I posted this in another thread that petered out, so I'm hoping maybe I can get some opinions from others here. I guess most people view barriers to First Path as being the usual sorts of psychological baggage like the hinderances, but I'm interested in something different. Specifically, whether a vow can be a barrier. Mahasi Saydaw says something to that effect in his book "The Seven Stages of Purification and The Insight Knowledges". This book goes through a traditional treatment of the stages of insight, which Daniel updates with a more modern treatment in MCTB. But on pg. 52 he says:
Some meditators are unable to go beyond the Knowledge of Equanimity about
Formations due to some powerful aspirations they have made in the past,
such as for Buddhahood, or Paccekabuddhahood, Chief Discipleship, etc.
In fact, it is at this stage that one can ascertain whether one has made
any such aspiration in the past. Sometimes when he has reached this
stage the meditator himself comes to feel that he is cherishing a
powerful aspiration. However, even for an aspirant to Buddhahood or
Paccekabuddahood, the Knowledge of Equanimity about Formations will be
an asset towards his fulfilment of the perfection of wisdom
(panna-parami). This Equanimity of Formations is of no small
significance when one takes into account the high degree of development
in knowledge at this stage
What Mahasi Saydaw seems to be saying here is that if one has an aspiration, either taken in this life or a previous one, to become a buddha in a future life, one cannot get beyond High Equanimity and First Path is blocked. In fact, the last sentence seems to imply that such a person doesn't cycle back to the A&P and thorough the Dark Night and Reobservation again, but remains in High Equanimity.
Has anyone heard any cases where this has happened to someone? Or is this a set of beliefs, like the traditional "elimination of defilements" at each path which Daniel in MCTB indicates from his experience and that of lots of others is more a kind of wishful thinking?
One aspect of this statement is that it is framed in a belief structure which affirms physical rebirth. After all, whether or not one made an aspiration for Buddhahood and the rest is kind of moot if one doesn't believe in rebirth (the Secular/Natural Buddhism viewpoint). Maybe like Brahmavihara practice, such an aspiration in the absence of rebirth is just a technique to improve one's character/psychological state? Within the
belief structure of rebirth over a hundred thousand lifetimes, stopping short of elimination of the self sort of makes sense. If you are trying to save all beings (the Mahayana Bodhisattva Vow), a sense of agency might come in handy. But, on the other hand, it also might get in the way if
it gets too strong.
Any thoughts?