Here are five steps to establishing a state of concentration that is resonant with buddhi or supports the shift into an absorption that is resonant with buddhi. Whether or not it is actually buddhic would be anyone’s educated guess based on the sustained characteristics of the state. The more void of characteristics and void of self/watcher/doer and a set of experiences, the more true to buddhi.
The steps build upon themselves, in that the enveloping experience of each (smile or breath, for example) make the next opening and purity possible. The key is to be completely present to each. Do not rush, especially if you are going to try to establish yourself in what this meditation can provide. Equally important is the off-the-cushion application of each step. Smile with life, even challenges or upsetting things. Find the goodness that is trying to present. Breathe with the world, breathe with your inner world (cells, body, emotions, etc). The next is clarity. Clarity is impartial. It is spacious, open, non-personal. Impartiality leads to clarity. Being open feels neutral. And so forth.
- Smile with the world and the fullness of the moment. Stay with this a bit.
- Feel the breath. Be the fullness of breathing. Experience its softness, is flow, etc. fully. Take time with this.
- At some point, the mind-emotion complex will be settled, clear. The practitioner will be experiencing clarity, spaciousness, attention that is bright and aware, unadorned yet refined. Be this one-pointed clarity-awareness for a while.
- At some point, bring forward the heart’s qualities of openness, embrace, inclusive outreach and being. Deepen into this. Soften and open while Awareness remains razor-sharp acute. (Allow this time.)
- Imagine the blue-black indigo night sky as all there is. The qualities of everything thus far melt into the texture-less womb of Awareness. Soften, open, enter absorption.
The meditation masters of the millennia have given several methods for stabilizing one’s meditative state adequate to allow for direct experience(s) of Awareness as It is. I bow to them, male and female, who have supported us unfailingly for so long.
