clw_uk wrote:
Has anyone ever experience fear and aversion or excitement in the mind when approaching Samadhi?
Quite often I get this, like the ego and the hindrances (Mara) are fighting back against their abandonment (when scared) or excited that I about to "achieve" something.
Does anyone have any advice, if you experience this, on how to get past it?
Investigate the source. The fear or aversion may be rooted in delusions about what might happen if the process continues. The nature of the delusions may not be immediately obvious at first without further introspection. Beware the tendencies of mind to try to justify the fear and aversion during such introspection, however. The purpose is not justification but to see the faulty perspective behind the fear.
Try to persist despite the fear. Situations arise in daily life where sometimes we have to put ourselves in a scary situation, where that fear may or may not be justified. Understanding that just going through with it is the best course of action can allow the fear to just do its thing and pass. There is a useful quote in the "Dune" books by Frank Herbert known as the litany against fear:
Frank Herbert wrote:
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Regarding excitement, again investigate the source, but from a different perspective. With fear and aversion, there's an underlying delusion that something valuable might be lost. With excitement, there's an underlying delusion that something might be gained. Attaining Samadhi is not winning the game, and even such a mental state is not you or what you are. It's a positive outcome for the practice, but if you can see it in terms of not-self then you can view it with a perspective more like sympathetic joy for the aggregates and less like greed for personal gain. With sympathetic joy and equanimity present, the greedy and excited tendency of mind is undermined.
clw_uk wrote:
Also, does anyone else have trouble with being aware when tired (like first thing in the morning) and how to overcome/deal with it.
More active mental processes can be used to keep the mind awake and alert, such as body scanning approaches or trying to follow the breath in more than one place at once.
SN 46.53
SN 46.53: Aggi Sutta wrote:
"In the same way, monks, on any occasion the mind is sluggish, that is the wrong time to develop calm as a factor for awakening, concentration as a factor for awakening, equanimity as a factor for awakening. Why is that? The sluggish mind is hard to raise up by those mental qualities.
SN 46.53: Aggi Sutta wrote:
"In the same way, monks, on any occasion when the mind is sluggish, that is the right time to develop analysis of qualities as a factor for awakening, persistence as a factor for awakening, rapture as a factor for awakening. Why is that? The sluggish mind is easy to raise up by those mental qualities.