Actualising Jhanas/Nanas/any old state of being\ Link to Khemaka sutta.

If you see it in a certain way, a shift may occur which is causally noticed which is indicative of the lower 5 fetters being chipped away at. Anonymous Help

This is my current practice. Its aim is chip away at the fetters that remain. It was inspired and introduced by an anonymous contact. I have been putting it into use for the past few weeks. It is highly recommended for any yogi who has access to the arupa jhanas, especially post MCTB 4th path. I see this practice to be virtually the same process that is expressed in the Khemaka sutta:
"In the same way, friends, even though a noble disciple has abandoned the five lower fetters, he still has with regard to the five clingingaggregates a lingering residual 'I am' conceit, an 'I am' desire, an 'I am' obsession. But at a later time he keeps focusing on the phenomena of arising & passing away with regard to the five clinging-aggregates: 'Such is form, such its origin, such its disappearance. Such is feeling... Such is perception... Such are fabrications... Such is consciousness, such its origin, such its disappearance.' As he keeps focusing on the arising & passing away of these five clinging-aggregates, the lingering residual 'I am' conceit, 'I am' desire, 'I am' obsession is fully obliterated." We are going right for the I am obsession/desire/conceit, which I would equate to the sense of being/presence/inner world that arises as any affective feeling. Taking on the notion that I am my feelings and my feelings are me will aid one in seeing that the arising and passing of the I am obsession/desire/conceit, which still persists even after MCTB 4th path. Previous to doing this one might familiarise themselves with the AF Approach to Jhanas I blogged about previously. This practice has worked

very well for myself so far. I have coupled it with other PCE/AF practices like the cultivation of felicity and the HAIETMOBA (How am I experiencing this moment of being alive?). Essentially , it is the practice of attentiveness to sensuousness applied to the jhanas. It is applied particularly to the formless (arupa) jhanas. Each arupa jhanas has certain characteristics or aspects that can be seen to be actual. That is, they do not need to be seen as support for a sense of being. They can be seen without any affect attaching to them. These actual aspects of the arupa jhanas allows for the possibility to really juxtapose the sense of being with those actual characteristics. What one is essentially doing is paying attention to the actual aspects of an arupa jhana and then paying attention to the aspect within the field of experience which seems to be a conditioning factor for the arising of being. This will generally be the grossest sensation that is sensed. For myself, these gross sensations seem to flow at different points up

and down the body often referred to as the chakra spots i.e. the gut, solar plexus, heart, throat etc. When the sense of being is seen to seemingly overlay a particular aspect of experience i.e. certain gross sensations, one is then mashes the actual aspects up against those gross sensations and, in a sense, actualises those gross sensations. That means to see those sensations as just actual sensations. Juxtaposing the minds tendency to overlay certain sensations with a sense of being with actual aspects seems to act as an interference signal towards that tendency. The sense of being will drop away as the gros sensations which where seemingly acting as a conditioning factor for that sense are seen as just actual aspects too. The arupa jhana aspects of sensations of space, infinite consciousness, no-thingness and neither perception nor nonperception are all actual aspects which are present if one pays attention within the PCE itself. So taking them as objects allows for the clear juxtaposing of what is actual and what is being seemingly overlayed with the sense of being. One could do this with the lower rupa jhanas, but the actual aspects of those jhanas are not so easily juxtaposed with the aspects supporting the sense of being.
One particular technique to perhaps keep in mind when actualising jhanas is Tarins instructions to cut out any proliferating tendencies. This might be more useful for when walking around with eyes open as the jhanas versions are usually very soft. If one is sitting doing this technique, one could keep the eyes open or closed. I advise taking ones time and perhaps spending a little time in each of the lower rupa jhanas getting a feel for the sense of being. See the AF Approach To Jhanas blogpost for more details. Tarins Instructions for cutting off mental proliferation
"What I mean by 'the sense of seeing' is, literally, what it is to experience seeing directly; to perceive is to be engaged in a lively activity and is what is meant by paying attention. Yet, such attention is likely to tend toward proliferating stories and fabrications, from persistent reflection and mental commentary on one hand (when concentration is weak and/or scattered) to outright hallucination on the other (when concentration is powerful and/or focused). Those proliferations are to be avoided. How may these proliferations be avoided? By otherwise engaging the proliferating tendency. How may the proliferating tendency be otherwise engaged? By applying the mind further. To what further apply the mind? To the apprehension (of more) of what is happening. What more is happening (that is not yet engaged)? The apprehension of (the apprehension of) perception itself. To apprehend perception directly is necessarily also to apprehend that apprehension is occurring, and to experience in such a manner is to experience cleanly and clearly, entirely engagedly and encompassedly, incuding the bodily sense of such experience. To see not just what the eye sees but what it is to see is therefore to see cleanly and clearly, entirely engagedly and encompassedly, including the bodily sense of such seeing. Seeing in this manner engages the energies which otherwise fuel the proliferating tendency, and so avoids such proliferation. Further, experiencing seeing as a bodily sense leads to deeper insight into what the body is, and what perceiving is." Tarin

Ok, here is the set up:

Enter the 5th jhana. Focus on the sense of space. You might pick up the subtle sensations at the top of the head if you are sensitive enough. If your eyes are open, notice how the space around the body may be the object of this jhana. It has an up and out feel in my own experience. Focus on these aspects for a bit. Get used to seeing them like so. If walking around with eyes open, keep Tarins instructions above in mind. Take the actual aspects of space as the primary object. This may occur naturally for those with easy access to the arupa jhanas. After spending some time familiarising oneself with the actual aspect of the 5th jhana, now let the mind widen and take the whole body as its focus. Notice where the grossest sensation on or within the body is located. Let the mind just fall on it. Notice how it may feel like it is a conditioning factor for the way one feels. In other words for the way one sense of feeling of being. There is some sort of misreading going on in perception which is giving off the impression of a sense of being, which arises via any affect, pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Once the minds focus has fallen on the grossest sensation, spend some time there familiarising and just plain looking at that sense of being and how it is seemingly being overlayed on or read as being supported by those gross sensations. Then, move back to the actual aspects of space that one was focused on initially. Now widen the focus from the sensations of space to include other sensations in the body, perhaps the sensations at the top of the head then make the mental focus become more panoramic to eventually include the grossest sensation already supporting the arising of a sense of being. The instructions given to me were to mash up the actual aspects with the aspect supporting the sense of being. This may seem vague, but that is what you need to suss out for yourself via experimenting. For me, it is in a sense looking at the aspect supporting the arising of the sense of being keeping the actual aspects of the arupa jhana at the forefront of the mind. There is awareness of the actual aspect, then suddenly the being aspect is seen next to it. Then focus shifts more to the actual aspects of both aspects, and this interferes with the mental sense of being. The actual aspect that underlies the being aspect will come to the forefront of the mind as it is mashed up against the actual aspect of the jhana. Those gross sensations will be actualised and thus the perception of a sense of being will drop away.

One can do the same for the 6th , 7th and 8th jhanas. The 8th jhana seems to have a soft and hard version. For myself, the soft version is much easier to actualise. In the 6th jhana, the actual aspects are the way consciousness seems to become aware of consciousness as object. This and the sensations within the middle of the head can be taken as the actual aspect of this jhana. Like the sense of space of the 5th jhana, the actual aspects of the 6th jhana can be present in a PCE.

In the 7th jhana, there seems to be a shifting to the notion of no-thingness. This can also be seen as an aspect of the PCE. I also am aware of sblte sensations that imply nothingness that surround whole head, and neck and upper shoulders. It is a more encompassing focus than the previous two arupa jhanas. The 8th jhana can be tricky to describe. In my experience, the soft version has very sublte vibrations activated flowing at the third eye spot within the brain. This flow seems to influence the dropping in and out of perception or ideation. The sense of being may be sensed then not sensed then sensed and not sensed, extremely quickly which makes it hard to describe what is going on. Focusing on the calm restful quality can help see the actual aspect, which can be seen within a PCE. You might have to experiment yourself to see what exactly is the actual aspect in this jhana. Like the instructions for the 5th, let the mind focus on the grossest sensations which is then actualised. In my own experience this practice has led to fast progress towards the eradication of the remaining fetters. One is essentially seeing in real time, that

'Such is form, such its origin, such its disappearance. Such is feeling... Such is perception... Such are fabrications... Such is consciousness, such its origin, such its disappearance.
If you see it in a certain way, a shift may occur which is causally noticed which is indicative of the lower 5 fetters being chipped away at. Anonymous Contact

NS Cultivating dispassion/using annica/annata/dukkha as a viewpoint. Ways to trigger PCEs , Fruition PCE