A magazine style site for assistance in getting you to no-self quickly and efficiently, plus more opinions and application
http://www.basiscrunch.com

http://basiscrunch.com/?p=392



Wow! Warning sign. Stay away.

Yea, warning sign.

Looks like this site is aligned with the "direct pointing" non-dual people.

Dan Ingram actually speaks well about them in this thread:
http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/2042440

I don't get their method at all. They seem to just say stuff like "There is no you, try and find a you, and you cant". What is there to do exactly? They say its just a simple realization that there is no you. But who knows, maybe that works for some people at least to get some sort of insight.

Sure on the one hand, anatta is a characteristic of existence. No-self, not-self, or what have you.

On the other hand, it might be argued this is not Buddhist in any real sense, which has its central teaching as 4noble truths:
"As the discourse shows, appropriate attention means asking the proper questions about phenomena, regarding them not in terms of self/other or being/non-being, but in terms of the four noble truths. In other words, instead of asking "Do I exist? Don't I exist? What am I?" one asks about an experience, "Is this stress? The origination of stress? The cessation of stress? The path leading to the cessation of stress?" -Thanissaro, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/onetool.html

Two of Thanissaro's essays on not-self:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/notself.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/notself2.html

I understand direct pointing in that you can't find a self that is non-conceptual. It's all conceptual but meditation makes that more clear when you note clearly, steadily and quickly. There's an awareness that's there that doesn't react as a conceptual "me". It's just aware and restful when it's the main focus. The conceptual "me" as it reacts creates tension just from strong repetitive thoughts.

Holy crap, you're right, I didnt spot that, I read the blogs and get permission to post them. But theres nothing I can say in terms of that line tbh. Im gonna remove the whole article, because I dont want to go editing other peoples writings.

Ill be honest, I need to read MCTB and see where this fits in, according to people that know more they say it is stream entry. But I need to learn the terminology before comparing it to what is learned on other maps.

I can only go by my own experience. Thats why I wanted to be clear in the description, i.e. sticking to no self.

Also, to explain the method, its actually quite effective, it requires focus and guidance from someone redirecting your focus, it is an actual realization, not just conceptual. It personally changed my life, but as I said, I still dont know where it fits in. Im not by any means claiming it is any end point or anything, however, it is certainly quite a shift for alot of people.

Yes, but does this awareness only happen during focused meditation? Or is it a natural state?

What happens here after the realization is that the natural state, for alot of the time is no self. This doesnt mean the illusion in blown away immediately, but it can be such a change that even the idea of feeling sorry for yourself, or someone offending you, or whatever can seem meaningless.

That and your AIDS clears right up...so it's win-win!

If you aint interested you aint interested, I tried

Reading just several sections of MCTB will get the gist of it.
See no-self/anatta in 5. the 3 characteristcs.
See 22. no self vs true self.
See 30. models of enlightenemt, non-dual (this showswhy Ingram like your approach).

Reason people suspect it is stream entry is because of the first fetter, sakkāya-diṭṭhi.
Definition from accesstoinsight.com: "Self-identification view. The view that mistakenly identifies any of the khandha as "self"; the first of the ten fetters (saṃyojana). Abandonment of sakkāya-diṭṭhi is one of the hallmarks of stream-entry (see sotāpanna)"
See: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.047.than.html

I can't fill in much more than that. I'm not a scholar that can quote the origional texts where these ideas arose, or claim stream entry. And I'd suggest reading the two Thanissaro eassays I linked as those present a much more nuanced view than "there is no you" stuff direct pointing people seem to constantly say.

Or the more nuanced way Dan Ingram puts it: People can get all fixated on eliminating a “self,” when the emphasis is supposed to be on the words “separate” and “permanent,” as well as on the illusion that is being creating. A better way to say this
would be, “stopping the process of mentally creating the illusion of a separate self from sensations that are inherently non-dual, utterly transient and thus empty of any separate, permanent self. (p. 154).

It's clearer when you meditate but it's also there when you're not. I just notice the conceptual self that reacts to things and I don't suppress it. I just watch it (with awareness) arise and pass away. When it passes away you're back to plain awareness. Meditation also changes the brain chemistry (which you can feel) so you are more in the present moment as the practice progresses. I don't feel the same way as I did before. I start looking at how I actually feel in the body when the self arises with some reactivity and accept it and then keep looking until it passes away. The ego grasps onto comforting mental stories or defensiveness and when reality doesn't confirm that story the story then thins out making the craving stronger because it's like the identity disappears with the mental story that was proven wrong. It's better to rest or identify with the awareness instead of the conceptual self because awareness sees the impermanence of things.

So I don't feel it matters if it's a natural state or not when self concept covers it up. The awareness is always there but weak at first. You exercise your mindfulness so that it's much stronger and that skill becomes something you don't forget and can use when more reactivity pops up. I think you don't stop reactivity until some later paths and even then there must be just a little reactivity left. Some others have mentioned that they also use metta practice in conjunction with mindfulness and concentration. They also try and find something positive in something that is painful, and they train to feel positive even if there is not much pleasant happening so that emotional pain is tolerated much more.

Cool, if a good meditator can get to that point through this practice then all the better.I guess we all came from different paths and schools of thought. For me, it was a fairly instance shift, that aint to say all my conditioning was destroyed, just a large chunk.






This stopped ALOT of reactivity very quickly. It would only take the situation to arise once or twice before the brain is completely reconfigured into understanding that the reactivity was a load of nonsense.
Little example: It is very very difficult to feel jealousy anymore. And I didnt realise it in the past, but I was a VERY jealous bloke!


If it works , good, if not, it could be dangerous.


Anyway, overall, I decided to wait until Ive read MCTB, and Im fairly sure and confident to say my shift due to direct pointing was stream entry, only with some glitches, the reason for the glitches would have been due to no build up or preparation or expectation. I began to only learn there was even a path after stream entry. What would be called progress of insight, or dark night,and all the cycles involved I called "turbulence". It was very liberating reading the book, and being able to finally put whats going on in this head somewhere in some sort of map.
It was also liberating being able to put somewhat of a label on this shift, whether Im right or wrong, I dont know , but id be confident to say it anyway.

Im not saying it would be the same for everyone that goes through direct pointing, but quite alot of people anyway. Im not sure what the "deciding" factors would be as to why its more effective for some than it is for others. And Im in no way claiming I dont have a ton of work ahead of me, but Id still be happy to recommend any seeker this direct pointing process.

All I'll say is, id recommend it if you are stuck and feel you are not making decent progress.


Regarding my site, Im thinking of taking it down, it was originally designed for one purpose, and that was to make this appealing to people that arent open minded about spirituality or the terms or lingo involved (I wasnt), but its purpose failed, most people Ive shown this site to, mainly , just dont care.

Perhaps the purpose you designed it for failed, but the REAL purpose has been fulfilled just fine.

Sometimes we catch a glimpse of ourselves 'designing our purpose', and it is like we have been caught playing 'air guitar' by a bus full of school children...it's best just to laugh, and not speed off too fast when the lights change...

Keep the site going and share what you have learnt/ experienced. You seem like a good communicator and can be bothered to share what is important to you.

Just keep in mind what you have learnt in the quote above; You care.