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The Big Issues

Here is an article dedicated to public debate of the big issues that impede straightforward, open, honest, down-to-earth, empowering dharma. There are so many different angles on these problems that no listing could possibly be complete, but we welcome public comment on these issues so that they may be made clear, various positions may be elucidated, and public consciousness regarding how...
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Causal vs Acausal Clarity

There has been much debate on the DhO about topics related to clarity and how this relates to such topics as Rigpa and awakening and the like. I thought I might add in the distinction between what I will call causal and acausal clarity to help make some sense of it. Causal clarity is clarity dependent on causes, obviously, and generally refers to specifically high degrees of mindfulness,...
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Places to Practice: Tathagata Meditation Center

Name of Center: Tathagata Meditation Center (TMC) Address: 1215 Lucretia Ave., San Jose, CA 95122 Phone Number: 408 294-4536 Website: http://www.tathagata.org Tradition(s): Theravada - Burmese Technique(s): Vipassana (Mahasi Style) Teacher(s): Beelin Sayadaw (abbot), Sayadaw U. Pandita, Sayadaw U Jatila, Sayadaw U Kavinda, ... Cost: ...
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Realization and Development

When I was in elementary school it dawned on me that the doctrines of the major religions were mutually exclusive. As such, I reasoned, none of them were true. The idea that just one of them had the right answer seemed unlikely in the extreme. Surely the truth could not belong to just one tribe. And since the idea of a great bearded fellow in the sky sounded way too much like Santa Claus to...
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Toxic Evangelism, Hardcore Dharma and Relationships

Most meditation cultures, and particularly those that are more hardcore, and that includes the culture here, have something like the following assumptions: Knowing the Dharma is good. Meditation is good. Meditation and knowing the Dharma leads to changes in the mind, insights and abilities that are good. Once one has changed the mind in this way, things are better in some way...
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Assessing Outsider's Realizations w/ Our Models

One tricky thing that has come up again and again here on DhO is how we can assess the claims of other practitioners in this community. I think equally tricky is assessing the degree of realization of those that aren't in this community, don't practice transparent dharma, in that they either a) don’t openly talk about their realization (i.e. most of the Western Dharma scene) or b) those...
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Bored in Equanimity Waiting for First Path?

In the chapter about Equanimity in Daniel's Book, there is a sentence I've read countless times by now: From this point enlightenment is likely to be attained quickly as long as the meditator continues to simply practice and gently fine tune their awareness and precision, paying gentle attention to things like thoughts of progress and satisfaction with equanimity.   It seemed...
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Singular vs Multiple Types of Awakening

There are multiple age-old debates within Buddhism and between Buddhism and some of the other insight traditions about whether or not everyone gets to the same realization in the end if they take things far enough. While this tends to break down along No-Self vs. True Self lines, there are actually many other varieties of subtle and overt conflict between the traditions and theories. I...
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Assessing Each Other's Practice

As this is explicitly a map and attainment oriented site, it is inevitable that people will be evaluating each other’s posts and practice and making judgements and comparisons to their own practive. This is normal and often healthy, but there is a flip side to this that can get ugly, and I really mean ugly. I have been on both sides of these issues, meaning that I have spent a lot of...
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Jewish Mysticism and the DhO

I've been thinking about the future of the Dharma Overground. With the new website in the offing, there is a real possibility that the community will change, a prospect both exciting and frightening. As a student of perspectives, I've been fascinated lately by the concepts of chesed , gevorah , and tiferet , as taught in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Here is an excerpt from Rabbi David...
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