Re: Where is the anapana spot in the Venerable Pa Auk's method?
Post by frank k » Thu Nov 17, 2022 4:44 am
DeadBuddha wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 9:00 amIn the book "Practicing the jhanas", it is written that "the specific spot can be anywhere from the upper lip to the entrance of the nostrils, but not inside the nostrils."
But at the same time, it is written that we have to "be aware that any place within the region extending from the upper lip and including the nostrils is fine to use as the ānāpāna spot, if one particular place is easier for you than another."
So I don't understand where the anapana spot is: is the anapana spot only contain the upper lip? Or does the anapana spot also contain the nostrils? Also, isn't the "entrance to the nostrils" necessarily located in the nostrils?
I am really struggling to know where exactly I should observe the breath.
Thanks in advance
frankk response:
You want to practice the Buddha's jhānas, or Buddhaghosa's redefined jhānas?
You need to be clear on that.
You're asking a question about Buddhaghosa's redefined jhāna, and the Pa Auk method.
Even if your goal is to do this redefined jhāna,
the Pa Auk method is a bad way to go for many reasons, I can tell you that from personal experience and observing hundreds of meditators.
Main problem is, they don't teach you about the Buddha's 7 factors of awakening, especially the passaddhi (pacification of the physical body).
So what ends of happening with most meditators, is they carry way too much tension in their physical body and their mind, trying to keep this laser focus near the nostril area.
People get headaches, hypertension, crossed eyed from looking at the nimitta, all kinds of physical and mental problems.
This is even with people who succeed in getting a visual nimitta.
That physical and mental tension slows and in most cases, in my opinion, completely blocks their entrance into jhāna.
So even if you want to do this kind of "jhāna", you'll get better results following a Taoist system that, like the Buddha, takes the pacification of the body as a non negotiable prerequisite.
There's nothing magical about the "anapana spot". Pa Auk just uses that point because it fits their dogma and wrong ideas about parimukha.
In reality, the real hot spot is the middle of the brain.
That's why hindus focusing on the third eye area, pa auk meditators focusing on the nostril can all get the same resulting "jhāna".
If you want to save yourself a lot of grief and pain, practice the way of the Buddha's jhāna, not the redefined 'jhāna' that came 500 years later.
You need to be clear on that.
You're asking a question about Buddhaghosa's redefined jhāna, and the Pa Auk method.
Even if your goal is to do this redefined jhāna,
the Pa Auk method is a bad way to go for many reasons, I can tell you that from personal experience and observing hundreds of meditators.
Main problem is, they don't teach you about the Buddha's 7 factors of awakening, especially the passaddhi (pacification of the physical body).
So what ends of happening with most meditators, is they carry way too much tension in their physical body and their mind, trying to keep this laser focus near the nostril area.
People get headaches, hypertension, crossed eyed from looking at the nimitta, all kinds of physical and mental problems.
This is even with people who succeed in getting a visual nimitta.
That physical and mental tension slows and in most cases, in my opinion, completely blocks their entrance into jhāna.
So even if you want to do this kind of "jhāna", you'll get better results following a Taoist system that, like the Buddha, takes the pacification of the body as a non negotiable prerequisite.
There's nothing magical about the "anapana spot". Pa Auk just uses that point because it fits their dogma and wrong ideas about parimukha.
In reality, the real hot spot is the middle of the brain.
That's why hindus focusing on the third eye area, pa auk meditators focusing on the nostril can all get the same resulting "jhāna".
If you want to save yourself a lot of grief and pain, practice the way of the Buddha's jhāna, not the redefined 'jhāna' that came 500 years later.
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