About MIDL Meditation

Meditation Skills 1-16

You begin by developing skill in softening and samadhi (unified attention) by following systematic training in mindfulness of breathing & jhana in a way that weakens the 16 Meditative Hindrances in seated meditation and daily life (samatha-vipassana). 

This is done in three tiers of training in mindfulness of breathing:

1. Tier 1 mindfulness of breathing develops insight by observing 16 meditative hindrances.
2. Tier 2 mindfulness of breathing establishes the first six Enlightenment Factors.
3. Tier 3 mindfulness of breathing develops skill in establishing access concentration.

Sukha Vedana-Jhana

• You then develop skill in accessing the first four Jhana (meditative absorption) to develop the clarity and stability of attention necessary for insight and to establish the seventh Enlightenment Factor of equanimity.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 01: Grounding Your Attention.
•  ---: Retrain Your Breathing Patterns.
• 02: Softening Into Breathing.
• 03: Skill of Softening Into.

Stage 1: Overcome the Tendency Towards Restlessness

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 04: Cultivate Skill in Mindfulness.
• 05: Cultivate Skill in Focusing.
• 06: Cultivate Skill in Grounding.
• 07: Cultivate Skill in Observing.
• 08: Cultivate Skill in Allowing.

Stage 1: Overcome the Tendency Towards Dullness

• 09: Cultivate Skill in Applying.
• 10: Cultivate Skill in Acknowledging.
• 11: Cultivate Skill in Sustaining.
• 12: Cultivate Skill in Experiencing.
• 13: Cultivate Skill in Stabilising.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 14: Cultivate Skill in Joy & Tranquility.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• ---: Transitioning from Doing to Knowing.
• 15: Cultivate Skill in Intimate Attention.
• 16: Cultivate Skill in Unification.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• ---: Cultivate Skill in First Jhana.
• ---: Cultivate Skill in Second Jhana.
• ---: Cultivate Skill in Third Jhana.
• ---: Cultivate Skill in Fourth Jhana.

Next: Insight Into Reality Section

Meditation Skills 17-27

• You continue to practice daily mindfulness of breathing and the first four jhana.
• At the end of each meditation, you develop insight by following a set of methodical investigations into the four satipatthana with an emphasis on perceiving anatta (not-self) and idappaccayatā (specific conditionality).
• Conditions are now present for Sotapanna (stream entry).

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 17: Observe the Four Elements.
• 18: Observe Borders of Perception.
• 19: Observe Attention Move 1.
• 20: Observe Attention Move 2.
• 21: Observe Attention Flicker.
• 22: Observe Thinking Processes.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 23: Observe Thinking Patterns.
• 24: Observe Past and Future.
• 25: Observe Pleasant Feeling.
• 26: Observe Unpleasant Feeling.
• 27: Observe the Five Aggregates.

Next: Deconditioning & Conditioning Section

Meditation Skills 28-39

Deconditioning:

• You continue to practice daily mindfulness of breathing and the first four jhana.

• With deep insight into anatta and specific conditionality, you are now prepared to intentionally trigger and strip vedana (pleasantness & unpleasantness: lit; feeling tone) from all thoughts, memories. This is done both in seated meditation and daily life to remove habitual vedana based trigger points towards perceptions of past and future.

Conditioning:

• Your daily mindfulness of breathing swaps to developing sukha-vedana jhana using the cultivation of metta (loving kindness) as your meditation object. 

• This is done in three phases: generating your metta object on yourself and a loved one, on difficult people in your life, and finally pervasively to all beings. You can also swap the flavour of this practice with by cultivating compassion (karuna) or joy for other success (mudita).

• Once defensive qualities are weak, any wholesome qualities of heart, speech or action that are weak within you will be revealed, allowing you to cultivate and establish (condition) them as a natural tendency within your mind.

Summary:

• Through the process of deconditioning the conditions for the akusala (unwholesome-unskillful) and conditioning conditioning of the kusala (wholesome-skillful) the tendency towards attraction and aversion within your mind will become very weak.

• Conditions are now present for Sakadagami (once returner).34: Decondition Emotional Charge.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 28: Learn to Abandon Intention.
• 29: Learn to Re-engage Diaphragm.
• 30: Learn to Lengthen Out-breath.
• 31: Learn to Relax the Eyelids.
• 32: Learn to Relax Frontal Lobes.
• 33: Learn to Decondition Mind.
• 34: Decondition Emotional Charge.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 35: Loving Kindness: Loved One.
• 36: Loving Kindness: Loved One. 
• 37: Loving Kindness: Pervasive.
• 38: Cultivate Skill in Forgiveness.
• 39: Cultivate Skill in Gratitude.

Next: Disentangling Habitual Entanglement Section

Meditation Skills 40-43

• Your daily meditation now swaps to the cultivation of stillness (nirvikalpa samadhi: objectless unification) in preparation for indrya samvara (calming of the habitual going out of attention to the sense fields).

• As piti-sukha arises based the development of nirvikalpa samadhi, you develop skill in accessing the first four sukha-vedana jhana without a defined object for attention.

Meditation Skills 44-49

• You continue to practice daily nirvikalpa samadhi and the first four sukha-vedana jhana using piti-sukha that arises in the development of nirvikalpa samadhi as an object.

• With freedom from past and future perceptions, you begin to observe and methodically decondition any habitual entanglement of awareness with the six sense fields. As nirvikalpa samadhi develops, disenchantment towards sensoury experience and equanimity in all aspects of life establishes. 

• The mind stream is now cut off at vedana. Even though pleasant and unpleasant vedana is still produced by the mind, your relationship towards this vedana is one of onlooking equanimity and nonreactivity.

• Conditions are now present for Anagami (non-returner).

Meditation Skills 50-52

• You continue to practice daily nirvikalpa samadhi now taking awareness as an object and the development of nirodha samapatti (complete cessation).

• You enter the final stage of observing habitual entanglement of awareness with itself and deconditioning this tendency. This creates the conditions nirodha samapatti  when the habitual tendency of awareness to grasp on itself ceases. 

• The mind stream is now cut off at initial perception (recognition) before the point that vedana would normally be applied, with vedana no longer being produced on sensoury contact. Equanimity is now completely established and cannot be disturbed. 

• It is important to note that sukha-vedana (pleasant meditative feeling) is still produced by the quality and structure of the meditative attention applied to sensoury objects and is independent of the object within attention.

• Conditions are now present for Arahant (fully awakened, Noble One).

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 40: Develop Stillness with Breathing.
• 41: Develop Stillness of Body.
• 42: Develop Stillness of Mind.
• 43: Entering Deep Stillness.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 44: Remember Awareness.
• 45: Mindfulness of Seeing.
• 46: Mindfulness of Hearing.
• 47: Mindfulness of Smelling.
• 48: Mindfulness of Tasting.
• 49: Mindfulness of Touching.

MEDITATION SKILL:

• 50: Mindfulness of Knowing 1. 
• 51: Mindfulness of Knowing 2. 
• 52: Calming all Mental Activity.