Master Tibu used the framework of material strength testing to write his reflection, http://www.hoasentrenda.com/smf/index.php?topic=19169.0. on the human path of cultivation. If we consider consciousness as a material to be stress-tested, could we visualize the mental math technique for entering samādhi using a stress-strain diagram like the one shown here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_tensile_strength? Let's give it a try.
1. The test: Ultimate Tensile Strength:
+ Material: Measures the maximum stress a material can withstand before breaking. (Ultimate Tensile Strength)
+ Consciousness: Testing whether consciousness can be stretched to its maximum stress point—before it collapses.
2. Environmental conditions and influencing factors:
+ Material: (1a) Inherent flaws in the sample, (2a) The method used to prepare the sample, and (3a) The ambient and material temperature during the test.
+ Consciousness: (1b) Karmic influences, pre-existing mental-material structures (e.g., the six-realm coexistence, aging—topics discussed by Master Tibu), (2b) Preparation of the body (eating, drinking, clothing) and mind (rest, work) before practice, (3b) Environmental conditions during practice (e.g., heat or cold).[1]
3. Progression through phases:
* Phase 1: Elastic deformation – Steep linear rise.
+ Material: High resistance, low elongation, and high elasticity. When the load is removed, the material returns to its original shape and size.
+ Consciousness: The mental load is primarily from Initial Application (vitakka): remembering digits, choosing a solution strategy, visualizing and drawing each number, making them glow. In this phase, resistance from the Desire Realm is very strong: cravings for sensory gratification are intense (hunger, thirst, jealousy, anger, lust, delusion, sluggishness, distraction, etc.). These forces constantly pull at vitakka and try to disrupt it. But thanks to the complexity of Initial Application, the emergence of Sustained Application (vicāra) through arithmetic operations, and the practitioner’s determined willpower, one can push through this steep resistance from the Desire Realm.
* Phase 2: Yield point – Zigzag transition region.
+ Material: The material is still capable of returning to its original shape, but once it passes this zone, permanent deformation begins.
+ Consciousness: This is the transition zone between light and heavy mental load, where vitakka and vicāra work together. Consciousness begins to feel stretched and shifts toward a state of higher intensity. Sensory distractions gradually fade—they no longer call out or interfere.
* Phase 3: Plastic deformation – Permanent change.
+ Material: As the pulling force continues, the material stretches beyond recovery. Cracks begin to form, and it becomes permanently deformed. The increased deformation causes molecular interactions to intensify, and the material’s hardness increases. The peak red point [2] on the diagram marks the maximum load the material can bear before breaking.
+ Consciousness: As Sustained Application continues its function, the numbers and calculations become increasingly complex. Concentration deepens, and the field of consciousness narrows—no longer sensing the external world, only focused on doing math. But this focused state is being stretched to its limit: the digits grow larger and more numerous, their sequence becomes chaotic, in addition to the brightness and glow around them. All of these become loads on consciousness. The peak red point represents the tipping point where consciousness becomes overloaded—stretched to the point of immobility.
* Phase 4: Necking and break – Collapse
+ Material: As the force continues, the material fatigues. A "necking" region forms. Then—snap!
+ Consciousness: When consciousness has already been overloaded, but the math continues, it becomes exhausted. The result: it gets stuck, frozen. Pop!—the practitioner enters samādhi. One-Pointedness takes over. See the earlier technique and interpretation sections for more on how this collapse can occur suddenly or gradually, with or without blackout, how quickly overload occurs, the quality of the absorption, and how the mental states of Joy, Bliss, and Equanimity arise.
(End of Part 6/7)
Notes:
[1] As for 1b, there’s nothing we can do about it—but 2b and 3b can be actively adjusted to suit the situation. The brutal reality of 1b has been thoroughly discussed in Master Tibu’s article.
[2] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress%E2%80%93strain_analysis#Uniaxial_stress. Stress–strain analysis (or stress analysis) is an engineering discipline that uses many methods to determine the stresses and strains in materials and structures subjected to forces. In continuum mechanics, stress is a physical quantity that expresses the internal forces that neighboring particles of a continuous material exert on each other, while strain is the measure of the deformation of the material… After the yield point, ductile metals undergo a period of strain hardening, in which the stress increases again with increasing strain.
