Charles B:
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Also, in your experience, and I don't know how far you've gone or for how long, do you notice any changes in yourself? Does vipassana actually make you a more wholesome person. Does your mind actually feel like it gets purified as you advance the stages, or does that only happen at strong moments of insight towards the stages of enlightenment? Has your craving and aversion decreased with your practice?
Hi Charles,
I have been meditating for about 6 years now, daily practice (for the good part of these 6 years, there were some breaks in the middle of months) and have done a bunch of retreats. I have crossed the A&P personally several times on these retreats but I am yet to reach stream-entry, in my opinion. Not that I didn't think I did a few times, but i ended up concluding it was something else.
So here's my experience of that:
In these 6 years I've had several opening experiences which I would describe as "loss of self" or "seeing through self", starting with my first A&P, and I would describe each one as that, but in different tastes.
My life has improved for the better since I have started to meditate 6 years ago, and continues to improve for the better.
Yes, there are momentary insights, and there are lasting effects. But again take into consideration that I have not yet reached S-E.
You should perhaps direct your questions to people here who have attained higher stages than myself - Daniel Ingram, Tarin Greco, Trent, Nikolai, and many others.
I'm sure they will chime in if you ask them something :-)