Theos-Talk Archives (April 1999 Message tt00130)

>>"Meditation without a seed" is that in which the brooding of the
mind has been pushed to such a point that the object selected for
mediation has disappeared fro the mental plane, and there is no
longer any recognition of it, but consequent progressive thought
upon a higher plane."
This comment is s by the translator:  Wm. Q. Judge.>>

Thanks for the quote Dallas. This is an important meditation,
and one that I practiced a long time ago but from a
Buddhist text rather than Patanjali. 

Judge's term  "consequent progressive thought upon a higher 
plane" is misleading because there is, in fact, no thought
there at all in the sense that the human mind understands
thoughts.  The "higher plane" Judge refers to is the causal.

Now the state of no-thought is a blank coma, a formless
state, which we enter when consciousness focuses on the 
causal plane.  The meditation itself is used to demonstrate 
that consciousness survives our everyday normal thinking,
which takes place only on the mental plane.

The technique that I used was to image (there's that word
again) thoughts crossing my mind like clouds crossing a
clear sky on a breezy day.  Then I would try to look in
between any two clouds and stare at the clear sky for a
a second. This imaginative technque allowed me to then
do the same thing with thoughts which allowed me to
experience the no-thought condition directly.

Imagination, even in seedless, or formless, thoughtless
meditations is needed for most people to get started.
Once we experience the goal-state directly then our
imagination is no longer needed or used.

Hope this helps. I can only really address my own
experiences, Dallas, but I doubt that I am all that
different from others.

Jerry S






                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                      

-- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk -- theos-talk@theosophy.com

Letters to the Editor, and discussion of theosophical ideas and
teachings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message consisting of
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to theos-talk-request@theosophy.com.