Reply To: How do I practice dhamma for stream-entry in this life itself?

#52296
Saurabh@2110
Participant

It is hard enough to express our thoughts in words, so we need to make an effort to convey our ideas as clearly as possible. The message/ideas can get lost with grammar errors.

Hello sir I will explain my question again in simple and concise manner now.

1) I have heard that ‘mindfulness of breathing’ meditation helps in developing first four ‘bodhyangas’ (factors of awakening):
>Mindfulness (sati)
>Keen investigation of the dhamma
(dhammavicaya)
>Energy (viriya)
>Rapture or happiness (piti)

And Vipassana-insight meditation helps in developing remaining last three ‘bodhyangas’ (factors of awakening):

>Calm (passaddhi)
>Concentration (samadhi)
>Equanimity (upekkha)

(Let me ignore this Vipassana insight meditation part and instead talk about breathing meditation part, for now, at least)

2) Mindfulness of breathing (as I know it) involves witnessing breathing in and breathing out by staying aware of breathing at the area of nostrils…all distractions will (in the form of thoughts and doubts) come but still one is supposed to bring one’s mind again and again back to awareness of breathing. Process should be continued till one can constantly be aware of breathing without any distractions. It is a constant fight against all the thoughts and distractions.

3) In another case When one makes one’s mind thoughtless by trying not to focus it anywhere and suppressing distractions and then one (can) starts to experience some form of happiness above the happiness from 5 sense organs, which is also kind of ‘pitisukha'(this is not the same as 4th factor of awakening but something like that)(this is how anariya jhana starts I suppose because in anariya jhana one suppresses thoughts without realising the truth of their impermanence)(same as anariya gods who achiev birth in heaven by directly doing punna kamma without getting rid of tendencies to do papa kamma), then in order to start and attain and experience anariya jhana one is supposed to focus on that pitisukha like happiness or rather an anariya being naturally at this point by default latches onto that pitisukha like happiness as soon as it arises because it is also some overwhelming happiness. Now this can be done/reached by initially taking the help of mindfulness of breathing meditation also.

4) Through mindfulness of breathing meditation initially one can make one’s mind concentrated and can(without having to deal with distractions of mind) start to directly experience some kind of pitisukha by moving focus away from breathing and directing it to becoming thoughtless (by suppressing thoughts with force initially) to focus mind(achieve ekaggata) and make it more & more empty of distractions/thoughts resulting in experience of some kind of pitisukha.
So generally when one starts mindfulness of breathing meditation ..with practice, first many many thoughts/distractions come and they are suppressed or forcibly ignored and then they fade away(due to suppression) then breathing fades away and then as a result pitisukha arises in such focused mind and then anariya person latches onto it.(But this is not the proper way of mindfulness of breathing meditation). This is how anariya jhana is started I suppose.

5) Now true mindfulness of breathing meditation involves continuously staying aware of in-out breathing and even pitisukha is not to be latched on and when pitisukha arises still one is supposed to stay aware of one’s breathing only. Actually it’s very very very hard to reach pitisukha if one practices proper mindfulness of breathing meditation. (I am talking this in the case when general anariya persons practices “proper/true” mindfulness of breathing meditation and I am not talking about ariya people sirs). So one is supposed to not let breathing fade away(by default it starts to fade away by becoming smaller and smaller as mind becomes less and less distracted). When breathing starts to fade away one is supposed to apply slight force to breathing (which has become so small now) just enough to increase the awareness of breathing and not let it fade away. Now as one works to constantly stay aware of breathing, first factor of awakening which is –
>mindfulness or ‘sati’ starts to develop and as one continues one is forced to deal with all the impure thoughts/doubts that arise in mind as we continue. So one’s observation of one’s thoughts actually increases and they are seen as ‘anitya'(impermanent) as they fade away after arising continuously and this is what I believe helps in developing the second ‘bodhyanga'(factor of awakening) which is –
>keen investigation of the dhamma (dhammavicaya) in the form of contemplation of impermanence of thoughts and then as one practices regularly one simultaneously develops 3rd factor of energy or ‘viriya’ as one is practicing continuously, fighting continuosly and after working like that only then one reaches the pitisukha(which is the 4th factor of awakening).
*Because of doing this kind of proper mindfulness of breathing meditation (I believe) one reaches a state when one is constantly aware of his breathing without any thoughts or distractions and simultaneously one’s mind is filled with pitisukha also!* But to reach this state one has to get rid of/be done away with all the deeper and deeper distractions and doubts that come to one’s mind on the way by seeing their impermanence. And this is actually very easier said than done!

So my first question is this… Is there any mistake in my above all the 5 points? If yes then please clarify and kindly correct me 🙏

My second question is, considering above 5 points, is it right to say that ‘mindfulness of breathing’ meditation if done truly(as I tried to explain above), it can, help in developing first 4 factors of awakening instead of reaching anariya jhana??