http://thehamiltonproject.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/yogi-toolboxhaietmoba.

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Disclaimer: My current two cents always subject to change at the drop of a hat. Since edited for more extra stuff x 6. HAIETMOBA= How Am i Experiencing This Moment Of Being Alive? This pointer was originally made popular within the pragmatic dharma crowd by the introduction of the teachings of the Actual Freedom Trust, This pointer is extremely effective in training the mind to recognize what the dzogchen master Namkhai Norbu, theravadan monk Bhante Gunaratana and 'the guy who lives on a houseboat on a river in northern NSW' called Richard of AFT seem to be pointing to in the following quotes:

The awareness arising at the first sudden instant (of sense contact) is indeed that pure presence which arises without correction (or modification) and which is uncreated (by causes). This very condition of existence which transcends the limitations of both subject and object is the authentic self-originated primal awareness of pure presence. Namkhai Norbu Bhante G: "When you first become aware of something, there is a fleeting instant of pure awareness just before you conceptualize the thing, before you identify it. That is a stage of Mindfulness. Ordinarily, this stage is very short. It is that flashing split second just as you focus your eyes on the thing, just as you focus your mind on the thing, just before you objectify it, clamp down on it mentally and segregate it from the rest of existence. It takes place just before you start thinking about it--before your mind says, "Oh, it's a dog." That flowing, soft-focused moment of pure awareness is Mindfulness. In that brief flashing mind-moment you experience a thing as an un-thing. You experience a softly flowing moment of pure experience that is interlocked with the rest of reality, not separate from it. Mindfulness in Plain English Richard: "When one first becomes aware of something, there is a fleeting instant of the clean perception of sensum just before one recognises the percept (the mental product or result of perception) and also before one identifies with all the feeling memories associated with its qualia (the qualities pertaining to the properties of the form) and this raw sense-datum stage of sensational perception is a direct experience of the actual. Clear perception is in that instant where one converges ones eyes or ears or nose or

tongue or skin on the thing. It is that moment just before one focuses ones feeling-memory on the object. It is the split-second just as one affectively subjectifies it ... which is just prior to clamping down on it viscerally and segregating it from the rest of pure, conscious existence. Pure perception takes place sensitively just before one starts feeling the percept and thus thinking about it affectively which takes place just before ones feeling-fed mind says: Its a man or: Its a woman or: Its a steak-burger or: Its a tofu-burger ... with all that is implied in this identification and the ramifications that stem from that. This fluid, soft-focused moment of bare awareness, which is not learned, has never been learned, and never will be learned, could be called an aesthetically sensual regardfulness or a consummate sensorial discernibleness or an exquisitely sensuous heedfulness ... in a word: apperceptiveness. HAIETMOBA brings the mind back to this very moment every time one asks it to oneself. Either two experiences will present when asked: 1. One will become aware of one's mood dominating the moment. 2. The mind will become aware of the fleeting moments of pure sense contact, the moment of seeing in the seen, hearing in the heard etc where the experience of a 'seer' and 'hearer' has yet to arise. The subjective experience of 'mood' and 'me-ness' arises after those fleeting moments of pure sense contact. HAIETOMBA aims to cultivate recognition of this pure sense contact awareness, which is free from the sequence that gives rise to the 'seer' and 'hearer' regardless of how these subjective experiences manifest, HAIETMOBA aims to allow this unfabricated, unwarped, unsegregated awareness to be recognized for longer and longer periods till it one day sticks for good. When a 'mood' has arisen, some sense contact (thought, sound, smell, taste, touch, surface and within) was run through a habitual sequence of 'objectification' (1), naming, conceptualizing, evaluating and reacting via a subjective experience of me-ness/being/sense of exisiting/seperate identity arising along with it. This sequence leads to a subjective experience establishing a relationship with the now 'perceived object'. It seems to be essentially the mind narrowing in and naming a clumping of atoms and floating particles, sensations, thoughts etc. as some 'solid' or inherently existing 'thing' when it truly

is empty of such inherent existence and via evaluation establishes the mentioned subject/object relationship. But if one cultivates recognition of those fleeting moments of pure sense contact, the sequence that habitually follows it via the narrowing of the the mind's focus, thus segregating parts of the field of experience into 'objects', is interrupted. The process which gives rise to the whole 'me-ness' duality conundrum is continuously interrupted. This leads the mind into refining the possible courser qualities of the 'selfing processes' (habits/emotions/moods/thought loops of mind). The tendency to narrow mental focus to create 'objects' for a subjective experience (selfing process in all manifestations) will begin to diminish and be replaced by simply seeing in the seen, hearing in the heard, cognising in the cognised. When there is no sequence that leads to the 'subjective' experience, there is just a 360 degree soup of sense contact happening all the time, simultaneously at all sense doors non-stop. This is the unfabricated awareness of pure sense contact; right at the point of contact. No room for 'you' to arise and cause havoc then, as the sequence that gives rise to 'you' as an illusory unsatisfactory experience loses ground. What if a 'mood' becomes apparent when asking HAIETMOBA? If a mood becomes apparent, recognise it as simply a mood that has arisen due to the sequence mentioned above, giving off a sense of 'me-ness', 'I', 'mine'. Simply recognise what is arising and ask HAIETMOBA again and allow the point of sense contact to be recognised at all sense doors as that is what is already occuring right now from moment to moment at all times. The brain is cognising it all right now, but it often gets warped and filtered and ignored by the 'moods' and selfing processes. Accept those warping factors as they arise, gently recognise them as 'warping factors' and simply return again to the point of pure sense contact via HAIETMOBA. This is just one way of approaching that which has arisen after pure sense contact. There are many ways as discussed below. The push and pull of 'moods' and selfing processes is too much!!!! The mind and its habits can be extremely strong at times and 'you' may keep arising manifesting as this 'mood' and that 'emotion' and/or this locked in thought loop to push and pull the mind here and there

making it hard to practice. There are a plethora of ways to deal with such arisings and return to recognition of the point of pure sense contact. Many different techniques and approaches to calm and subdue the mind are available to choose from, to suit your own temperament and motivating factors for your 'personality'. The actualist way is very effective. There are the practices of attentiveness and sensuousness, dismantling the social identity, questioning the silliness of 'moods', consistently enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive and cultivation of naivete, sincerity and 'felicity' that act as the bridge to recognition of the point of pure sense contact (apperception in AF speak). Cultivating this recognition will eventually lead to triggering longer periods of pure uninterrupted apperception (PCE), which will then inform your whole practice. If this actualist context motivates 'you' to practice, then check out the AFT website for all your info. If the actualist context doesn't suit 'you' and your temperament (which is a common occurrence for many) then there are other ways to get back again and again to the recognition of the point of pure sense contact. One can use a hybrid of approaches and use the techniques that appeal. One could use access to jhana to subdue those self-narratives manifesting as this and that 'mood', and then see how a jhana is fabricated and take it apart, investigate how it is fabricated, let go of those fabricating tendencies and see how doing this leads the mind to apperception/pre-symbolic awareness/pure presence/pure sense contact. Aya Khema seems to point to this in the following quote: "The path moment doesn't have any thinking or feeling in it. It is not comparable to the meditative absorptions (jhana). Although it is based upon them because only the concentrated mind can enter into a path moment, it does not have the same qualities. the meditative absorptions have in their initial stages the ingredients of rapture, happiness and peacefulness. Later on, the mind experiences expansion, nothingness and a change of perception. The path moment does not contain any of these states of mind." "It has a quality of non-being. This is such a relief and changes one's world view so totally that it is quite understandable that the Buddha made such a distinction between a worldling and a Noble One. While the meditative absorptions bring with them a feeling of oneness, of unity, the path moment does not even contain that. The moment of

fruition, subsequent to the path moment, is the understood experience and results in a turned-around vision of existence." "The new understanding recognizes every thought, every feeling as stress (dukkha). The most elevated thought, the most sublime feeling still has this quality. Only when there is nothing, is there no stress. There is nothing internal or external that contains the quality of total satisfactoriness. Because of such an inner vision, the passion for wanting anything is discarded. All has been seen for what it really is and nothing can give the happiness that arises through the practice of the path and its results." "The Nibbanic element cannot be truly described as bliss, because bliss has a connotation of exhilaration. We use the word "bliss" for the meditative absorption, where it includes a sense of excitement. The Nibbanic element does not recognize bliss because all that arises is seen as stress. "The bliss of Nibbana" may give one the impression that one may find perfect happiness, but the opposite is true. One finds that there is nothing and therefore no more unhappiness, only peace. To look for path and fruit will not bring them about, because only moment to moment awareness can do so. This awareness will eventually culminate in real concentration where one can let go of thinking and be totally absorbed. We can drop the meditation subject at that time. We need not push it aside, it falls away of its own accord, and absorption in awareness occurs. If there has to be an ambition in one's life, this is the only worthwhile one. All others will not bring fulfillment." If the above quote doesn't point to a PCE, I don't know what does. Another important quote: "The initial fruit moment needs to be re-lived, one has to resurrect it over and over again, until the second path moment can arise. It's like repeating what one knows and not forgetting so that one can build upon it." All Of Us: Beset By Birth, Death and Decay This 'initial fruit moment' is what informs the rest of one's direction and practice, just like the first full blown lasting PCE can do if the right conditioning/view is in place, and just like the pure moments of primordial awareness/pure presence can become one's 'view' that informs all practice as well (according to a Dzogchen master I asked recently). Other ways may be like the Great Perfection route as expressed by Namkhai Norbu, accepting all those self-narratives and moods as part and parcel of that pure sense contact. This seems to strip away the 'objectification' (1) of such compounded phenomena leading the

mind back again and again to apperception or 'pure presence'. The tibetan dzogchen masters seem to know what they are talking about. There are a variety of ways to deal with the 'self-narratives' and 'moods' that push and pull the mind. Choose which fits you best in order to return again and again continuously to recognising that unfabricated pure sense contact, pure presence, apperceptive nonsymbolic awareness, and eventually there won't be anymore mental unsatisfactoriness to throw a stick at and in its place, an immeasurable friendliness with all phenomena. The context within which one practices matters very little in my opinion as long as it motivates one to keep recognising those fleeting moments of pure sense contact until such recognition becomes more and more accessible. A mind/body subject to 'self narratives' will need to allow such 'selfnarratives' to be co-opted into practicing well. Desire needs to be fueled to practice. Each person will have differing habitual tendencies, likes and dislikes manifesting as this self-narrative and that 'view' of the world. The pure sense contact, pure presence, pre-symbolic awareness, apperceptive awareness is devoid of 'view'. 'View' is for the self-narratives to orient themselves once they arise again. If your practice is fueled by recognition of pure sense contact, then the 'self-narratives' will begin to point continuously in that direction and become more refined moving ever so closer to dropping away for good. If they are not informed by such realtime recognition, then they are subject to being informed by all sorts of madness and misdirection. A person conditioned to aim at investigating and coming out of suffering and/or perhaps helping others as well do the same thing, when this type of conditioning is in place and when a full-blown lasting PCE occurs with it already in place, one's entire practice will be informed by such an experience. One will truly and experientially know the illusion that the 'separate identity' is as it has dropped away in a PCE. One will drop all attachments to ideas of rituals and ceremonies freeing the mind as it was recognition of pure sense contact that allowed that to happen. One will have no doubt about how to go about continuing practice in order to experience the cessation of one's own mental suffering as the PCE has shown how that is possible. One will have seen how unsatisfactoriness arises and how its cessation comes about and from this experience of the absence of 'being'/self narratives, will know what to do keep moving to the end of one's own mental suffering/unsatisfactoriness. This is

my current subject to change opinion on the full-blown PCEs plus appropriate conditioning being in place. I should include the disclaimer that a practitioner may go through differing 'stages' of changes/baseline shifts depending on how they approach the practice of recognition of apperception. This is just me speculating and more info and data needed though to make such assumptions clearer. IMPORTANT NOTE: Allow the recognition of unfabricated awareness to inform how you practice HAIETMOBA. Ask the question as many times as possible continuously throughout the day. Bring the mind back again and again to this recognition of pure sense contact. It is very accumulative. Practice it as a lifestyle practice, not as a goal orientated practice. Results will come in and of themselves. HAIETMOBA brings the mind back again and again to this point of contact and one trains the mind as the Buddha exhorts: "Then, Bahiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bahiya, there is no you in terms of that. When there is no you in terms of that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress."Bahiya sutta Possible Alternatives to HAIETMOBA

* HITBCITVM (How Is The Brain Cognising In This Very Moment?)

Any others?

(1) My current thinking from my ongoing current experience has shown that the mind will create 'objects' in the field of experience (sense contact-eyes/sight, ears/sound, nose/smells, tongue/taste, body/touch-surface and within) via a narrowing of mental focus, which segregates 'parts' of the whole field of experience. This in turn leads to more 'objects' arising within the field of experience, segregated from the whole and gives rise to an 'attention bounce'.

This illusory attention bounce has the mind's attention jumping from one perceived 'object' to another 'object' back and forth. A thought may become an 'object', a sensation, an 'object, a sound an object. And a sense of 'me-ness', also another kind of 'object', which feels more like a 'subject'. Essentially, attention bounces around and gives off a sense of 'duality': 'I' am experiencing 'this'! Subject and object. This 'objectification' process gives rise to the subjective experience of 'self' in many differing manifestations all in my own experience seen to be unsatisfactory and completely illusory. This 'objectification' has the mind create an 'object' from a mass of floating particles and atoms and terms/names it a chair, a man, a woman, hatred, self, thoughts of want, shitty sensations in the chest, etc and sets up all of these 'objects' for the subjective experience of 'me-ness' to arise as an established relationship with said 'objects'. With HAIETMOBA, one trains the mind to recognize pure sense contact without this 'objectification' occurring for those fleeting moments at a time until those moments grow into longer periods of lack of 'objectification'/ segregating of created 'parts' of the whole field of experience. When there are 'parts' of the whole field of experience, then there are 'parts' for the mind's attention to bounce back and forth with. When the entire field of experience is experienced as simply 'the whole field of experience', without that attention bounce segregating via 'objectification', there is simply 360 degree ongoing experience of a soup of sensations which can be explained in conventional terms as seeing, hearing, smelling, sensing, tasting, thought hitting mind, all cognised as a mass of sense contact, being able to function perfectly without 'you' arising to overlay it all with a sense of 'controlling' and 'defining' relationships with (objectification). When there is no 'you' arising, everything functions perfectly normal, just without the 'I', 'me' thoughts/subjective experience relating to the created 'objects' segregated from the whole field of experience.
'you' think 'you' can control this process by controlling attentiveness to physical sensations. but 'you' don't have control in that process - 'you' don't even exist in that capacity, in actuality. the actual world is not 'i'. the actual will is not 'i'. intelligence is not 'i'. consciousness is not 'i'. memory is not 'i'. discernment is not 'i'. intention is not 'i'.

motor function is not 'i'. controlling is not 'i'. attentiveness is not 'i'. physical sensations are not 'i'. this process is not 'i'. further, 'the actual world is not 'mine.' the actual will is not 'mine'. intelligence is not 'mine'. consciousness is not 'mine'. memory is not 'mine'. discernment is not 'mine'. intention is not 'mine'. motor function is not 'mine'. controlling is not 'mine'. attentiveness is not 'mine'. physical sensations are not 'mine'. this process is not 'mine'. one who realises that none of these things are 'i', or 'mine', realises 'my' time is up. Tarin

This explanation is subject to future editing.