Sacha G wrote:Hi
I just wanted to expose the unorthodox way I practice vipassana (not always but for a good part of my practice).
When I'm concentrated enough, I focus my awareness on the pure consciousness which appears "around" and "between" the thoughts (I hope it's clear enough). I would call this, "recognizing" of the pure consciousness.
Then I try to stay on it as much as I can, without paying attention to the thoughts. Like somebody looking at a mirror, and wanting to see the mirror itself, not the reflections.
When I leave the cushion, I try to be aware of my environment as just "phenomena" appearing on the surface of this consciousness, and I try to keep this detached awareness.
What do you think? Can you call this vipassana? Or does it sound more like zen/dzogchen/advaita?
Thanx
Sacha
hi Sacha
The way that I would interpret your impressions of a kind of "pure consciousness" would be by way of what I have observed about mental qualities within the structure of the formless concentrations. During the practice of concentration and after one has abandoned the perception of form remaining within the fourth jhana one is left with only the mental qualities which are the underlying conditions which support the percipience of forms and the percipience of the qualities of sensations dependent upon the percipience of forms.
The more predominant of the four mental qualities involved in this compound are the quality which gives rise to the perception of an unbounded spacial perception or a spacial perception which is not impacted by a percipience of forms and the sensational qualities associated with forms and or the perception of the unbounded extension of the potential for percipience which is similarly not impacted by percipience of forms and or percipience of the sensational qualities of forms. These two mental qualities are aggregated extensions of the more rudimentary mental quality of the mental quality with the potential for percipience itself which by means of clinging further compounds this percipient quality into an aggregated field of sufficient volume to support and maintain its contacts with the perceptions of the bodily forms and the perceptions of the qualities of sensations which the perceptions of the bodily forms support much in the same way that the body has the capacity to aggregate the four elements to the extent necessary to maintain the forms of the body itself.
As such these mental qualities are also clearly dependent, conditional and compounded, continually demonstrate the characteristics of annica, dukkha and anatta and are subject to arising and passing. These mental qualities are directly observable within the formless concentrations and can be discerned and methodically investigated in that context. Apart from the four mental qualities found within the formless concentrations there are no other mental qualities which together compound to make up consciousness and while these can be isolated in this manner, even under the specific conditions pertaining to the formless concentrations these mental qualities do not constitute a 'pure consciousness' but rather are merely the mental qualities which are the conditions that make up consciousness when the consciousness aggregate is isolated by means of concentration from further compounding by means of additional clinging to the natural objects of percipience of the qualities of forms and the percipience of qualities of sensations bound up with forms.
Some insights into what these mental qualities are like may arise by examining mentality in the ways which you have described although it would be difficult to evaluate how clearly these mental qualities are discerned amid the flux and flow of more complex compounded perceptions.
Clearly the difficulties of discerning these qualities specifically and comprehending these qualities correctly are great considering how many otherwise very longstanding and dedicated and accomplished practitioners have mistaken these same qualities for some sort of consciousness which they allege to be 'pure' or even 'unconditioned'.
When carefully examined in isolation these mental qualities are discerned to be quite clearly and entirely conditional and apart from the presence of these mental qualities there can be no ongoing arising and passing of the aggregate of consciousness. When the four mental qualities which compounded together make up the conditional supports for consciousness are let go of entirely, when these mental qualities cease to arise and continue to not arise for a given period this is the interval during which the unconditioned dhamma is realized, during the complete cessation of feeling and perception which accompanies the letting go of precisely these underlying mental qualities which support conscious percipience.
When the four supportive mental qualities for percipience arise together as these typically do the most rudimentary of these qualities is capable of objectifying the other three mental qualities and it is one of these forms of objectification which together with a lack of discernment and insight can potentially support misperceptions or misconceptions that there is some type of consciousness which is 'pure' or unconditioned. However, again, by means of direct insight it can be determined with complete certainty that there exist no mental qualities which are not dependent and conditional and therefore no forms of consciousness which can be considered pure or unconditioned.
All of this aside however, in relation to establishing the insight into the distinctions between mentality and materiality and the distinction between the arising and passing of one instance and type of mentality or materiality and the next the kind of exercise you have described would appear to be very useful and beneficial. As such the exercise need not be considered unorthodox at all. Rather the only unorthodox aspect would be the reference to 'pure consciousness'.
But whoever walking, standing, sitting, or lying down overcomes thought, delighting in the stilling of thought: he's capable, a monk like this, of touching superlative self-awakening. § 110. {Iti 4.11; Iti 115}