List Of Enlightenment Exercises

[Big_D]

30 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

If you're an experienced meditator, you can simply go into one-pointed concentration on the Self and break through that way.

 

One-pointed concentration? Monkey-mind says NOPE!

Seems I have to do the exercises first

Btw I really appreciate that you take your time to answer our question, giving us tips/exercises and all this stuff. What would we do without you? Probably sitting on couch and eating a bucket of ice cream lol

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, abrakamowse said:

@Leo Gura In the exercise 1 , I don't get this part

But when my finger touches my body, the ego can say... hey! That's me... and that's the problem. We know we are not the body, but we still think we are.

"A finger" is a sensation. "The body" is a sensation. How can one sensation "touch" another sensation???

Look more closely!

There is no finger.

There is no body.

There is no you looking out at the world!

And there is no "world" for that matter.

All of those are conceptual constructions. Deconstruct them all. Direct experience has none of that. It's just raw, free-floating sensation.

[abrakamowse]

2 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

"A finger" is a sensation. "The body" is a sensation. How can one sensation "touch" another sensation.

Look more closely!

There is no finger.

There is no body.

There is no you looking out at the world!

There is no world.

All of those are conceptual constructions. Direct experience has none of that. It's just raw, free-floating sensation.

Thanks @Leo Gura , I am so blind. I keep forgetting things I already now.

I need to remember myself.

[abrakamowse]

Maybe I need to watch some of your videos about "physical sensations"...

[bobbyward]

3 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

The newbie mind needs something to start with. These exercises are that.

If you're an experienced meditator, you can simply go into one-pointed concentration on the Self and break through that way.

 

at this stage for me it seems like the mind is using these self observation/ self inquiry questions as a sneaky way to perpetuate itself, these questions make the mind feel useful and give it something to do. one pointed concentration on the self is torture for the mind, it makes the mind redundant. 

[Leo Gura]

41 minutes ago, bobbyward said:

at this stage for me it seems like the mind is using these self observation/ self inquiry questions as a sneaky way to perpetuate itself, these questions make the mind feel useful and give it something to do. one pointed concentration on the self is torture for the mind, it makes the mind redundant. 

No, the sneakiness here is the excuses and distractions being made to avoid doing the exercises.

Just do the exercises and you will progress very well.

All rationalizations for why the exercises aren't good to do, or can't possibly work, are just distraction.

Don't get so hung up on avoiding the mind that you fall even deeper into mind.

Steady practice is the key. Debating whether or not to do practice is a trap. If you do the practice, you will see results.

And enlightenment itself is not the only measure of progress. Your awareness will grow A LOT even if you don't become enlightened here. You should be happy with any gains in awareness you make, no matter how small.

[Christian]

 @Leo Gura So true man. Wasted 2 years in that trap and now I am starting to see it. Stop talking shit. STOP IT. Do all that can be done each day and you will get your result. Actions=results

It is so fucking simple, why make it any more complicated? What's the point.  You are gonna die anyway so might as well crush it! 

[Samuel Garcia]

 

On 1/2/2017 at 10:53 PM, Leo Gura said:

How can one sensation called "a thought" see or feel another sensation such as an object in your visual field?

What do you mean by this? Doesn't the visual sensation cause/influence thought?

 

On 1/2/2017 at 10:53 PM, Leo Gura said:

How is it that sights, sounds, and feelings are connected?

Are they connected?

Is each occurring in the same dimension, or is each occurring an separate, independent dimension?

Where does focus fit into this matter? For example, they say blind people are more attuned to their hearing (maybe because they have more focus on the hearing and none on their seeing). When intensity of physical pain increase, doesn't more focus go onto that pain (feeling) and less onto hearing and seeing. But you said that no phenomena is superior to another. Isn't attention/focus  the thing which connects sights, sounds and feelings?

[Leo Gura]

9 hours ago, Samuel Garcia said:

What do you mean by this? Doesn't the visual sensation cause/influence thought?

A visual sensation might influence a thought, but that's not what's being investigated here.

We're investigating what is perceiving sensations.

Can a thought perceive a sensation?

Can a sensation perceive another sensation?

Take a close look.

How is perception happening? How is it even possible in theory? What would a perceiver even be when all there are are perception?

Quote

Where does focus fit into this matter? For example, they say blind people are more attuned to their hearing (maybe because they have more focus on the hearing and none on their seeing). When intensity of physical pain increase, doesn't more focus go onto that pain (feeling) and less onto hearing and seeing. But you said that no phenomena is superior to another. Isn't attention/focus  the thing which connects sights, sounds and feelings?

Focus is focus. Yes, focus happens, but this is not what I meant when I said "superior". I was referring to an existential superiority. For example, is red existentially superior blue? No. Is color superior to sound? No. Is your hand superior to a book? No. Is your body superior to a tree? No. How then, can you identify with any one thing over another? Notice, the only way that can happen is if you create a tacit heirarchy of sensations, where you basically say, "Okay my body is above that tree. And my mind is above my body. And I am above everything. I own everything."

Except what is that thing which sits at the top of this hierarchy and claims to "own" everything?

Could it be that there is no such thing, and that the hierarchy is really a fantasy?

Take a look. Is there a hierarchy within the field of sensations? Or the field utterly democratic, everything co-arising from who-knows-where?

[Nexeternity]

Bubble excercise

Sit comfortably and quietly, still your mind, and become aware of direct experience.

Notice that you seem to be in a bubble of awareness.

Observe the visual field, what is behind the things you see? What is around the edges of that field?

Observe the audio field.  Try to listen to the farthest sound you can.  What is beyond the farthest sound?

Observe your body.  What sorrounds the edges of the sensations of your body?

Notice that you are that visual, audio, and kinesthetic bubble of awareness as well as the nothingness that is beyond it.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Nexeternity
Typo

[Nexeternity]

No free will massage excercise

Sit comfortably and quietly, still your mind, and become aware of direct experience.

Look at one of your hands and forearms.

Massage them with your other hand in a slow free flowing manner.

Notice that it feels like you are doing this.

Notice however that its imposible to know the exact moment when you would begin the massage.

Notice that you dont know exactly how the massage will be, the pressure you will use, what áreas you stay longer massaging.

Notice that its impossible to know the exact moment when you will end the massage.

The massage is really happening by itself, there is no you doing it, any sense of control is illusory.

[Wouter]

@Leo Gura I got some questions while doing the first exercise. 

-How slow should we draw the line? 

-Where should the line end? Touchingb our bodies, near or eyes,...?

[Leo Gura]

28 minutes ago, Wouter said:

@Leo Gura I got some questions while doing the first exercise. 

-How slow should we draw the line? 

-Where should the line end? Touchingb our bodies, near or eyes,...?

- Up to you. As slow as it takes for you to stay conscious of what's happening.

- End it at wherever you think you are. This will be revealing. If you end it at your eyeball, then that tells you you think you're behind the eyeball. If you end it at your chest, then that tells you you are identified with the heart feeling area. I usually draw it to my eyeball, only to realize, there is no eyeball!

[100rockets]

@Leo GuraLEO, I heard you talk about being able to experience being a tree (or anything else) in a video. Can you tell me what that phenomenon is called and what exercise should I use for that?

Edited January 15, 2017 by 100rockets

[Leo Gura]

@100rockets That is called a state of Samadhi, or mystical union, or direct consciousness, or enlightenment, or simply reality! You already are everything you experience. Right now! Already! Always! Just realize there never was a "you" who experienced anything, and what's left? The tree.

The exercises listed here are pointing to Samadhi. Just keep practicing and you'll get it.

Experience occurs without an experiencer. That's all there is to get.

[100rockets]

@Leo Gura Thanks!

[abrakamowse]

@100rockets @Leo Gura I was in a meditation group long time ago, where some guys used to meditate on a rock. They felt like if they were the rock, now I understand what they were "doing". I was a teen at that moment and I really didn't understand meditation properly.

[Naviy]

@Leo Gura

Leo, do you want to make a thread like this about meditation techniques too?

[alifesurreal]

On 2017-01-02 at 11:53 PM, Leo Gura said:

Exercise #1: Drawing An Imaginary Line

Thanks a LOT for these practical tools!

I kind of extended that first exercise and started visualizing how it would be if I were able to continue drawing that line beyond my skin? I continued the line into my head, and when I realized that I'd actually pass right through my head without touching anything tangible, that gave me a very direct experience of the empty/hollow nature of that "self".

Thought I'd share this as it helped me move forward in my process

[Anton Rogachevski]

@Leo Gura In what way is the "advanced student" had advanced? Or is there a progress to be "experienced" before  breakthrough?