Ajahn Sumedho on meditation: 'Allowing Things To Arise' (essay)

[A human Being]

The poster DavidHenson shared Ajahn Sumedho's discourse on the Four Noble Truths in the Buddhism subforum, and in page 41 of the essay, under the sub-heading 'Allowing Things To Arise', Sumedho talks specifically about meditation practice - I think it's an excellent summary of the logic of meditation, so I thought it worth sharing here, for anyone who's interested

http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/4nobltru.pdf

[A human Being]

Just another note on this, there's more about meditation beginning at the bottom of page 61, under the subheading 'Aspects of Meditation'.

[Unseeking Seeker]

Thanks for sharing

[A human Being]

You're welcome, Unseeking Seeker

[A human Being]

Originally Posted by A human Being

Just another note on this, there's more about meditation beginning at the bottom of page 61, under the subheading 'Aspects of Meditation'.

Sorry, it's at the bottom of page 60, not 61.

[sky]

Originally Posted by A human Being

The poster DavidHenson shared Ajahn Sumedho's discourse on the Four Noble Truths in the Buddhism subforum.

http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/4nobltru.pdf

You might also enjoy His Teacher's Teachings.
Ajahn Chah .

[A human Being]

Originally Posted by sky123

You might also enjoy His Teacher's Teachings.
Ajahn Chah .

I'll check them out, thanks for the recommendation

Concerning the last paragraph on page 61 that spills over to page 62...

My first true practice is samatha (also called calm abiding) and it's simply awareness of sensations of breath. Notice in the second to last paragraph on page 61 it says there's something unsatisfactory about it because it is dependent on a technique?

I would say the next level described in that last paragraph is akin to resting in awareness, do-nothing, choiceless awareness, shikantaza. In other words effortless or no technique.

Here's the kicker from my own experience and practicing resting in awareness. The resulting perfect peacefulness is right there always whether practicing technique or no technique and even while not practicing. It's always accessible and the trick is to first "touch" it and then realize its significance. Once "touched" it's hard to ignore and the more often "touched" the easier to access outside of formal practice. In essence that's no different than any mindfulness technique, just on a deeper level.

[A human Being]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Notice in the second to last paragraph on page 61 it says there's something unsatisfactory about it because it is dependent on a technique?I would say the next level described in that last paragraph is akin to resting in awareness, do-nothing, choiceless awareness, shikantaza.

Is that transition to choiceless awareness something that happened on its own for you, or do you have to make a conscious choice? The perfect peacefulness you mentioned isn't something I've experienced myself as yet (EDIT: Not in formal meditation practice, at least), I'm thinking there's been too much unresolved trauma and emotional upset within me to this point.

Originally Posted by A human Being

Is that transition to choiceless awareness something that happened on its own for you, or do you have to make a conscious choice?

Here's where I first came upon it being named or explained by Jon Kabat-Zinn, I think in 2015.

https://youtu.be/5TeWvf-nfpA?list=PL...PNokg&t=120 5

The interesting thing is from my experience it's a really subtle transition from calm abiding to choiceless awareness and I eventually realized I had been subtly slipping into effortlessness for very brief periods while practicing calm abiding. It's when breath becomes so subtle as to not be noticeable and the attending, if it's still volitional, is minimally volitional. I say minimally volitional because I would notice breath become so subtle as to be unnoticeable so I was attending something no longer in evidence and without any distractions taking its place.

After hearing this from Jon I began to work on and expand it, first for seconds, then minutes and eventually an entire sitting of 30 - 45 minutes where it's truly second-nature. It's just letting go of everything and just being present. "Noticing" anything and everything that arises, lingers and subsides in awareness including the observer. For me the ultimate manifestation is those sittings that seemingly end just as they begin even though the timer is set for 30-45 minutes. Time and space drop out and after the timer goes off it's not like I wasn't "there". I was and I wasn't if that makes sense. It's hard to explain but supreme silence, stillness or serenity is close.

It's certainly challenging at first and a good base in mindfulness really helps. It helps to have a somewhat focused and concentrated mind to pull it off.