The Complete Achievement of Shamata:
We have developed complete mindfulness of body, feelings, mind, and phenomena. Through this mindfulness, we have achieved direct knowledge of our own mind-states and in the process have understood those mind-states that are harmful and those that are beneficial.
By beginning to abandon the harmful mind-states and strengthening the beneficial, and by stopping ourselves from dwelling on the past, fretting over the future, and clinging to the present, our sense of energy has increased. With increased energy comes a greater sense of well-being which leads to Joy. With increased Joy and a stronger and stronger sense of well-being comes tranquility of body and mind, which leads to a sense of Peace.
Having a peaceful mind means that the body and mind come more and more under our control and so our focus improves. All of these experiences gives us a tremendous flexibity and control of our body and mind and a strong sense of well being. We move back and forth between experiencing Joy, Peace, and Concentration, with each one becoming stronger and stronger.
This is the point that we are working on in these last stages. During these stages we are working at becoming comfortable and balanced with these feelings of joy, peace, and concentration including their intensity. At first they seem extraordinary and amazing, which is where our current degree of attachment comes from.
In the previous level, we were working on maintaining a balance between well-being, peace, and awareness as these qualities expanded. During the previous level and this one, we are working towards becoming so familiar with this Joy, Peace, and Concentration, that they almost seem boring. At this level, that boredom tends to make us a little lax in our attention. Therefore we need to learn to insert the appropriate amount of energy or effort.
For the qualities of Shamata to be really useful, these qualities need to become NORMAL but we still need to be active and not on auto-pilot. These qualities need to be thought of as an ordinary part of our being and not something special, because then we're subtly keeping them separate from ourselves. At the same time, we need to still be alert to maintaining our technique. Its like tennis pros who no longer have to think about the technique of tennis, but still have to use the right skills to get the results that they want. Its like a driver who no longer needs to think about all of the things that need to be done in order to drive a car - they just do it. Or a jeweler who is so experienced they can put together a beautiful necklace or ring with ease.
The difficulty of this level is like the very good driver, tennis pro, or the experienced jeweler who tends to get a little sloppy because they are so good at what they do. The level of effort needs to be sustained and not taper off, even though everything is done so easily. Finding the right level of effort and becoming comfortable with it is the main work of this tenth and last level of Shamata meditation.
Once we recognize these states as normal, we may begin to notice that our focus determines our reality. Our response to situations depends on how we view them. Because of this sense of control, we end up with a slight attachment to the meditative process. We need to recognize that these abilities are developed within meditation, but are designed to be used outside of meditation. We should begin to see the need to break down the division between meditation and non-meditation. That doesn't mean that its time to stop meditating.
Full Shamata
At this level, maintaining well-being, peace of mind, and focus become "effortless". We have now fully developed Complete Acquaintance, or total familiarity with the work of meditation. As with the last level, lack of equanimity is still the main problem. This is the result of a subtle grasping at the meditation process, the final portions of which need to be overcome at this final level. Once we have an experience of continuous and total physical & mental ecstasy & bliss during meditation, that is the sign of the full attainment of the path of Shamata.
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