RE: Where am I? (New to DhO)

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tom moylan, modified 12 Years ago at 9/5/11 6:38 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 9/5/11 3:24 AM

RE: Where am I? (New to DhO)

Posts: 896 Join Date: 3/7/11 Recent Posts
bienvenido paulo,
first of all let me say that i am in no position to accurately say "where" you are but since you are asking, i assume that you have read Daniel Ingram's book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, shortened MCTB, if not you should, but assuming that you have you would know a couple of basic things which i will reiterate here anyway.

the first is that, while the insight maps are an incredibly important tool they should not be fixated upon too strongly.

the second thing to know is that all along this path you will have lots of cool, interesting, and exciting experiences. these are great fun and are great motivators for staying with it but not the goal. the goal is gaining insight into reality, unless you're just in it for the jhana bliss or some other path represented on this site.

that said, your experiences sound like you are making progress. your mention of piti in conjunction with the jhanas makes me think that you have done your reading and have an idea about which factors belong to which jhanas. you asked where you are in the jhana's, sounds like second jhana if you are staying with it without effort. if you want to deepen that there are many good descriptions of how to do that especially IanAnd's sticky thread about Jhanas. read that through if you want to deepen your concentration. there are also some kasina instructions from daniel which are superb.

as to many of the other "symptoms" you mention they are to be "noted" if you are doing Noting Practice. that said, many your descriptions fit nicely into the "Arising & Passing Away" stage (A&P) of insight in the MCTB. Do you have a clear recollection of an A&P event as described in MCTB?

In any case, good to see you here and have fun.

edited for spelling..