What Is Direct Perceptual Verification

Blue Sky's Observational Meditation Journal

Day 230 of Meditation: Observing the Breath

This morning during seated meditation while observing the breath, after several breaths, the respiration became smooth. The chest and abdomen felt warm and comfortable, with a clear perception of qi channels circulating. I could sense the qi flow reaching the centers of both soles, and the Huiyin point opened. A warm current flowed into the lower back. As the breathing deepened, the respiratory pressure increased, causing slight numbness under the chin, though noticeably reduced compared to previous days. There was a distinct distended and obstructed sensation in the right chest and right rib area, radiating upward to the armpit, then extending further to the right shoulder blade. This connected through the right side of the throat to the right lower lip, faintly linking to the root of the right ear. With each breath, I felt points along this pathway pulling on each other. The left armpit felt slightly distended with no other issues. As I continued observing the breath, the pathway centered on the right armpit gradually transformed from feeling distended and congested to becoming comfortable and warm, extending backward to the rear shoulder.

After observing the sensations throughout the body for some time, I focused my awareness on the nose, observing the incoming and outgoing breath at that location. I attentively listened to the friction sound of the airflow passing through the nasal cavity and carefully felt the sensations as the air flowed through the nasal passages and throat. Gradually, I perceived changes occurring in the brain with each in-breath and out-breath: a comfortable, easing sensation of continuous unblocking within the brain. A cool, refreshing sensation was also present in both shoulders and armpits. Besides the airflow at the nose, I could perceive airflow surrounding the front, back, left, and right sides of the neck. The chest cavity gradually opened, and I perceived an expansion in the skin area participating in respiration. Body heat increased, and the overall sense of comfort in the body intensified. There was a prelude suggesting the right ear was about to connect with the nose and brain, but it did not fully connect by the end of the session.

In recent meditation sessions, the chin, lower lip, and tongue experienced severe numbness and distension, and the throat felt tight. Therefore, during the later stages of sitting, I often contemplated the Dharma principles. This helped strengthen concentration (samadhi) and allowed me to quickly move beyond the aforementioned states of obstruction. The principles contemplated were still "the body is impermanent, form is without self (anatta)." Later, I focused primarily on contemplating "anatta" (no-self). After roughly contemplating this, I emptied the mind and found that concentration was significantly enhanced at this point. This manifested as deeper breathing, the gradual dissolution of blockages, and an increased sense of bodily comfort.

A few days ago, during the later stage of one sitting, after contemplating the Dharma principles, when I returned to observing the breath, I could no longer feel the body. I merely sensed bundles of air currents interweaving. During inhalation, a large stream of air merged into them; during exhalation, a stream of air departed.

Now, I can faintly sense the flavor of the mind faculty (manas) observing directly (pratyakṣa).

Commentary: If the mind becomes even finer, one will perceive that the physical body is like an illusory net, woven from air currents. Later, one will feel that even the air currents are not real, and the physical body is even more illusory. When I say this, you might think over there that it seems to be the case, indeed it seems so. But no matter how much you feel it is so, no matter how much you confirm it, it is not genuine perception or direct perception (pratyakṣa); it is not experiential realization (sākṣātkāra). How can one achieve direct perception and experiential realization?

Direct perception and experiential realization are like Blue Sky's present observation: "My physical body is indeed like this right now," "My perception is precisely like this right now." These dharmas are currently operating and can be observed as they truly are. This is direct observation and direct experiential realization. Anything else is not direct experiential realization; it can be called conceptual imagination, inference (anumāna), or erroneous cognition (viparyaya).

Therefore, some people say, "I can enter contemplation while following the text (suí wén rù guān), contemplating while listening to the Dharma, so I have realized it experientially." However, if these dharmas are not currently occurring in your body and mind, if you cannot observe them directly and as they truly are right now, then it is not "entering contemplation while following the text." That is conceptual imagination, inference and erroneous cognition; there is no direct perception yet. Only when you observe what is actually happening right now is it direct observation and direct experiential realization.

Many people without meditative concentration (dhyāna) and without the skill of observational meditation (guān xíng), upon hearing the Dharma and thinking about it a little, feel that these teachings are correct, indeed so, and become very certain. They think, "I have observed directly, I have severed the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi)." But this is merely inference and deduction; it is not direct observation. One cannot yet sever the view of self. The distance to severing the view of self is unknown; perhaps it cannot be severed in this lifetime, perhaps not for hundreds, thousands, or even kalpas (aeons). Regarding what constitutes direct observation and experiential realization, everyone should carefully discern and not be blindly confident, lest it lead to grave false speech (mahā-mṛṣāvāda), which would be very unfortunate.

Dedication Verse: May the merit from all Dharma propagation and group practice on our online platform be dedicated to all sentient beings in the Dharma realm, dedicated to the people of the world. We pray for world peace, the cessation of wars; the absence of conflict, the eternal end of weapons; may all disasters completely subside! May the people of all nations unite in mutual aid, approach each other with compassionate hearts; may there be favorable weather and national prosperity with peace for the people! May all sentient beings deeply believe in cause and effect, harbor compassionate hearts and refrain from killing; may they widely form wholesome connections, widely cultivate wholesome karma; believe in the Buddha, learn the Buddha's teachings, and increase wholesome roots; understand suffering, abandon its origin, aspire to cessation, and cultivate the path; close the door to the evil destinies, open the path to Nirvana! May Buddhism flourish eternally, may the true Dharma abide forever; may the burning house of the three realms be transformed into the lotus land of Ultimate Bliss!