[Imzadi]

Originally Posted by catsquotl

Direct experience in my understanding/experience is the awareness of what is happening now. When I followed a guru around some 20 years ago. I felt an abundance of love when I was near her. I filed that experience away as finaly being able to have an object(the guru) as a place of reverence where I could project all my desire for devotion to. I guess that's an experience that would be similar to yours.

Since my vipassana retreat 4 years ago. Mahashi style noting as taught by Ajaan Tong Sirimangalo direct experience is much more direct.
Instead of projecting what feels like boundless love It's more a deconstruction of experience. In meditation, either walking or sitting I try to synchronize my thinking with my experience of all the sensations that make up one step or one breath. Softly noting raising(when my heel comes from the floor) lifting (when my foot comes completely loose from the floor) moving (when my foot drifts forward) lowering(when my foot descends towards the floor) touching (when my foot touches the floor) and pressing( when i shift my full weight(85kg) on my foot) then repeat with the other foot. Noting a step that way There are myriads of other sensations that make up one step. There is thinking happening, tension somewhere in the body, an itch, a sight, a sound. feeling my muscles pull around the knee and upper leg when my foot leaves the ground etc.

In sitting there's a similar train of observing experience.
There's the rising and falling of the belly which I use as an anchor, the same at the movement of the feet. softly noting rising and falling as the belly rises and falls.With that however one can experience the start of the rise, the middle, the end, the absence of movement all together.

In these kinds of direct experience I(hope) to have a chance to see through the experience and get a sense of reality as it is..

In theravadan buddhism. there exists a rather rigid system which you can use as a framework to label experiences and insights. The 3 characteristics, the 4 abidings(foundations of mindfullnes/sattipattana), 5 hindrances, 6 sense doors, 7 factors for awakening, the 8 fold path etc.

As you can imagine direct experience takes on a different meaning, when done like this.

Thank you, Eelco, for sharing your experience, insights, and suggestions! I think I will research more about the Theravada system. It would be nice and helpful to have a framework to further label and capture conceptually the experience. The analogy I used earlier was using the net (teachings/concepts) to capture the Butterfly (direct experiences) so that it can be intellectually articulated. I also resonated with what you said about seeing through "the experience and get a sense of Reality As It Is" because from my understanding, many spiritual experiences are temporal. Perhaps they merely serve as doorways and glimpses to Reality As It Is. Can seeing Reality As It Is be conceptually quantified and articulated or is it another "experience" (for the lack of a better word) that can solely be understood or alluded to? Can IT be captured? Is "emptiness" the best word we can use to describe and capture Reality As It Is? Can you please articulate to me how you experience and describe Reality As It Is? To be honest, my cognitive abilities are not the sharpest and it takes me a while to absorb certain ideas so I hope you can be patient with all my many questions. Thank you kindly. :)

P.S. Can "Boundless Love" as you mentioned or "Oneness" as I experience it be Reality As It Is? Not as something to be projected, acquired, or fixated upon like a mental or emotional object, but something that Reality Is in and of Itself that can be revealed when all else drops away?