I appreciate having the time to sit for a long time each day. It's not a race, it's a blessing, and that in many ways. My use of the number 108, which has many interesting appearances in esoteric and exoteric settings, was my way of breaking free of the clock time that rules our days because it doesn't fit on any of the usual divisions we split our lives into, and our sits. That's all it is, but even then, setting a timer serves the useful purpose of breaking me out of the trance state that I fall into, which is not to be confused with anything other than the quiescing of higher-brain functions (there’s a video on my FB page that shows how it looks on an eeg-type device.)
The insights and direct experiences come while in those trance states. My favorite explanation for why that is, is because I’m not standing in the way of the spontaneously creative naturing called dharmata in Buddhism. I’m not trying to force anything to happen, I’m not envisioning something that I’ve been led to believe “comes next,” nor been led to believe in. The explanations, like this, are the result of reflective thought about what was directly experienced. I don’t read about things I haven’t experienced yet, because I find it creates a block to seeing things clearly. Whatever the original writer/speaker may have experienced, her/his words are not a direct experience in the same sense, and thus exposing oneself to them, absent having had the direct experience, leaves you with an interpretation, and they are rarely correct.
I have been bothered by a connection between the support that I use and a Buddhist practice that is sometimes called 4 Elements yoga, and sometimes 5 Elements yoga, or alternatively “the practice of 4/5 Elements.” The support I use is the “self-sound of the dharmata,” which I refer to as “autogenous resonances of selfless naturing,” and it is with me all the time, and allows me to focus on it throughout all. It’s a (re-)developed sense, and like the others (sight, hearing, taste, etc.) it is operating all the time, so I am ever aware and conscious of the naturing of everything—viscerally, not as a thought or concept or even a memory of an insight—and it is not limited to perceptions, as it is of the naturing of the perceptions. It adds a dimension to experience that we somehow suppress as we “grow-up.”
So, for example, I am aware of the arising of “sound” within my mind, and of thoughts, because as they are manifested, resonances flow through all and can be sensed. But more interestingly, the resonances of the flow of “energy” throughout the subtle energy body, through the nadis and at the chakras, can be sensed, and sensed as having the qualities of a certain “element.” Just look up the elements associated with the chakras in a human body, and you can see what they are. Well, they weren’t metaphorical when they were assigned by whoever documented them, they were actual resonances that were being sensed. So what was disturbing me about the 4/5 Elements practice was they were always being treated as metaphorical—Water, for instance. Rather than resting within the Water resonances that could be sensed within one’s subtle energy body, the instructions given were to go sit by a waterfall or a stream and listen to the sounds of water flowing. But that’s not what “yoga” is!
Anyway, I discovered that the practices were originally as I would expect them to be: actual union with the resonances arising from the naturing of all. It has an alchemical effect, a balancing effect on one’s energy flows, a release of blockages, and something more. That “something more” is like being plugged into the source and is the direct source, in my experience, of the patience and tranquillity that I spoke of in the article above. But as an alchemical process, it was seen as shamanic, apparently, within Tibetan Buddhism. And so, the practice was modified or somehow degraded until it was merely a children’s version of what it actually could be, and then it was dropped for the most part, as merely being a “preliminary” that wasn’t needed. So the update, is that I am now more aware of the benefit of certain ways of focusing on these resonances as I sit and find the practice even more beneficial—not beneficial in the sense of attaining more and “higher levels” of attainments—beneficial in the sense of repairing the damage of our sociopathic, egotistical, and suicidal way of life. Even those who know better are constrained by that way of life.
The highest pitched are the metal sounds, like the squeals of metal train wheels against a tight turn of track. The lowest are the Earth, like the low rumbling of a distant volcano or earthquake. Water sounds like anything from rain splattering on leaves in a jungle, to a stream trickling over pebbles, to a roaring waterfall. Fire is of an intermediate, undulating and modulating pitch. Air is like a “sighing” air-current in a cave. And then there are the odd ones, like a wooden flute blast, the four clear and parallel sounds of "Om" ( H-U-M-Silence), and my personal favorite, a queen bee or large wasp flying a clover leaf around my head when I place my attention on the heart chakra of someone I'm meditating with, but who is not necessarily near me physically.
These all became apparent, starting with the initial high-pitched "nada" tone, and being "found" over time as they, subtly at first, became more and more apparent as my skill grew. These resonances are always already there now, but do not block each other, nor any sympathetic sound caused by external phenomena (the reason I use earplugs to block external junk when I sit). Though they arise in our minds in exactly the same way as the sympathetic resonances we "hear" with our ears, none of these are related to anything that is manifest. They are, as I said in my previous comment, the resonances of the naturing of our (subtle energy) body and its energy flows through the nadis and central chakras.
A friend recently sent me some info from a Daoist source. It's interesting for me because Indian and Chinese sources speak of these sounds and characterize them in terms of ancient Indian and Chinese musical instruments, none of which I am familiar with. Tibetans only speak of them in regard to taking the Bardo as path, but don’t characterize them at all. But the Daoists note that one of the "Six Transportations" that come when you have succeeded in regulating your Shen is: "Hearing the Sounds of the Universe. Through your spirit you are able to listen to and understand all of the sounds generated by the variations of natural Qi, including the wind, rain, waves, and many other things. You will also be able to hear spirits and communicate with them."
The high-pitched sounds are a kind of entranceway, but most people go to a doctor to get cured, and those that think they might be something other than a disease, seem to hang out by the entrance.
Something more on sound:
http://wp.me/p2kvII-9Q
