The following are practice notes related to the readings & practices we’ve been going through from Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator’s Handbook by Ajahn Brahm.
The Seven Stages of Meditation
- Present-Moment Awareness
- Silent Present-Moment Awareness
- Silent Present-Moment Awareness of the Breath
- Full Sustained Attention on the Breath
- Full Sustained Attention on the Beautiful Breath
- Experiencing the Beautiful Nimitta
- Jhāna
Note: Ajahn Brahm makes a point of emphasizing that it is best to stay with a stage until one has mastered it completely before moving on to the next stage.
The Five Hindrances
(pañca nīvaraṇa)
- kāma-cchanda – Sensory Desire
- a.k.a. Sensual Desire, Sense-Desire
- Simile: like being in debt
- vyāpāda – Ill Will
- a.k.a. Hostility, Hatred, Resentment, Bitterness
- Simile: like being sick and in pain
- thīna-middha – Sloth and Torpor
- a.k.a. Lethargy and Drowsiness
- Simile: like being in prison
- uddhacca-kukkucca – Restlessness and Remorse
- a.k.a. Restlessness and Worry
- Simile: like being a slave
- vicikicchā – Doubt
- a.k.a. Skeptical Doubt, Uncertainty
- Simile: like traveling through a dangerous & barren wilderness
See also:
- “The Five Hindrances (Nivarana)” by Ajahn Brahmavamso
- “The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest: Selected Texts from the Pali Canon and the Commentaries” compiled and translated by Nyanaponika Thera
- Working with the Five Hindrances by Ajahn Thiradhammo
Ānāpānasati
Preliminaries
- Go to a quiet place & sit on a comfortable seat
- Set up mindfulness “in front of you”, that is, practice the first two stages mentioned above, namely:
- Present-Moment Awareness
- Silent Present-Moment Awareness
The Sixteen Steps
Steps 1-12: Entering Jhāna
- Experiencing long breaths
- Experiencing short breaths
- sabba-kāya-patisamvedī – Experiencing the Whole of the Breath
- Calming the Breath
- Experiencing Joy (pīti) along with the Breath
- Experiencing Happiness (sukha) along with the Breath
- Experiencing the Breath as a Mind Object
- Calming the Mental Experience
- citta-paṭisaṁvedī – Experiencing the Mind
- abhippamodayaṁ cittaṁ – Shining the Nimitta or “giving joy to the mind”
- samādahaṁ cittaṁ – Sustaining the Nimitta, “attentively stilling the mind”, or “sustaining the attention on the nimitta“.
- vimocayaṁ cittaṁ – Freeing the Mind
Steps 13-16: Emerging from Jhāna
- Reflecting on Impermanence (anicca)
- Reflecting on Fading Away of Things (virāga)
- Reflecting on Cessation (nirodha)
- Reflecting on Letting Go, Abandoning (paṭinissagga)