When moving beyond the ‘movies’ of Neither-perception-nor-non-perception, am I on the right track?
This question came up in the Online 10-day Retreat Nov 3, 2020, guided by Delson Armstrong. Day 2 was part of a daily 30 -minute discussion on the suttas, the Dhamma talk and reflections.
Slightly edited to improve readability
You are on the right track. In the beginning, what will happen is; these movies, these little disconnected thoughts that arise, they are part of the entry point into Neither-perception-nor-non-perception. And slowly, little by little, they start to gradually go away as the mind continues to let go of these Formations, let’s go of these perceptions on an automatic level. There can be a point, where you mentioned you consciously bypassed it. What did you do, you ignored it, or you just let it go, what did you do?
[Person asking the question]
I think it was a combination of them both, having ignored and losing interest in it.
[Delson]
We have to make sure, it’s getting into semantics, but I want to make sure if you are ignoring it; is it ignoring in the way of suppressing it? Or allowing it to be there, just not having your attention there?
If your attention is not on it, and that’s what you would consider ignoring, and becoming disinterested in it, I see no problem with that. But if you’re intentionally forcing it down, or intentionally suppressing it, then two things:
One, that would be the wrong way of doing it, and secondly; you’re no longer in the jhana, when you do that. Because now you’re using much coarser aspects of the mind, to do that.
But if you’re allowing your attention to just be on quiet mind, and just not paying attention to those subtle Formations, allowing it to be let go of, and losing interest in it, that’s a step in the right direction. That’s getting into dispassion, getting into disenchantment.
