Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
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Heaviside
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Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by Heaviside »

Is anyone familiar with the approach mentioned in the title of my posting.

I am impressed by his videos and writings, but it seems something is missing when I try to put it into practice.

I would appreciate any commentary and suggestions anyone might have.

Thanks, with metta.
Do the best you can with what you have to work with.
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Cittasanto
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by Cittasanto »

there are members here who are practicing under him, but he does have his own yahoo e-mail group I think can be found on the dhammasukha web site. there may also be a e-mail address there to contact him?
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
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Heaviside
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by Heaviside »

Thanks for the response, but I am familiar with the website.

I was hoping to get an assessment of tbe method from more experienced meditators than I. :namaste:
Do the best you can with what you have to work with.
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mikenz66
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by mikenz66 »

Hi Heaviside,

Since you are asking whether something is missing when you try to put the instructions into practice, it would make sense to contact Bhante V and others through the website and Yahoo group. I've listened to a number of Bhante V's sutta readings, so I've some general familiarity with his approach. To my understanding, it seems like a reasonable approach (as are the various other approaches you'll see discussed on this Forum). However, if you have queries on how exactly to apply the instructions it would be best to ask the source, rather than relying on ideas of those who have not tried it.

:anjali:
Mike
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Cittasanto
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by Cittasanto »

Heaviside wrote:Thanks for the response, but I am familiar with the website.

I was hoping to get an assessment of tbe method from more experienced meditators than I. :namaste:
Hi
Have you tried to contact him through the site, or yahoo group?
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Heaviside
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by Heaviside »

There is a duscussion now going on on the Yahoo group website which outlines tge issue. Thus far there seems to be no real response to the issue that was raised.


Here is the substance of the discussion. Any thoughts?

Metta,

Heaviside



Many thanks Sister Khema,

Well, the fault was mine in leading the original thread astray.

Let me recount my experience just a bit. Maybe that will focus things somewhat
better.

I started out by reading most of the "beginners" material on the DMS website,
watched and listened to quite a few of Bhante Vimalaramsi's discourses on
YouTube, and purchased and read his new book. I think it is the most logically
appealing approach I have become aware of.

But putting it into practice is another story!

I started out by trying to apply the 6R's more or less in its "pure state," but
found that my attention wandered too much. I would often realize that I had
gone off on a tangent for a long time (no inkling, of course, for how long). It
seemed to me that I should be more alert and try to sense when the "drift' began
to occur, so I tried to adopt a "watcher attitude". But I still drifted too
much.

At this point, I began to try to incorporate Bhante's advice from his talks. In
particular, I tried to follow the MN 10 sutta with its direction to "tranquilize
the bodily formations". Now, according to Bhanti this means the physical body
(from top to bottom) and not, as commentators have claimed, the "breath body".
But it occurred to me that the placement of these instructions in the sutta
imply that they are to be considered as a more or less warmup exercise for the
"main event", which I take to be the six R's.

Okay, that was a bit longwinded, I know. Now for a more succinct phrasing.

When I meditate, do I begin with the directions in MN10 and switch to a "6R
mode"? And when I am doing the 6R's, how do I recognize the "head tension"
Bhante talks about? He seems to be saying that it is a physical tension caused
by constriction of the meninges, rather than a mental tension.

I can't "Release" until I "Recognize," and I just don't know how to do that. I
can certainly recognize that my attention has wondered, but it is the
recognition of the head tension that confuses me. That seems to require an
active effort on my part, but this seems to me to create a tendency toward
one-pointedness.

All the best, with wishes that your coming retreat will be a productive on.

Art

--- In [email protected], Sister Khema <sisterkhema@...> wrote:
>
> Dhamma Greetings Steve.
>
> You voiced the question about the original question for the thread called,
> "I am disappointed".
>
> Well, It got me confused too. I am happy to try to sort this out today.
> But then, I am going into the desert for 2 weeks time.
> And this means I might not be able to be online much while there.
> Never sure about this place. But this time, "I" am going on retreat more
heavily then in past years... SO I might be mute.
> I am telling all of you about this ahead of time.
> Will be back maybe for three days time March 31 before heading back to
Missouri by train over 4 days.
> That 4 days I will be incommunicado I think while moving......... most of the
way.
> I do writing each year while on that trip, preparing end-year reports and
updates and setting up yearly goals. Those will be open to scrutiny when
completed and posted.
>
> OK.
> About the question.
> Maybe Art could post it again as one question.
> I came to think that the main question was about "is the practice 'active or
passive' and whether I could tell him what part was active or passive."
>
> I "think" that was the original question. Art can steer me back to JUST the
original question and I will change the title to 'Answering the disappointed'
>
> On one of those replies I tried to answer that part.
> It was an unusual way of talking about the "practice", since
> practice is active to begin with .
> I tried to try to sort it out that way, ya know....
> Maybe we can do it under this heading now if anybody wants to go on further.
>
> Metta and smiles.
> CH. Khema
>
Do the best you can with what you have to work with.
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LonesomeYogurt
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

I used to rush into watching the breath far too early when I first started meditation - it is very important to spend a good five minutes or so just slowly un-tensing the body.

Make sure you are a breathing with your belly - chest breathing can make the body far less tranquil as it requires more effort from the diaphragm. Otherwise, have you considered using a mantra, such as "Bu" on the in-breath and "dho" on the out-breath? This is a very helpful tool for keeping the mind on the breath.

Otherwise, the dreaded advice is definitely to just try and stick it out. It gets better, as the saying goes.
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta

Stuff I write about things.
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badscooter
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by badscooter »

From what I gather you are supposed to release the distraction, relax the body, smile, and return to your object of meditation (which I believe is usually metta with him) every time you get distracted during meditation.

But again, it's best to get clarification from the Venerable or Sister K.
"whatever one frequently thinks and ponders upon will be the inclination of one's mind"
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Heaviside
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by Heaviside »

"I used to rush into watching the breath far too early when I first started meditation - it is very important to spend a good five minutes or so just slowly un-tensing the body.

Make sure you are a breathing with your belly - chest breathing can make the body far less tranquil as it requires more effort from the diaphragm. Otherwise, have you considered using a mantra, such as "Bu" on the in-breath and "dho" on the out-breath? This is a very helpful tool for keeping the mind on the breath.

Otherwise, the dreaded advice is definitely to just try and stick it out. It gets better, as the saying goes."


Thanks so much for these practical tips, Lonesome Yogurt. I will definitely give them a try. :clap:
Do the best you can with what you have to work with.
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marc108
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by marc108 »

I dont practice in that method but am familiar with it. is your problem that you're unable to recognize the tension in the head specifically and this is interfering with your practice? also how long have you been practicing?
"It's easy for us to connect with what's wrong with us... and not so easy to feel into, or to allow us, to connect with what's right and what's good in us."
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Heaviside
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Re: Bhante Vimalaramsi and the 6R's?

Post by Heaviside »

marc108 wrote:I dont practice in that method but am familiar with it. is your problem that you're unable to recognize the tension in the head specifically and this is interfering with your practice? also how long have you been practicing?
Yep, that's the problem. I have been practicing thirty minutes per day for several (four to six?) months with few missed days.
Do the best you can with what you have to work with.
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Re: Sunlun Sayadaw method

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings DooDoot,
DooDoot wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:24 am It took a monk such as Bhante Vimalaramsi, stuck in the Burmese system, at least 20 years to realise this.
Are you speaking in relation to this...?
Vimalaramsi wrote:“Over the years, and through the use of a lot of different commentaries, the meditation is changed away from the discourses, and it’s gone to the commentaries, and the commentaries have been influenced very heavily by other ideas, and other ways of meditation, in particular, The Path of Purification. It’s one of the most horrible books written, because it’s written in such a way that it’s intellectually very stimulating, and it uses just enough parts of discourses to make it sound like it really does know what it’s talking about. But when you compare The Path Of Purification with the discourses themselves, you’ll start to see that there are definite differences… and now, because we’re so far away from the time of the Buddha, there’s a lot of monks that take The Path Of Purification as the same as the teaching of the Buddha, and then there’s other monks that don’t take that as the teaching of the Buddha, they take the discourses as the true teaching. And you have all of these intellectual games that are starting to occur more and more.”
Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Re: Sunlun Sayadaw method

Post by DooDoot »

retrofuturist wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:34 amAre you speaking in relation to this...?
Here is expressed well (although it is not a "new perspective", as claimed):

There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

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https://soundcloud.com/doodoot/anapanasati
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samseva
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Re: Sunlun Sayadaw method

Post by samseva »

Vimalaramsi wrote:“Over the years, and through the use of a lot of different commentaries, the meditation is changed away from the discourses, and it’s gone to the commentaries, and the commentaries have been influenced very heavily by other ideas, and other ways of meditation, in particular, The Path of Purification. It’s one of the most horrible books written, because it’s written in such a way that it’s intellectually very stimulating, and it uses just enough parts of discourses to make it sound like it really does know what it’s talking about. But when you compare The Path Of Purification with the discourses themselves, you’ll start to see that there are definite differences… and now, because we’re so far away from the time of the Buddha, there’s a lot of monks that take The Path Of Purification as the same as the teaching of the Buddha, and then there’s other monks that don’t take that as the teaching of the Buddha, they take the discourses as the true teaching. And you have all of these intellectual games that are starting to occur more and more.”
Even if the techniques described in The Path of Purification weren't/aren't precisely sourced from the Suttas, it doesn't invalidate them. The jhānas are a mental-physical process, not a religious or doctrinal one.

If someone can reach the 4th jhāna thanks to The Path of Purification, he/she still reached the 4th jhāna. The criteria for the jhānas in The Path of Purification are a lot more strict as well, so it's not like they were "interpreting" things differently to make things easier for themselves.
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