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the signless concentration
Jul. 25th, 2022 07:27 amLately my mind has been inclining towards what is called "the signless concentration", which is very similar to shikantaza in Zen.
After an initial period of getting settled, focusing on the breath or practicing some mettā, my mind starts to open up to everything. It takes actual work to get it to focus on one thing, as one might for a traditional samatha or jhāna practice (which is what I thought I was working on!). Instead, it expands to encompass every little thing that happens, without grasping. Insead of focusing on one particular thing in my experience, my focus is on everything, or nothing in particular. But I'm still focused, fully aware--not dull at all, which one can trick oneself into thinking one is focused on nothing at all, empty-headed, but are actually dull and shutting down.
I still get settled, get some samādhi, while doing this. At this point, there's no real pīti as I previously understood it, but I still enjoy it and feel refreshed by it.
I'm trying to figure out what to do with it, if anything. I know in Zen it's pretty much all you do. In the Theravāda scripture, it can lead directly to Enlightenment, although how is unclear to me. It's similar enough to dzogchen that I'm considering looking into literature on that.
After an initial period of getting settled, focusing on the breath or practicing some mettā, my mind starts to open up to everything. It takes actual work to get it to focus on one thing, as one might for a traditional samatha or jhāna practice (which is what I thought I was working on!). Instead, it expands to encompass every little thing that happens, without grasping. Insead of focusing on one particular thing in my experience, my focus is on everything, or nothing in particular. But I'm still focused, fully aware--not dull at all, which one can trick oneself into thinking one is focused on nothing at all, empty-headed, but are actually dull and shutting down.
I still get settled, get some samādhi, while doing this. At this point, there's no real pīti as I previously understood it, but I still enjoy it and feel refreshed by it.
I'm trying to figure out what to do with it, if anything. I know in Zen it's pretty much all you do. In the Theravāda scripture, it can lead directly to Enlightenment, although how is unclear to me. It's similar enough to dzogchen that I'm considering looking into literature on that.