..续本文上一页ng up. This meditation is a natural process of coming to rest and it requires ”you” to get out of the way completely. Deep meditation only occurs when you really let go, and this means REALLY LET GO to the point that the process becomes inaccessible to the” doer”.
A skilful means to achieve such profound letting go is to deliberately offer the gift of confidence to the nimitta. Interrupt the silence just for a moment, so so gently, and whisper as it were inside your mind that you give complete trust to the nimitta, so that the” doer” can relinquish all control and just disappear. The mind, represented here by the nimitta before you, will then take over the process as you watch it all happen.
You do not need to do anything here because the intense beauty of the nimitta is more than capable of holding the attention without your assistance. Be careful, here, not to go assessing. Questions such as ”What is this
”, ”Is this Jhana
”, ”What should I do next
” , and so on are all the work of ”the doer” trying to get involved again. This is disturbing the process. You may assess everything once the journey is over. A good scientist only assesses the experiment at the end, when all the data are in. So now, do not assess or try to work it all out. There is no need to pay attention to the edge of the nimitta ”Is it round or oval
”, ”Is the edge clear or fuzzy
”. This is all unnecessary and just leads to more persity, more duality of ”inside” and ”outside”, and more disturbance.
Let the mind incline where it wants, which is usually to the centre of the nimitta. The centre is where the most beautiful part lies, where the light is most brilliant and pure. Let go and just enjoy the ride as the attention gets drawn into the centre and falls right inside, or as the light expands all around enveloping you totally. This is, in fact, one and the same experience perceived from different perspectives. Let the mind merge in the bliss. Let the seventh stage of this path of meditation, First Jhana, occur.
There are two common obstacles at the door into Jhana: exhilaration and fear. Exhilaration is becoming excited. If, at this point, the mind thinks, ”Wow, this is it!” then the Jhana is most unlikely to happen. This” Wow” response needs to be subdued in favour of absolute passivity. You can leave all the ”Wows” until after emerging from the Jhana, where they properly belong. The more likely obstacle, though, is fear. Fear arises at the recognition of the sheer power and bliss of the Jhana, or else at the recognition that to go fully inside the Jhana, something must be left behind-You! The” doer” is silent before entering Jhana but it is still there. Inside Jhana, the ”doer” is completely gone. The ”knower” is still functioning, you are fully aware, but all the controls are now beyond reach. You cannot even form a single thought, let alone make a decision. The will is frozen, and this can appear scary to the beginner. Never before in your whole life have you ever experienced being so stripped of all control yet so fully awake. The fear is the fear of surrendering something so essentially personal as the will to do.
This fear can be overcome through confidence in the Buddha”s Teachings together with the enticing bliss just ahead that one can see as the reward. The Lord Buddha often said that this bliss of Jhana” should not be feared but should be followed, developed and practised often”(Latukikopama Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya). So before fear arises, offer your full confidence to that bliss and maintain faith in the Lord Buddha”s Teachings and the example of the Noble Disciples. Trust the Dhamma and let the Jhana warmly embrace you for an effortless, body-less and ego-less, blissful experience that will be the most profound of your life. Have the courag…
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