mental noting burmese method

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befriend
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mental noting burmese method

Post by befriend »

in daily life when an emotion comes up that im not sure what it is, do i use the label knowing knowing?
and during vipassana meditation when an emotion comes up that i dont know what it is do i label it knowing knowing?
metta, befriend
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purple planet
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Re: mental noting burmese method

Post by purple planet »

Yes - you label it the most comfortable way for you

you can label them both as knowing but i think if you know its an emotion it would be easier to label it as emotion
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mikenz66
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Re: mental noting burmese method

Post by mikenz66 »

Here is some advice from U Pandita:
Sayadaw U Pandita wrote:In making the verbal label, there is no need for complex language. One simple word is best. For the eye, ear, and tongue doors we simply say, “Seeing, seeing... Hearing, hearing... Tasting, tasting.” For sensations in the body we may choose a slightly more descriptive term like warmth, pressure, hardness, or motion. Mental objects appear to present a bewildering diversity, but actually they fall into just a few clear categories such as thinking, imagining, remembering, planning, and visualizing. But remember that in using the labeling technique, your goal is not to gain verbal skills. Labeling technique helps us to perceive clearly the actual qualities of our experience, without getting immersed in the content. It develops mental power and focus. In meditation we seek a deep, clear, precise awareness of the mind and body. This direct awareness shows us the truth about our lives, the actual nature of mental and physical processes.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pesala/Pan ... structions
:anjali:
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tiltbillings
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Re: mental noting burmese method

Post by tiltbillings »

The teaching from Munindra-ji was to keep it simple and easy. With a very light touch label it "emotion" or whatever (the actual label is not vital) but don't fret about it. What is important is the simple act of attending to what you are experiencing. Keep it simple and easy.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
Sylvester
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Re: mental noting burmese method

Post by Sylvester »

mikenz66 wrote:Here is some advice from U Pandita:
Sayadaw U Pandita wrote:In making the verbal label, there is no need for complex language. One simple word is best. For the eye, ear, and tongue doors we simply say, “Seeing, seeing... Hearing, hearing... Tasting, tasting.” For sensations in the body we may choose a slightly more descriptive term like warmth, pressure, hardness, or motion. Mental objects appear to present a bewildering diversity, but actually they fall into just a few clear categories such as thinking, imagining, remembering, planning, and visualizing. But remember that in using the labeling technique, your goal is not to gain verbal skills. Labeling technique helps us to perceive clearly the actual qualities of our experience, without getting immersed in the content. It develops mental power and focus. In meditation we seek a deep, clear, precise awareness of the mind and body. This direct awareness shows us the truth about our lives, the actual nature of mental and physical processes.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pesala/Pan ... structions
:anjali:
Mike


Wow! A faithful throwback to the conception of rūpa as conceptual appearances. :thumbsup:
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mikenz66
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Re: mental noting burmese method

Post by mikenz66 »

Sylvester wrote:l throwback to the conception of rūpa as conceptual appearances. :thumbsup:
Well, rupa as an experienced phenomenon, at least. Whether or not those experiences are paramattha or conceptual is another distinction, but in the beginning it's certainly going to be conceptual...

Not sure why you're surprised... This is the way I was taught, which of course is why I quoted it...

:anjali:
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Re: mental noting burmese method

Post by Sylvester »

It's part of that on-going discussion of how the Abhidhamma expanded the nāma-rūpa conception from its Vedic milieu, and had to be rescued somewhat by the Commentaries who restored the framework to thinking of the dhātus as conceptual qualities, rather than just as "things".

It goes to where the focus of the "noting" lies - on the object, or on the experience of the object.

:anjali:

Edit - one of the great things about the Burmese tradition(s), particularly the Mahasi Sayadaw, was the readiness to depart from "orthodoxy" in its description of praxis. The Burmese description of mindfulness of breathing as being contemplation of the wind "element" is probably more canonical than the Commentarial description. Breathing is always found in the formulaic sutta descriptions of the wind element, and interestingly, all of the sutta descriptions of the 4 elements are very abstract in terms of the qualities of solidity, liquidity, fieriness, motion and most pointedly, spatiality.
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