Temporary States versus Awakened Experience
FunkyFocus
A point worth emphasizing is that all of the meditative states described in the Shorter Discourse are temporary; they do not provide one with the experience of actual 24/7 awakening, nor do they necessarily lead to awakening merely by being “in” them. This of course isn’t to say that these temporary states aren’t helpful and worth exploring (that, after all, is the very premise of the Shorter Discourse), or that meditation isn’t otherwise as valuable as the Buddhist tradition generally holds it to be.
However, as helpful as these states can be, in terms of awakening, they aren’t “it”, nor are they absolutely necessary for awakening. As the Shorter Discourse instructs us, if we are in the signless (and empty/aimless) state, we must recognize how we condition our experience of this state (rather than just abide in it) for awakening to occur. While suffering may cease while “in” the signless/empty/aimless abiding, short of actually awakening, such a respite from from suffering is only temporary.
As we can read many times over in canonical literature, meditation is a very effective means by which to awaken. As someone who took to meditation quite quickly, I know how it helped me, and I was “doing” formless layer practice when both the first and seventh fetters fell away. That said, I also know from my other unfettering experiences, as well as from helping many others through that process, that meditation is not absolutely necessary. Some Buddhists might dispute that meditation is not crucial, and yet awakening happens with people who have never meditated at all. It might be said that the “goal” of meditation is to no longer need to meditate: that’s what awakening does.
Meditation After Awakening
We may still meditate in some other way after awakening, but not out of perceived need or as part of a spiritual “path”. As the Buddha himself described, the empty abiding was “somewhere” for him to be over the course of the day, interrupting it only to greet and talk with those who visited him. Once awake, accessing the empty abiding or state is essentially effortless, since at that point we can simply drop all mental interpretation of what is happening in sensory experience by which nothing is happening.
Once we fully awaken, the experience of the formless layer meditations changes because we are no longer able to temporarily pause or set aside whatever a particular state is concerned with. For example, prior to awakening, in the layer of no finite space we can find ourselves in a strange and even wonderful state where what we normally experience (i.e., finite “space”) is suddenly absent, and the only way to describe or name this temporary state is by referencing that which is now absent (i.e., “no finite space”). This contrasts with how, upon awakening, we no longer experience space at all, and may even forget what it was like to do so, by which the phrase “no finite space” loses its meaning. Having become fairly adept at formless layer practice, I was a bit shocked that, upon the breaking of the 7th fetter, I couldn’t access or “get into” this formless layer, because there was no longer (the illusion of) “space” to temporarily set aside.
The same is true of consciousness, something-ness and perception: by no longer having the belief in these as aspects of experience, the meditative state associated with their absence is no longer accessible. Instead, that there is no such thing as (for example) consciousness is an obvious fact, and the “new normal” of daily life. Thus, it might be said that the overall goal of the path to awakening includes not being able to “attain” or otherwise experience these meditative states ever again.
As the Buddha stated in the Shorter Discourse to his attendant Ananda, the 9th state (the empty abiding) is still accessible once we awaken: one can readily drop all interpretation of sensory experience necessary for daily life and simply abide “within” it. However, rather than being a meditative state, it is accessed at will and almost instantaneously, and can simply feel like a quieter version of what 24/7 life is otherwise like. The absence of mental interpretation is also unremarkable: while dropping all mental activity technically results in experience being empty, signless and aimless, those adjectives no longer come to mind, in part because they no longer have their opposites with which they contrast (fullness, signs and intention) to give them meaning.
Similarly, if in daily life it no longer occurs to us that the things we experience are “full”, the term “empty” won’t occur to us either if we temporarily suspend the experience of them. This is the same as the fact that, once we realize that the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus are imaginary, we don’t describe our daily experience as “Tooth Fairy-less” or “The Layer of No Santa Claus”. Instead, we know that they never existed in the first place, and the tendency to reference them at all eventually fades. That there is no such thing is an obvious fact if we stop to think about it, but the topic of “Tooth Fairy” (or “space”) may not come up unless talking to someone who still believes in it.
However, as helpful as these states can be, in terms of awakening, they aren’t “it”, nor are they absolutely necessary for awakening. As the Shorter Discourse instructs us, if we are in the signless (and empty/aimless) state, we must recognize how we condition our experience of this state (rather than just abide in it) for awakening to occur. While suffering may cease while “in” the signless/empty/aimless abiding, short of actually awakening, such a respite from from suffering is only temporary.
As we can read many times over in canonical literature, meditation is a very effective means by which to awaken. As someone who took to meditation quite quickly, I know how it helped me, and I was “doing” formless layer practice when both the first and seventh fetters fell away. That said, I also know from my other unfettering experiences, as well as from helping many others through that process, that meditation is not absolutely necessary. Some Buddhists might dispute that meditation is not crucial, and yet awakening happens with people who have never meditated at all. It might be said that the “goal” of meditation is to no longer need to meditate: that’s what awakening does.
Meditation After Awakening
We may still meditate in some other way after awakening, but not out of perceived need or as part of a spiritual “path”. As the Buddha himself described, the empty abiding was “somewhere” for him to be over the course of the day, interrupting it only to greet and talk with those who visited him. Once awake, accessing the empty abiding or state is essentially effortless, since at that point we can simply drop all mental interpretation of what is happening in sensory experience by which nothing is happening.
Once we fully awaken, the experience of the formless layer meditations changes because we are no longer able to temporarily pause or set aside whatever a particular state is concerned with. For example, prior to awakening, in the layer of no finite space we can find ourselves in a strange and even wonderful state where what we normally experience (i.e., finite “space”) is suddenly absent, and the only way to describe or name this temporary state is by referencing that which is now absent (i.e., “no finite space”). This contrasts with how, upon awakening, we no longer experience space at all, and may even forget what it was like to do so, by which the phrase “no finite space” loses its meaning. Having become fairly adept at formless layer practice, I was a bit shocked that, upon the breaking of the 7th fetter, I couldn’t access or “get into” this formless layer, because there was no longer (the illusion of) “space” to temporarily set aside.
The same is true of consciousness, something-ness and perception: by no longer having the belief in these as aspects of experience, the meditative state associated with their absence is no longer accessible. Instead, that there is no such thing as (for example) consciousness is an obvious fact, and the “new normal” of daily life. Thus, it might be said that the overall goal of the path to awakening includes not being able to “attain” or otherwise experience these meditative states ever again.
As the Buddha stated in the Shorter Discourse to his attendant Ananda, the 9th state (the empty abiding) is still accessible once we awaken: one can readily drop all interpretation of sensory experience necessary for daily life and simply abide “within” it. However, rather than being a meditative state, it is accessed at will and almost instantaneously, and can simply feel like a quieter version of what 24/7 life is otherwise like. The absence of mental interpretation is also unremarkable: while dropping all mental activity technically results in experience being empty, signless and aimless, those adjectives no longer come to mind, in part because they no longer have their opposites with which they contrast (fullness, signs and intention) to give them meaning.
Similarly, if in daily life it no longer occurs to us that the things we experience are “full”, the term “empty” won’t occur to us either if we temporarily suspend the experience of them. This is the same as the fact that, once we realize that the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus are imaginary, we don’t describe our daily experience as “Tooth Fairy-less” or “The Layer of No Santa Claus”. Instead, we know that they never existed in the first place, and the tendency to reference them at all eventually fades. That there is no such thing is an obvious fact if we stop to think about it, but the topic of “Tooth Fairy” (or “space”) may not come up unless talking to someone who still believes in it.