Access concentration.

[Christer]

I have a question about access concentration, if I may.

 

I am using a candle light, at an arms lenght. This is due to my huge facination of fire in general, and its seducing me naturally.

I am using a lot of focused energy to keep all attention on it, and tossing myself back when thoughts arise or my awareness lingers.

My questions are; 

Is it better to use a fixed point in your breath, as this is more "portable"? Or will the flame work just fine in lenght?

And is 1 hour of practice enough each day? I can get "pumping sensations" around and in my skull after 1 hour of hard focus. 

I understand this is a very crucial point to gain.

Thanks! :-)

[cetus]

@Christer Hi. I don't know if this will be of any help to you but I experienced something that seemed similar to what may be called access concentration. What I experienced was a sudden shift of awareness. I mean it was distinct. It was as if the mind became hyper focused like a laser beam. I can't say exactly what it was that happened. Maybe the brain came into perfect firing order as in both hemispheres were firing in tandem? Was it a shift in brain waves to pure thea or alpha waves? I think a big part if may have been due to the mind becoming perfectly still than perfectly focused.  Until that experiance happened I never knew it could even be possible for that to happen. For me it was like discovering a hidden ability. I remember thinking to myself after it happened "Wow i never knew that was possible". Just to add, it seemed to be a hit or miss kind of thing. Like you just have to stumble upon it. As if it's hidden and the brain normally doesn't recognize it. If that makes any sense. Like finding a hidden door. But I believe the key that unlocks that "door" is a perfectly still but focused mind.

[Enlightenment]

Fire kasina is good but I'm not sure whether you use it correctly, because from what I've heard you supposed to look at the fire until  "afterimage" appears, then close your eyes and concentrate on this light. I've always used breath. There are a few different definitions of what access concentration is, if you want to just have enough concentration to do some vipassana insight practises then 1 hour is ok, but if you want to get to deep equanimity then 1 hour is almost certainly not enough.

[Christer]

Thank you both! I love both answers! 

I also agree that this to be attained need a deep and tranquil state of mind, feeling like someone laid a warm wet cloth over "the brain". Feeling of compressed material pushing your brain into a more denser form as it "sinks".

What I`ve obviously done wrong, which is funny, is that I`ve stared that "physical" candle down like hell, shifting all my attention to it. Not blinking, not closing my eyes, even if water came running.

What I`m skilled at is creating an afterimage, again and again for a long time after I stopped looking at the flame, or my window during the day. It appears spontaniously if I close my eyes right away. Also with lamps, I`ve noticed the afterimage become so clear that it looks real and it changes form. If f.ex it is from a lamp, the image is bright white and murky, then it turns to colours in different internal shapes and becoming very clear, then the outer boarder starts to change forms. This feels like the shape is being shaped after my mind, trying to look for "a shape" that can be identified with something I know. When I close my eyes to sleep and look into "the space" back there, shapes occur too. Like white silk. Poeple walking, images being alive, I also see alot of "monters" appearing, with huge sharp teeth. The last one is very often.

 

So basicly, I stare down the candle for a time, close my eyes and focus on the mental image? Bring it up, hold it and observe the change?

I would like to get the first few stages of samatha jhana down, so it can assist me in the vipassana jhana, insight practices I`m doing, by noting undfolding sensations.

 

[Nahm]

@Christer Awareness uninterupted by thought, electricity without resistors, wind without the forest, inevitable with 24/7 stomach breath focus, it becomes the default as it already was.

[Privet]

@Christer

On 8/22/2018 at 3:32 PM, Christer said:

I am using a lot of focused energy to keep all attention on it, and tossing myself back when thoughts arise or my awareness lingers.

Sounds like you're trying to brute force it. I achieved samatha this way once when I was 19, but it's of no use because you can't be this way always. It's like an amateur musician trying to play fast: it's very sloppy and he can't play long, his fingers hurt. When you train yourself with patience over longer periods the proper way you can play fast without so much tension. Same shit with concentration. The goal is to always gently return to the object of concentration until it becomes automatic. So what matters is not the amount of effort, but the number of that "returns" because that's how any skill is developed, by repetition.

If you are interested in achieving samatha or just developing concentration I highly recommend the book called "The Mind Illuminated" by Culadasa. It describes all 10 stages in detail and provides clear goals and approaches to obstacles at every stage.

[Christer]

I can not thank you enough for answers. I will get the book. Thank you <3