If you have the concentration, clarity and equanimity skills, you can untangle and unblock that re-arising of the mind body experience… ~ Shinzen Young
Shinzen Young talks about the somewhat commonly reported experience of glimpsing our true nature … or awakening to the boundless, timeless, spaceless freedom … which far too often fades away … resulting in the Now I see it .. and Now I don’t syndrome.
Explore this inspiring video clip, Spontaneous Glimpses & Leaking Samadhi Part 1, from a NEW feature length film, produced by Stillness Speaks, on a conversation with Shinzen Young, about mindfulness and more … This post overviews the short clip. Quoted material is in italics.
In Part 2 of this short-video clip series he answers the question: Is {spiritual} practice necessary? … You will be able to view this answer in the full featured video which will be available as a gift in our upcoming survey (around April 25, 2018). Become a subscriber to receive the survey, by clicking here to sign up for our email newsletter …
In Part 3, Shinzen goes into detail about mindfulness practice, particularly focusing on concentration, clarity, and equanimity … and also covers self inquiry in the context of mindfulness practice.
Spontaneous experiences of freedom from the limited identity that then evaporate… are quite common. I frequently encounter people who have had that happen. Some were doing a practice at the time, and it happened then it faded. And….some people weren’t doing any practice at all and it just suddenly happened. Now that’s a good thing because it points you … in that direction …
Shinzen explains how these types of experiences can be sustained and integrated with the help of the skills of concentration, clarity and equanimity which are developed by formal practice.
Your concentration skill will allow you to hold that direction. And then your concentration, clarity and equanimity will allow you to untangle and unblock the re-arising of the mind-body identity because thoughts, emotions and physical body sensations arise again, strongly after an experience of transcending time and space.
If you have done enough practice before that, when the mind-body erupts strongly, you will be able to untangle that and not get caught. If you haven’t don’t enough practice, you’re going to get sucked back into that prison.
Shinzen explores two reasons why people can’t hold the open boundless experience when it happens spontaneously…
They don’t have the requisite concentration power to hold that direction, to hold that vision of… an empty richness, you have to have cultivated a lot of concentration to hold your attention in that vectorial direction. If people don’t have that, they can’t hold it.
Then the second reason people lose it, is that the mind and body re-erupt; they will eventually have thoughts, desires and physicality and emotionally in the body. If you have the concentration, clarity and equanimity skills, you can untangle and unblock that re-arising of the mind body experience, and therefore you won’t be so inclined to get stuck on the fly paper again.
Shinzen describes his own spontaneous awakening experience, prior to any personal formal practice, which put him on cloud nine for a couple of weeks … “and then it sort of evaporated … later on when I took on a practice; I realized why I was unable to hold it and the next time it happened … was very different.”
Enjoy! …
In Part 2 of this short-video clip series he answers the question: Is {spiritual} practice necessary? … You will be able to view this answer in the full featured video which will be available as a gift in our upcoming survey (around April 25, 2018). Become a subscriber to receive the survey, by clicking here to sign up for our email newsletter …
In Part 3, Shinzen goes into detail about mindfulness practice, particularly focusing on concentration, clarity, and equanimity … and also covers self inquiry in the context of mindfulness practice.
For a full BIO and many more resources to Shinzen’s work (books, videos, and articles) see this prolific mindfulness master’s Teacher’s Page.
Images: (edited and logo added): Featured and 1) Human by cocparisienne 2) Sunset by geralt. Images are CC0 Public Domain from Pixabay.
