Liber RV
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I'm working on the first practice of liber RV, doing so in the God Asana, and am not sure when to move on to the second. (I notice the liber says 'the Zelator,' so I'm not entirely surprised- I assume there is supposed to be a Practicus helping the reader) The only results it mentions are Samadhi (unlikely at this stage) and Mahasatipatthana, for the explanation of which it refers me to liber XXV. I checked; this is of course the Star Ruby.
In brief, is this intended to train concentration or to produce some other result? When should I move on to Pranayama? -
This is pranayama. It's all pranayama. (Regardless of what paragraph 5 says in its title.)
Actually, to clarify, by "first practice" do you mean:
"2. Let the Zelator observe the current of his breath."
Or do you mean paragraph 4 which is titled "First Practice"
I gather the latter. (But be sure you haven't skipped everythign before that.)
BTW samadhi isn't the only result it mentions. It also mentions resolving itself into mahasatipatthana.
This one practice (aken to fullness of mahasatipatthana) could be the only practice you need for life. (Buddha seems to have thought so.) But, in the context of Liber RV, you should at least be well settled into it. It's hard to lay down a specific time, but I think it unlikely you'll have gotten the point of this one practice if you do it less than a week of 2-3 times a day for, say, at least 15 minutes at a whack. You may wish to do it longer.
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(I have been doing 20 min a day; I will do my best to increase this) What exactly is Mahasatipatthana? That should have been my other question actually; as I mentioned, the reader is referred to the Star Ruby for some reason.
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@veritas_in_nox said
"(I have been doing 20 min a day; I will do my best to increase this) What exactly is Mahasatipatthana? That should have been my other question actually; as I mentioned, the reader is referred to the Star Ruby for some reason."
No, not the Star Ruby, though that's an understandable mistake. Liber XXV (and, later, Liber V) was originally the short instruction on Mahasatipatthana in Crowley's essay, "Science & Buddhism."
If you have The Mystical & Magical System of the A.'.A.'., see the longish section on Mahasatipatthana in the 4=7 (Philosophus) chapter. I'd reproduce it here but for the length, and most of it anyway is an excerpt from S&B. Essentially, it is a meditation passing mindfully through the five skandas while observing a particular sensory phenomenon such as the breath. As I concluded in M&MAA:
"This is one of the most effective and extraordinary techniques in the entire canon of A.'.A.'. methods. By itself, it allows for the transition of consciousness from one plane to the next. By the act of observing a phenomenon, you actually gain objectivity on the phenomenon, which means you begin to witness from a point of view exterior to it. You “kick yourself up a plane” from the one you are observing.
The layers, or planes, that emerge successively in this meditation are the Buddhist skandas, or characteristic-layers. From outermost inward, these are nâma-rûpa, literally the name and form of the object itself; vedanâ, sensation; sañña, perception; samskâra, ‘tendency’ or karma-based habituations; and viñnanam, consciousness itself. "
In my almost-finished (this week, if I'm on target!) new book, Visions & Voices, the glossary defines skandas as follows:
SKANDAS. n. Lit. “aggregates.” Buddhism. Five categories of phenomena, observable sequentially when moving awareness inward from the outermost. They are: rūpa, “form;” vedană, “sensation;” sañña, “perception;” sankhăra, “tendency” or “impulse;” and viññăna, “consciousness.”
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So if I have done a few days' practice and have been feeling divorced from my own sensory impulses (a bit as if I am inhabiting a hollow within my body) am I on the right track?
P.S.- the sides of my face have also been tingling after a few minutes of this practice. Just thought I'd mention it. -
@Liber CCVI said
"First practice. --- Let him concentrate his mind upon the act of breathing, saying mentally, "The breath flows in", "the breath flows out", and record the results. [This practice may resolve itself into Mahasatipatthana (vide Liber XXV) or induce Samadhi. Whichever occurs should be followed up as the right Ingenium of the Zelator, or the advice of his Practicus, may determine.]"
That's what I'm doing. Under JAE's advice, I'm doing this twice a day for 15min each time. I am doing so seated in the God Asana so I can practice that too.
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It's the first step of a multi-layered meditation. You don't just say it, you actively observe it while saying it.
When this is settled in, you may notice that you don't really know for sure that the breath is flowing in and out, but you can observe that you have a sensatiuon of this. You then observe to yourself, "There is a sensation of the breath flowing in... there is a sensation of the breath flowing out..."
And so forth, through many layers across weeks or months.
It walks you right up the skandas.
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@Alrah said
"I see. And you also combine a self hypnosis technique with meditation."
Quite the opposite. The most common mistake is to turn it into a drone or automaticity. The proper way to observe is to stay keenly present and observant.
"Is there a purpose behind why words are used instead Jim?
"I can only guess. I suspect it is to intentionally engage the rational mind in what is inherently an analytical process.
BTW, according to credible surviving literature, Buddha evidently taught that this one practice of Mahasattipathana was the only practice anyone needed to attain in full. Having practiced it at great length during my Philosophus period (when it is the essential method for crossing the Path of Nun), I can honestly say that this claim may just be right!
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@Jim Eshelman said
"You then observe to yourself, "There is a sensation of the breath flowing in... there is a sensation of the breath flowing out..."
And so forth, through many layers across weeks or months.
It walks you right up the skandas."
I feel a bit dense- I'm not entirely sure what this means. For one thing, does the 'and so forth' happen automatically or must it be willed? For another, your response makes it sound like what Alrah said, 'I am observing my mind commenting on observing my mind,' &c. From Alrah's tone I'm pretty sure that's not intended. What does it mean to shift from form to sensation, to perception, and so forth?
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Part of the problem here is that I'm trying to very briefly summarize what normally should have a short article (or a least half an hour's presentation) to communication. Another problem is that most of the answers come from practice. So you're not going to get the whole answer here. I originally sent everyone to the original source material in AC's writings, and you have to go read that - and then practice!
But I'll try to answer your specific questions. Just understand that you're not going to get this from a brief forum discussion without going off and reading the source material and then practicing.
@veritas_in_nox said
"'m not entirely sure what this means. For one thing, does the 'and so forth' happen automatically or must it be willed?"
Kind of a combination. You find yourself at the threshold, often with a realization of the next step. (Even if you know ahead of time what to expect, it may come as a sudden realization.) Something will change. And then you go with that new point of view and step up to the next level.
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"For another, your response makes it sound like what Alrah said, 'I am observing my mind commenting on observing my mind,' &c. From Alrah's tone I'm pretty sure that's not intended."
There's a bit of that, but it's not the usual kind of pratyahara practice.
"What does it mean to shift from form to sensation, to perception, and so forth?"
I think maybe you have to do it to get it.
Let me give you my favorite example, though. I was doing this meditation on breath. I had been working on, "There is a sensation of the breath going in," etc. At some point, I realized that I had no evidence of this - I fully well knew that such sensations were keying of certain things in the brain, and that the sensation could be faked by stimulating the right part of the brain electrically. (I didn't think through all of that; it was long-known information.) I realized that I actually couldn't say for sure that there was a sensation - a stimulation of sensory nerves - only that the brain was registering one. I had just started going into, "There is a perception of a sensation of breath moving in," etc., when, all of a sudden, my body went into a panic attack. (I don't get panic attacks.)
What had happened? Simple: My brain totally got that I didn't really know if there was really breath going in. My survival reflexes had absorbed the truth that it could no longer trust brain signals - that the brain might be getting fooled! - so the body triggered an emergency "breath, mother-fucker!" reflex.
It was a good laugh after I stopped be amazed. Practice went on from there, but that remains my best story on the subject.