.

Other common ones for me are the classic dukkha categories: 'fear face', 'misery face', 'anger face'. As far as I can tell, though, I can have these faces in any ñana, not just the dukkha ñanas (they seem to be equal-opportunity faces).

In any case, I tend to assume either going with either my seeming actual or implied mind state in the noting is OK, as long as I'm aware. But I'd be interested to know if others grapple with such strong discrepancies.
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