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Bipolar Disorder and Insight

I got an email asking about Bipolar Disorder (AKA Manic-Depressive Disorder) and how it related to the traditional maps of the Progress of Insight. As one who advocates for truth in advertising and frank disclosure of what can happen when people get into insight practice, both good and bad, here is my response in slightly edited form. I hope that it provokes some thoughtful discussion of...
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A Realtime Chronicle of 2nd Path?

The following is a rapid-fire email exchange between Tarin (theprisonergreco) and Kenneth, in March of 2009. Tarin's communications are in italics, Kenneth's are in standard type. 1) From Tarin: @Kenneth: "I began reporting to U Kundala that I was experiencing hundreds of little flashes of cessation each day, like the winking out of consciousness for a moment. They came...
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Conversations with an Advanced Yogi

Hi Charles, This report is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for with regard to the development practice. With this kind of clear description of your experience we can refine the language and the techniques. It also provides a platform for making a clear distinction between the instructions for development and the instructions for non-dual practice. Please scroll down to see where I...
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No Dog, Some Dog, and The Simplest Thing

There has been a lot of reference to these three in various discussions, so I thought it might be good to have a page dedicated to exploring them. Please feel free to lend your thoughts. No Dog is a term coined by Kenneth and used to describe a state that we consider trans-jhanic, in that all the other jhanas can move through it. It is a very different perspective on them, and gives the...
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The Boy Who Found the Great Ocean

Putujjana had heard of the great ocean. On full moon nights the whole village would gather around the fire and Mighty Medicine Woman would tell stories. She told of a great ocean, far away, beyond four rivers. One morning, Putujjana went to his mother and said, "Mother, will you tell me how to get to the great ocean?" "I've never been to the great ocean," said...
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Fundamental View

The Importance of View It is one of postmodern indisputable discoveries that „context is everything“ or, well, almost everything. The crucial importance of right view has been recognized by every generation of Buddhist masters. From Gautama the Buddha to Nagarjuna the "second Buddha“ to mahasiddhas of the tantric revolution to Ch'an/Zen masters... Though...
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Physio-energetic and Psychological Models of Enlightenment

There are, generally speaking, two ways to model enlightenment. One way involves what happens in the body, while the other describes changes in the mind. We can refer to these two contrasting modeling styles as physio-energetic and psychological, respectively. While this kind of artificial duality is simplistic, it is useful in understanding and creating effective models. An effective model...
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A Dry Insight Technique for Attaining Path

Let's say you've been sitting around in equanimity for some months or years. (If you are not in the equanimity ñana, you can read this for the sake of information, but it won't do you any good to try the exercise.) You know you are close to Path. You know that one way to progress is to gradually ripen in equanimity and wait for something to pop. But, what if you are gung-ho, full of energy...
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The Progress of Insight (part three)

I once had an experience while on retreat in Rangoon of seeing a perfectly formed and brightly colored mandala. It was during my afternoon nap that I awoke into an alternate reality. I somehow knew that my body was still sleeping, and that I was having a vision, but I was completely immersed in this other world. As I looked more closely at the mandala, it became an entire landscape, with...
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The Progress of Insight (part two)

The Dukkha Ñanas There are just two places on the Progress of Insight where yogis get stuck. /\ ___/ \___ The sticky places are the 3rd ñana and the 10th, i.e. the ascent to the crest of the wave, and the descent into the trough that follows the crest. The 3rd ñana is significant in that if it is not overcome the yogi will not progress to the Arising and Passing Away of...
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