I thought it might be useful to bring in a little of what Daniel Ingram has to say on the Dark Night. On page 182 of Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, Ingram begins his discussion:
Once someone has crossed the [Knowledge of] Arising and Passing Event, one will enter the Dark Night regardless of whether one wants to or not. It doesn’t matter if you practice from this point on; once you cross the A&P you are in the Dark Night to some degree (i.e. are a Dark Night Yogi) until you figure out how to get through it, and if you do get through it without getting to the first stage of enlightenment, you will have to go through it again and again until you do. I mean this in the most absolute terms.
(In case you're not familiar with his terminology, the A&P is also the beginning of the second vipassana jhana - for a full discussion by Ingram, including the above quotation, see The Progress of Insight, Stages 1-4 )
On one level, I find Ingram's work hard to relate to, given my exclusively vajrayana orientation. However, many of his insights and conclusions apply so clearly. In this instance, I've been troubled for years by the fact that whenever I involve myself in intense mediation, a lot of disturbances arise. I have always ended up backing down. What I take from the above quotation, and from Ingram's further discussion of this is that I simply have to push on through - not roughly, but not backing down either. The disturbances and suffering are part of the path - nothing is wrong. Truly, no way out but through.
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