Meditation as Mental Training

“The non-existent was not; the existent was not at that time. The atmosphere was not nor the heavens which are beyond. What was concealed? Where? In whose protection? Was it water? An unfathomable abyss?” -from the Rig Veda

Level I -- Transcendence: 1st Month, Day 2
Prelude:
On this, the second session of entrainment, I'm making some adjustments to the way that I arrange my environment because I want to be comfortable for the next 30 minutes. I've already done some stretching to ease the ache in my shoulders. Now I'm hoping that I can lay flat on my back and experience the floating sensations, in the most natural position that I'm able to assume. I'm even making sure to keep my arms at my sides so it'll be easy to stay relaxed throughout this morning's meditation.

Yesterday's session, introduced me to the tranquil burbling and splashing of the Level I soundscape environment, with it's richly orchestrated splashing noises. I was easily able to close my eyes and imagine that I was floating in a pool fed by many small waterfalls. In fact the sounds were amazingly complex and yet I could pick out individual "voices" that related to the tone and characteristics of each cascade. In my mind's eye, I was picturing this as a tiered, multi-step plunging series of waterfalls, flowing one after another in a descending series of plunges, each cataract into it's own pool.

Once again, my state of relaxation was quite profound. I felt buoyant, uplifted and cool all over, and at the same time, there was a sense of direction to the movement, almost as if my toes were pointing downstream, and I was moving in the direction that most of the water was going in...and I let myself sink into it.

I still had my eyes open, so at this point I closed them. But within moments, having my eyes closed was somehow allowing me to become aware of where I was in a different way. I was simultaneously aware of the flowing movement and of where I was positioned relative to the room I was in, and the room's position in this building. And once this started happening, it included all the levels above that too...

...and I was rising above my neighborhood, floating out over the city and with my new awareness, I watched the horizon expand into a curved sphere that floated below my own position. Now I was losing track of time too, and everything kept receding further and further from my mind...

Abstract:
Meditation is often associated with the ways in which the mind can apply its focus to breathing, sounds, chanting, and visualizations.

An alternate view of meditation can be construed as a form of mental un-training. No mantras or focusing on an object, so the mind can achieve a relaxed and restful state.

Tibetan meditation teacher Paltrul Rinpoche describes it this way:

All you practitioners, male and female, who wish to realize the faultless and correct point of view, should let your mind rest fully awake in a state of unfabricated emptiness. When your mind is quiet, then rest in that quietness without trying to fabricate anything. When it doesn't think, then rest in that non-thinking. In short, no matter what takes place, let your mind rest without fabricating anything.

Don't try to correct, suppress or cultivate anything.

Don't try to place your mind inwardly. Don't search for an object to meditate upon outwardly. Rest in the meditator, mind itself, without fabricating anything.

One doesn't find one's mind by searching for it. The mind itself is empty from the beginning. You don't need to search for it. It is the searcher himself. Rest undistractedly in the searcher himself.

"Have I now grasped that which should be observed?" "Is this the right way or not?" "Is this it or not?" No matter what takes place rest in the thinker himself without fabricating anything.

No matter what kind of thoughts occur, excellent or terrible, good or bad, joyful or sorrowful, don't accept or reject, but rest in the thinker himself without fabricating anything.

Postlude:
Leaving behind all of the thoughts and moving into stillness, allows me to notice where I am. With the combination of water sounds and mental stillness, I'm even starting to notice where I'm going too, just like moving in a direction that will also allow me to know why I'm going there at all. This might lead to further clues about who it is that's doing all of this. I can already tell that I'm going to like the destination when I get there.