fear of death , page-72

whereu

Not my technique ... it is a recognized Theravada practice.

There are two ways to tackle it [broadly speaking] ... the hard way and the easy way.

Most people go about it the hard way [Buddhists included]. The hard way ... is trying to force the attention to remain fixed on that sensation of the touch of the air. That creates a lot of internal conflict and wastes energy.

The universal experience for a meditator is, from the moment they sit they will start thinking about something else. I can assure you this is true even for long term practitioners. The difference that practise makes is how quickly one can put thoughts to one side and settle into a more tranquil state.

The easy way is also the quick way. It has to do with understanding how thoughts arise in the first place.

When you start a practise and that inevitable first thought intrudes and takes over, spend a little time to examine your emotional state. Thoughts arise from our emotional response to our experience. Usually we are thinking about things which are bothering us. It often is the case that we are feeling some unwelcome emotional reaction to something and we start thinking about it, usually in the form of a fantasy [i.e. replaying a conversation in 20/20 hindsight or perhaps replaying the event and seeing if a different outcome could have been achieved etc. etc.]

Nothing wrong with that process what-so-ever, but something to be short circuited in meditation practise. If you can allow yourself to feel the underlying emotional state and accept it [come to terms with it, integrate it] the accompanying thoughts will tend to abate quite naturally. This is a general principle.

For those who doggedly pursue the hard way, they will eventually succeed in fixing their attention [on the chosen meditation object, touch of the air or some other preferred technique] but it is not uncommon for that to lead to a very disruptive period later on. Going about meditation in that way frequently results in some sort of 'peak' experience, which in itself can be interesting, but if the person has any underlying, unresolved internal emotional conflicts it is very common for them to surface all at once. It is not desirable and it can easily be avoided.

If you patiently practise and attend to the emotional triggers of your thinking, progress is steady and insightful. It is a matter of constantly returning your attention to the touch of the air whenever you recognize that you have wandered, which is going to happen a lot. This will repeatedly expose your underlying emotional state, which like the itches and aches also have remained subliminal and below the usual level of conscious awareness,

This is the working basis. Anapana has various levels of attainment. If you engage in the practice in an intensive manner and over an extended period of time it can lead to 'one-pointedness'. The quality of these experiences of one-pointedness are highly internalized states where one's perception of one's surroundings are extremely attenuated ... hence the idea of withdrawing from the senses.

Most of the practical benefit of anapana really comes from the early work. As you become better at integrating and accepting your emotional experiences the mind in general is quieter at all times. As you have already stated that you are 70, I am sure you will have already made peace with yourself on many levels and so this probably makes good sense to you. Much of the practical application of meditation revolves around this willingness to be self confrontational.

The deeper, profound aspects of meditation, which have to do with trying to see deeper into reality and perhaps solve some of the great questions of life all have their root in this preliminary stage of the practice. The idea is to arrive at a state where the perceptions presented in the mind can be relied upon ... not distorted by internal conflicts, vain imaginings or dominated by external influences.


Hi Trees

Not sure what you are referring to "what about the touch of the water that moves around you?" Anything can be a meditation object, there is nothing special about any of them. The touch of the air happens to be pretty convenient.

As far as already dying and coming back .... we could speculate about it. Perhaps those who have had a near death experience will have things to say about it. My comment on it is all creatures seem to fear death. On those few occasions when I have seen things die I have more than once seen what looks very much to me recognition by those creatures they are about to die. When I look into myself I know that I am afraid.

I think the real value is to live and act knowing the fear. The problems seem to arise when people try to insulate themselves and protect themselves from that fear. Fear of one's own death can inform a person or it can dominate a person.