<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>Teachers</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_category?p_l_id=&amp;mbCategoryId=11917</link> <description>Here is place to post discussions about meditation teachers.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 19 Oct 2014 00:37:04 GMT</pubDate> <dc:date>2014-10-19T00:37:04Z</dc:date> <item> <title>RE: Living Buddhist Masters (of Today)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5364606</link> <description>Any love for Pa Auk Sayadaw here? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think he provides a great framework for practice. He teaches at an extremely high level the jhanas, the powers, and insight. Many of his students are now teaching in the US, one of whom I work with on occasion and is a great practitioner herself. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think Pa Auk Sayadaw and his students epitomize the technical Burmese practitioner that Daniel refers to. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I would be curious to here what people think about insight on the Rupa Kalapas as Pa Auk Sayadaw teaches it, as opposed to a more dry insight.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2014 17:49:28 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5364606</guid> <dc:creator>Zach M</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-03-31T17:49:28Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Yuttadhammo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5353177</link> <description>http://yuttadhammo.sirimangalo.org/p/how-to-meditate_16.html</description> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:08:58 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5353177</guid> <dc:creator>George S. Lteif</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-03-26T20:08:58Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Yuttadhammo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5353173</link> <description>I learned a lot from him through the youtube videos. Practiced his technique and attended a retreat with him. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;yuttadhammo&amp;#x2e;sirimangalo&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;p&amp;#x2f;how-to-meditate_16&amp;#x2e;html"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:08:04 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5353173</guid> <dc:creator>George S. Lteif</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-03-26T20:08:04Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Yuttadhammo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5353164</link> <description>I agree, i have found his &amp;#034;Ask a Monk&amp;#034; series and other videos well done, quite useful and inspiring.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=Ajahn_Yuttadhammo&lt;br /&gt;http://yuttadhammo.sirimangalo.org/</description> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:56:47 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5353164</guid> <dc:creator>E. Köln</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-03-26T19:56:47Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Yuttadhammo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5352903</link> <description>I found this monk called Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu on youtube; he has lots of videos with mostly great content and presents the theravada in a very fresh, balanced and believable way that I haven&amp;#039;t seen yet. There is lots of material on technical aspects of practice, on phenomenology and on how to apply the dhamma on real life problems. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are three good videos I have watched, one where he describes &lt;a href="https&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;youtube&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;watch&amp;#x3f;v&amp;#x3d;GkmLYAl1p7w"&gt;stream entry&lt;/a&gt; and its psychological effects, one with a very good explanation of &lt;a href="https&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;youtube&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;watch&amp;#x3f;v&amp;#x3d;n_llBSCXt6c"&gt;dependent origination&lt;/a&gt;, and one on how to deal with &lt;a href="https&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;youtube&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;watch&amp;#x3f;v&amp;#x3d;W5Lg9P-VekA"&gt;addictions&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Best wishes &lt;br /&gt;Christian</description> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:31:15 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5352903</guid> <dc:creator>Christian B</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-03-26T18:31:15Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189675</link> <description>Hurray! Happy Birthday Daniel! I would also like to thank you for all of the teachings you have given us. They have been a tremendous gift for me and many others. &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 18:38:26 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189675</guid> <dc:creator>Drew Miller</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T18:38:26Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189487</link> <description>Hey! Thanks everybody! So kind of you to think of me on my birthday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am lucky enough to be hanging with some friends in Maggie Valley in the mountains of North Carolina just enjoying the place before I go back to work in Huntsville, Alabama, as my time commuting to and working in Tupelo, Mississississippi has ended.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I also benefit tremendously from everyone here and their input and perspectives, so thanks to you all for everything you post and contribute.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Happy early and belated birthday to you all,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Daniel</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 16:36:27 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189487</guid> <dc:creator>Daniel M. Ingram</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T16:36:27Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189281</link> <description>Happy Birthday,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You&amp;#039;ve changed a lot of people&amp;#039;s lives for the better.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Best wishes,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;RichardZen</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 13:52:24 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189281</guid> <dc:creator>Richard Zen</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T13:52:24Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189039</link> <description>Daniel,&lt;br /&gt;Thank you for all you have done here. I remain inspired by your example, your efforts and your willingness to share these rare jewels with the world.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My life would be very different had I not had the very good fortune to have encountered this site and your book.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cheers,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tom Moylan</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 11:51:42 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189039</guid> <dc:creator>tom moylan</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T11:51:42Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189026</link> <description>Yes, happy birthday Daniel! Reading your book in 2010 was like stepping back into light &amp;#x2013; so many unformed questions answered, waves of relief and joy (and laughter) rolling through the body. Thank you very much.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 11:38:16 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189026</guid> <dc:creator>Nick Green</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T11:38:16Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189021</link> <description>Metta for Daniel and Happy Birthday! Thank you very much!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Curt Welling</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 11:37:42 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189021</guid> <dc:creator>Curt Welling</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T11:37:42Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189012</link> <description>&lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/smile.gif" &gt; &lt;p style="text-align: center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: papyrus"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 48px"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;Wishing You a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;G&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;r&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: red"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;t&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;D&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;y&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;D&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;n&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;i&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: blue"&gt;M&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;n&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;y&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;H&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;p&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;p&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;y&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;S&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;o&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;r&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;R&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;e&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;t&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;u&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: yellow"&gt;r&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;n&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: red"&gt;s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: right"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: papyrus"&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;(Thank you for this info,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;K&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;t&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;y&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: inherit"&gt;:-)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 11:36:01 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5189012</guid> <dc:creator>Anne Cripps</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T11:36:01Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188787</link> <description>happy birthday to Daniel&lt;br /&gt;keep the good thing going =)</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 09:32:15 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188787</guid> <dc:creator>Paweł K</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T09:32:15Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188150</link> <description>Agreed! It is so awesome that you&amp;#039;ve given so much and made the effort to make this resource available to us. I&amp;#039;m very grateful that the DhO is here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Happy birthday! Have a great day &amp;amp; year &amp;amp; many more &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2014 00:09:19 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188150</guid> <dc:creator>J C</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-06T00:09:19Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188113</link> <description>Happy b-day.&lt;br /&gt;I too would like to thank you. You have given an immeasurable gift to the world in your writing and the Dho. It has helped me immensely and has guided me thru the good and the bad. I wouldn&amp;#039;t have gotten to where I am without your great input.&lt;br /&gt;Keep it up, your changing the world in the best of ways. I am inspired to pass it forward in the small ways I can.&lt;br /&gt;With Metta,&lt;br /&gt;~D</description> <pubDate>Wed, 05 Feb 2014 23:16:04 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188113</guid> <dc:creator>Dream Walker</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-05T23:16:04Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Happy Birthday, Daniel :)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188032</link> <description>Daniel,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just want to wish you many happy, healthy returns of your birthday-- and that&amp;#039;s basically just for my own benefit :] By setting up this site and sharing your training, your experiences, your re-considerations...you&amp;#039;ve made a huge and helpful difference in my life. And you&amp;#039;ve actually paid for us to be able to set up our practices here. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I simply would not have practiced deeply and sincerely for these past three and a half years without what you&amp;#039;ve set up, without your humility in replying to my first email something like, &amp;#034;More minds are better than one&amp;#034;, your reading of old texts, your recommendations on training centres, and mainly your emphasis on honesty, sincerity, actually practicing over jabbering on and on, and actual, pragmatic outcomes no matter the label given to the practice/the experiences --- a huge beneficial effect on me. I also really doubt I would have done this without such a medical doctor in the emergency department (highly practical-outcome-oriented) putting himself out to the entire world sharing his experience and study of the mind from his personal work. To me, this ability to be so open (sometimes aka: &amp;#034;Vulnerable&amp;#034;), is a massive quiet true strength that I hope grows in the world, that I hope also grow in the world. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can only hope to pay this forward and relax around my own many mistakes in it, too : )&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank you, &lt;br /&gt;Katy&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;PS: I hope in your second book you do not cut the humorous writing style, quirky descriptions.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 05 Feb 2014 22:57:01 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5188032</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2014-02-05T22:57:01Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Gurudatta Dattatreya - amazing stuff going on here</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5076392</link> <description>yeah, Lisa do seem to be nice person. Confused but nice anyway and one that can probably help more people than this so called &amp;#039;Enlightened mystic&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Maybe she is not super awakened as she claims to be but it is easy to consider oneself very awakened experiencing no-self state which she is definitely experiencing. Also she didn&amp;#039;t claim to be &amp;#039;enlightened&amp;#039; which is true. What is not true and her mistake is that enlightened person can&amp;#039;t call itself enlightened. She don&amp;#039;t knowing essence of enlightenment doesn&amp;#039;t know that and can&amp;#039;t understand that ego/self can still exist while not being central position and being identified with. For her there is either self at central position or there is no self at all. Either painful self mode or peaceful no-self more, while enlightenment is about experiencing self through no-self mode that enable enlightened person to claim whatever the hell he/she wants about itself without identifying with self.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Conclusion is that &amp;#039;enlightened mystic&amp;#039; did defeated her. Though because she is nice person it make &amp;#039;guru&amp;#039; actually very lame person, especially when he is so proud of it...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yeah, Gurudatta Dattatreya, I call you a pussy because only pussies take candy from a little confused girl &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/oh_my.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2013 23:22:35 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5076392</guid> <dc:creator>Paweł K</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-24T23:22:35Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Gurudatta Dattatreya - amazing stuff going on here</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5074003</link> <description>This guy is just a pussy. If he really wanted to test his mettle, he would go up against a real guru like this master here: http://tuttejiorg.wordpress.com/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Haha ... perhaps these two may even know each other.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2013 02:05:51 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5074003</guid> <dc:creator>Chris M</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-24T02:05:51Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Gurudatta Dattatreya - amazing stuff going on here</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073908</link> <description>Since this was posted the guy edited his Facebook post to say: (Dedicated to Tom Tom @ dharmaoverground).</description> <pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2013 00:04:20 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073908</guid> <dc:creator>Tom Tom</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-24T00:04:20Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Gurudatta Dattatreya - amazing stuff going on here</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073813</link> <description>Taken from his facebook page:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;There is no moral order as Pure as this Storm.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Absolutely there is no moral order at all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Verily there is just This...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;can my violence conquer yours?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;~ Undefeated Enlightened Mystic Gurudatta Dattatreya*&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is a blatant plagiarism from the movie &amp;#034;Shutter Island&amp;#034; with Leonardo DiCaprio and the novel by Dennis Lehane . See &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;imdb&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;title&amp;#x2f;tt1130884&amp;#x2f;quotes"&gt;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/quotes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Warden: Did you enjoy God&amp;#039;s latest gift?&lt;br /&gt;Teddy Daniels: What?&lt;br /&gt;Warden: God&amp;#039;s gift. Your violence.&lt;br /&gt;[Daniels looks at him blankly]&lt;br /&gt;Warden: When I came downstairs in my home, and I saw that tree in my living room, it reached out for me... a divine hand. God loves violence.&lt;br /&gt;Teddy Daniels: I... I hadn&amp;#039;t noticed.&lt;br /&gt;Warden: Sure you have. Why else would there be so much of it? It&amp;#039;s in us. It&amp;#039;s what we are. We wage war, we burn sacrifices, and pillage and plunder and tear at the flesh of our brothers. And why? Because God gave us violence to wage in his honor.&lt;br /&gt;Teddy Daniels: I thought God gave us moral order.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Warden: There&amp;#039;s no moral order as pure as this storm. There&amp;#039;s no moral order at all. There&amp;#039;s just this: can my violence conquer yours?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He didn&amp;#039;t even bother to rephrase it other than capitalizing some letters and adding the word &amp;#034;Absolutely.&amp;#034;</description> <pubDate>Mon, 23 Dec 2013 22:47:36 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073813</guid> <dc:creator>Tom Tom</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-23T22:47:36Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Gurudatta Dattatreya - amazing stuff going on here</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073271</link> <description>I don&amp;#039;t get it? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I tried to navigate that facebook page to find something to support the &amp;#034;this guy is cool&amp;#034; thing but all I found was thei Lisa video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSCxnsBmZe4#t=28m00s and all I got from that was the impression that the guy asking the questions was a bit of a pain and girl answering was a bit odd but quite nice.. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;what&amp;#039;s the deal?</description> <pubDate>Mon, 23 Dec 2013 20:20:27 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073271</guid> <dc:creator>Bagpuss The Gnome</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-23T20:20:27Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Gurudatta Dattatreya - amazing stuff going on here</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073196</link> <description>I can confirm this man is the real deal. People like him are sorely needed in the world of what passes as spirituality these days.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 23 Dec 2013 19:49:20 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5073196</guid> <dc:creator>Nick Mason</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-23T19:49:20Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Gurudatta Dattatreya - amazing stuff going on here</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5070703</link> <description>&lt;a href="https&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;facebook&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;omgurudatta"&gt;https://www.facebook.com/omgurudatta&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He&amp;#039;s an advaita guru who has starting &amp;#039;battling&amp;#039; all other spiritual teachers and posting the results on his facebook page.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People seem to be quite emotionally charged, but I feel there is something quite pure and beautiful about it...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;i&amp;#x2e;imgur&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;gu16C4I&amp;#x2e;jpg" /&gt;</description> <pubDate>Sun, 22 Dec 2013 22:37:43 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5070703</guid> <dc:creator>Sadalsuud Beta Aquarii</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-22T22:37:43Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5003927</link> <description>Many of your points are well taken, and thank you for your kinds words and advice.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With your analogy of the animal being caged up all day then being agitated and restless; what I generally see is that an animal, if caged up, usually develops the tendency to be much more calm and &amp;#039;not wild&amp;#039; than an animal in the wild. I can see that the mind may resist a lot at first, but wouldn&amp;#039;t gently encouraging the mind to calm down by staying &amp;#039;caged up&amp;#039; help? As long as one doesn&amp;#039;t drive oneself crazy.&lt;br /&gt;What seems to have helped me before is forcing myself to sit down for a long period of time. I don&amp;#039;t have to meditate or even close my eyes but I do sit for at least an hour then I move around. A few rounds of these the first day tends to calm my mind down tremendously.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I do agree with your comment about having to know a bit about restlessness in the first place. I think calming the mind is one thing, reaching jhana by calming the mind even more is another thing entirely. Daniel Ingram talks at the Cheetah house (which the videos are available on Vemo I think) about how he used to be a &amp;#039;crap concentration meditator&amp;#039; until he hit stream entry. I&amp;#039;ve heard this several times; after stream entry jhanas are easy to reach. Before hand, however, very difficult.&lt;br /&gt;Also the fact that eating heavy causes the mind to go into not-so-conducive-states-for-meditating, states. Having a meal early on, not eating in the evening seems to help me too.&lt;br /&gt;Also getting into the habit throughout normal every day activities to not talk so much, be a bit more mindful than the week before and take things slow, both physically and mentally.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And don&amp;#039;t worry about the length of your posts, I enjoy reading responses &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Sun, 08 Dec 2013 05:09:59 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=5003927</guid> <dc:creator>Travis Gene McKinstry</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-08T05:09:59Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4996388</link> <description>Hi Travis, &lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;Travis Gene McKinstry:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;katy steger:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; However, if someone is like me and gets easily lost in the hindrances of worry and restlessness, then that fourth jhana cannot arise (to me) because one it too agitated and one starts to clock-watch and the practice loses sincerity...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Interestingly enough this happens to me a lot. Not when doing simple noting practices though… and not after I tried that &amp;#039;buddies breathing&amp;#039; exercise…. What do you plan to do (if anything) about the restlessness? I think I could benefit from your ideas.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, I do treat the restlessness because, to me, the mind and physical brain are impressionable and both mind and brain can take actions based on what goes into them, and mind and brain can especially take action based on what thoughts are habituated and that habituated thoughts and feelings become exponentially growing mental pathways as can be seen in post-traumatic stress disorder of people and animal brains. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if my brain is not in an equanimity resulting from kindly cultivation (versus cold-hearted detachment), then it may be in other places habituating and training itself in unskillful states and taking action in those unskillful states, states that are ultimately not beneficial for me or others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So to treat this, I have to know a little about the restlessness (or worry, etc):&lt;br /&gt;I. Is the restlessness apparently and mostly physical? &lt;br /&gt;a) If I am stiff or sluggish or ruminating uselessly, I should exercise some. Lack of moving around in the day is one of my leading causes of restlessness. (Then the sight of an animal caged/stalled a good bit of the day, can raise one&amp;#039;s compassion (and action) regarding why they, too, may be testy/rambunctious: no matter how safe and well fed, many animals, ourselves included, benefit from the ability to move about at will.) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;b) A reasonable diet is also good for me. I have the luxury of choosing to not eat after noon or three p.m. each day and this creates an empty stomach in the evening, good sleep, and an early rise the next day. But I also still go out with friends (last night), eat late and heavy, and know this will affect mediation and my body and mind. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I&amp;#039;ve also learned that after eating, there is some conceit that arises, overconfidence; this pointed me to see that there is some softness, gentle temper in me when I have an empty stomach (not a starved one). Conceit is a severe agitation (to see oneself as better/worse than another or to compare at all) but it&amp;#039;s commonly so habituated in the mind, that its gratification and pain can be hard to detect. Or one uses self-negative conceit to offset self-aggrandizing conceit like a buddhist &amp;#034;sale of indulgences&amp;#034; : ) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;II. If the restlessness is apparently and mostly mental, then I have to ask what am I putting into my mind and what am I doing with that information. &lt;br /&gt;If I read the news in tranquility, I can learn some things and act more clearly. If I read the news and become afraid/angry/worried, then my mind and body have to deal with both bodily aches in tension as well as mental ignorance and mental obfuscation, I will stop learning and start embellishing. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So these are some beneficial ways I can treat restless and other unskillful mental states, including grasping at &amp;#034;skill&amp;#034;. By NO means have I made the above knowledge consistently applied (e.g., wise attention, wise mind), but working with friends and being candid about these things has really help changed my mind&amp;#039;s default positions for states that are definitely nicer all around, for me and usually people around me, dependents and colleagues. It&amp;#039;s ongoing, rewarding work and I depend on friends to help me: If I am tempted to do something or do something unskillful, usually a friend offers a countermeasure by role-modelling a better action, versus lecturing me from cool on-high or esoteric guru-like (a ridiculously conceited position, but also a natural mental positioning on &amp;#039;the path&amp;#039; and one can compassionately bear it when another is passing through it, like others have been patient with mine), and I have done the same for friends. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After treatment, and in my case, after a few years now of applying such treatment as diet, exercise and meditation, to help the mind and brain after a hindrance arises (and probably I take action from that hindrance-mind), then, for me, the question of &amp;#034;In what conditions is the mind safe and benevolent if it is not fully enlightened?&amp;#034; &lt;span style="color: #BD0CC7"&gt;arises and now I have a sincere regard for the brahmavihara practices, where equanimity is the condition for sati--- the extraordinary practice of &amp;#034;how to do anything/how anything is done/the nature of wise-doing&amp;#034;, e.g, &lt;em&gt;after the ecstasy, then the laundry&lt;/em&gt; action suggested in Kornfeld&amp;#039;s book title.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; I think I could benefit from your ideas.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; Me, too. What are yours?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please excuse my long-windedness. I&amp;#039;m working on it, but it&amp;#039;s hard to see that in my long posts... maybe in two years I will be shorter-winded.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 07 Dec 2013 17:57:02 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4996388</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-07T17:57:02Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4995399</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;katy steger:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; However, if someone is like me and gets easily lost in the hindrances of worry and restlessness, then that fourth jhana cannot arise (to me) because one it too agitated and one starts to clock-watch and the practice loses sincerity...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Interestingly enough this happens to me a lot. Not when doing simple noting practices though… and not after I tried that &amp;#039;buddies breathing&amp;#039; exercise…. What do you plan to do (if anything) about the restlessness? I think I could benefit from your ideas.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 07 Dec 2013 14:16:19 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4995399</guid> <dc:creator>Travis Gene McKinstry</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-07T14:16:19Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4995377</link> <description>Hi Travis and Ben,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I&amp;#039;m really glad this worked for you both. Maybe thank Edutopia and Dan Goleman for working together &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ben, I relate to a lot of what you wrote in your post at the high energy state. I hesitate strongly to call your experience &amp;#034;jhana&amp;#034; or anything: That&amp;#039;s for your study and your determination. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How can a person determine for themselves if their jhana study is going well? &lt;br /&gt;[1] One, a person can go to the texts and see if the jhana factors are arising. Here&amp;#039;s a wiki entry on the factors of dhyana: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyāna_in_Buddhism#Jhana_Factors&lt;br /&gt;Note the (b) footnote about single-pointedness (ekaggata, unification of mind):&lt;br /&gt; &lt;em&gt;&amp;#034;In the Suttapitaka, right concentration is often referred to as having five factors, with one-pointedness (ekaggatā) not being explicitly identified as a factor of jhana attainment (see, for instance, SN 28.1-4, AN 4.41, AN 5.28).&amp;#034;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So for me ekaggata is a feature of my limited jhana experience, but a friend who seems to have good concentration reports that ekaggata is not part of their meditative experience. So we&amp;#039;re different; I cannot weigh in on their practice.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[2] A person can see for themselves products of a concentrated mind. Repeated, this type of practice causes changes in how the brain can apply itself and changes what dhammas (stuff) comes up in meditation. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What arises in daily life and in meditation as a result of concentration practice is not always wholesome. Affective states, like desire and anger, can be delivered with more intensity, I think. It&amp;#039;s alarming and can have unwholesome outcomes (reflecting their origins). So constant soft metta becomes very important. And karuna (compassion) particularly in the presence of anger and conceit, for me; if someone if showing anger or conceit, then I can relate to them because I&amp;#039;ve had those affective states, too. Unwholesome use of concentration is a disaster and definitely bites one back over time. So ethical conduct becomes an important support for concentration training. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nothing you&amp;#039;ve written indicates you would use concentration practice in an unwholesome way, but I put it out there as a caution and also that it would be natural for strong concentration, like ekagatta, to arise in unexpected ways in a new practitioner.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you know, jhanas are conditioned, temporary states studied in order to train the mind in a pleasant way: saturating the mind with pleasantness and gradually allowing the states of mind to reduce until the mind enters equanimity. To me, this fourth conditioned state (equanimity) cannot be made to happen (cannot be &amp;#034;attained&amp;#034;), but I can prepare its conditions by subduing the mind and body through jhanas 1-3. And to me the fourth jhana is the place wherein insight happens on its own and there can be occurrences on which one reflects after the meditation analytically and/or practically. There was one palpable insight in my practice after which I immediately got up from meditation, joined a particular NPO, and stopped eating seafood. It was the sort of occurrence that &amp;#034;I&amp;#034; could not anticipate nor in my best creative states could I imagine or invent. So that sitting had an immediate effect on my conduct, However, a lot of practice is in just refining the mind&amp;#039;s stability and the 1-3 jhanas (to me). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And if my sincerity to learn this practice drops, then the practice seems boring and rote and it becomes a tension-increasing practice, like anything unwilling.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If one has a daily, &lt;em&gt;sincere&lt;/em&gt; schedule of a couple hours of jhana practice, then it seems it takes only a few weeks (4-6?) for insights and some brief equanimity to arise. However, if someone is like me and gets easily lost in the hindrances of worry and restlessness, then that fourth jhana cannot arise (to me) because one it too agitated and one starts to clock-watch and the practice loses sincerity...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ultimately, the practice studies suffering, the causes and presents abatement of suffering (which is not cold-hearted dispassion) and changes the quality/spirit of one&amp;#039;s actions. How does it study suffering? Well, even after the most amazing jhana experiences and weeks and months even of bliss, if the peace of mind is not complete and suffusive, then one will (I will) continue to investigate, &amp;#034;What in me is a countermeasure to reliable ease?&amp;#034; There are humans who have survived the worst, most degrading conditions and yet they evidence a reliable mind that is not cold-hearted, protective dissipation, but are deeply warm, acting beautifully, appreciating what is their living.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So my thoughts about your reports, Ben and Travis: I was happy to read them!</description> <pubDate>Sat, 07 Dec 2013 13:47:13 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4995377</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-07T13:47:13Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4994196</link> <description>I just tried this. Worked awesomely. I saw the nimitta right away.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I will try this during my retreat. thanks &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Sat, 07 Dec 2013 00:06:45 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4994196</guid> <dc:creator>Travis Gene McKinstry</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-12-07T00:06:45Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4904797</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;analayo:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; &lt;br /&gt;A: Being an ‘anger-type’ I thought it was important to develop metta. (loving-kindness). In Thailand I followed the Visuddhimagga approach of sending metta to oneself, a friend, a neutral person and an enemy, and verbalising good wishes. I found I got stuck in ideas, and when I turned to the suttas I saw that the Buddha just says that, ‘with a mind full of metta’ (that is an attitude or feeling of loving-kindness) ‘he radiates metta in all directions’. There’s no verbalisation, no particular people, just this radiation. That made an incredible change in my practice and from then on it evolved very strongly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another example is the counting methods in the commentarial approach to the mindfulness of breathing, which are also not found in the suttas. The Anapanasati Sutta describes how in sixteen steps you can be aware of the breath, the body, feelings, and what is happening in the mind. This extends to seeing the impermanence of the breath.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is an excellent approach to practice. Firstly, you calm the mind by staying predominantly with bodily phenomena. Then you become aware of your whole self as it sits in meditation, and then you notice how the breath and the body become calmer. As soon as that happens thinking activity also calms down, and joy arises. You’re aware of these changes and encourage them, and that takes you away from the thinking activity of the mind.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The commentarial approach implies narrowing the focus of attention onto one point and only prescribes contemplating the most prominent characteristics of the physical breath &amp;#x2013; not the many other dimensions that are described in the sutta. Because you have so little material to work on, the practice can become boring, so your mind wanders, and you need counting as food for the mind. But counting can take you away from the bodily experience of the breath to conceptual ideas about it. However, if the mind has something it likes it will stay with it, and that’s the way to get into deep concentration.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I liked the interview also. Above was my favourite bit.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:17:52 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4904797</guid> <dc:creator>sawfoot _</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-20T14:17:52Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4903704</link> <description>Thanks Katy. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Georges, that&amp;#039;s pure gold! Fantastic essay and really useful to anyone practicing in variations of the U Ba Khin style. Thanks. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why is Analayo&amp;#039;s stuff dotted all over the place? Is he unaware of the influence of his book?</description> <pubDate>Wed, 20 Nov 2013 08:09:40 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4903704</guid> <dc:creator>Bagpuss The Gnome</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-20T08:09:40Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4896076</link> <description>Another document by Analayo:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here&amp;#039;s a paper on &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;fuyan&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2e;tw&amp;#x2f;download&amp;#x2f;FBS_vol6-6&amp;#x2e;pdf"&gt;The Development of Insight &amp;#x2013; A Study of the U Ba Khin Vipassanā Meditation Tradition as Taught by S.N. Goenka in Comparison with Insight Teachings in the Early Discourses &lt;/a&gt;</description> <pubDate>Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:22:56 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4896076</guid> <dc:creator>Georges Drouin</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-18T20:22:56Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4891820</link> <description>Hi Richard, Ian and Rod,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;Richard Zen:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Thanks! There&amp;#039;s good advice for anger types like me.&lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/big_grin.gif" &gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yeah, I totally agree. I felt it was awesome and useful that he readily showed his own area specific area of work and his sincerity in treating it and his knowledge that by just speaking openly of himself in this regard--- &lt;span style="color: #D115D2"&gt;and, to my eyes, being very thorough in what he does, generally-- he knows it benefits others, builds conviction, that there is &lt;/span&gt;no need to lecture others, just being transparent about what he&amp;#039;s doing with/for his own mind. To me, that is model teaching. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ian:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Nice interview. &lt;br /&gt;(...)&lt;br /&gt;Well worth the reading(...) &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; Yeah, I agree. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I tend to look forward to reading him and hearing his talks/engagement of people. I have the strong tendency to comment on/judge the practice of teachers when they make certain kinds of statements (e.g., paper tigers, self-aggrandizement/other-disparagement), but in switching to more self-study and watching my own mind, I&amp;#039;m finding both my any anger/frustration and conceit at least get a fair chance of receiving treatment and that treatment is metta (friendliness) and patience, and I find a good rehabilitative course and guidance&lt;span style="color: #D115D2"&gt; for engagement&lt;/span&gt; is given by these five points: &lt;a href=""&gt;http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.159.than.html &lt;/a&gt; (which points avail a collaborative engagement and much better outcomes, imo), when I remember to apply them!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rod C:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Actually Katy, I wanted to thank you for recommending this book to me on the basis of a footnote that mentioned Metta meditation as one of the best practices for the middle paths.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; You bet! I was just passing on what this monk had said to a little group of people practicing metta with him. I&amp;#039;m thrilled you&amp;#039;re thriving. I am plodding along and grateful &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:36:08 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4891820</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-17T16:36:08Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>BCBS, Barre, MA: a) Analayo retreat, b) job, c) unrelated humour</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4891704</link> <description>Hi all, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;a) The scholar-monk Analayo (author of the commentary on the Satipatthana Sutta, &amp;#034;The Direct Path&amp;#034; by Windhorse, also available in German, Der direct Weg: Satipatthana) is teaching a retreat in Barre, MA in March 2014. It is full but one can register for the waiting list. &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;bcbsdharma&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;courses&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x3f;page&amp;#x3d;Class_Details&amp;#x26;id&amp;#x3d;a0GA000000PFo0sMAD"&gt; http://www.bcbsdharma.org/courses/?page=Class_Details&amp;amp;id=a0GA000000PFo0sMAD&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;b) This same organization also seems to have a job opportunity:BCBS has an opening for an &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;bcbsdharma&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;about-us&amp;#x2f;jobs&amp;#x2f;"&gt;Online Education Developer.&lt;/a&gt; If you apply for it, a) good luck! and if you get the job, would you consider Edutopia&amp;#039;s online model (please? I&amp;#039;ve been following them for a few years and appreciate/benefit from how they are shaping it).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;c) Humour &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt; &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;youtube&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;watch&amp;#x3f;v&amp;#x3d;-ssXJtzFOjA"&gt;BBC&amp;#039;s animal cracker&amp;#039;s video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ssXJtzFOjA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Best wishes,&lt;br /&gt;Katy</description> <pubDate>Sun, 17 Nov 2013 15:54:55 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4891704</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-17T15:54:55Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4887828</link> <description>Thanks for the link, katy. Nice interview. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As much as I enjoy reading an interview with Ven. Analayo, the interviewer is no slouch himself when it comes to writing about the Dhamma, he being Vishvapani Blomfield, author of an excellent biography &amp;#x2014; &lt;em&gt;Gautama Buddha, The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One&lt;/em&gt; &amp;#x2014; which I recommend to anyone interested in discovering a more realistic rendering of that incredible life. If Vishvapani hadn&amp;#039;t written that book, and I had been given the time, I might have attempted to tackle that one myself. I found his interpretation of Gotama&amp;#039;s life to be almost exactly the same as my own (based upon a reading of the suttas mixed with the wisdom of life experiences). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That said, Analayo brought up several insightful observations. One of the most important of which is to endeavor to become clear about the definition of the Pali words and what they mean from an experiential standpoint so that it becomes easier to figure out what he is referring to when he talks about these subtle experiences. Just getting a handle on what it means to be in &lt;em&gt;samadhi&lt;/em&gt; can turn a person&amp;#039;s practice around on a dime! The most compelling moment you will ever experience in this life is just this moment NOW! Once you understand the meaning of that sentence and its significance on your view and outlook, you begin to understand what mindfulness (&lt;em&gt;sati&lt;/em&gt;) is all about, and why it is so important to one&amp;#039;s practice and the Dhamma. It&amp;#039;s not just a word &amp;#x2014; it is the foundation for awakening! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An important term for meditative absorption is &lt;em&gt;samadhi&lt;/em&gt;. We often translate that as ‘concentration’, but that can suggest a certain stiffness. Perhaps ‘unification’ is a better rendition, as &lt;em&gt;samadhi&lt;/em&gt; &lt;u&gt;means ‘to bring together’&lt;/u&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;Deep &lt;em&gt;samadhi&lt;/em&gt; isn’t at all stiff.&lt;/strong&gt; It’s a process of letting go of other things and coming to &lt;strong&gt;a unified experience&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;And once you begin to appreciate the stability of that experience, practicing contemplation in the endeavor to &lt;em&gt;see&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;realize&lt;/em&gt; the truth of the teachings (the three characteristics, dependent co-arising, the five &lt;em&gt;clinging&lt;/em&gt; aggregates, and the role of &lt;em&gt;vedana&lt;/em&gt; in one&amp;#039;s perception of experience and the affect it has on &lt;em&gt;sankhara&lt;/em&gt; or volitional formations and tendencies, just to name a few) becomes so much easier to accomplish. This is why Gotama taught &lt;em&gt;dhyana&lt;/em&gt; so often in the suttas, because when understood correctly, it is a harbinger for the &amp;#034;unification of the mind&amp;#034; upon an object. Not so much a one pointedness as a &lt;em&gt;unification&lt;/em&gt; on an object with the intent to see into that object with insight!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yet, even Analayo, it seems, still has things to work on when he makes comments like the following: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The process of developing insight is a matter of gaining self-knowledge and learning to act accordingly. If you sit down to meditate you need to feel the tendency of the mind &amp;#x2013; what it needs and what it wants to do. More broadly, I know that my tendency is towards anger &lt;strong&gt;and that means that I need to develop tranquillity to balance my personality.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While developing tranquility in the face of anger is certainly a commendable accomplishment, my interpretation of what he means by his reference to &amp;#034;anger&amp;#034; (based upon what he mentioned previously in the interview: &amp;#034;I studied martial arts in Berlin and I found that the discipline offered a way to express and contain my anger, but it didn’t address the root of the problem.&amp;#034;) is that its reference is to a deeper psychological outlook or response toward (perhaps) some hidden (unconscious) event (or events), and that what is needed is to gain insight into that event in order to &lt;em&gt;root it out&lt;/em&gt; as an underlying reflexive mental response. This is just what the practice of &lt;em&gt;satipattana&lt;/em&gt; was meant to help one accomplish: to see more deeply into one&amp;#039;s own unconscious unwholesome mental tendencies in order to root them out one by one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Indeed, later on in the interview, Analayo brings out the importance of &lt;em&gt;satipatthana&lt;/em&gt; practice when he casually mentions: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mindfulness has many facets. Many teachers speak of mindfulness of the body, &lt;strong&gt;but people don’t talk much about the contemplations of feelings, mind and &lt;em&gt;dhammas&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;that are also in the Satipatthana Sutta. But if you take any experience &amp;#x2013; like sitting here now &amp;#x2013; &lt;strong&gt;you can be aware of the bodily aspect, how you feel about what we are discussing; the state of mind that we are each in; and you can see it in the light of the Buddha’s teachings.&lt;/strong&gt; Each situation has these four aspects and mindfulness can focus on one or all of these as appropriate.&lt;br /&gt;If one becomes acutely aware of &lt;em&gt;vedana&lt;/em&gt; and how and when it arises within one&amp;#039;s experience, it can act as a sign or signal of processes to come. It can tip you off before you allow something like anger to take hold of your consciousness so that you can take a step back and reconsider what action to take. Identifying an unpleasant (and even pleasant) feeling as it arises can sometimes provide insight as to its cause, and thereby help us to overcome any unwholesome mental tendency.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vishvapani ends the interview with a question about the importance of reading and studying the discourses, something that I am always emphasizing that people ought to do more of: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;V: How has studying these suttas affected your own meditation?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A: &lt;strong&gt;It’s the ground of my practice.&lt;/strong&gt; Before I started my academic work I decided that however many hours I studied I would spend more hours meditating. That’s why it took me six years to complete my work. I would never lose touch with my meditation practice for the sake of theoretical study. &lt;strong&gt;On the other hand, though, a good knowledge of Buddha’s teachings ‘clears the path’ as it enables you to know what you’re doing and then you don’t experience doubt.&lt;/strong&gt; Now I can learn from various meditation teachers &lt;strong&gt;without getting confused because I know what lines I am pursuing&lt;/strong&gt; in my own practice.&lt;br /&gt;In addition to not experiencing doubt, knowing what Gotama taught helps one to weed out any ideas that extracurricular reading may bring to one&amp;#039;s attention so that confusion over what was taught and what wasn&amp;#039;t taught is less prevalent. One of the bugaboos that used to plague me was the metaphysical take (or impression) that so many (mostly Mahayana) writers on the Dhamma would promote, and yet a very close reading of the suttas really disavowed me of that impression about what was taught. That, in itself, (the de-emphasis on metaphysics) was a big relief, and it allowed me to see the teachings in a much simpler (and more profound and likely more correct) light as far as the intent was meant.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is a lot packed into that interview if you know what to look for. Well worth the reading and pondering.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 16 Nov 2013 07:36:43 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4887828</guid> <dc:creator>Ian And</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-16T07:36:43Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4887825</link> <description>Actually Katy, I wanted to thank you for recommending this book to me on the basis of a footnote that mentioned Metta meditation as one of the best practices for the middle paths. You gave this advice to me shortly after I reached what I thought was stream entry (actually working with a good teacher, it turned out to be 2nd path!). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So I adopted Metta meditation along with jhanas faithfully daily through 2nd and 3rd paths and now after the shift to technical 4th path a few weeks ago (confirmed by my teacher), I want to say that your advice was great and Metta was a wonderful smooth and effective way (along with all jhanas eventually up to 5 PL) to progress as well as benefitting quite a few people around me in quite obvious ways. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thanks again for your advice - it worked &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rod</description> <pubDate>Sat, 16 Nov 2013 07:35:53 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4887825</guid> <dc:creator>Rod C</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-16T07:35:53Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4887053</link> <description>Thanks! There&amp;#039;s good advice for anger types like me.&lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/big_grin.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Sat, 16 Nov 2013 00:44:21 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4887053</guid> <dc:creator>Richard Zen</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-16T00:44:21Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Analayo</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4886531</link> <description>Hi all, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Many people on the DhO recommend reading the German scholar-monk&amp;#039;s work, &amp;#034;Satipatthana Sutta, The Direct Path&amp;#034;. Its references and meticulous footnoting are outstanding, for example.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is an interview a friend sent me with Ven. Analayo. While he goes into how he practices metta and anapanasati meditation in the interview, I was particularly moved by how he committed to actually practicing per hour of study more hours of meditation. His work stands out for excellent documentation and now I know why, in part at least, it feels so accurate experientially.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is an excerpt from the interview:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;V: How has studying these suttas affected your own meditation?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Analayo: It’s the ground of my practice. Before I started my academic work I decided that however many hours I studied I would spend more hours meditating. That’s why it took me six years to complete my work. I would never lose touch with my meditation practice for the sake of theoretical study. On the other hand, though, a good knowledge of Buddha’s teachings ‘clears the path’ as it enables you to know what you’re doing and then you don’t experience doubt. Now I can learn from various meditation teachers without getting confused because I know what lines I am pursuing in my own practice.&lt;br /&gt;The Buddha gave the talks that are recorded in the suttas because he thought people should know what they are doing. Meditation is like eating and the knowledge you have gained from the suttas is like the digestive juice that makes it possible for your body to digest the nutrients. The two belong together, but meditation has to have the priority. Doing PhD research is perhaps going to an extreme. But studying informed sources can be helpful for everyone. They can shine a beam of light onto your practice and that can inspire it.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And here is the link to the interview&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=""&gt;http://www.wiseattention.org/blog/2012/09/07/learning-meditation-from-the-buddha-a-meeting-with-ven-analayo/ &lt;/a&gt;</description> <pubDate>Fri, 15 Nov 2013 20:59:03 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4886531</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-15T20:59:03Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Mahasi Sayadaw</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4847737</link> <description>I think the point is valid that this other stuff often gets missed or not mentioned.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Having been to Asia and hung out in a Mahasi center there, it is hard not to get handed some of his books on your way out the door, or at least see a large collection in the bookstore on the way out the door, and I have a good number of Mahasi&amp;#039;s works on my shelf, and it is easy to forget that those not going through that route might not be exposed to all of that material in the same way. I really like his stuff.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That said, if you go to a center there, you will not get handed his books at the front door, and instead will get taught one thing, noting, and you will get taught it well if you go to a good center, and that one thing will be the basis for most of your practice up to a certain point.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They do practice meta every night at the end of the day, at least where I was.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, this is all as a lay meditator, as they keep their eye on what they believe the prize is, meaning the stages of awakening.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That said, it is true that beyond a certain point, and that point is pretty far out there, say past second path, as a lay meditator you might get taught other things such as jhanas and the like, and even some of the powers if you get really good and they trust you with them, and at least one of my teachers had been trained in those.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you were a monk, then the whole thing would be very different in ways, as there would be a whole package, as they would feel they had the time to go more broadly and deeply in more things, but as a lay practitioner: stream entry gets priority above all else, and I can definitely see why.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 02 Nov 2013 13:14:55 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4847737</guid> <dc:creator>Daniel M. Ingram</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-02T13:14:55Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Mahasi Sayadaw</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4845168</link> <description>Thank you !</description> <pubDate>Fri, 01 Nov 2013 00:31:10 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4845168</guid> <dc:creator>Bryn Shyndor</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-01T00:31:10Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Mahasi Sayadaw</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4845165</link> <description>&amp;#034;Holy books Batman! &amp;#034;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hey thanks, I have pretty much found out what I had thought, Mahasi Saydaw did indeed teach, Brahma Viharas , the Eightfold Path, Metta-Jhanas, etc.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 01 Nov 2013 00:28:54 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4845165</guid> <dc:creator>Bryn Shyndor</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-11-01T00:28:54Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Mahasi Sayadaw</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4844881</link> <description>Here is avery good source for more talks/books by Mahasi Sayadaw translated by a westerner who became a monk under the Sayadaw:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;aimwell&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;mahasi&amp;#x2e;html"&gt;http://www.aimwell.org/mahasi.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nick</description> <pubDate>Thu, 31 Oct 2013 23:52:03 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4844881</guid> <dc:creator>Nikolai .</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-31T23:52:03Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Mahasi Sayadaw</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4844784</link> <description>Hello, though he&amp;#039;s not my cup of tea:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.holybooks.com/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Show 42 results when I searched for Mahasi Sayadaw. There may be some duplicates or alternate editions of the same, but they have a pretty good (free) library.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brian.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 31 Oct 2013 23:26:36 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4844784</guid> <dc:creator>Brian Eleven</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-31T23:26:36Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Mahasi Sayadaw</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4844359</link> <description>Greetings everyone, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It seems that Mahasi Sayadaw, is well respected here, as are his methods of noting meditation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That being said, I would like to try and clear up some things that for some might or might not be known or unknown.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It seems most have heard of Mahasi Sayadaw.&lt;br /&gt;He taught the full path to liberation, not just noting, He taught everything from jhana, metta-jhana, vipassana, nibbana, Noble Eightfold Path, Anatta, etc etc etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please correct me if I am wrong, and ,yes I know Mindfulness is the King/Lead horse on the Eightfold Path, but for full liberation I would argue for the requirement of the other Seven parts of the eightfold path must also be developed for full liberation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, and here is where I am asking for help: Does anyone know where to find Mahasi Sayadaw&amp;#039;s complete list of English Translated Books? I know there were 60 or so written, but only 30+- in English. I saw a list somewhere and will post it when I find it. Also, where to get these books? Myanmarbookshop.com has some, Personally I&amp;#039;ve never used them so??&lt;br /&gt;I am not asking anyone to do the research for me, but if this has already been posted somewhere, or if there is a web-site, could someone direct me there??&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have found a couple links to access his other teachings, which somehow have been tucked away in the shadows of the worldy world...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.yellowrobe.com/books/mahasi-sayadaw/237-books-by-mahasi-sayadaw.html&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(You will need to add the fonts for the above link for the pdf&amp;#039;s to be completely readable) It is on their website in the instructions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mahasi Sayadaw BrahmaVihara Dhamma&lt;br /&gt;http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/brahmavihara.pdf&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mahsai Sayadaw The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma&lt;br /&gt;http://www.buddhistelibrary.org/en/albums/asst/ebook/damachak.pdf&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, my main reason for this post is that Mahasi Sayadaw taught more than just Noting, and from what I found a few years back was that looks as though he taught the entire path, which is why I am somewhat baffled as to why no one mentions his other works and Dhamma teachings.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am cutting this post short, lol, sorry.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Metta, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bryan&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;p.s. I apologize if the links are goofy, I just copied and pasted</description> <pubDate>Thu, 31 Oct 2013 22:51:52 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4844359</guid> <dc:creator>Bryn Shyndor</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-31T22:51:52Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4819121</link> <description>Hey Katy&lt;br /&gt;Thought I would share my experience with you. I did 15 minutes of watching the rising and falling of breath laying down. I had some trouble concentrating in that position until the very end. Then I got into my usual sitting position and sat for 1 hour and half doing the first 40 minutes concentration. I watched the breath hitting my upper lip. After a few minutes maybe just 5 my attention got stronger and there was some pleasent sensations in my body and then a pleasant feeling. At this moment I shifted my attention to the sensations and the pleasant feeling, immediately the sensations surged in my body and there was a lot of joy and a euphoric feeling throughout my body. I tried to pay attention to the joy feeling while watching the pleasent sensations and it felt awesome. So many thoughts rushed in about the experience. Thoughts like &amp;#034;Ive hit the Jhana! I tried to continue being with the sensations and the feeling of joy. I was gettting confused whether to just focus on feeling or feeling and sensations. It kind of started to fizzle out a bit and then I wondered if I had left the breath to soon. At that point I went back to the breath and when there was concentration I had this pleasant tingling wave happen in my body and this pleasent kind of feeling and I focused on the pleasant sensations and the feeling of joy and it felt like the sensation exploded with bliss and joy in my body. It felt &lt;br /&gt;so good and it felt a bit sexual all the euphoric energy. The more I concentrated on the sensation and the joy the more intense it got. It felt really good. At this point I started thinking about what to do next and I noticed it drop down a bit and not me as intense&lt;br /&gt;and I started to wonder what I should do. If I should just keep paying attention to sensations or joy. At that point after some thinking I had decided that I better go back to breath and start again. I did this again and then went back into it for a little but wasn&amp;#039;t able to sustain it. After that I did the last 50 minutes noting vipassana. The concentration really helped the noting practice.&lt;br /&gt;So I think I hit the first Jhana and wasn&amp;#039;t able to sustain for very long. I wanted to share with you and see what you thought. Thanks&lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Sun, 20 Oct 2013 02:24:02 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4819121</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-20T02:24:02Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4818412</link> <description>Hey Katy&lt;br /&gt;Just watched the video. Before I do my usual evening sit tonight I am going to try this. Ill let you know how it goes. I usually use the breath going in and out of nose as well. So Im guessing from what you said Jhanas can be entered by also using the rising and falling. Thanks again.&lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 20:18:39 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4818412</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T20:18:39Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4818290</link> <description>Hi Ben,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How about trying this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scqFHGI_nZE &lt;br /&gt;It&amp;#039;s Dan Goleman explaining something called &amp;#034;Breathing Buddies exercise&amp;#034;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just did it for about 15 minutes now when I wanted to nap. I am very refreshed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if you lie down and set a timer and do this for just 15 minutes (not more than 20 minutes) and train attention on this rising and falling breath,then for me, I know from experience very similar to this (just remove stuffed animal and join hands gently across the low stomach or somewhere on the torso comfy to you) it can be very effective in calming and training concentration and even experiencing&lt;strike&gt; all &lt;/strike&gt;most of the jhanas (I did it this way once). Here one gets over aversion because one is so comfy, but the near-risk is going to sleep. Hence doing this no more than 20 minutes. There is something more focused in my opinion about being upright, but as a friendly training I&amp;#039;d start with this breathing buddies style. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So this is actually how I&amp;#039;d ask a friend to start jhana training now that I think of it. Then after these 15-20 minutes if I wanted to do more concentration practice, I might sit upright and continue the practice for 15-20 more minutes, mind going to the breath, mind learning to stay at a place touched by the breath---- most classically ananapanasati-style. For me, I benefit from first using a narrow focus area (at the nose) and this builds unification of the mind (without tension). As the mind unifies on the object, often the body develops comfort. Then my attention may go to something that has no single location ---- like the body&amp;#039;s vibration-sensations --- but still the mind is nearly unified or unified in its attention to the sensations. &lt;span style="color: #C00DCA"&gt;{this paragraph is basically looking at jhanas 1-3 again}&lt;/span&gt;</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 19:20:13 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4818290</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T19:20:13Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817806</link> <description>Hey Katy&lt;br /&gt;Yes Im glad said that about the unwillingness and unfriendly attitude. I think I had alittle bit of an attitude of just getting through the 50 minutes of concentration to move to the next 50 of noting practice. Feeling a little hesitant and unfriendly to the new concentration practice. There was some doubt present and worry like &amp;#034;am I spending this time wisely&amp;#034; by doing this. Or am I just wasting time.&amp;#034; Also fear of the possibility of uncomfortable new territory was present, and Im sure the anticipation of will there be more pain this way in body brought alot on. Definitely a bit of unwillingness to embrace fully the just being with the breath. Thanks for pointing that out. I am going to attempt to open my heart more next sit&lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt; Thanks again]&lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:49:09 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817806</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T14:49:09Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817276</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Ive noticed alot more pain in the body doing the concentration practice as compared to when I am noting, which was a little distracting. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Funny: this happens to me when I try the body scanning which Goenka-trained friends use.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think we experience this because &lt;strong&gt;a) &lt;/strong&gt;we&amp;#039;re new to the object. Newness does not actually cause pain and can actually increase one&amp;#039;s concentration performance if one is excited. In beahvioural studies this is sometimes called a &amp;#034;novelty&amp;#034; curve. If we are keen on a topic, we do very well on it in the very beginning; as/if we get bored, our performance declines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But also I think we experience this pain (if the pain is not just a part of the daily bodily changes, but if we notice it is a persistent factor of the practice when we change one training method for another training method) because &lt;strong&gt;b) &lt;/strong&gt;when I/you/someone is experiencing low concentration (as evidenced by quickly coming on pain simply as a result of changing one&amp;#039;s object of concentration, one&amp;#039;s training method) then it usually means the practitioner has some unwillingness arising... a lack of friendliness and welcome to the new practice. &lt;span style="color: #C81CD2"&gt;[1]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On one hand that means the other practice is going well and causing the comfort of body and calm of mind that will lead to the ability to study the mind&amp;#039;s activity. On the other it means we haven&amp;#039;t really gotten the point of concentration: that it can and will be applied to everything (mindfulness, sati, attention) &lt;span style="color: #C81CD2"&gt;--- and even knowing this, I haven&amp;#039;t stabilized concentration in such a sati way and this is just part of the natural training progress, step-by-step (but I try not to be too lazy about making effort here either : ).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; I was thinking maybe adding a smile to my face would help while focusing on breath? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; Yeah I think a little smile can help. I used that when I started sincerely trying jhana practice. Also lifting the breastbone (sternum) up comfortably with shoulders back and down can cause positive chemical changes that help the mood. See Amy Cuddy&amp;#039;s talk on this on Ted Talks, if you like. She has great reports on what happens to doctors and job applicants when they use this technique actually or as part of a trial.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, if I try body scanning I too will also add a little sincere smile in order that I approach this concentration practice with pleasure and welcome for a new training method (versus telling myself &amp;#034;now I am doing concentration through this scanning technique about which I am a little dubious/hesitant/afraid). Anything else --- lacking that attention born of receptivity and curiosity for a wholesome, harmless study --- and I will not have concentration. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, lacking concentration on a wholesome object I&lt;em&gt; will &lt;/em&gt; get the chance to experience the study of what arises with the feeling of aversion. So there&amp;#039;s something to study either way &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/happy.gif" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;------&lt;br /&gt; &lt;span style="color: #C81CD2"&gt;[1] I am not saying you are doing this; but this is something I&amp;#039;ve noticed about my own practice changes&lt;/span&gt;</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:26:49 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817276</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T14:26:49Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817260</link> <description>Hey Katy,&lt;br /&gt;These are great points. I am grateful for the guidance and words you have shared with me. It is very helpful knowledge to have moving forward with this practice. &lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 13:58:52 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817260</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T13:58:52Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817256</link> <description>Hey Katy,&lt;br /&gt;Thank you so much for taking the time to share that with me. I will check out that talk today. This morning I did 50 minutes of focusing on breath there was a time when I was with the flow of the breath in and out (a very short time) and there was some pleasent sensations in the body. I kept my attention on the breath and then got lost in thought. Next time I will shift my attention to the pleasant sensations and see how that goes. Ive noticed alot more pain in the body doing the concentration practice as compared to when I am noting, which was a little distracting. I was thinking maybe adding a smile to my face would help while focusing on breath? I am going to go listen to the talk you suggested now. Thanks again. &lt;br /&gt;Ben&lt;br /&gt;.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 13:52:51 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817256</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T13:52:51Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817253</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Let me know if you are experienced willing to share with this stuff, thank you.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Thank you also.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another thing to keep in mind is that everything I write reflects on me/my experience at a moment in time. So if I orient to the application of kindly effort, someone else orients well to their own application of a stern effort. These approaches reflect what each person has determined they personally need based on their own knowledge of their current nature.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One thing that is great about teacher-seeking it is shows one&amp;#039;s personal desires through an easier-to-see lens. So if I find I&amp;#039;m immersing myself in the work of David Wiggins or Ayya Khema or Mr. Bean or generic memes of recluse-artists, I can start to see a clear image of &amp;#034;What I want&amp;#034; (or just what I am). Seeing the specific nature of teacher-desire is very, very useful to see and to know and to even track. Eventually one&amp;#039;s own island is left to be studied without expectation --- I still see a lot of arising/passing expectation around this limitless island of own-being --- but one may go through lots of these specific teacher cravings in order to learn what had to be exhausted identity-craving-wise in order to get down to what is oneself, what one is constructing, and what is constructing anyway without volition, thoughts emerging then decaying like plants in a forest. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So teacher-picking can be like a marriage: one may be picking a teacher/staying with a teacher/rejecting a teacher based on one&amp;#039;s own developing and departing cravings. So if I love the zen teacher &amp;#034;Cuke&amp;#034; then there is some Cuke-specific craving I have at the time of practice. It can be very good to then study that way. Then that teacher-craving will pass, or teacher-craving will pass, and there may be some air time and finding another teacher or increasingly focusing on one&amp;#039;s own terrain and turning to people for specific questions or for the pleasant community of sharing experiences with peers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Good luck.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 13:43:49 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817253</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T13:43:49Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817094</link> <description>With any meditation I would start with the amount of time that is comfortable to you, even five well-done minutes wherein the mind is not in &amp;#034;forced labor&amp;#034; but is in willing, friendly effort is good. From five minutes one can expand and contract. Then one starts to learn when a good meditative mood is coming on and one can sit longer if one likes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Daily ethical conduct is one of the things that helps one develop concentration because the mind is not provoking itself distractedly with remorse and regret from some unrestrained harmful conduct.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Any good animal trainer know to keep an animal from working in bitterness/unwillingness. I feel this is also very key in meditation: do not train the mind with force; it will &amp;#034;act out&amp;#034; later to recoup its pleasures and it will start rejecting the practice. There must be kindness while training one&amp;#039;s own animal and the wisdom to train step-by-step, progressively with a friendliness.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Also Insight into how long to do concentration and how long insight? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For me, insight comes up naturally in fourth jhana. My few experiences with fourth jhana came up nearly entirely during a 12-month period of completely sincere practice, part of the peak earnestness/fed-up-ness known as the &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;accesstoinsight&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;lib&amp;#x2f;authors&amp;#x2f;mahasi&amp;#x2f;progress&amp;#x2e;html"&gt;&amp;#034;knowledge of desire for deliverance&amp;#034;&lt;/a&gt;. Basically it&amp;#039;s a complete sincerity born of being worn out by one&amp;#039;s own habitual mind and the willingness to really just practice, nothing extra. Actually having a teacher (living or dead) one completely trusts could be part of that sincerity; one also gives up because one now trusts the practice is worth turning entirely to and one trust their teacher&amp;#039;s guidance/guiding texts. I have a friend who reads the suttas sincerely and seriously: he trusts Gotama was a genius and so language that seems archaic to me, the friend trusts. He can lean into the suttas as if Gotama is a modern teacher. That&amp;#039;s helped me quite a bit, too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So when fourth jhana happens (and for me that is when sukha is complete and the mind lets go by itself and where &amp;#034;I&amp;#034; have become so tranquil that all personal thoughts have ceased; there&amp;#039;s just contentment and ease and comfort in the body and the mind is cool and calm) something further lets go-- a personal fear lets go and the mind drops into an unknown, unpredictable place that can have nothing at all (an insight, too) or can give seemingly proprioceptive or other sensate experiences that, to me, are life-changing/mind-changing. (these are also seemingly plain experiences when they occur because in fourth jhana these is nothing affective to add personal value to these experiences; there is however a subtle, impersonal attentive &amp;#034;bliss&amp;#034; to the gradientlessness of fourth jhana, to me)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, the insight practice of friends who have studied Goenka has impressed me so I&amp;#039;m going to take an insight retreat next year to see what people are training to do when they do insight without the jhanas.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:56:59 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4817094</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T12:56:59Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: S.N. Goenka: interview, overview</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816933</link> <description>I&amp;#039;m still a humble novice and nowhere near as &amp;#034;hardcore&amp;#034; as many of the posters here. Yet, I have few points to make from what I have learnt from my Body Scanning practice as well as interactions with senior teachers of Goenkaji&amp;#039;s lineage. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At first, I had many questions and I was very keen to know why there is so much secrecy and hush hush around the what, how and why of experiences in this school of Dharma. The answers that I received were so simple and ordinary that I thought they are just avoiding giving me the real answers. As I got further ahead, I realized that these answers are precisely what is needed to make progress without deviation. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Goenkaji says that the #1 way to know that you&amp;#039;ve made progress is to see how equanimous you are. I find this simple advice very effective as the very goal of Vipassana meditation is to bring you to the 11th nana of Equanimity, and in all the other nana&amp;#039;s it&amp;#039;s the only thing you&amp;#039;re really working on. Even from here, you cannot make any other effort than be equanimous and aware every moment. When I first entered Equanimity, I felt like my being was bathing in all 4 Brahma Viharas and in that moment everything I have ever read, especially the stuff the Sufi Saints have expressed through their poems became crystal clear. I was no longer looking at the world through the narrow lens of my identity and it suddenly became as beautiful as any heaven. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I first came here and posted a thread about my ordeals in Reobservation, several posters adviced me to drop Body Scanning altogether and get into noting. Noting is generally viewed as a highway to Stream Entry. I have read Goenkaji speak that even verbalizing or visualizing sensations is as counter productive as controlling breath, because then you&amp;#039;re working from the plane of thought. Even when we notice sensations, we&amp;#039;re not supposed to say &amp;#034;annica&amp;#034; like a chant, but rather look at it with awareness infused with impermanence.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I find that Body Scanning has a much broader scope than noting. When you&amp;#039;re Scanning, you are noting without words and you&amp;#039;re exploring the entire scope of your field of sensations rather than just looking at what is coming up. At the same time, as you advance you&amp;#039;re also able to observe how you &amp;#034;feel&amp;#034;. I remember that at some point I became very sad during the retreat, and then I tried to find the feeling of &amp;#034;Sorrow&amp;#034;. When I found it, I was looking at it from a 3rd person perspective and it automatically dissolved. In a way, this is like combining actualism, noting, concentration and some more.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is lot of speculation about other planes of existence and psychic powers. I know for fact that Goenka Style Vipassana leads to a place where all such speculation and questions are dissolved. The real goal is to be free of even the slightest of defilements and everything else happens on its own. If we are looking for results as a goal, then the mind becomes cunning and loses the innocence that takes us there. Those who have acquired such powers never speak about them because they find these powers so mundane. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As I have worked with subtler and subtler sensations over the past years, I have experienced countless sankharas appearing at the surface of my physical existence and in dreams in ways unheard of. These mental changes are so deep that they cannot be logically understood. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These are just my observations, subject to change just like everything else. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All the best with your retreat Katy. The found it most helpful psychologically to tell myself that &amp;#034;only 9 more days are left, I should work as hard as I can&amp;#034; rather than &amp;#034;omg 9 more days, how am I going to get through this!&amp;#034; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take your time to post a reply, I am in EQ after all &lt;img alt="emoticon" src="http://www.dharmaoverground.org/dho-theme/images/emoticons/smile.gif" &gt;</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 07:57:38 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816933</guid> <dc:creator>Sweet Nothing</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T07:57:38Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816752</link> <description>Hi Ben, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, I&amp;#039;m not a master of the jhanas as you&amp;#039;ve also said. So I can speak just to my window of experience right now. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I&amp;#039;d rather refer you to someone like Ayya Khema (d.1997) http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/334/ who speaks at length on jhana. here&amp;#039;s her jhana overview. Here is her overview talk on jhanas:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdxFS-j5oD0&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What I know to do is to pick a pleasant object (one which does not cause craving in daily life) and keep bringing the mind to it. I use the breath mostly. Sometimes I use the image of friends laughing/being happy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This alone can cause the mind to brighten and become a bit elated.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Without overstriving or any harshness, I keep bringing the mind back to the object. At some point the mind will dive down to the object or magnetize to it. That is usually single-pointedness starting to develop. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if one is feeling happy and has some single-pointedness to the object (even fleeting at first) and is having pleasant sensations in the body and sort of happy feeling in the mind, there is the first jhana starting to form.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When the pleasant sensation builds one may turn to them and start making them the object of concentration. One can actually make those pleasant sensations really suffusive and huge. This is almost athletically elated mind and pleasant sensations. Pleasant sensation can be made to become suffusive in the body, so that no point is uncomfortable, all of the body is suffused in pleasant sensations. There are many reasons a person can sit at length in meditation, some skillful and some skillful: suffusive piti is one of the wholesome reasons.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Piti gets a litte exhausting it is so energetic, so eventually over time I&amp;#039;ve noticed I naturally fade the mind to ease and the body is just deeply comfortable. Generally here, in third jhana the body is just a massive unit of sensations without clear boundary. And the happiness is like a calm pervasive contentment or &amp;#034;subtle happiness&amp;#034;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That&amp;#039;s what the first three jhanas are for me. But I hope you&amp;#039;ll do you&amp;#039;re own thorough investigations. Over and over again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It helps me a lot to keep sharing and cultivating friendships around the practice, sharing experiences.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 04:58:31 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816752</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T04:58:31Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: S.N. Goenka: interview, overview</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816739</link> <description>Hi Sweet Nothing, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That&amp;#039;s great to read. I am signed up for my first Goenka retreat next year, but friends who&amp;#039;ve done this retreat have been great aides to me. And from other 7-10 day retreats I&amp;#039;ve done elsewhere, I definitely &amp;#034;get&amp;#034; why the first four days are spent in anapanasati. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have a different view of how &amp;#034;insight&amp;#034; occurs -- that it arises naturally in high equanimity (and I tried replying to your EQ thread, but the reply is still too long... but I&amp;#039;m reading your post there anyway. It&amp;#039;s good and if I had something to say to it I&amp;#039;d like it to be orderly, useful) and I was gratified to learn Ayya Khema (d. 1997) spoke the same understanding of insight in one of her recorded jhana talks I heard recently. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But I definitely see how insight arise in any concentration practice, like Goenka&amp;#039;s body scanning. So I&amp;#039;m looking forward to it, though nervous. I&amp;#039;ll admit: I like suffusive concentration for it&amp;#039;s ability to make the body a very pleasant place until the mind is ready to drop itself into equanimity. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When on Day 2-3 I am loath to understand why I do this practice, I will try to remember your excellent experience with Goenka.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 04:36:38 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816739</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T04:36:38Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816514</link> <description>Hey Katy,&lt;br /&gt; That makes complete sense and appreciate you taking the time to make sure you are clear. I am definitely open to having a teacher/teachers but I am glad you shared with me the standards that Buddha described of a teacher of the Dharma. In the meantime without a formal teacher I will ask questions to this community.&lt;br /&gt;Which brings me to my next question. I had read in one of the forums I think that you have experience with concentration practices? I have been thinking that it would benefit my practice to implement some concentration technique and start to attempt enter the first Jhana. From reading what some have written it seems that concentration can play a great role in supporting the insight meditation. I have been practicing noting vipassana practice, at times letting go of noting and just using spacious awareness of whatever is happening. I have been sitting 1 and half hours in the morning and 1 hour in the evening (sometimes more) Today for my evening sit I did the first hour concentration on breath (attempted 1st Jhana) and then about 40 minutes of vipassana noting. I know you said you are not a teacher but my question is if you are willing and able could give me some guidance in starting to master 1st Jhana and so forth? And also guidance just in regards to a concentration technique you find helpful? Also Insight into how long to do concentration and how long insight? I was thinking of doing 45 min concentration in morning and then around 45-1hour in morning vipassana. Let me know if you are experienced willing to share with this stuff, thank you.&lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 00:52:36 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816514</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T00:52:36Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816372</link> <description>HI Ben,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is a really natural desire --- the desire to have a teacher who can lead one to reliable peace. It can also be wholesome and beneficial. But, as we all know, it can cause trouble if a) the teacher is misleading/not realized/not ethical and b) the student is using the relationship and the sangha as a proxy for actual practice. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much of what is initially sought in the practice is often (not always, and maybe for some people never) the peace of a nice community and helpfulness and being welcomed... having some safety from the suffering that has started to really amp up when one finds themselves attracted to ideas like salvation, enlightenment, etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So while you and I keep in mind the basic standards of a teacher (the five listed above from the Anguttara Nikaya, for example), we can also practice in a friendly positive way --- even a humorous playful way [1]. The practice itself gives each person the basis for starting to know if a teacher is suitable or not or suitable specifically for me/you at a particular moment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; I am taking note of this desire I have to be taught and keep practicing. (...) Most importantly I will keep practicing!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="color: #A406CA"&gt;Cool. And it&amp;#039;s totally fine to go see teachers. I don&amp;#039;t want to create aversion for them, either. One has to test the waters and there are amazing teachers out there, or ones who are amazing for us at particular times in our lives.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think you know all of this, but I want to try to be clear.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;______&lt;br /&gt;[1] so the other day I confessed to our little online group that the idea of a garden gate being monitored by gnomes came to mind as way to watch the breath coming and going. Well, they say the antidote to sloth is think on something that makes one alert but not desirous, so that came to mind and it worked! For several minutes, anapanasati was, for me, gnomes watching the breath at a garden gate. That image fell away and I was alert to the practice again versus struggling so much. &amp;lt;chuckles&amp;gt;</description> <pubDate>Sat, 19 Oct 2013 00:11:32 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4816372</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-19T00:11:32Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4815845</link> <description>Thank you,&lt;br /&gt; Those are really good points. I am taking note of this desire I have to be taught and keep practicing. I hadnt really thought or cared to notice that there is that want in me to be directed and I now I can pay attention to this.This is helpful. Most importantly I will keep practicing!&lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Fri, 18 Oct 2013 19:37:27 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4815845</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-18T19:37:27Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: S.N. Goenka: interview, overview</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4815839</link> <description>Thanks for the post Katy. Incidentally I attended a 10 Day Goenka retreat just 2 days after he passed away. It was my best retreat so far and I&amp;#039;m forever grateful to him for tireless work he did towards the spread of Dharma in India and around the globe. If it weren&amp;#039;t for one of these retreats (3 now!) I may have wasted this life in hoarding wealth and trying to fulfill countless desires like everyone else.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 18 Oct 2013 19:28:02 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4815839</guid> <dc:creator>Sweet Nothing</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-18T19:28:02Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>S.N. Goenka: interview, overview</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4815125</link> <description>Hi Mods,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since there is a subcategory set up for one teaching person would you set up a subcategory for the teacher S.N. Goenka and call it the same?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is a post for that subcategory.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A friend sent this out this morning, from Winter 2000, Tricycle Magazine, an excellent overview interview with Goenka. Some myths dispelled, too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Goenka&amp;#039;s 10-day retreats are offered freely to new students and thereafter on a dana basis. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 18px"&gt;Superscience&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An interview with S. N. Goenka&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;S. N. Goenka has been teaching Vipassana meditation for thirty-one years and is most widely known, perhaps, for his famous introductory ten-day intensive courses, which are held free of charge in centers all around the world, supported by student donations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Born in Mandalay, Burma in 1924, he was trained by the renowned Vipassana teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899-1971). After fourteen years of training, he retired from his life as a successful businessman to devote himself to teaching meditation. Today he oversees an organization of more than eighty meditation centers worldwide and has had remarkable success in bringing meditation into prisons, first in India, and then in numerous other countries. The organization estimates that as many as 10,000 prisoners, as well as many members of the police and military, have attended the ten-day courses.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;S. N. Goenka came to New York this fall for the Millennium World Peace Summit at the United Nations. He was interviewed there by Helen Tworkov.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;According to some people, Vipassana is a particular meditation practice of the Theravada School; for others, it is a lineage of its own. How do you use the term?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is a lineage, but it is a lineage that has nothing to do with any sect. To me, Buddha never established a sect. When I met my teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, he simply asked me a few questions. He asked me if, as a Hindu leader, I had any objection towards sila, that is, morality. How can there be any objection? But how can you practice sila unless you have control of the mind? He said, I will teach you to practice sila with controlled mind. I will teach you samadhi, concentration. Any objection? What can be objected to in samadhi? Then he said, that alone will not help&amp;#x2014;that will purify your mind at the surface level. Deep inside there are complexes, there are habit patterns, which are not broken by samadhi. I will teach you prajna, wisdom, insight, which will take you to the depth of the mind. I will teach you to go to the depth of the mind, the source where the impurities start and they get multiplied and they get stored so that you can clear them out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So when my teacher told me: I will teach you only these three&amp;#x2014;sila, samadhi and prajna&amp;#x2014;and nothing else, I was affected. I said, let me try.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How is sila generated by watching the mind?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I began to learn Vipassana meditation, I became convinced that Buddha was a not a founder of religion, he was a super-scientist. A spiritual super-scientist. When he teaches morality, the point is, of course, there that we are human beings, living in human society, and we should not do anything which would harm the society. It’s quite true. But then&amp;#x2014;and it’s as a scientist he’s talking here&amp;#x2014;he says that when you harm anybody, when you perform any unwholesome action, you are the first victim. You first harm yourself and then you harm others. As soon as a defilement arises in the mind, your nature is such that you feel miserable. That is what Vipassana teaches me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So if you can see that mental defilement is causing anxiety and pain for yourself, that is the beginning of sila and of compassion?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you can change that to compassion, then another reality becomes so clear. If instead of generating anger or hatred or passion or fear or ego, I generate love, compassion, goodwill, then nature starts rewarding me. I feel so peaceful, so much harmony within me. It is such that when I defile my mind I get punishment then and there, and when I purify my mind I get a reward then and there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What happens during a ten-day Vipassana course?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The whole process is one of total realization, the process of self-realization, truth pertaining to oneself, by oneself, within oneself. It is not an intellectual game. It is not an emotional or devotional game: “Oh, Buddha said such and such . . . so wonderful . . . I must accept.” It is pure science. I must understand what’s happening within me, what’s the truth within me. We start with breath. It looks like a physical concept, the breath moving in and moving out. It is true. But on the deeper level the breath is strongly connected to mind, to mental impurities. While we’re meditating, and we’re observing the breath, the mind starts wandering&amp;#x2014;some memory of the past, some thoughts of the future&amp;#x2014;immediately what we notice is that the breath has lost its normality: it might be slightly hard, slightly fast. And as soon as that impurity is gone away it is normal again. That means the breath is strongly connected to the mind, and not only mind but mental impurities. So we are here to experiment, to explore what is happening within us. At a deeper level, one finds that mind is affecting the body at the sensation level.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This causes another big discovery&amp;#x2014;that you are not reacting to an outside object. Say I hear a sound and I find that it is some kind of praise for me; or I find someone abusing me, I get angry. You are reacting to the words at the apparent level, yes, true. You are reacting. But Buddha says you are actually reacting to the sensations, body sensations. That when you feel body sensation and you are ignorant, then you keep on defiling your mind by craving or by aversion, by greed or by hatred or anger. Because you don’t know what’s happening.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When you hear praise or abuse, is the response filtered through the psychological mind to the bodily sensations, or is it simultaneous?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is one after the other, but so quick that you can’t separate them. So quick! At some point automatically you can start realizing, “Look what’s happening! I have generated anger.” And the Vipassana meditator will immediately say, “Oh, a lot of hate! There is a lot of hate in the body, palpitation is increasedï¿½Oh, miserable. I feel miserable.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you are not working with the body sensations, then you are working only at the intellectual level. You might say, “Anger is not good,” or “Lust is not good,” or “Fear is not&amp;#x2014;.” All of this is intellectual, moral teachings heard in childhood. Wonderful. They help.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But when you practice, you understand why they’re not good. Not only do I harm others by generating these defilements of anger or passion or fear or evil, I harm myself also, simultaneously.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vipassana is observing the truth. With the breath I am observing the truth at the surface level, at the crust level. This takes me to the subtler, subtler, subtler levels. Within three days the mind becomes so sharp, because you are observing the truth. It’s not imagination. Not philosophy or thinking. Truth, breath, truth as breath, deep or shallow. The mind becomes so sharp that in the area around the nostrils, you start feeling some biochemical reaction that means some physical sensation. This is always there throughout the body, but the mind was so gross it was feeling only very gross sensations like pain or such. But otherwise there are so many sensations which the mind is not capable to feel.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Can you say something about the generation of wisdom? Is insight the same as wisdom?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Same same same! Insight is not trying to understand the reality within myself merely at the intellectual level, but I understand it now at the experiential level. For anybody who admires Buddha’s teaching&amp;#x2014;that everything is impermanent, changing&amp;#x2014;this is at the intellectual level. Yes, everything’s changing. Nothing is permanent. Quite true. But that doesn’t help. When I practice Vipassana, I start with sensation: Look, sensation arises, seems to stay for some time but passes, is not eternal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And after four, five, six days, the sensations get dissolved. There is no more solidity in the entire body. Mere vibration, very subtle vibration. So this impermanence is now experience. What is the purpose of reacting to something when it is changing so quickly? What is the purpose of reacting with craving or clinging? It passes away. Or hatred: it passes away. People who are very angry, or are full of lust, full of fear or full of depression or full of ego&amp;#x2014;when they keep on observing their sensations, the whole habit pattern changes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Does the object of awareness ever disappear so that there’s only awareness of awareness itself?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Exactly. But when I say I am aware of this object, and “I” is there, “I” am aware of this. This is a duality. Slowly as you proceed, “I” goes away. Things are just happening, and the knowing part knows. That’s all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is that the same as what some teachers call “bare attention”?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, this is bare attention.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When there’s no object.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The object keeps on changing. What is the object this moment may not be the object the next moment. So whatever manifests itself from moment to moment, there is clarity. And there awareness means you are not reacting to it. Say the object, the sensation, is very pleasant. The old habit pattern was that when we feel this sensation we react with, “Ah, Wonderful! I must continue&amp;#x2014;this must be retained.” Then this is not bare awareness. But if you keep on, just awareness, let me see what happens, it changes. You are just observing the changing nature of the sensations. This sensation or that sensation, makes no difference.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you move to a place where there’s absolutely no self-consciousness of the awareness?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That is a very high stage, the nirvanic stage. As long as we are in the field of mind and matter, sensation is bound to be there. But sensations will become subtler and subtler.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it possible to transcend awareness itself?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Certainly. But that takes time. If you keep on thinking about this, it will be imagination. No imagination is allowed in the whole technique. Be with the present moment as it is. Otherwise you will be thinking: Nirvana, nirvana is like this, I must&amp;#x2014;You haven’t experienced nirvana. You’ve heard about nirvana, you’ve intellectualized about nirvana, you’ve emotionalized about nirvana. You don’t know what nirvana is. So let it come. Every moment is nirvana for you. Whatever is arising you are observing it&amp;#x2014;now it is passing away, now it arises. Bare awareness. That will take you to the stage where there is no more sensation, that is beyond mind and matter. Sensations come where there is mind and matter. And where there is no mind and matter there is no horizon, no passing, no sensation. But we can’t imagine it. The moment you start imagining, then it becomes a philosophy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you understand this practice to be the essence of Buddha’s teaching?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes. If proper attention is not given to the sensations, then we are not going to the deepest levels of the mind. The deepest level of the mind, according to Buddha, is constantly in contact with body sensations. And you find this by experience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is your role as the teacher?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A teacher, out of compassion and love, seeing that somebody is suffering, gives a path. But each individual has to walk on the path. There is no magical miracle with the teacher. Totally out of the question. He only shows the path. That is the only role of the teacher, nothing else.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You’ve built this worldwide organization, and it seems that you don’t have a successor. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So many are coming up, and to appoint somebody a successor will disturb the purity. Buddha never appointed anybody as a successor. Who am I to appoint? All these five hundred or six hundred teachers whom I have trained, they will carry on. If I am not there they will still carry on. Not because they have faith in the teacher&amp;#x2014;they have faith in the technique, which gives them results. That’s all that will remain. Otherwise they think so long as guru is there you get all of the benefits&amp;#x2014;guru is no more, it is gone: That is a personality cult. The technique is so great. It will survive. Don’t worry . I am very confident. It will survive.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I wanted to ask you about criticisms in this country, specifically about your organization’s reported refusal to allow homosexuals to participate in advanced retreats.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don’t know how somebody started this talk, which is, I can say very confidently, totally wrong. We have no discrimination of any kind with anybody. It is totally out of the question. But of course when you go for deeper courses - twenty-day course, thirty-day course, forty-day course - it is a really deep operation of the mind, surgical operation of the mind. Deep-rooted complexes start coming to the surface, so every student must have the facility of privacy, a place to be without getting attracted to the object of passion. If somebody has got passion, and the object of passion is all the time there, then it might create a few difficulties. It has created difficulties sometimes even in ten-day courses. You have to be very careful.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don’t know how this wrong thing started. There are teachers who are lesbians and homosexuals in this country and in Europe. Where there are facilities I teach them. When they go to a center where there’s not much facility and they say, I was refused there, so they write letters and say something bad about the teaching. They can’t understand. What about the facilities we are giving them? Just because one or two started complaining because they were refused - and there are other reasons also for refusing. I have refused those who are not homosexuals, who are not lesbians. Because at present this person is not fit for such deep operation. Even multi-millionaires, even there is one billionaire who is pressing hard to take a long course. I don’t give it to him. I say, No, you are not fit yet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There has been some concern that the idea of not allowing these people into long courses is that they would act inappropriately.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No, no, no! Anybody can act in a wrong way. If we separate people it is for their good, not for segregation, or denouncing them, saying: “Oh you’re not good, so I keep you separate.” It is for everyone!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is it true that homosexuals have to renounce their sexual orientation in order to take the longer courses?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Totally wrong. Of course we examine every person whether lesbian or not-lesbian, homosexual or not. If you are still a bundle of lust and you can’t control yourself so you can’t do a deeper operation of the mind, wait a little, take a few more courses. That is what we tell everybody. Not because someone is a homosexual.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In this country now, traditional practices&amp;#x2014;like segregating men and women, or variations on that theme&amp;#x2014;are becoming part of a mix, a melting pot. Some teachers welcome this challenge, but others are quite concerned about maintaining the purity of the various traditions. You are somewhat renowned for taking a strict view of maintaining the integrity of each lineage.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ultimately you have to take one decision. You want water, you dig ten feet, don’t get water, a different ten feet, you keep on digging in different places. Some day you must be sure I will get water here, then dig, come to that stage. I don’t say only remain with me. You try, and whichever path seems more compatible to your ideology, your thinking, go ahead. I don’t condemn.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In another example of traditions coming together, the peace summit that you’re attending at the U.N. this week is bringing world religious leaders together to make a declaration committing themselves to global peace. What’s your outlook? &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Any cause for optimism? When we look at Asia, we look at Burma, Sri Lanka, such violence and suffering in these Buddhist countries&amp;#x2014;how can we use our practice for peace? In centuries of Buddha’s teaching there is not a single incident where the followers of Buddha were involved in any kind of bloodshed in the name of propagating Buddha’s teachings. Wherever Buddha’s teaching went, it went with love and compassion. So that tradition says that here is a path which does not support violence or bloodshed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now you come to this millennium conference that is going on. Again, according to Buddha’s teaching and according to science, human science and the reality that we face, we want peace in human society. Certainly everybody, Buddhist or non-Buddhist, wants this. But how can there be peace in society unless there is peace in the individual? If the individual is boiling, agitated all the time, there is no peace. And you expect the entire society to be peaceful? To me it is unsound. Doesn’t sound logical.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is it helpful to not use the word “Buddhism,” so it can become something for everyone? &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These are two words I have avoided in the last thirty-one years. In the thirty-one years since I started teaching I avoid using the word “Buddhism.” I never use the word “religion,” so far as Buddha’s teaching is concerned. For me Buddha never established a religion. Buddha never taught Buddhism. Buddha never made a single person a Buddhist.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Everybody will agree that every religion of the world has got these common factors, which I call the inner core of religion&amp;#x2014;morality, mastery of the mind, purification of mind. So I say this is the core, the wholesome core of every religion. And then there’s the outer shell. The outer shell differs from one to the other. Let everyone be happy with their rites, rituals&amp;#x2014;but they should not forget this inner core.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If they forget this and say, I am a religious person because I have done this rite, they are deluding themselves, they are deluding others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In terms of this sense of interior peace: There’s a fear in this culture that if you are very peaceful that you’re a little dead. We want to be peaceful but cannot imagine how we can save the world, in terms of ecology, without being angry. We want to engage in life with those kinds of passions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I recognize that. I am not against that. People have not understood the Buddha’s teaching properly. Say a person comes to harm me, and I say, “I am a Vipassana meditator, like a vegetable, come and cut me”&amp;#x2014;that is not Buddha’s teaching. We will take strongest action wherever necessary, strongest physical and vocal action.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But before doing that we must examine ourselves at the physical level, at the sensation level, and the mental level. If I find my mind is very equanimous, I’ve got no anger towards this person. I’ve got love towards this person. But because this person does not understand soft language, I’ve got to use hard language. He does not understand soft action, I will take hard action. In his interest, in her interest. Love is there. Compassion is there. If there is anger, then I’m miserable. How can a miserable person help another miserable person?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This question requires a lot of clarification, because this question keeps coming up. That if you are not angry, how will we be able to defend ourselves? If we are not angry, how will be able to be successful in this way or that way? That is because people have not lived a life where they are detached and yet very strong. People feel that only with attachment I can gain my goal. But when they understand and they practice, a detached person is more successful to reach their goal. Because the mind is so calm, so clear. And whatever problem comes you can make a quick decision, a right decision.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And the government is introducing Vipassana into the police academy. Even prisoners change. Hard criminals. And every government wants a prisoner to be reformed when he comes to the prison. Instead of that it is a house of crime, where you discuss what kind of crime, and how you did it. They learn much more, and come out as bigger criminals. Now with Vipassana there is a big change.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And that is not by giving discourses, giving praises of Buddha. It is by technique, when they start observing. Living in the prison, most of the students have anger: So-and-so gave witness against me, when I get out I’ll kill him. Revenge. When they start observing, “Oh, what am I doing? I’m burning myself,” it goes away. With the other way this person will create more and more violence. Now he can’t do that. He’s full of love, full of compassion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And the person becomes so active. A number of hard criminals when they come out, they get jobs here and there and they don’t return.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Do you think in the Buddhist societies today, where violence is being carried out, are they functioning with this detachment or no?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If somebody says they are a Buddhist and that is all they do, then I say you are a devotee of Buddha, you are not a follower of Buddha. It’s a real difference. You have great devotion towards Buddha, you say, “Lord Buddha, Lord Buddha, how wonderful!” But you don’t practice. Whether we keep calling ourselves Christian or Hindu or Muslim, it makes no difference. A follower of the Buddha follows the teachings: sila, samadhi, prajna. Those people who simply call themselves Buddhists are not living the life of Buddha. That is why I don’t use the word “Buddhist” or “Buddhism.” Buddha never taught any isms. In all his words, and the commentaries, which number thousands of pages, the word “Buddhism” is not there. So this all started much later, when Buddha’s teaching began to settle. I don’t know when it started, how it started, calling it Buddhism, but the day it happened it devalued the teaching of Buddha. It was a universal teaching, and that made it sectarian, as if to say that Buddhism is only for Buddhists, like Hinduism is for Hindus, Islam is for Muslims. Dharma is for all.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description> <pubDate>Fri, 18 Oct 2013 11:21:29 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4815125</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-18T11:21:29Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4788431</link> <description>There&amp;#039;s a lot of great information online, youtube, on stream-entry.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I see that you are relatively new here. Welcome.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If one practices for oneself it will be like learning freestyle biking or anything else: you will know for yourself how to identify &amp;#034;talented&amp;#034; authentic practitioners and you can identify beneficial counsellor(s)/sources of information. If they meet those five above criteria, my experience has been that is very, very helpful. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you identify for yourself your own emotions arising and passing (takes practice), you will learn to see those who have pure skill in this regard. For example, if one has the feeling &amp;#034;I want to teach&amp;#034; in their own practice, they will find the teacher that has this, too. And if one identifies, &amp;#034;I want to teach&amp;#034; in themselves and watches that how that want influences conduct, one will identify also the person who has extinguished that want. Some teachers want to teach, some teachers teach without want. How to see this: the five criteria above and one&amp;#039;s own practice knowing at one&amp;#039;s own mind/urges.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Likewise, &amp;#034;I want to be taught&amp;#034; is great to recognize. It is informative and is a basis for empathy later (or now) in others who you will see experience the same.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Oct 2013 14:18:06 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4788431</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-10T14:18:06Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4788368</link> <description>Thank you for that. I will keep this all in mind as I move forward in the practice. &lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Oct 2013 13:51:47 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4788368</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-10T13:51:47Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4788222</link> <description>&lt;a href="https&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;itunes&amp;#x2e;apple&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;us&amp;#x2f;app&amp;#x2f;meditation-by-mind-blown-timer&amp;#x2f;id570108550&amp;#x3f;mt&amp;#x3d;8"&gt;Kenneth Folk - Mindblown app&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You can try Kenneth&amp;#039;s Mindblown app for noting. You can connect to mentors there. It&amp;#039;s also fun to note just for the sake of it as well. The app can keep you honest on your consistency.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Good luck!</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Oct 2013 13:00:26 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4788222</guid> <dc:creator>Richard Zen</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-10T13:00:26Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4783850</link> <description>Hi Ben,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am not a teacher, but I wanted to pass on to you general advice from the Anguttara Nikaya about teachers of buddhist-based teaching (dharma), should you find one or should you choose to guide yourself sooner than later:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;accesstoinsight&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;tipitaka&amp;#x2f;an&amp;#x2f;an05&amp;#x2f;an05&amp;#x2e;159&amp;#x2e;than&amp;#x2e;html"&gt;AN 5.159&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;It&amp;#039;s not easy to teach the Dhamma to others, Ananda. The Dhamma should be taught to others only when five qualities are established within the person teaching. Which five?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[1] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak step-by-step.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[2] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak explaining the sequence [of cause &amp;amp; effect].&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[3] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak out of compassion.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[4] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak not for the purpose of material reward.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[5] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak without disparaging myself or others.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;It&amp;#039;s not easy to teach the Dhamma to others, Ananda. The Dhamma should be taught to others only when these five qualities are established within the person teaching.&amp;#034;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is basically like training for something physical, like a distance run, or learning an instrument: It depends entirely on your effort and sincerity. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So any person can read instructions by someone they basically like/admire and then apply a certain amount of time per day -- say 45 minutes for one month --- without criticism or dispiritedness nor other unreasonable excuse to quit --- and see for themselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;Stream Entry&amp;#034; is a release by mind: some thing causes a sort of &amp;#034;wake up, life is transient, do not waste time&amp;#034; &lt;span style="color: #D411C9"&gt;It causes a trainability to tackle [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetter_(Buddhism)] the fetters (or not if people rest on their laurels)&lt;/span&gt; You can do this by sitting and studying how your own mind arises, based on &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;en&amp;#x2e;wikipedia&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;wiki&amp;#x2f;Satipatthana"&gt;the body, sensations, based in itself, based on objects/all manner of phenomena&lt;/a&gt;. You train, everyone else can cheerlead (immeasurable benefit) and share from their own training.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Best wishes =)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;___________________&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here&amp;#039;s a 3+ minute chat from a google engineer:http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html&lt;br /&gt;And here&amp;#039;s a few minutes on the brain and plasticity from Dnews:http://news.discovery.com/human/videos/how-things-you-do-change-your-brain-video.htm&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;edited to add links, clarity</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Oct 2013 11:37:58 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4783850</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-10T11:37:58Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Looking for a teacher</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4781442</link> <description>Hello, I have been practicing seriously for about six months. I have been on two 10 day retreats and one 4 day retreat. My most recent 10 day was at the Insight Meditation Center. The first two were at the Goenka one. I sit every morning for 1 hour and a half and every evening for 1 hour. I am currently doing the noting practice. While sitting I am noting tingling, pulsing, breathing in and out, heat, coolness, wanting, craving, aversion, peace, relaxing, stinging, etc. This is the usual list. During the sit I do fast noting and then usually slow it down and after a while it feels natural if I let go of the noting completely and just experience everything. I am noting throughout the day when I&amp;#039;m not in school or playing music. I can get more detailed about my practice, but I figured I would start here. I am looking for someone who can help guide me to stream entry. Let me know if you are available through skype. I am hoping to find someone I can check in with on some sort of regular basis. Thanks again.&lt;br /&gt;Ben</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Oct 2013 02:46:20 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4781442</guid> <dc:creator>Ben Laufer</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-10T02:46:20Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4776593</link> <description>thank you for your most generous help to myself an many many others.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:57:29 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4776593</guid> <dc:creator>tom moylan</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-07T11:57:29Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4772122</link> <description>&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;huffingtonpost&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;jay-michaelson&amp;#x2f;sn-goenka-dead_b_4016374&amp;#x2e;html"&gt;S.N. Goenka: The Man who Taught the World to Meditate &lt;/a&gt;</description> <pubDate>Sat, 05 Oct 2013 12:29:42 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4772122</guid> <dc:creator>Change A.</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-05T12:29:42Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4770596</link> <description>Even though I never did a retreat with his network of donation only meditation centres, my first real exposure to the positive effects of meditation was via a friend who practised Goenka style Vipassana.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An example of just one of the countless indirect ripples created through his kind heartedness.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The world has lost one of its greatest dhamma champions. But the ripple effect of his life&amp;#039;s work will no doubt improve the lives of countless others.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 05 Oct 2013 02:51:37 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4770596</guid> <dc:creator>(D Z) Dhru Val</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-05T02:51:37Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4770427</link> <description>Sent you a PM Nikolai</description> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Oct 2013 23:38:20 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4770427</guid> <dc:creator>Bailey .</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-04T23:38:20Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4760499</link> <description>I cannot bow deep enough for you Goenkaji</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Oct 2013 21:59:46 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4760499</guid> <dc:creator>Bailey .</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-01T21:59:46Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4759797</link> <description>What an amazing person! Very influential on my practice. It will be interesting to see how the organisation develops in years to come...</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Oct 2013 17:28:44 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4759797</guid> <dc:creator>Bagpuss The Gnome</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-01T17:28:44Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4759682</link> <description>infinitely grateful for the swimology lessons</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:05:28 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4759682</guid> <dc:creator>TJ Broccoli</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-01T14:05:28Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4758527</link> <description>I&amp;#039;m thankful to Goenkaji as well. Without attending many courses at Vipassana centers in the tradition of Sayadaw U Ba Khin, I wouldn&amp;#039;t have progressed as much. I gained lot of insight on retreats and found out that indeed there was a way out of suffering and that when one could sweep through the body in one instant and there is flow occurring, then there is no suffering. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;May the centers that he helped found all around the world keep on helping people out of suffering.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:48:49 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4758527</guid> <dc:creator>Change A.</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-10-01T02:48:49Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4758188</link> <description>Also, with thanks. I&amp;#039;ve benefitted from this teacher&amp;#039;s talks online, from the friends who practice his training method, and his donating his career in business to make skillful and guided self-study available to me for free, either on one of his campuses or online. Many thanks.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 30 Sep 2013 21:30:14 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4758188</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-30T21:30:14Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Goenkaji: 30th January 1924 - 29th September 2013</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4756346</link> <description>Thank you Goenkaji. You were my introduction to Dhamma. I listened to you course after course and cleaned your Nikes and dusted down your bed and library at Dhamma Giri, and went to Burma with you. Thank you for all that you provided. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;dhamma&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;en&amp;#x2f;passing&amp;#x2e;shtml"&gt;Padma Bhushan Global Vipassana Acharya Dr. Satya Narayan Goenka&amp;#039;s Demise&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Param Pujya Gurudev Shri Satya Narayan Goenka, Global Acharya of Vipassana Meditation, has passed away peacefully at the ripe age of 90 at his residence on Sunday, 29th September, 2013 at 10:40 PM, Indian Time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His Funeral will be held on Tuesday, 1st October 2013 at 10:30 AM, Indian Time, at Electric Funeral Ground near Oshiwara Bridge, Relief Road, (Opposite Ghaswala Compound), Jogeshwari West, Mumbai, India.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;May he be happy, peaceful &amp;amp; liberated.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;All conditioned things are transitory. When one understands this with wisdom, then he is disgusted with suffering. This is the path to purity.&amp;#039;&amp;#039; -Dhammapada-277.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;daophatnguyenthuy&amp;#x2e;files&amp;#x2e;wordpress&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;2009&amp;#x2f;01&amp;#x2f;swami-s-n-goenka-wallpaper&amp;#x2e;jpg" /&gt;</description> <pubDate>Mon, 30 Sep 2013 12:50:12 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4756346</guid> <dc:creator>Nikolai .</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-30T12:50:12Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4718508</link> <description>It&amp;#039;s a very good question.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don&amp;#039;t have a problem with paying money for teachers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But there is a great problem of charismatic but flawed individuals appearing to be helpful, when in fact they are anything but.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don&amp;#039;t think peer review or accreditation would necessarily solve this problem because of the &lt;em&gt;quis custodiet custodies &lt;/em&gt; question.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Probably the best method is open public scrutiny and supervision, and a free press.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 18 Sep 2013 21:40:37 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4718508</guid> <dc:creator>Derek Cameron</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-18T21:40:37Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4717812</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;M T:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Thirdly, how do you evaluate their teaching ability? The fact someone has reached enlightenment doesn&amp;#039;t indicate they have any skill in guiding someone else.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Look at the students! Are they well-balanced emotionally? Can they explain the dhamma? Based on their own comments, do they seem to be making progress on their paths? Do they speak coherently? Are they courteous and empathic? Do they make good eye contact? Do they seem successful in their personal lives?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even if they&amp;#039;re not fully enlightened, if you can find a teacher with a group of students who are intelligent, open-minded, emotionally balanced, and practice earnestly, then at least you&amp;#039;ll be in good company. Better still if the students seem to be making real progress in the dhamma.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 18 Sep 2013 15:57:06 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4717812</guid> <dc:creator>Chris G</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-18T15:57:06Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4691810</link> <description>It can be done without a teacher. with book knowledge. Your teacher will be for example &amp;#034;gatha&amp;#034; etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All conditioned dharmas&lt;br /&gt;Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,&lt;br /&gt;Like dew drops and a lightning flash:&lt;br /&gt;Contemplate them thus.&lt;br /&gt;(diamond sutra)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is times when i need a teacher to ground my feelings, anger and success.&lt;br /&gt;So i found forums, haha. But i joined more liberated forum first where i could put on my all rants often insane and moslty whining out there, it kept me concentrated on path and helped to find flaws what i do and whats wrong with me.&lt;br /&gt;Also i tested people in real life too, talked about stuff what is half neurotic insane etc..but at that moment felt right.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is nothing much to teach on this subject of enlightenment. It can be done without knowing nothing about jhanas, concentration, what is mindfulness etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At first i will go insane how the hell its possible then after done it then its hard to understand how others can&amp;#039;t understand this simple thing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;all i did is looked what i have now in this moment and investigated it in every possible way all day long. Then things start pacing and you will discover some things about how to correctly meditate and you can proceed fast from there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;edited.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 17:42:30 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4691810</guid> <dc:creator>Rist Ei</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T17:42:30Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690943</link> <description>Thanks for asking these questions. I have been dealing with those questions a lot recently too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From my experiences with dharma in Thailand so far, I found that there are many who claimed to be dharma teachers here and claimed to teach meditation techniques. Of course, most of these are for free around here and you don&amp;#039;t even have to worry about how much to give. There are so many people so you can give whatever amount you want. The drawback though has been that without any money you have to pay, people who go there sometimes just don&amp;#039;t appreciate what they are given. In fact, I think part of what made me stuck to meditation when I started being serious about it in the US was the fact that I already paid money for that program! Also, there is no guarantee the free program will run well or how qualified the teachers are. Of course, there is always the good part that it&amp;#039;s free and accessible to anyone.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for whether they are enlightened, I&amp;#039;m still dealing with that question myself. I basically just went to theirr talks and listened to what they said and observed if they knew what they are talking about. Of course, I met some people here with that quality but then, they don&amp;#039;t teach the way I liked or am comfortable with.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;I loved both main teachers I had in the US in the past, as they can help guide me through my delution. In fact, every time I had an interview with my previous teacher, I ended up crying afterward almost every time, but it was helpful. It was something that would be harder to catch on my own.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 13:10:47 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690943</guid> <dc:creator>Julie V</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T13:10:47Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a guide/direction</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690850</link> <description>Howdy Aos_B&lt;br /&gt;There are lots of very good teachers out there who give teachings online or via skype, eg: Ron Crouch, Kenneth Folk...google em.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That said, this forum is full of lots of experienced people who might be able to help you. The pre-requisite for that though is that you provide good phenomenological descriptions of how your sits / experiences go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bon chance.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;tom</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:03:09 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690850</guid> <dc:creator>tom moylan</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T12:03:09Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690536</link> <description>Howdy Mt,&lt;br /&gt;Daniel&amp;#039;s book (Masteriung the Core Teachings of the Buddha) is dedicated to Bill Hamilton who wrote a book called &amp;#034;Saints and Psychopaths&amp;#034;. Aside from being a great read in and of itself, the basic premise of the book goes directly to your question.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you are an eBook kind of person you can get a free copy of it &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;scribd&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;doc&amp;#x2f;19649507&amp;#x2f;Saints-and-Psychopaths"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;have fun&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;tom</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 09:33:34 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690536</guid> <dc:creator>tom moylan</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T09:33:34Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690342</link> <description>The money thing is a tough one. The advantage of teachers who don&amp;#039;t teach for money, or teach just for donations, is that they raise less questions about motivation. That doesn&amp;#039;t mean that teaching for money is necessarily bad if they teach good dharma, are straightforward about what the arrangement is, and you can afford it. It can make people more accessible as they don&amp;#039;t have to have other ways to support themselves that take away from their dharma teaching time. I personally do have some questions about some of those that do teach for donations, as to live on donations often requires a relatively high degree of popularity, and the quest for popularity can have variable effects one&amp;#039;s dharma teaching. In general, money can be a corrupting influence for some to varying degrees, and exactly how much that effects any individual teacher at each moment is really hard to get a handle on most of the time: as they said: sort it out for yourself. On the other hand, there is something really straightforward about someone saying: &amp;#034;I teach for $X per hour. That&amp;#039;s the deal.&amp;#034; That allows you to not have to play the how-much-to-donate game, gives you a feeling of assurance that for that hour (an amount of time you are very unlikely to get from the donation-based teachers most of the time) they are yours, and that all obligations on both sides are in some ways nicely wrapped up at the end.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As to whether or not they have reached &amp;#034;enlightenment&amp;#034;: it is worth knowing that the range of how &amp;#034;enlightenment&amp;#034; is defined out there is quite wide. Credentialing services have risen and fallen, but the general advice to stick with major, well-known teachers from major centers that have been doing this a long time is pretty good, if not fool-proof, advice. The meaning of lineage varies by the lineage, so you can try asking. My favorite teachers were those who had lineage transmission, had been doing it a long time, and taught at major, recognized centers, with the exception of Bill Hamilton, who was a rogue out in a trailer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Teaching ability is also a nebulous thing: one person might be a good teacher for one person and not another. It is in many ways a question of fit. Teaching styles vary widely, as do learning styles. This just takes experimentation, as you won&amp;#039;t really know how it feels to be with them until you are there and hear what they have to say to you and see how their instructions perform. It is definitely possible to get a sense of people&amp;#039;s styles and strengths and weaknesses by reading their stuff, talking to people who have sat with them, etc., but some part of it is just going to have to be reality tested for yourself. I had a few teachers who didn&amp;#039;t road test as they were advertised, and I couldn&amp;#039;t have known that before hand easily. It also depends on what you want to know, as skill sets vary widely between teachers: this also can be surprising.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People who practice well are, in general, a real help to practice, though they might be dharma friends, teachers, or just people you know and talk to on occasion. Online fora like this also can be good, but I would try to fine someone to actually talk with. Books and the like are also useful, but there really is something to hanging out with people who do this stuff well.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 08:06:03 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690342</guid> <dc:creator>Daniel M. Ingram</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T08:06:03Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690206</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;M T:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Firstly, a lot of them want monetary compensation... &lt;strong&gt;doesn&amp;#039;t this create an inherent conflict of interest?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;br /&gt;It depends upon how one is able to evaluate the person &lt;em&gt;before&lt;/em&gt; they accept them as their teacher. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My initial teacher/guide was a Western priest/metaphysician, a former Trappist monk who had also studied with SRF (Yogananda&amp;#039;s group in California). Needless to say, he didn&amp;#039;t teach Gotama&amp;#039;s Dhamma, yet he was familiar with both Eastern and Western philosophical ideas and had a lot of knowledge about how the mind worked. At least, I thought so at the time. After spending some time talking with him, I knew he knew more than I did, was more together in his life, and was generally happier than myself. At the time, I was undergoing an acute depression, and had been through at least three other people who I looked toward to help me figure things out, but who each failed to be able to help me change myself. But this priest was different from the others: self-confidence, bright and intelligent, insightful, a brilliant observer of human nature, he &lt;em&gt;knew&lt;/em&gt; what he was talking about, and he was happy. It was that last attribute that I was seeking at the time, in addition to learning more about the process of self-realization and whatever this thing called &amp;#034;enlightenment&amp;#034; was. One more thing: I had &lt;em&gt;confidence&lt;/em&gt; that he could do what he promised he could do. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, he didn&amp;#039;t come cheap. Cost me (if memory serves) around $3400 for the first three individual courses I took from him, and overall close to $100,000 after nine years, seven of those as a monk in his private religious order serving in a variety of capacities to pay my way. After the first course, the Life Control Seminar (this was in the early 1980s, just after all the hubbub about Werner Erhart&amp;#039;s est and L.Ron Hubbard&amp;#039;s Scientology when expensive self-help gurus started showing up on the landscape), I was convinced that this man must know the way to nirvana (whatever that was in my mind at the time). Within eight short weeks, he had managed to help me overcome a debilitating depression and begin to have some confidence in myself once again. It was at that point that I became interested in his method of training and began studying it as much as wanting to undergo more of it. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, you see, it can be on a very individual basis in which one takes such a life changing decision and makes such an evaluation of the person they choose as a guide and teacher. My experience, though, is an exception to the question you are asking. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In today&amp;#039;s world (especially in the West) there are few people who are able to support their efforts at teaching the Dhamma without asking for some sort of donation or fee that it becomes very difficult for them to survive. We don&amp;#039;t have the same supporting traditions here as they have in Asian countries. Teaching is not something that is very easily done on a part time basis, especially for those who really &lt;em&gt;do&lt;/em&gt; know what they are doing. So, keep an open mind, be skeptical, and challenge anyone who you might think meets the qualification for being your teacher or guide. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;M T:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Secondly, how do you know they&amp;#039;ve reached enlightenment? Unless there&amp;#039;s a dharmic credentialing service, this seems like a nebulous task.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You don&amp;#039;t. That&amp;#039;s something you have to take on faith (and personal observation of the person over a long length of time) before you can begin to have confidence in their personal achievement. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the past as in the present, the &amp;#034;dhammic credentialing service&amp;#034; has generally been with whom can one trace back the person&amp;#039;s teaching lineage. But even this can be deceiving at times. For example, both Ajahn Sumedho and Ajahn Brahmavamso (Englishmen both) trained with Ajahn Chah in the Thai Forest Tradition. After having read their writings and seen a bit of each of these monks, if I had to choose one today to study under, it would be Aj. Sumedho. There&amp;#039;s something lacking in Aj. Brahms demeanor and discernment about certain things that turns me off. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Your best bet is to develop a little discernment of your own and be able to observe the person over a long length of time to see how they handle their life. Look for obvious contradictions in what they say as opposed to what they do. Nothing comes easily in this endeavor. You have to work at it and so does your prospective teacher/guide, if you are to become impressed enough by them to choose them over someone else. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;M T:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Thirdly, how do you evaluate their teaching ability? The fact someone has reached enlightenment doesn&amp;#039;t indicate they have any skill in guiding someone else.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is something that you have to allow some time for. There are different teaching methods depending upon the person with whom one comes in contact. A Zen teacher may be a bit more out there in terms of what they might do to &amp;#034;awaken&amp;#034; your mind than a Theravadin teacher. One way to begin evaluating the teacher is to watch what they tell you to do or read and how they handle teaching the basics of the Dhamma. If they start leaving important things out (like de-emphasizing being able to walk the noble eightfold path, or putting less emphasis on learning about &lt;em&gt;satipatthana&lt;/em&gt;) then they aren&amp;#039;t doing you any favors. Learn the basics of the Dhamma first and be able to discern when they are teaching you something about this or that aspect of it. You have to take some responsibility in this, too, or else you are just cheating yourself. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;M T:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Even more fundamentally, are teachers really the best way to receive guidance down the dharmic path? Could a book, a forum, or self-reliance suffice in their place, or are teachers/gurus really recommended?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Having a qualified and credible guide to help you walk the path is inestimable in terms of the time they may help save you in making that journey. Yet, having said that, a lot depends upon you and how quickly you are able to pick things up and use them in your practice. Books are a good secondary source. But having an actual living role model who knows what you are going through and how to help you get over the barriers you put up in your own way is &lt;em&gt;absolutely priceless&lt;/em&gt;. I&amp;#039;d even venture to say that anyone who thinks that they can get along &lt;em&gt;without&lt;/em&gt; at some point having had contact with a qualified teacher or guide is just deluding themselves that they can accomplish this on their own. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If I hadn&amp;#039;t had the early contact with my primary teacher, I doubt I could have discerned enough from the books and treatises I read to help me successfully tread this path. The experiences I had while in contact with that person and the lessons I learned were just irreplaceable. And they helped me to make sense of many of the pieces I read because I knew what the author was talking about because I, too, had lived it!</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 06:25:56 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4690206</guid> <dc:creator>Ian And</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T06:25:56Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Looking for a guide/direction</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4689948</link> <description>Hello all. I&amp;#039;ve been meditating consistently for more than a year now. After reading through a few books on meditation then MCTB, and with diligent practice, I want to say that I hit stream entry. However, since hitting SE, I&amp;#039;ve been so lost. Truly I thought SE would make things easier, and in a way it did, but this is not what I had imagined.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, due to my situation, I don&amp;#039;t have access to any teachers physically and was wondering if there is someone to guide me in the right direction. Any sort of online correspondence will do. Skype, e-mail, chat, etc. If you could PM me that would be great.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank you&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Aos</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 05:03:37 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4689948</guid> <dc:creator>Aos Bound</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T05:03:37Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4689734</link> <description>That is challenging. [edited for simplicity]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here&amp;#039;s a buddhist answer for a pretty buddhist forum from the Anguttar Nikaya 5.159, &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;accesstoinsight&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;ptf&amp;#x2f;dhamma&amp;#x2f;sacca&amp;#x2f;sacca4&amp;#x2f;samma-ditthi&amp;#x2f;kalyanamittata&amp;#x2e;html"&gt;copied from accesstoinsight.org &lt;/a&gt; (which I think is paid for by one man...I&amp;#039;m not sure if dana can be offered or if I&amp;#039;m correct. A friend just told me recently that they wrote the site founder to thank him). Anyway:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;#034;It&amp;#039;s not easy to teach the Dhamma to others, Ananda. The Dhamma should be taught to others only when five qualities are established within the person teaching. Which five?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[1] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak step-by-step.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[2] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak explaining the sequence [of cause &amp;amp; effect].&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[3] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak out of compassion.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[4] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak not for the purpose of material reward.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;[5] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, &amp;#039;I will speak without disparaging myself or others.&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#034;It&amp;#039;s not easy to teach the Dhamma to others, Ananda. The Dhamma should be taught to others only when these five qualities are established within the person teaching.&amp;#034;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Secondly, how do you know they&amp;#039;ve reached enlightenment? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;That&amp;#039;s personal and subjective. Though when many, many people think it, it can help persons who&amp;#039;re struggling just to settle on a practice and a teacher. Personally, it seems to me there&amp;#039;s a lot of enlightened, amazing behaviour that sprouts from any kind of people a lot of times in both incredible and regular daily circumstances. I don&amp;#039;t know if there are enlightened people, really, but yes, enlightened action (to me). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nice question. I hope this helps.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 03:01:02 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4689734</guid> <dc:creator>katy steger</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T03:01:02Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>How to evaluate teachers?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4689599</link> <description>I have a few worries about dharma teachers. &lt;br /&gt;Firstly, a lot of them want monetary compensation... doesn&amp;#039;t this create an inherent conflict of interest? &lt;br /&gt;Secondly, how do you know they&amp;#039;ve reached enlightenment? Unless there&amp;#039;s a dharmic credentialing service, this seems like a nebulous task. &lt;br /&gt;Thirdly, how do you evaluate their teaching ability? The fact someone has reached enlightenment doesn&amp;#039;t indicate they have any skill in guiding someone else. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even more fundamentally, are teachers really the best way to receive guidance down the dharmic path? Could a book, a forum, or self-reliance suffice in their place, or are teachers/gurus really recommended?</description> <pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 01:45:51 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4689599</guid> <dc:creator>M T</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-11T01:45:51Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: J. Krishnamurti - Truth is a pathless land</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4647574</link> <description>He came up in Theosophy and then was influenced by a number of techniques and traditions, as they were, finally rejecting them all, though retaining a bit of a Vedantic feel in some ways, and was also very much a product of his time in others, as we all are.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am pretty sure he didn&amp;#039;t get exposed to any good maps (stages of insight, etc.), as those were not generally available in his day and age and they don&amp;#039;t seem to turn up in the writings of any of the late 19th/early 20th century mystics with European influence that I know of, and, having had no exposure to them, could hardly be rejecting them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As those who practice and teach Mahasi techniques know well, there is something very mechanical in some ways about &amp;#034;apply technique, results happen in the expected order&amp;#034;, and so, having been part of a very large group over decades who has the experiment, clearly JK was wrong about some things (the basic concept that techniques could help things) and ignorant of others (techniques-based practices that lead to relatively predictable results).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is truth in plenty of interesting things he says, and I got a reasonable amount out of reading his stuff as well as studying the history of his life, such as his having a long-running sexual relationship when claiming to be celibate, etc., which was also useful knowledge and normalizing in some ways.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One more useful set of data points, not all of which are accurate, as is par for the course in this business, and that qualifier includes my own writings, perspectives and thoughts, which are limited by my own conditioning and limited knowledge of the wide range of this stuff, which is huge.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 02 Sep 2013 22:09:32 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4647574</guid> <dc:creator>Daniel M. Ingram</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-02T22:09:32Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>J. Krishnamurti - Truth is a pathless land</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4646915</link> <description>Hello,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have been a silent user for the past week and reading MCTB at the same time. &lt;br /&gt;Thank you all for the valuable website, thoughts and time that you dedicate to share the teachings.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I&amp;#039;d like to know your views about J. Krishnamurti who stated that truth is a pathless land and that one cannot come to it through any bielief, dogma, ritual or even technique. Something different from all the teachings out there and what we are trying to achieve through practice, goals and maps. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Interesting how Daniel expressed it in MCTB as krishnamurti being non-aligned or ambiguously aligned. &lt;br /&gt;What is he really?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thanks,&lt;br /&gt;George</description> <pubDate>Mon, 02 Sep 2013 19:12:01 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4646915</guid> <dc:creator>George S. Lteif</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-09-02T19:12:01Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Authentic lineage?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4608153</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;Daniel J Scharpenburg:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;Do you think there is really an authentic lineage that can trace itself back to the Buddha?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I made the argument that there isn&amp;#039;t in this article:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;elephantjournal&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;2013&amp;#x2f;08&amp;#x2f;are-lineage-holders-just-spiritual-hipsters&amp;#x2f;"&gt;Authentic Lineage?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What do you think?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Just read your article... well written and sorry for repeating whatever you just said haha&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I personally think lineage or sectarianism of any kind is problematic if it closes us from learning from a wider spectrum of teachings, and also as you said it can be used wrongly, like putting teachers (who are imperfect beings) on the pedestal. (e.g. I&amp;#039;m not fond of the idea of &amp;#034;crazy wisdom&amp;#034; and I think it is usually just an excuse to make their teacher into an idol of a &amp;#034;perfect being&amp;#034; whose actions are unquestionable rather than very human flaws that can be improved. This is very silly imo.) On the other hand it is useful to &amp;#039;keep the purity of the teachings of the lineage&amp;#039; - however how &amp;#039;pure&amp;#039; or how much in accord with Buddha&amp;#039;s dharma is that so called lineage teachings to begin with? That is another question. Futhermore, even lineages within themselves are subject to evolution over time. And as we know, no lineages can be traced back to Buddha, so it is more accurate to call it &amp;#034;the lineage of X patriarch&amp;#039;s interpretations of Buddha Dharma&amp;#034; rather than falsely claiming that it is Buddha&amp;#039;s lineage. Some of these patriarches and the lineages that follow may indeed be very insightful and the tradition (backed by hundreds/thousands of years of experienced yogis with valuable practical advises/experience/literature etc) may itself be a very good and valuable resource of teachings, and may well deserve to be &amp;#039;preserved&amp;#039; in a working tradition and it can be beneficial to a lot of people.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However other unhealthy sides to lineage and authority - i.e. putting teachers on pedestal etc, may not be such a good thing, the lineage thing may be misleading because it can give &amp;#039;teachers&amp;#039; the image of being &amp;#039;the authority of dharma&amp;#039; (when in actuality there is no real &amp;#039;authority&amp;#039; of dharma that is being appointed by Buddha - instead we should really judge that person based on qualities/practice/insight/etc based on the Dharma, that I mentioned rather than &amp;#039;lineage&amp;#039;), on the other hand it is also partly due to unhealthy projections of teachers by the teachers and students themselves (the idea that dharma teachers imply perfected beings or fully enlightened etc - also what does full enlightenment mean? do they mean ten fetter model of enlightenment or..?), and we should all strive towards having a better view of the role and our relationship with teachers. What are we trying to get out of the teachers? It is one thing to attain certain insight into the nature of reality and another thing to expect that the teacher have perfected their practices and are free from of all afflictions/fetters/immoral behaviors and so on, there is almost always room for improvement in one&amp;#039;s practice.. It is highly unlikely that one will find a teacher that is a perfect role model of the Buddha&amp;#039;s teachings in all aspects of shila/samadhi/prajna so one should be have a more realistic expectation of what one wants to learn from this particular teacher. One could also learn from a number of teachers on different areas of expertise. This is in fact Buddha&amp;#039;s advise sometimes - for example he would advise those who have samadhi but no insight/lack insight to look for insight masters, those who mastered insight without/lacking samadhi to look for samadhi masters, those who lack both to look for those who mastered both, etc. In any case one should have a very clear understanding of 1) what the teacher is good at, what we can learn from him/her (may have nothing to do with whether the said teacher has &amp;#039;lineage authority&amp;#039;), 2) what we really want/can/need or should achieve at this point of development, 3) have a realistic idea/relationship/expectation of the teacher and not put him/her on pedestals, etc. Having a clearer and more pragmatic relationship with a teacher is better than having a mythic-magic idea about teachers (like my mother who thinks her guru is sort of a perfect Buddha-like being). As for the teachers themselves, they should not let their &amp;#039;lineage&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;teacher&amp;#039; position blind them from further progress and learning, as ego is often involved/developed in that position (there are some rare exceptions that I have seen though such as an Australian zen teacher at a zen center I&amp;#039;ve been visiting from time to time and I am inspired by him). Teachers should also not fuel unhealthy ideas about themselves and provide clearer information about what their students can expect to learn from him/her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This also brings me to another point regarding lineage/sect etc. There is an argument that it is unhealthy to look into too many schools and instead one should just choose a focus in one&amp;#039;s practice. Although having a focus in one&amp;#039;s practice at any given point in one&amp;#039;s practice may be pragmatically useful and necessary (e.g. you can&amp;#039;t possibly divide a 30 minute session of meditation into a mixture of ten different techniques, or rather it may not be very practical to do so), in my experience my focus of practice develops as my practice and insight develops, and I find that being overfly focused on one particular teaching/practice/tradition/etc is in fact usually highly limiting and prevents one&amp;#039;s progress in various aspects/fronts practice, insight, etc. There also comes a time when I do feel that there are not much I can learn any further from many established lineages and teachings/teachers on certain fronts like insight (and I reflect upon this years ago with some sense of disappointment/sadness rather than pride, like, &amp;#034;if only Buddha were around&amp;#034;... later a dream of clarity arose where I saw that everything is in fact the face of my teacher - everyone and everything whether perfect/imperfect in life, is in fact my teacher! even in the dream I realized its meaning and this cleared away my misguided notion that a teacher has to be a perfect being in everything, there are things we can learn from everyone, and we can learn even from the flaws of others).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In any case, I don&amp;#039;t really like to be caged in any particular tradition, I prefer to pick and choose the teachings that work out for me - Rather than setting up cages and boundaries out of lineages, I prefer to follow the example that some Tibetan teachers give - be like a bee collecting nectar from all the flowers. Rather than limiting oneself to a certain teacher/teaching/etc. This does not mean setting yourself up in a prideful position like, &amp;#034;I do not need any lineage/teachers at all&amp;#034; or &amp;#034;I&amp;#039;m above all these silly lineage stuff&amp;#034; but rather, from a humble perspective seeing everyone/everything/the universe as teacher, there is no need to be limited or confined in any way at all, including by identification to lineage. There is no need to give overdue significance to &amp;#034;lineage&amp;#034;. We just learn what we can from what we find.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 22 Aug 2013 05:48:36 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4608153</guid> <dc:creator>An Eternal Now</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-22T05:48:36Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Authentic lineage?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4608117</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;Blue .:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;If there are no lineages that date back to the buddha then how do we have current meditation techniques?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;People may make up their meditation techniques, either based on how things work out on their own part/experimentation, and also may teach meditation techniques based on what the Buddha said in the scriptures or other late commentaries, and sometimes/usually it is a mix of both.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 22 Aug 2013 05:35:25 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4608117</guid> <dc:creator>An Eternal Now</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-22T05:35:25Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Authentic lineage?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4608114</link> <description>I think any stories that tries to trace its lineage to Buddha is just making up stories to make the school/sect look legitimate. It is just a skillful means to instill faith and without the light of modern scholarship lots of faithful do believe in such claims and it does give some breath of credibility to the teachings of those traditions. We find such claims in all sorts of traditions whether in Theravada Mahayana or Vajrayana.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Buddha made it clear he did not want any sort of successor (or any sort of pope figure) and even the immediate de facto head of the sangha after Buddha, i.e. Mahakasyapa is not in fact a patriarch or successor of any kind being appointed by the Buddha, and also he is not the object of refuge in place of Buddha, etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;IMO: always judge the person/teacher by the standards of Buddha&amp;#039;s Dharma and by that person&amp;#039;s realization/experience/practice/qualities/etc, not by the label of his/her sect/school/claimed legitimacy based on ancient lineage, tradition and so on (kalama sutta may be relevant). &amp;#034;Lineage&amp;#034; can be deceiving.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;https://sites.google.com/site/dharmadepository/writings/inequality-in-buddhism&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let us consider two relevant quotes as follows.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge. (DN 16)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is the famous statement where the Buddha instructs us to rely on ourselves with the Dharma/Dhamma as our refuge. He does not instruct Ānanda to rely on lineage or authority. We also have the Buddha explicitly stating he will appoint no successor.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &amp;#034;“Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who was appointed by Master Gotama thus: ‘He will be your refuge when I am gone,’ and whom you now have recourse to?”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; “There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who was appointed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, thus: ‘He will be your refuge when I am gone,’ and whom we now have recourse to.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; “But is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who has been chosen by the Sangha and appointed by a number of elder bhikkhus thus: ‘He will be our refuge after the Blessed One has gone,’ and whom you now have recourse to?”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; “There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who has been chosen by the Sangha and appointed by a number of elder bhikkhus thus: ‘He will be our refuge after the Blessed One has gone,’ and whom we now have recourse to.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; “But if you have no refuge, Master Ananda, what is the cause for your concord?”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; “We are not without a refuge, brahmin. We have a refuge; we have the Dhamma as our refuge.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; (MN 108)&amp;#034;</description> <pubDate>Thu, 22 Aug 2013 05:32:56 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4608114</guid> <dc:creator>An Eternal Now</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-22T05:32:56Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Authentic lineage?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4605294</link> <description>Even if someone gives you totally solid evidence that they teacher&amp;#039;s teacher&amp;#039;s teacher&amp;#039;s teacher was the Buddha your not &amp;#034;safe.&amp;#034; You could just turn your doubts toward whether the buddha was actually enlightened.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You can&amp;#039;t even be safe in looking at your own experiences. &amp;#034;That enlightenment experience you had last month? Well, that was just this delusion and you are still trapped in some way.&amp;#034; Your mind can always just say that. &amp;#034;This experience you are having now? Are you sure it is enlightenment? Did you really get it? Maybe you are missing something. You think you are free of suffering right now but it is probably just an illusion.&amp;#034; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Can the conceptual mind ever be free of doubt? Nope! That&amp;#039;s why you have to just not believe what it tells you. Let it chatter away just don&amp;#039;t give it any interest or importance or value.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sorry, this doesn&amp;#039;t really answer your question. But I question whether this very line of inquiry is not just a way to avoid letting go.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 22 Aug 2013 03:00:02 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4605294</guid> <dc:creator>Adam . .</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-22T03:00:02Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Authentic lineage?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4605252</link> <description>If there are no lineages that date back to the buddha then how do we have current meditation techniques?</description> <pubDate>Thu, 22 Aug 2013 02:37:03 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4605252</guid> <dc:creator>Bailey .</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-22T02:37:03Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>Authentic lineage?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4603148</link> <description>Do you think there is really an authentic lineage that can trace itself back to the Buddha?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I made the argument that there isn&amp;#039;t in this article:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;elephantjournal&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;2013&amp;#x2f;08&amp;#x2f;are-lineage-holders-just-spiritual-hipsters&amp;#x2f;"&gt;Authentic Lineage?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What do you think?</description> <pubDate>Wed, 21 Aug 2013 22:34:03 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4603148</guid> <dc:creator>Daniel J Scharpenburg</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-21T22:34:03Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Living Buddhist Masters (of Today)</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4576063</link> <description>My #1 vote&amp;#039;s for my teacher Ven. &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;plumvillage&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;about&amp;#x2f;thich-nhat-hanh&amp;#x2f;"&gt;Thich Nhat Hanh&lt;/a&gt;. ( I&amp;#039;d be more than glad to start a thread for discussion &amp;amp; practice of his teachings. ) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of numerous marvelous teachers, five I also strongly endorse :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;insightmeditationcenter&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;teachers&amp;#x2f;"&gt;Gil Fronsdal&lt;/a&gt; Insight Meditation Center&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;sr&amp;#x2e;dharmaseed&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;teacher&amp;#x2f;96&amp;#x2f;"&gt;Joseph Goldstein&lt;/a&gt; Spirit Rock&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;en&amp;#x2e;wikipedia&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;wiki&amp;#x2f;Mel_Weitsman"&gt;Sojun Mel Weitsman&lt;/a&gt; Berkeley Zen Center&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;li&gt; &lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;dragonsleap&amp;#x2e;com&amp;#x2f;teacher&amp;#x2e;html"&gt;Dairyu Michael Wenger&lt;/a&gt; Dragon&amp;#039;s Leap Zendo&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;&lt;li&gt;the Buddha within you&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul style="list-style: disc outside;"&gt;</description> <pubDate>Thu, 15 Aug 2013 02:12:47 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4576063</guid> <dc:creator>Gary Gach</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-15T02:12:47Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Teacher in Auckland NZ, or online?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4543006</link> <description>In my experience, marshmallow man and homunculus effects are produced when somewhere along the spine, muscles get tense and that stops the sensations from some parts of the body getting to the brain. This makes some parts of the body to appear distorted. The reason for this can either be physical (for eg. sleeping on one side of the body can cause muscles on that side to get compressed) or it can be mental as well (for eg. some fear may creep up during sitting and which in turn can cause neck muscles to stiffen up).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If the reason is physical, doing stretching exercises before the sit will lessen the likelihood of marshmallow man/homunculus effect occuring. If it is mental, then being aware of the fear creeping up and noting it may not produce the marshmallow man/homunculus effect. In either case, one should not go for marshmallow man/homunculus effect just because it is cool. There is no real value to it.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 04 Aug 2013 23:56:23 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4543006</guid> <dc:creator>Change A.</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-04T23:56:23Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Teacher in Auckland NZ, or online?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4542160</link> <description>In April in Melbourne Australia they have a retreat for one month at dhammasukha, they do ask for $750 donation (or $25 a day) at the start of the retreat, which they give back to you at the end if you really can&amp;#039;t afford it. Sayadaw U Pandita Jr. is the teacher.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 04 Aug 2013 17:12:04 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4542160</guid> <dc:creator>Neem Nyima</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-04T17:12:04Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Teacher in Auckland NZ, or online?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4539731</link> <description>That&amp;#039;s good stuff to hear! Thank you. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I&amp;#039;ve since started working on insight meditation. Working with Jill Shepherd who is local, at least some of the time. Good to be able to get face to face with someone to discuss things occasionally. Just completed a weekend retreat with her, which was my first retreat of any kind. Baby steps. Great to spend some full days practicing finally. Was on the back of a couple of difficult weeks. Still keeping up the daily practice, but mind feeling more scattered. Still, swings and roundabouts. After the bad, comes the good. The weekend was a good boost though, hopefully it will get me back on track.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have had two notable experiences of extreme clarity since I started sitting vipassana. One occasion where I perceived what seemed like a single molecule of smell. Another where I had a sublime feeling of it being only the breath and the knowing. That certainly &amp;#039;felt&amp;#039; like there was no self, and it didn&amp;#039;t freak me out. It was more like a sense of relief. I have normalized the idea intellectually, so hopefully that might reduce the freak out factor when it happens more significantly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Maybe I&amp;#039;ll dabble with concentration again a little... see if I can conjure up marshmallow man again. He is amusing.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 04 Aug 2013 08:03:03 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4539731</guid> <dc:creator>Andrew Young</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-08-04T08:03:03Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Teacher in Auckland NZ, or online?</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4528344</link> <description>wanted to link these threads together....Marshmallow man and Homunculus&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http&amp;#x3a;&amp;#x2f;&amp;#x2f;www&amp;#x2e;dharmaoverground&amp;#x2e;org&amp;#x2f;web&amp;#x2f;guest&amp;#x2f;discussion&amp;#x2f;-&amp;#x2f;message_boards&amp;#x2f;message&amp;#x2f;3455602"&gt;Homunculus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;Daniel M. Ingram:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;The homunculus feeling is standard 1st jhana stuff, and, if there is interest, can be developed into a very strong feeling of it just by attending more to it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is part of the gereral category of felt body geometry distortion stuff that can occur in that terrotory through concentration or insight practice, and it used to show up often for me on my early retreats.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Daniel&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description> <pubDate>Wed, 31 Jul 2013 06:36:54 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4528344</guid> <dc:creator>Dream Walker</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-07-31T06:36:54Z</dc:date> </item> <item> <title>RE: Looking for a teacher in Vipassana Mahasi Tradition</title> <link>http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4526628</link> <description>&lt;div class="quote-title"&gt;Daniel M. Ingram:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="quote"&gt;&lt;div class="quote-content"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Defining the term &amp;#034;jhana&amp;#034; further might help.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You see, there are jhanas and there are jhanas, and you can do various things with them, and they can vary a lot in their quality.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The stages of insight are clearly jhanic in some way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Basically everyone who notes well is going to get into some jhanic states of some kind if they do it well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Maintaining perfectly &amp;#034;jhana-free&amp;#034; practice is not only basically impossible past some point, but also not as much fun.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even in the Mahasi tradition, they teach and practice jhanas at the higher levels &lt;strong&gt;and are totally expecting jhanic effects of various kinds even in &amp;#034;pure noters&amp;#034;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is such a valuable, interesting, and useful point that I would recommend putting it front and center in your revisions to MCTB. It is high time we got past this confusion of &amp;#034;Should I practice jhana, or should I practice vipassana?&amp;#034; Some really excellent scholarship on the Pali suttas (see Bhante Sujato or Thannisaro Bhikkhu) shows that this distinction between jhana and vipassana is a false one, and the Buddha fully expected his students to bring both tranquility and insight to bear on phenomena in every sit. So it would be great if you could help add to the clarification by softening this distinction in the next version of your book.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jul 2013 15:31:48 GMT</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dharmaoverground.org/c/message_boards/find_message?p_l_id=&amp;messageId=4526628</guid> <dc:creator>Fitter Stoke</dc:creator> <dc:date>2013-07-30T15:31:48Z</dc:date> </item> </channel> </rss> 