[Buddha-l] What is direct experience?

[Jackhat1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/1/2010 6:06:51 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
gouin.me at gmail.com writes:
 
A friend who used to race sailing boats told me recently of an  event many
years ago, when he was in a race and suddenly told his crew, Do  this!
knowing that it would win the race... which it did. When he was  asked,
afterwards, to say why he did what he did (which was apparently a  quite
unusual manoeuvre), it took about half an hour of explanation to  account 
for
all the variables that went into his instantaneous decision. He  explains 
the
moment of decision during the race to a moment of direct  experience of all
the things that were happening at that moment--wind,  water, set of sails,
degree of heel, etc., etc., etc.--that completely  bypassed any intellectual
thought. It certainly didn't involve either  seeing things that weren't
there, or delusional convictions.
===
Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink, is full of stories like  that.
===========

> I hope it's not too feeble to ask - what is  direct experience, knowing
> > something without the intellect? I  think I am used to altered states
> > of consciousness like seeing  things that aren't there or delusional
=====
For adding to concepts that get in the way of direct experience,  read a 
lot of books and email messages on it. To experience it, learn  vipassana 
meditation and develop a daily meditation  practice.


jack