Neither in Pain nor in Pleasure: What Remains Between

Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra · dhāraṇā 80 · verse 103 (Jaideva Singh numbering)

Door 80Verse 103gap · contemplationPracticeDraft · awaiting guardian review

Notice the pleasant and the unpleasant, dwell on neither, and rest in what is aware of both.

The verse

na cittaṃ nikṣiped duḥkhe na sukhe vā parikṣipet | bhairavi jñāyatāṃ madhye kiṃ tattvam avaśiṣyate ||

Let one not set the mind on pain, nor on pleasure; O Bhairavī, let it be known what reality remains in the middle.

School paraphrase drawing on Jaideva Singh (1979), Christopher Wallis and Bettina Bäumer (as printed in Wallis's concordance); not a quotation.

Commentary

Singh: pleasure and pain both belong to the inner psychic apparatus; that which is beyond the pair, which abides unaffected by both and witnesses them without being involved, is reality, the essential Self, and one should concentrate on it. Wallis: 'reality in the center'.

How to sit with it

Notice whatever pleasant and unpleasant sensations or feelings are present. Do not settle the mind on either. Ask what remains in the middle, aware of both and caught by neither, and rest there.

Where attention rests

The awareness in the middle that is touched by neither pain nor pleasure

Not dwelling on either side

Not a body shape. The map is a line from pain to pleasure with a still point in the middle that belongs to neither.

Breath

Natural breath. Count about four in and four out only if it helps you settle, then let the count go. No forced hold.

The counts are an optional school pacing aid, not part of the verse. Hold is always 0: this school never adds a deliberate breath-hold.

Any steady, comfortable position (school addition)

Any steady, comfortable position: sitting on a chair, sitting on the floor with support under the hips, or lying on the back. Standing or walking slowly is also acceptable when that is easier. Choose the position in which the body needs the least effort.

School addition. Verse 103 does not specify a body position. The seat is a convenience so the dharana can be practised; it is not part of the technique and makes no claim of tradition.

Safety

Pain is information. Pause, regress, or exit. Never push through sharp pain.
General practice caution only; not medical advice. This is not a way to ignore pain that needs attention or care. If anything feels distressing (dizziness, agitation, strong emotion), stop, open the eyes and rest attention on the feet and the floor.
This door needs no particular posture: sit on a chair, sit on the floor with support, or lie down. Eyes may stay open.

Honesty

Door 080 follows Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra dharana 80 (verse 103) in Jaideva Singh's numbering. The door-to-dharana index is a School of 112 Doorways teaching device. Singh's sequence is one edition's count, not an ancient one-to-one canon. The seat, counts, reaction and beat scripts are school additions.

Door index = Jaideva Singh dharana number: Door 080 is dharana 80, verse 103. Other editions number differently (see dharana.numbering_variants).
The seat, breath counts, reaction metaphor, attention-map drawing and beat scripts are school devices, not part of the verse.
The English is a school paraphrase, not a quotation from any translator.
No medical claims. Reaction names are metaphors, not biochemistry.
New door researched on 2026-10-06 on branch research/vbt-houses-2-7; awaiting guardian review.

Verse verification: verified. Sanskrit: verified. English: school paraphrase. Review: pending guardian review.

The eight beats (spoken script)

Name the door. This is Door 080: neither in pain nor in pleasure. Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra dharana 80, verse 103.
Geometry. No shape to make. Sit or lie down. The map is a line from pain to pleasure with a still point in the middle.
Orientation. Let the floor or the chair carry you. Eyes closed or soft.
Breath. Natural breath. Count about four in and four out only if it helps. No forced hold.
Attention. Notice what is pleasant and what is unpleasant. Dwell on neither. Rest in what is aware of both.
Reaction cue. School image: a still point between two pulls. A metaphor, not medicine.
Adiyogi thread. Verse 103: set the mind neither on pain nor on pleasure; know what reality remains in the middle.
Exit / integrate. Let the practice go. Take one free breath. Open the eyes and look around the room.

Sources

Jaideva Singh, Vijñānabhairava or Divine Consciousness: A Treasury of 112 Types of Yoga (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979) [Dhāraṇā 80] VERSE 103: numbering, translation and notes. Checked against a scanned copy (text extracted with pdftotext), not a print copy.
Vijñānabhairava, GRETIL e-text (data entry Marino Faliero, 1998) verse 103: Sanskrit source for the IAST (input errors corrected against Wallis and the Singh scan where noted in dharana.sanskrit_variants)
Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra: The Mystery Within (2019 compilation of translations: Bäumer, Singh, Chaudhri, S. P. Singh & Maheshvarananda, Silburn, Dubois, Figueroa) 'Session Two' list: 'Dharana 80' = verse 103 (numbering cross-check; follows Singh). Parallel-translations section: 'Dharana 80 • verso 103' (agrees).
Christopher (Hareesh) Wallis, Vijñāna-bhairava-tantra translation concordance, Part 2 verse 103 = 'Reality in the center (Y78 ~ C2)'. Sanskrit and parallel translations (Wallis, Singh, Dyczkowski, Bäumer and others) used for the paraphrase.
Gabriel Pradīpaka, Vijñānabhairava (Sanskrit & Trika Shaivism) verse 103: Sanskrit compared. Pradīpaka's text shares much of GRETIL's input (it repeats several GRETIL errors), so it is not counted as an independent witness.
School of 112 Doorways: seat, breath counts, reaction metaphor, attention map drawing and beat scripts School devices, following the House 1 conventions (doors/HOUSE-1-REGISTRY.md, guardians/CHECKLIST.md). research/PROMPT_TEMPLATE.md is not present in the repository at 32e76c4.

Pain is information, never a badge. Never force the breath. Practice is not medical treatment. The door-to-dhāraṇā index is a School of 112 Doorways teaching device (school_device), not an ancient one-to-one canon.