Meditating on rapture

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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purple planet
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Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:07 am

Meditating on rapture

Post by purple planet »

Not there yet but just want to understand - when someone experiences rapture how is he supose to meditate on it

arnt we supose to just note things and let them go ? if someone dosnt focus on this rapture will he not advance or does this rapture overpower all other experiences that arise so you dont have to do anything to focus on it ?
culaavuso
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Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:27 pm

Re: Meditating on rapture

Post by culaavuso »

Focus on causes. Be aware of the results.
[url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/inmind.html]Keeping the Breath in Mind[/url] by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo wrote: The first jhana has five factors.
(a) Directed thought (vitakka): Think of the breath until you can keep it in mind without getting distracted.
(b) Singleness of preoccupation (ekaggatarammana): Keep the mind with the breath. Don't let it stray after other concepts or preoccupations. ...
(c) Evaluation (vicara): Gain a sense of how to let this comfortable breath sensation spread and connect with the other breath sensations in the body. ...

Directed thought, singleness of preoccupation, and evaluation act as the causes. When the causes are fully ripe, results will appear — (d) rapture (piti), a compelling sense of fullness and refreshment for body and mind, going straight to the heart, independent of all else; (e) pleasure (sukha), physical ease arising from the body's being still and unperturbed (kaya-passaddhi); mental contentment arising from the mind's being at ease on its own, undistracted, unperturbed, serene, and exultant (citta-passaddhi).

Rapture and pleasure are the results. The factors of the first jhana thus come down simply to two sorts: causes and results.
santa100
Posts: 6814
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: Meditating on rapture

Post by santa100 »

It's helpful to keep in mind that rapture is an important step toward the end goal, but itself is not the end goal:
AN 10.1 wrote:..“And what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of rapture?”
“The purpose and benefit of rapture is tranquility.”..
david.sojourn
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon May 05, 2014 5:42 pm

Re: Meditating on rapture

Post by david.sojourn »

purple planet wrote:Not there yet but just want to understand - when someone experiences rapture how is he supose to meditate on it

arnt we supose to just note things and let them go ? if someone dosnt focus on this rapture will he not advance or does this rapture overpower all other experiences that arise so you dont have to do anything to focus on it ?
You note things, and reflect upon them.

You have a misunderstanding of what "Letting go" is.

How do you let go? Are you just banishing it from your mind?

What benefit is there in that?

When you note "Pain in knee", the next step is to reflect. "Why is there pain in the knee? What has caused this? How can I improve this knee?"

Observe (Note), Investigate, Reflect.

There are too many books written by people who do not "know" how to practice themselves. Those are the dummies telling you to note and let everything go.

Letting go is a "process" really, something that you will gradually learn to do, but it's not appropriate ALL THE TIME. If you spend your life trying to let go of everything, how will you ever find happiness to "hang on" to? You really need to develop an understanding of why you're doing the practices. What are you trying to accomplish? The purpose is for self investigation, world investigation, etc. There is no insight in the noting alone. This is done to increase your awareness of that which is around you, within you, etc. To train you to keep the mind "ready" to "Observe".

If you're simply noting, and immediately letting things go, you might as well be reading random words in the dictionary, and forgetting them immediately.

The goal of insight meditation is to gain insight, through the investigation of that which you are experiencing moment to moment.

When a memory arises, note, a memory. But LOOK at the memory. See what's there. Feelings (Vedana)? Does it return? Is it an old memory? What spurred it back into mind?

Then, when you're investigation is done, THEN "Let it Go", and move on.

But mostly:

Observe what's present (Note)
Investigate what's present
Reflect on the results
david.sojourn
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon May 05, 2014 5:42 pm

Re: Meditating on rapture

Post by david.sojourn »

culaavuso wrote:Focus on causes. Be aware of the results.
[/quote]

Also good advice, and simpler than my ramble. :)
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