The Gate

Okay. It is noticing the oneness, the lack of separation that matters.

Maybe practice in a more comfortable chair?

Loving

Some of the folks who were sitting in the comfy chairs at Starbucks left, and I was able to claim one. So, five more minutes of ButtChair, attending to the lack of separation between butt and chair . . .

Mainly what I noticed in that vicinity was the sensations of pressure in a somewhat amorphous crescent-ish shape. I wondered how much of the sense of location of the sensations came from direct experience (proprioception) and how much from thought (my image of my body and/or knowledge of the shape of my body).

I gather than more isn't necessarily better when it comes to LU exercises, but do you have any really rough suggestion of how often and for how long it would be good to do this exercise?

how long it would be good to do this exercise?

Just RELAX into it & feel when you've done enough. It's not timed.

Mainly what I noticed in that vicinity was the sensations of pressure in a somewhat amorphous crescent-ish shape. I wondered how much of the sense of location of the sensations came from direct experience (proprioception) and how much from thought (my image of my body and/or knowledge of the shape of my body).

Thoughts. Nothing but thoughts there. We don't care about those. We don't care what you "wondered about. "

FEELINGS. SENSATIONS

Hot, cold, heavy, light, tense. relaxed.

ONLY things a body can feel.

Practice by writing. "I feel..." and write only about Sensations.

Loving,

Practice by writing. "I feel..." and write only about Sensations.

OK, I’m sitting cross-legged on my bed. I feel pressure, in varying degrees in different parts of my butt. I feel slight warmth. I feel a specific line of sensations against my skin at the top of my butt. Mostly, I just keep noticing the pressure.

It is noticing the oneness, the lack of separation that matters.

I’m trying to notice that, but I’m confused about how I could. I just feel sensations of my butt (proprioception) and sensations of my-butt-in-interaction-with-the-bed (various sensations of touch). Oh, wait, is that “the lack of separation”? That there are no touch sensations of the bed apart from the sensations that arise from how it affects my butt?

Back at Starbucks, sitting in a comfy chair, doing ButtChair: I feel pressure. When I shift my position slightly, I feel the area of the pressure shift slightly. I feel more pressure around my sit bones than elsewhere. I feel a little bit of tingling that’s hard to locate but seems to be outside of the area of the most pressure (and mostly not in my butt but in my thighs).

It is noticing the oneness, the lack of separation that matters.

Once again, I notice that of course there aren’t any separate “chair” sensations but just “butt-interacting-with-chair” sensations.

ButtChair again:

Practice by writing. "I feel..." and write only about Sensations.

I feel varying sensations of pressure across the area where my butt meets the bed I’m reclining on, and where my butt meets the bed feels just slightly warmer than where it doesn’t.

Or to stick even more strictly with sensations only: I feel varying sensations of pressure and temperature in various locations.

It is noticing the oneness, the lack of separation that matters.

I can’t exactly say that I notice oneness or lack of separation between butt and bed.

However, I am belatedly realizing that I don’t directly experience a bed any more than I directly experienced an apple in that exercise, and, likewise, I don't directly experience a butt. All I directly experience is a cluster of touch sensations.

All I directly experience is a cluster of touch sensations.

Good! Continue to meditate on that. This could take days, weeks or months. But it is creating the conditions for seeing.

We are looking for a shift in perception. It may come about slowly or it may hit you like a ton of bricks. It is just as likely to happen when you are not practicing as when you are.

LOOK. This means LOOK with your eyes.

It is not difficult. It is not mysterious. In actual fact there is NOTHING THERE.

The *idea* of "self" is a lie feeling of contraction plus the lie thought of a "self." That's it.

There is what we call, "awareness," but only because we want to call it something. Some people call it "consciousness, " but that word gets used a lot. I live in a place where even a brand of coffee is called "Conscious Coffee" So I prefer "awareness. "

Awareness is not a "self."

This will make no sense at all to you until you drop all thinking and actually see it. Until then It is all concepts.

"Enlightenment is an accident. Meditation makes us accident prone."

Sunryu Suzuki

We cannot predict it and we cannot make it happen. We can only practice the conditions in which it is more likely.

This frustrates the mind because it wants everything to be linear and logical and step-by-step, but this is not. It is non linear and unpredictable.

Loving,

Permille's videos on Doubt are best good.

https://youtu.be/a_8N331jpA4?si=wHE8KmhO7n9uwLPp

I watched this video (the 1st one on the 2nd fetter). But the video starts out sounding like it’s aimed at folks who have already had an initial glimpse of no-self. So that’s not me. I think some of her principles about doubt might be more widely applicable, but did you have something specific in mind in recommending these videos on doubt?

True enough. I just want you to be aware this can happen.

Keep practicing ButtChair.

These are also useful & may help.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ksba3zhi9uuz ... hsk1a?dl=0

L9ving,

These are also useful & may help.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ksba3zhi9uuz ... hsk1a?dl=0

From when you sent this last week, I've already taken a couple of tips for self-inquiry from the "Perceiving Receiving" exercise. Thanks.

Re: ButtChair:

All I directly experience is a cluster of touch sensations.

Good! Continue to meditate on that.

It is not difficult. It is not mysterious. In actual fact there is NOTHING THERE.

Do I just keep putting my attention on those sensations? Or should there also be some element of noticing or exploring the "NOTHING THERE," in relation not only to the supposed "butt" and "chair" but also to the supposed "self"?:

You are overthinking this.

Just sit in awareness & meditate. LOOK

I have never once told a client to stop asking questions, but you're tempting me. Your questions come from thinking when you need to be LOOKING.

https://youtu.be/wyNwhK2Ur1c?si=TZwuFEst-7Hsadpu

Yes, again.

https://liberationunleashed.com/resourc ... ar-seeker/

Loving

Do I just keep putting my attention on those sensations? Or should there also be some element of noticing or exploring the "NOTHING THERE," in relation not only to the supposed "butt" and "chair" but also to the supposed "self"?:

It doesn't matter. It's all one experience.

Loving,

Just sit in awareness & meditate. LOOK

Okay, okay. :-)

https://youtu.be/wyNwhK2Ur1c?si=TZwuFEst-7Hsadpu

Yes, again.

Watched it again. I definitely have the first two things he mentions: the desire and the willingness to look and see that my supposed self isn’t there. Gonna keep working on the looking . . .

ButtChair report #1: Tried it while lying on my back in bed at the start of a nap. Mostly felt sensations of pressure. I found it more difficult than usual to keep my attention there. Maybe my mind was just more chattery than usual, or maybe, because there was less pressure than when I'm sitting up, the sensations didn't grab my attention so much. But it also felt like these touch sensations were kind of . . . tenuous? vague? evanescent? I'll be interested to see if that’s different when I sit up.

ButtChair report #2: Sitting cross-legged on the bed. More pressure, and in a different location, than when lying down (of course). Feel folds of fabric against my skin. Feel a little warmth. Notice a little bit of that sense of the tenuous nature of these sensations, but not as much as when I was lying down. Still not sure whether it’s drifting attention or something else, like something about the nature of these sensations or perhaps all sensations.

Okay.

You did report some Sensations. That's great.

But you also did it like thinking.

Go back & review Direct Experience and Mind Labeling. Stop talking so much. LOOK

Loving,

Go back & review Direct Experience and Mind Labeling. Stop talking so much. LOOK

ButtChair again: Feeling. Thinking. Feeling. Thinking. Feeling. Etc.