The Gate

I am not aware, there is only awareness. There is no I. 'Awareness' is a T, a label. [Sorry, I'm having to do separate posts here; my touchscreen only allows me to see the top part of you pos as I type a reply can I have to hit Submit to see the rest of your comments.]

Working on your last questions (what is the DE of awareness? how do you know that you are aware?). I still can't use the quote function correctly, so I have to copy them out by hand and then type them here.

Preliminary finding: the DE of awareness is simply clarity (T). It just is (T).

How do I know? I looked.

Hi Jissi,

Yes, am allowing moods to shift as they will. No mood seems to stick [ :-) ]. Impermanence happens, as it always does. There is no one there to change any moods, and nothing for them to stick too. Resistance has just vanished.

Lovely that resistance has vanished :-)

The reason I asking about awareness is that the Tibetans (and I guess all Buddhists) consider cognizance/knowing to be a 6th sense.

Interesting. I am coming from Therava Buddhism, there thinking is the 6th sense. To me that makes a lot of sense, since we react to thoughts the very same way as we react to real experiences.

I can feel ten toes

Can you really? Please check again. When closing the eyes, can you feel the toes and tell how many toes you have?

'Awareness' is a T, a label.

Right :-). What is labelled "awareness/clarity"? How do you know that awareness/clarity is there?

How do I know? I looked.

That's a sweet one, Jissi :-).

Looking is absolutely necessary. For being able to say that something is really there, physical sensations must be found when looking. Otherwise it is a thought with no relation to reality - an imagination.

Sending love,
Ghata

I can feel warmth and tingling. The mind labels the location "toes" and "fingers".

Awareness OF: sounds heard ( low rumble,of a generator in the building next door T); green, yellow brown DE of bushes and trees T. Full S and T feeling in stomach ; warmth and pressure S on soles feet and skin on my backside, back, shoulders, necks and skull All labels/ T.

Rethinking last answer. I cannot feel my toes or fingers, just the DE of warmth and tingling.

I may have misstated the 6th sens: I believe it is "thinking"/cognizance to the Tibetans as well.

Dear Jissi,

very good :-).

I may have misstated the 6th sens: I believe it is "thinking"/cognizance to the Tibetans as well.

Ah, I see. I am not familiar with the Tibetan teachings.

Rethinking last answer. I cannot feel my toes or fingers, just the DE of warmth and tingling.

Beautifully seen :-)

Awareness OF: sounds heard ( low rumble,of a generator in the building next door T); green, yellow brown DE of bushes and trees T. Full S and T feeling in stomach ; warmth and pressure S on soles feet and skin on my backside, back, shoulders, necks and skull All labels/ T.

Yes. The direct experience of awareness are sensations - awaring if you will :-). Awareness itself is a Label.

Let's play a bit more with peeling thoughts off sensory experience.

Put a coffee mug in front of you on the table and look at it.

What are the raw sense data that are perceived?
What is added "from your side"?

Sending love,
Ghata

Yes, this peeling off of Ts and concepts from DE is very valuable. It's becoming clearer.

The mug T- tomato colour T with white inside T, a shining T visual overlay that is hard to describe as a colour-let's call it gold E/T. Black where the cup touches the coaster is sits on. "Tomato" colour, "white" and black are also E
because they describe the E of what is making itself seen. ?

What is added from my side is the labels/thoughts/and concepts. Reading something in the LUG Fb,page, I see that I omitted to mention form/shape (Ts), which are concepts, label imputed by the automatic thinking process/stream.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I undertook this process! And getting through the gate as given me some small confidence that further profound realizations are possible for me. I really don't care about doing much of anything else than Looking and learning right now.'this is all that I want to be doing :-) (I include meditation and walking as part of "this", along with the looking.)

Dear Jissi,

Yes, this peeling off of Ts and concepts from DE is very valuable. It's becoming clearer.

very good. This the most valuable tool you will need to go forth.

The mug T- tomato colour T with white inside T, a shining T visual overlay that is hard to describe as a colour-let's call it gold E/T. Black where the cup touches the coaster is sits on. "Tomato" colour, "white" and black are also Ebecause they describe the E of what is making itself seen. ?

What is added from my side is the labels/thoughts/and concepts. Reading something in the LUG Fb,page, I see that I omitted to mention form/shape (Ts), which are concepts, label imputed by the automatic thinking process/stream.

Great looking, Jissi. :-).

let's look some more, this time at the object known as 'right hand'. :)
Lay the hand down on its palm, and make your way along the edges of the hand, as if tracing a coastal outline on a map. Notice the different angles, inlets, shading.

When done, reverse the direction you went by default.

Ok, the object you are looking at has two other objects associated with it. The visual symbol/word 'hand'' and the sound of that word. You might say the word 'in the head' and see the word 'in the head'. See these three distinct objects. You could attend to each one in turn. Seen object, visual word, sounded-out word.

Once again, look back at the object and add the word and sound 'hand' to it. Make it into a known thing, a 'hand'.

Now, set the word and sound aside, and return to the object. Free of definition.

There it is, somewhat unknown. Perhaps slightly strange now, without it's usual 'clothing'.

At some point, look around the room and notice how quickly objects are named and made known, such as the 'chair', 'table', or more broadly 'outside', 'inside', 'here', 'there', 'distance'.

So, just have a play again, and notice what you notice, share anything at all.

Sending love,
Ghata

Interesting, the hand. After all was said and done, stripped back to "itself" (with my eyes open) the form T was browny-pink E with pink and white E (nails) T; with eyes closed, we're back to only the E of warmth and tingling Es, the friction E T felt if the hand moves itself across the duvet. The labelling of objects in the room is done before I even notice it.

Three just wonderful days, Mon, Tues and Wed. The world is just worlding along perfectly. My sudden plunge in spirits after reading of difficulties on someone else's thread on Friday night had no lasting effect (at first I was concerned that it might). By noon Saturday I was calm again. This week so far I've been so happy and calm; I'm just not fighting the world at all. A few less-than-equanimous moments at the hospital today, but that was short lived. Other than "the hand" tonight I've had the day off looking-first my appointment and then a barbecue tonight. See you in the morning :-) oh-Did I say that I still break into a silly grin when I think of ALL that has happened in the last two weeks or so? *Big silly grin*

What I was trying to say is that things have definitely been different for me, post gate. Something really did shift in that sparkling moment.

Dear Jissi,

thank you for your lovely post, sounding so relaxed :-)

You did great on the hand exercise and definitely can tell what are thoughts and what is direct experience.

What I was trying to say is that things have definitely been different for me, post gate. Something really did shift in that sparkling moment.

Tell me what has changed since you registered for the forum?

Sending lots of love,
Ghata

Some of your last Q I will answer on Messenger.

Some of what has changed post gate: I'm smiling at the world. This is not my usual demeanour. And when I'm not smiling, if I happen to think of this process, of looking-or if I find myself just looking, at the sparkly green leaves on a huge tree, for example-the smile just makes itself emerge on my face. Along with a feeling of pleasure at the DE of the world as it
is, the moment. I feel happy (DE of warmth around the heart) at the sounds of the city-the low hum of a generator, the rumble of a streetcar, birds birding). This is just not how I was before the gate, except occasionally. I know that other, afflictive emotions will arise, due to causes and conditions, and I will do my best not to fight them. But for the moment, as for this whole week so far, I'm in what some would call a state of grace.

Dear Jissi,

so heartwarming to read. :-)

And it is a very good idea to let the so called negative emotions happen as well. There will be lots to discover in them and you might be quite suprised about what you find.

Can you give me a big fat YES that there is no I? Was there ever an I?
How does it feel to give this answer?

Is there anything you would like to look into, anything unclear?

Lots of love,
Ghata

Re being surprised-I'm countin on it! :-) <3