neem nyima:
I ask that because it seems (just reading the threads here and in KFD) that before Stream Entry a lot of things could go unnoticed (lower nanas 1-3, A&P Event, even Fruitions).
I'm confused, I thought fruitions were that disappearing thing that happens at stream entry and the follow stages up to arharatship ? Someone else said something along the line of what your saying, Could someone clarify.
That's a good question, and an important point.
The emphasis on maps and models and phenomenology (i.e. bare description of experience) here at DhO can make it seem that stream-entry is an experience, and fruition is an experience, perhaps even a visual one, given the graphic descriptions of the three doors in MCTB.
The skillful way to use the maps and models and phenomenology is to set good solid standards, to give one an impression of what is possible, and so on.
The unskillful way to use them is to shoehorn one's own experience onto the descriptions, maps, and models; to expect a flashy experience as some kind of confirmation that insight is gained, in short, to mistake (once again) content (of experience) for ultimate wisdom.
In short, my above rant can be condensed into something Duncan Barford pointed out to me:
Fruitions are primarily insight-producing, not experience-producing. Or, liberation is not to be found in the specific details of experience, even a highly refined experience such as the three doors.
To me, as someone who entered the stream during daily life, with very few very short self-led retreats, and being very careful (to the point of refusing to admit the obvious for quite some time) not to script myself into some experience, the following explains the "not-noticing-fruitions" part adequately:
- clarity - I think it is possible to have a fruition and enter the stream, yet not have enough clarity to notice that, or have one's attention bound up in the wrong place, trying to notice wild imagery about the three doors etc. Clarity is different from concentration and mindfulness, or could be viewed as a combination of the two. Buying into expectations, not being mindful of the expectations, will cloud clarity, which is why noting technique is so great, because noting "expectation" brings more clarity than being aware somehow of expectation.
- license - Tarin remarked in the "Doing it vs. getting it done" Hurricane Ranch Dharma discussion how to him, the license became available after stream entry. To me, it was very similar, as I was for such a long time reluctant to acknowledge what had happened (i.e. fruition) and only after I got through that, and giving myself license to yes, having attained, and with the strong assumption that what I had experienced was indeed fruition, I was able to re-experience it. This is different from the model which says, basically "first fruition = stream moment", and more in line with the traditional Theravada model which says, "no longer fettered by doubt" (and other fetters).
- retreat conditions vs. less intensive practice - Even in the suttas, there are different models of stream entry, the criteria given for laymen seem more soft and can be (and were, by me, previously) interpreted as indulgences for wealthy laypeople, who would then presumably support the monastics more generously. But now, I'm convinced that stream entry can present in wildly different ways; depending on tradition, intensity of practice, and other factors such as expectations and so on.
All of this is not intended as a way to water down the high standards in MCTB, but as an encourangement to explore one's own experience of the process, instead of exploring the maps and models only.
I hope that was a useful answer to your question.
Cheers,
Florian
P.S. yes, the disappearing act can be noticed, and that non-experience, that seamless gap, is very revealing and profound, and those traditions which go on and on about death in some way, such as Theravada and Christianity, will suddenly not appear so morbid and weird any more. But that is just the way experience presents itself: the increased wisdom isn't suddenly there doing antics, it's more or less gradually discovered in the subsequent period. It's there in the maps, where it looks like an after-thought, yet it's the most important and least discussed part, in my opinion.