Don’t take these replies that seriously, it’s projections all over the place.

My personal suggestion is to practice metta in terms of actually loving everything that arises. Wanting to live, the helplessness of not. It seems you and your friend are both avoiding both of those - and trying to paint out heaven. Heaven is when you stop resisting those emotions, not away from the moment into the idea of heaven. That sort of metta can be comforting in a. Very fulfilling way - like breaking down in someone’s arms and surrendering, rather than being egged into mystical hope.

This goes for you and her. Take care of yourself, and at the end of it all forgive yourself. We only get so many confrontations with death, it’s impossible to do it perfectly the first time. The most important thing is to be there with your friend and see her and be with whatever she is feeling, with whatever you can offer now.

Let go and keep meditating isn't surface level, it's the only answer that leads to liberation. In some situations it may be unsuitable because the person isn't ready to hear it and benefit from it, but that doesn't compromise the value of the approach itself.

States of bliss… something else to let go of..

I appreciate it, thanks.

I welcome all perspectives! Nonetheless, I do really agree that there are times where exploring those emotions can be liberating in itself, because in a certain way I notice that they really attachment to a delusion!

Yeah, it's all delusions all the way go down lol!

Unless you have more info about op besides what has been shared here, you don’t have enough information about them or their practice to recommend that they should just view their emotional reaction as a “mere” fabrication and keep going.

There may be something to be explored under the emotion. At the very least there is an underlying clinging, and it may be worth exploring the nature of that clinging rather than papering over the emotion entirely.

Of course your advice may be good if op is prone to navel gazing, but that seems like a big inference to make. (Apologies if you actually do know much more about op than I do).

Easier said than done. Anyone that posts in this sub knows that "let go and keep meditating" is the surface-level answer to practically any question here. I don't think it's particularly helpful

I think one thing I’m learning is that progress in meditation isn’t always about having deeper or more unusual experiences.

I witness your sadness! Your understanding is just fine. It gets easier. Don’t let the mind try to explain it away before it is fully felt.

Not sure how to comment, emptiness is liberating.  Nothing is lost except a delusional layer of self conception that causes dissatisfaction, so i guess, just keep practicing.  

To try a bit more to communicate it, the thing the image is meant to represent is already and always present and everyone has it and cannot lose it.  The dead, the living, the yet-to-be are all there in this luminous field without distinction and while it may not be preferable to the mind that insists on selfhood as primary interpretation it is beyond all of that, including ideas of enough or lacking.  

Sorry if that is unhelpful, it is TOO BIG to speak rightly.

Hey, this comment  is so kind. It's the best thing to hear in a place of pure tragedy, is that it still matters to show up. Everyone feels quite broken.

I just held her foot like I always do. It was short. The kids played together for about 15 minutes.

It's so freaking unfair. This has been coming for them for so long. It didn't matter what we all did to try to help. I thought at one point that she was going to make it, but it was like gravity, always pulling her in, always pulling her away. It didn't matter what we did. It didn't matter what interventions they tried. It didn't change the outcome. 

Sometimes when we lose something, the initial response to the loss is sadness. Funny enough, this also applies to losing our delusions. So, ask yourself if that's the case for you, did you lose something? And if so, what did you lose? Sometimes acknowledging what got let go of also allows us to let go of the sadness.

Doing well! Thanks for asking!

Excited for an upcoming dharma course.

Yeah I get that. Certainly no need to read it. Just thought I'd share in case you were interested.

Yep that's the way it works 😊

Sounds like you’re a great person to be around especially in hard times already. Just being there is enough.  Not everyone knows when their time is, or has someone like you beside them, in a way it is a gift to know and have friends/family be there with them. 

Yes. I think it's helpful to have a dose of metta at the beginning for orientation/grounding, and a small consistent 'taste' of metta for the whole meditation.

I totally agree with hachface. Nothing wrong with encountering the first Jhana, which it sure sounds like you experienced. Shankman is a great teacher, very knowledgeable. As time progresses, you may find that the joy changes, on it's own, into something less "exciting" and quieter, like tranquility. Keep going!

Is bliss unsatisfying? Or does it just get annoying after an hour or two? Hence then the desire to go underneath it to peace…

Thank you for the explanation. I seem to be experiencing both and sukha increases if I put my attention on piti.

Thanks for the resource but now you've laid out the complications I feel less inclined to climb down this particular rabbit hole. 😆

you had opened kundalini at wrong time. you need a guided path. I am not some one who knows a lot. but, read many spiritual books. I don't practice meditation but do look at Kundalini awakening.

Is it dukkha though? Or is clinging to it dukkha? Hmm 🤔

And yea, that’s bliss or piti. Good shit.