Keith' path journal

"There are these three urgent duties of a farming householder. Which three?

"There is the case where a farming householder quickly gets his field well-plowed & well-harrowed. Having quickly gotten his field well-plowed & well-harrowed, he quickly plants the seed. Having quickly planted the seed, he quickly lets in the water & then lets it out.

"These are the three urgent duties of a farming householder. Now, that farming householder does not have the power or might [to say:] 'May my crops spring up today, may the grains appear tomorrow, and may they ripen the next day.' But when the time has come, the farming householder's crops spring up, the grains appear, and they ripen.

"In the same way, there are these three urgent duties of a monk. Which three? The undertaking of heightened virtue, the undertaking of heightened mind, the undertaking of heightened discernment. These are the three urgent duties of a monk. Now, that monk does not have the power or might [to say:] 'May my mind be released from fermentations through lack of clinging/sustenance today or tomorrow or the next day.' But when the time has come, his mind is released from fermentations through lack of clinging/sustenance.

"Thus, monks, you should train yourselves: 'Strong will be our desire for the undertaking of heightened virtue. Strong will be our desire for the undertaking of heightened mind. Strong will be our desire for the undertaking of heightened discernment.' That's how you should train yourselves."
Accayika Sutta

I like this. It says on one hand, you cant make it happen, on the other hand - 'strong will be our desire for...'.

Hey thanks for the responses guys. Yeah I tried to resolve to obtain stream entry and I'll leave it at that for now. I think this all has brought me full circle to this :

" Forget about the tips and tricks. Forget about the centerpoint. Forget about the 3 characteristics. Forget about whether you think you are concentrated or not. Forget about what you think you know about meditation.

Every time you discover the "problem" with your meditation, note your reaction to that thought. Note the thought itself. Note once per second, aloud, for the duration of your sitting. Note catastrophizing, dramatizing, histrionics, self-pity, evaluation thoughts, impatience, despair, self-loathing, joy, triumph, scenario spinning, longing, desire for deliverance, irritation, doubt, bliss, absorption, distraction, fear, anger, rage, disgust, euphoria, hope, contentment, anticipation, softness, hardness, coolness, warmth, pulsing, burning, itching, throbbing, stinging, tingling, hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, petulance, futility, dullness, fatigue; what have I left out? Of course you would like some kind of a shortcut or a tip. There is no such thing. There is only the mastery of this simple technique. By the time you master this technique, you will be an arahat. If you distract yourself from this technique by trying to tweak the recipe, the warrantee is void. " Kenneth Folk

So yeah I sat 45 min this morning eyes open. Noting out loud for as long as I could.
The sit was very dynamic. I will sit another 45 min tonight. I stay as mindful as I can between sits my morality is pretty high, concentration will get better with practice wisdom should arise with practice. So I read some old posts of mine and when I was doing what was suggested to me here, I got results. I will try that again before I give up sitting : )

Cheers

That's a great excerpt. It's a very good reminder.

okay so 45 min sit eyes open for the most part. started noting just sensations alone out loud for about 5 min.
Then I started adding feeling tones i.e. itching unpleasant aversion, tension unpleasant aversion, pinching unpleasant aversion, clasping of hands neutral, twitching neutral, pain unpleasant aversion, then I added mind states, anticipation , happy, pinching unpleasant , aversion wandering mind, then mind objects I think they are called, so futurizing, planning memory thoughts. Eyes open for most of the time noted wandering when eyes were closed. Then noted stiffness of body frame, coolness, tingling,
my eyes wanted to close so I let them and started with the eye postures a bit flet nice pleasant some vibrations in the legs noted. More wandering than in the afternoon but i did try to note them so all good. Okay I follow instructions now. It really is all on this website to read. It's just the ego doen't want to loose it's job I guess. I got that way at work too they hired a guy with my exact title and had me train him. I was certain he was taking my job wouldn't you. After a while turns out he really makes my life a lot easier and the fear went away.

Cheers

sat 45 min eyes open noting out loud for as long as possible. 3 gear practice per kenneth folk.

First gear:
started with " body sensations ", for about 7 min.
itching twitching, pressure, tension, clasping, kontakt, pinching, twitching, tingling, tasting, moisture, dryness

then added " feeling tones " to the body senstations so noted in pairs:

itching unpleasant, tingling neutral, tingling pleasant , pinching unpleasant, vibrating neutral, itching unpleasant, tension unpleasant, pressure unpleasant, cramping unpleasant, tingling pleasant, bubbling neutral, coolness pleasant, tasting neutral, dryness unpleasant, moisture pleasant,

switched to noting mind states curiosity, investigation aversion, I tried to add these to the pairs when possible. So pressure unpleasant, aversion, noted alot of aversion mostly to all unpleasant sensations, curiosity, determination.

mind states were pretty limited to aversion curiosity, investigation, bit of humor, sleepy ness.

Kept noting sensations with feeling tones and mind states then noted mind objects,

pressure, unpleasant, aversion, memory though, tingling neutral , planning thought, fantasy, wandering, frustration, pinching aversion, tension aversion, investigation, noted breath being tight like a straight jacket. stiffness, at some point the eyes slowly close, eyes posture eyes flutter, sill noting sensations with feeling tone and mind states, feeling of pleasant surge, mouth falls open
ecstasy, moisture in eyes noted neutral, eyes closed mind wanders open eyes note wandering planning though hearing neutral,

dont really pose the 2nd gear question but let the pleasant sensations take over for a while feels like surrender a bit. #rd gear maybe? remembering thought noting out loud again to avoid the drift.

CHeers

meditated 25 min in an AA meeting. First gear.

Hello again, it's been a good long while since I posted. Sat this morning about 40min. Pretty loose didn't note out loud just sat and tried to note thoughts and sensations. I did have a very vivid imagination scene going on at one point which seemed new. I usually don't have / get drawn into scenes completely. Usually I'm in thought which takes the form of mental dialog but rarely is there a full immersion into a scene. Noted. It was a scene of me getting run over by a speed boat btw. Swimming in a very beautiful bay amazing light and the water temperature was perfect. Off in the distance I saw a speed boat with a person water skiing off the back. They headed towards me. And wham ! ran right over me. Anyway, not very useful information in the long run. I'm headed to SF and hoping to run into Kenneth there. Cheers