I have been practicing (Goenkan) Vipassana for about 5 months. I have found that when I am able to communicate with my subconscious the effects are most pronounced, as when the pain of sitting finally went away during my initial adhittana (stationary) sittings, and a lot of other little pains and stiffness also lifted. My subconscious was educated by the sensation of pain ameliorating, not by my conscious mind telling it "stop feeling pain".
I would like to do the same with anicca. (The concept of) anicca still originates in my conscious mind, whereas pain/pleasure originates in my subconscious mind. I would like to bridge the gap vis a vis anicca, and make it as subconscious a process as possible. The closest I have gotten is this: as I feel sensations, I feel a ball/ridge of energy (arising) at the line of my awareness during a body scan, followed by a sensation of (passing) as the energy fades, rather like a comet in the sky. I still have to consciously remind myself sometimes that this is arising/passing (anicca), but it is better than using "anicca" as a continual conscious-level mantra, since the former at least involves body sensations.
Just wondering how others handle this, as the literature has not really answered it to my satisfaction.
Thank you.
Unconcious/Subconcious Anicca
Re: Unconcious/Subconcious Anicca
Focus instead on developing awareness of the anicca characteristic of sensation.
Kind regards,
Ben
Kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
Re: Unconcious/Subconcious Anicca
Sorry I'm late in replying--and thanks for your focused answer. Makes me re-frame my question: is this awareness a conscious or unconscious process?Ben wrote:Focus instead on developing awareness of the anicca characteristic of sensation.
Kind regards,
Ben
It really is a question of what to do during practice. Often during adhittana I just sit and feel the "line of energy/vibrations" go through me like a comet (with the attendant arising/passing), a process which theoretically involves little or no conscious thought. Point: Is this essentially unconscious process a contemplation of anicca (does my unconscious feel the arising/passing automatically/instinctively), or do I have to consciously remind myself about anicca (arising/passing) as well during sitting, a process which involves visualization/mantra, something I am trying to get away from?
metta and thanks.
Re: Unconcious/Subconcious Anicca
So long as you are aware of the anicca characteristic of the sensations you are experiencing you don't have to repeat "anicca".
Kind regards,
Ben
Kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..