Comments on “The Mind Illuminated, a journal: Day 7”
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2019-06-19
Thank you for this and your other comments.
As you have experienced, concentration without awareness tends to be expereinced as dullness, especially if a person is used to maintaining a strong awareness component of meditation. Strong awareness with no attentional component is crystalline pure and bright, as you describe so well as né-pa.
Am I right in understanding that the attentional component eventually leads to strong awareness in the TMI system, in the sense that it becomes superseded by, or ‘consumed within’ the crystalline, bright experience? (Or does it bring something else by addition to the strong awareness? i.e. Is “strong awareness with strong attentional focus” an aspect of the path, as well as “strong awareness with no attentional component”?) My experience to date suggests the former, but that could be due to my background. It would be good to understand this from the perspective of an expert in the system!
You are using the words “attention” and “awareness” but not sure you grok the implications.
As you have experienced, concentration without awareness tends to be expereinced as dullness, especially if a person is used to maintaining a strong awareness component of meditation.
Strong awareness with no attentional component is crystalline pure and bright, as you describe so well as né-pa.
Culadasa’s point in teaching Shamatha (via his 10 stages of TMI) is that it cultivates both aspects simultaneously, concentration and awareness, Samadhi and Satti, setting one up to have a strong vipassana capacity and increase the likelihood of breakthrough/ insight/ realization/ path attainment..