Please assess my attainment

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Dominic Rocks, modified 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 12:55 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/23/19 3:45 AM

Please assess my attainment

Posts: 13 Join Date: 9/23/19 Recent Posts
    Hello, I'm Dominic Rocks! I'm a 22 year old from Sydney Australia, I began meditating one year ago with increasing intensity and some time commited. I've taken time off to process and accelerate my stream entry which took place through the dzogchen teachings on the 4th of July (pretty funny) and I want to have a career related to meditation. I haven't been talking to other practitioners so forgive me if I mislabel or poorly explain something

    My main practice is wandering walking meditation, I focus on giving myself a lot of options and then acting without intention. I mix this in with my daily life, spurts of other practices: the brahmaviharas, goenka vipassana, self-reflection and anapanasati. When walking I follow this sequence: calming the breath, body and mind, stillness and then I do nothing. In situations of stronger sensory input like motion, nature, colour, expansiveness, three-dimensionality and other people, I experience emptiness and my thoughts quickly vanish when they arise. With weaker input, I experience the clarity version of it but not full emptiness, my baseline feels like non-meditation. I experience both spontaneous and controllable silence, I have also experienced it spontaeously in a dream. I have also experienced not experiencing anything and one-pointed thinking while asleep (although sometimes more awake then alseep). I have a good mind-body connection and have a good relationship with my chakras, 
    I no longer think or worry about sense aversion unless I am meditating on pain. I can still experience some negative emotions through specific conditionings (some still deeply rooted) but this only comes up rarely or when I invite it in my daily life. I analyse my experience through pride, desire, attatchment and aversion. I feel I have a deep base of concentration from informal practice but I don't have fully developed extended concentration and I don't practice samatha. I still have a lot of pride, greed, restlessness and other defilements to get to work on.

    I haven't been in contact with any teachers so i'm excited to hear what you guys think. If you have any recommendations for people to connect with in Sydney please let me know.
George S, modified 4 Years ago at 9/23/19 9:27 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/23/19 9:27 AM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 2722 Join Date: 2/26/19 Recent Posts
Hi Dom, sounds like you have it all sorted! I guess if you really want to have a career in meditation and channel that deeply enough then the students should appear ...
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Dominic Rocks, modified 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 1:09 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 12:51 AM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 13 Join Date: 9/23/19 Recent Posts
Thank you for your reassurance. I trust that this will happen but I still really want some more financial stability and connections to the community. Do you have any insight into what some of my opportunities are now and what they could be when I get more connections or development?
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Jim Smith, modified 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 1:02 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 1:02 AM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 1639 Join Date: 1/17/15 Recent Posts
I would suggest you try to notice your levels of equanimity, compassion, and humility, and if they are increasing over time your practice is doing what it should. 
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Dominic Rocks, modified 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 1:26 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 1:14 AM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 13 Join Date: 9/23/19 Recent Posts
Would you recomend I do metta to improve compassion and humility? I've only done approximately 30 hours. I am unsure if I should prioritise balancing things like this or to just continue focusing on the defilements and riding out my dzogchen momentum and get to balancing later. I've thought about prioritising metta when I desire to be more loving, but I always feel like i'm being greedy and impatient when this happens and that I should stick to dzogchen.
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Jim Smith, modified 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 2:59 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 2:59 AM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 1639 Join Date: 1/17/15 Recent Posts
Dominic Rocks:
Would you recomend I do metta to improve compassion and humility? I've only done approximately 30 hours. I am unsure if I should prioritise balancing things like this or to just continue focusing on the defilements and riding out my dzogchen momentum and get to balancing later. I've thought about prioritising metta when I desire to be more loving, but I always feel like i'm being greedy and impatient when this happens and that I should stick to dzogchen.
It's not really for me to say. I've tried a lot of different styles, so I am not against variety, but I think the individual should decide for himself what is best for him. Compassion can come from any type of meditation. As you observe the mind in meditation, you will understand yourself better, and that should help you understand other people - and that leads to equanimity and compassion.
pieva, modified 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 3:59 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 3:59 AM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 36 Join Date: 3/15/19 Recent Posts
Dominic Rocks:
I trust that this will happen but I still really want some more financial stability and connections to the community.
Three robes and a bowl won't suffice then? emoticon

Have you considered mindfulness-based therapy practices? Or even becoming a yoga, tai chi or some martial arts instructor? A researcher, a brain scientist?
George S, modified 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 10:23 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 9/24/19 10:23 AM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 2722 Join Date: 2/26/19 Recent Posts
On a totally different tack, you could try looking around you and seeing if there is anybody who needs your help. That could take you in a new direction.
Henry wijaya, modified 4 Years ago at 12/2/19 2:57 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 11/19/19 11:36 PM

RE: Please assess my attainment

Posts: 58 Join Date: 7/7/18 Recent Posts
Still existing such a strong self who exist in the world and want so many thing, I wonder why your meditation experiences havent transformed you

See if you really into the buddha way, not your way, or anybody's way, then you should consider these, Samma Ditthi, not just samma samadhi the last step

1. What is Dukha? It is to be born, to aging and death. Not just your body, body is material world, it belong to time and space, not "you".
2. How you come into birth, aging, death , which means how you caught inside time? Because the being is born - Bhava.

You got to look deep into this, suppose you wake up from a real deep sleep :
First Avijja - unconscious ,
then Sankhara - volition,
then Vinnana - perceiving object,
then Nama rupa - Name and mental image,
then salayatana - six sense media creating experience,
then phassa - the world is formed out there ,
then vedana - feeling of pleasant, unpleasant, neutral of the objects in the world,

This is where the most interesting things occur :

then Tanha - Reactions to the objects ; emotionally or ignorantly
then Upadana - Taking the reactions into your identity, personalizing experiences into "MY" experience
then Bhava - the "I" is born here, caught in time and space

because of Bhava is born, at first only the body caught in time and space, now "you" also caught in, your past, you present , your future
Your Birth- your past and all your identity
Your Aging and death - your present and future, plans etc.

This is Dukkha Sacca, the ultimate truth of dukkha, beings in 31 existences.

3. How to end the dukha? Either from Avijja through meditation process, where you can stop the Sankhara which is jhana 9 or vipassana into the stopping. Or from Tanha, where you dont react to any feelings, even neutral, dont personalize them.

4 The way to cessation of dukkha is 8 noble path, purify body and mind to prepare for enlightment, the cessation of bhava, which lead to nibbana. This one is a long one, you should walk the path sooner or later.

With complete truly understanding ,then you are an SE for sure , and Nibbana is your highest in the perception, kamma will work the way even you died suddenly

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