Dealing with Dullness
Becoming used to this space, quiet, and relaxation causes dullness to set in. We can very subtley slip into a dull mindset and not recognize for a long time that we've actually stopped meditating and are just riding along in neutral.
Gross & Subtle Dullness
With gross dullness, all of our mind ends up being absorbed in a mind-state or dwelling on a thought or emotion. With subtle dullness, most of the mind is on our breath, but a small portion has wandered off to dwell on an emotion or mind-state.
Each time that we fall into gross dullness, we need to remind ourselves to pay attention to the breathing. If we find that we fall into this dullness often, we can try meditating in a brighter lit room, or meditate outside in the sunlight. We can also meditate with our eyes wide-open looking straight ahead or up at the sky. It can help to splash water in our face either before we practice or even to stop and do it in the middle of our meditation.
Dullness can also mean that we are actually tired and need to get more rest and sleep. At that point it may be more useful to have a nap.
Once we are well rested and awake, then we can try meditating for a short while, being wary of falling into dullness.
Again, alertness is required to catch ourself being absorbed. This time, memory is used to remind ourselves that all states are impermanent and not to fix on anything but the breath.
However, dullness also has a lot to do with dwelling. Instead of viewing mind-states like a hotel, where we stay for a brief period of time, we want to move in, set up shop, put pictures on the wall and stay forever. This tendency is where we fall for dullness.
By dwelling on a mind-state we end up losing awareness of other things around us. The idea is to experience any mind-state as temporary, allowing it to arise and pass away, but remaining focussed on the space in which this mind-state arises. So when we feel a sense of settling in, we should be alert to the possibility of dullness seeping in to our minds.
So gross dullness is usually the result of a pre-occupation with some aspect of our world. Remembering their temporariness and focussing on the space in which these pre-occupations occur can help us out of our dullness. We need to remember that dullness is just a thought or feeling, a mind-state, and so is just fleeting. We need to more forcefully return to our focus on our breathing, abandoning our pre-occupation by re-adjusting our focus.
With the subtler types of dullness, we need to tighten up our attention. We can also observe our dullness and try to see what's beyond it; trying to look at the environment surrounding our dullness and other aspects of the situation. Usually this type of dullness is related to ignoring. We are attempting to cover-up something. It could also be viewed as being indifferent to certain things in our world or trying to avoid things.
This comes from seeking a level of comfort. Often, however, we end up getting too comfortable, too quickly and end up ignoring an area where we could develop ourselves or improve the way we deal with our world. This is how this type of dullness can cause us problems in our life. It's actually a kind of laziness or reluctance to make sustained effort.
The 4th Stage - Close Placement of the Mind
So, at this stage we are working to eliminate course Dullness as over absorption in the object of concentration (for example, the breath) leads to sinking into the current mind-state. Completion of this stage is evident when we can remain focussed on the breath without ever losing alertness.
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