So trying a hundred things is not feasible. Perhaps 5-10. But they aren’t isolated methods; they are parts of systems, and have structure and function. Ask: “Is this method supposed to do something I want?”
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I guess when I asked the original Q you probably thought: "Jose's Q is a Q that assumes a premise (the goal of the practice) which he didn't ask for but he should have so here it is the question that I should have asked" (Which is actually correct)
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Yes :)
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The "goal" right now is to understand what piti and sukha (as used in Right Concentration) mean, experientially, as part of jhana 1. And it sounds like I should forget about that for now and do a combination of metta and vipassana to get there?
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Not at all an expert here, but AIUI these phenomena require single-pointed concentration (samadhi), which would point to samatha practice. Say more about the breath "not working"? It may be that your concentration is too shallow to "see" breath-detail (that was me initially!)
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Oh no, it's not even not working, I haven't given up yet. It's just that I need preliminary convincing that what I'm trying to do is what will work best. (Happens with any decision I make, optimizing mindset is strong)
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Ah, no idea about "best." Vipassana and metta were extremely helpful for me in many ways, but not for piti/sukha. Also found that "dry" vipassana didn't work at all for me; had to try again once I had developed better concentration, then got some insight.
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Wait, what is "dry" vipassana?
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Just jargon for insight practice without first attempting to develop deep states of concentration.
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Now that makes sense of the end of the jhana book I read, where they suggest doing some preliminaries, then jhanas, then using that clarity for insight. In a way, is the jhana approach parallel to "Dry vipassana" (dry seems to imply less gentle or brute force?)
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No, as I understand it, the approach you're describing would constitute "wet" vipassana—i.e. pursuing insight from a place of concentrative absorption.
(n.b. "some preliminaries" seems to often take years, though of course provides many benefits along the way…)
Oh by preliminaries I mean doing like 30 min of metta before attempting the jhanas