The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa ( John Yates PHD )

[JonW]

I'm looking forward to plunging in myself.
JW

[mybubble]

This is the most amazing deeply profound book I've ever come across! It is the Holy Grail of meditation and mindfulness! This is my absolute favorite book already!

I've only read the beginning and it has given me enormous insights already. Please check out the reviews on Amazon. You won't believe the praise this book gets!

Thanks myBubble for bringing this to my attention!!!

Peter

That's great news, I don't think one could ask for a more in depth yet easy to understand guide (although I have not read that many books on the subject, about 6) so good to hear. JKZ books are great, Tich's a bit flowery, but this one answers a lot of my questions.

I am looking forward to hopefuly discussing the technical aspects of it.

[Scooter]

I ordered this book after reading this post and I would also strongly recommend it. He does break out the book by the various stages of where your practice is at any given time…..indicating different techniques and methods you can use to progress your practice to the next stage. His justification for this approach is that it has been done often throughout Buddhism and also that he has seen many meditators who have practiced for very long periods of time but haven’t quite progressed perhaps as quickly as they could have if they had used some other techniques. I was admittedly a little skeptical about this approach because it seemed as if you might be trying to change your practice in order to move on to the next stage. But I think that as long as you use this staged approach a rough guideline (and not overanalyze what stage I’m at or how to quickly progress to the next stage) then it can be really effective.

The book introduced me to a term called dullness (maybe that is a well-known term but in meditation but I had never heard of it) which is something I experience all the time during meditation. Basically it is a peaceful state where you’re very relaxed/happy but the mind is kind of foggy, you don’t have much mental energy, and your focus isn’t all that clear. The book just pointed out that this peaceful state seems like a good thing but getting into this state of mental fogginess during meditation can be somewhat of a distraction from progressing your practice forward. That was just one of the things that sort of stood out and really applied to me particularly. And it may seem pretty obvious to identify now but at the time it was definitely not.

I also found it interesting that he first mentioned doing the body scan during Stage 5 (which is sort of at the stage whenever you are able to have complete focus on your breath/meditation object) and he first introduces choiceless awareness during Stage 8 (I haven’t gotten to this point in the book yet but I know it’s for quite advanced meditators). I just thought that was interesting considering some other mindfulness books suggest doing these practices fairly early within beginning a meditation practice.

Anyway, just wanted to point out that I think this book is great. I think it can offer a lot of different insight/tips/suggestions for various people depending on what they are experiencing. I do wish it had a little bit more on mindfulness in daily life though……as it seems to be almost exclusively focused on the meditation component.

[Happyogababe]

Thanks for posting about it Scooter I'm just beginning (slowly) to read the book and my first thoughts (of the very first pages) is that I really like the style of writing and that his teaching style seems appealing. I am looking forward to reading more.

[JonW]

I must go back to it. I started it and then got sidetracked by a pile of Zen books.
JW

[mybubble]

I agree with you Scooter, I was under the impression beforehand that a dreamlike state was something desirable and even the point of meditation, like reaching some other level.

I have had three major lessons from this book so far although I have not got far into it. In order:-

1) Concentrating so hard on an object is not the point as such. It's a blend of concentration and maintaining peripheral awareness both internal and external. As Thich Nhat Hanh says - one must know what one is doing. I think getting too involved with an object, one stops knowing.
2) Dullness hinders progression - a revelation.
3) Walking meditation is very important and extremely difficult! Sitting meditation; it's relatively easy to follow the breath and yet relatively hard to maintain peripheral awareness. Walking meditation is the complete opposite. It trains the mind from the other end.

I would like more out-of-practice tips too. If anything my daily awareness has reduced. It's something I find incredibly difficult to even remember to do.

[FeeHutch]

Whenever I visit this forum I always seem to end up adding books to my reading pile. Thanks for the recommendation

[mybubble]

I am always on the lookout for more books if anyone has suggestions

I have been mulling over the dullness aspect and have come to the conclusion it depends what one wants from mindfulness. I have been following this book and I noticed a few things. My sitting is now quite hard work, I don't necessarily get up feeling better or relaxed. It feels like studying, so this morning I reverted to my old style, allowing total concentration on breath and allowing the floating sensations in. I got up feeling much better; refreshed.

My conclusion is for stress reduction this aspect of mindfulness is a great tool and worth staying with. So I ask myself, why push forward. I flicked through stages 8-9 to see what the point was and it seems one may achieve a state of continual effortless mindfulness with perfect clarity of the mind. All the stages build up to clarity of mind and dullness, albeit a great stress reliever, does not enhance clarity.

My sitting is now for the intention of clarity. I maintain the body-scan seperately. This change in practice has highlighted just how amazing the body-scan is for stress relief and peace of mind.

[JonW]

Hi mybubble.
Any particular areas you'd like to explore?
Also, do you own a Kindle or similar?
Cheers,
Jon

[mybubble]

Hi Jon,
I am open to any books apart from the 8-week MBSR type, I have read enough of those already. JKZ wherever you go, was good and I would like to explore applied mindfulness as well as any other insightful books with a different view of Mindfulness. I do not particularly relate to Thich's form of writing preferring more detail.
Perhaps a good one to explore Zen.
I have a kindle but prefer paper for these books, some may hate it but I admit it, I scrawl notes all over them.
Any suggestions always gratefully received.
Cheers
Ant.