I was wondering if anyone would be willing to talk one on one via Skype or something. I have always seemed to have decent concentration and at this point almost instantly fall into access concentration, but until recently never attempted a jhana practice. I was reading about it through the MCTB which helped and Leigh Brasington's page, but his sentence structure just is not resinating with me. I have read a fair amount about Jhanas and would just like to discuss what sensorially occurs with me and clarify a few questions about the topic.

The final thing I wish to discuss with someone is just to challenge my possible stream entry. Previous post here It's been awhile now since that moment and I have felt a drastic shift in the way the internal experience comes together. I feel there isn't much question about it really, but I would rather be overly skeptical and challenge myself. The one aspect that doesn't check out with the "Was That Emptiness?" section is it hasn't been repeated as often as stated in the books. In fact when there is a little blip (rarely do I notice it clearly) I always question if that really just happened. At this point I feel indifferent to if I got stream entry or not because I don't feel such an intense inner drive to seek anymore, though it can be argued that I have a deeper practice as I have been signing up for more 10 days and a 3 month at IMS. Either way, my experience with suffering has shifted so dramatically that I know my work is paying off.

Same stream entry problem as yours... lol

It would be nice to talk and compare the experiences... I don't have any real experience with jhanas, even though since now I'm in EQ I'm experiencing all the time some kind of formless aspect of the thing...

My Skype name is marionistri... add me if you like; I'd really love to talk to someone who is in a situation that is very similar to mine...

Bye!

Just a quick reply here...

Mario, I'll comment on the post you made the other week asking about 4th jhana 'cause I'm not entirely sure, based on your descriptions there at least, that you're definitely in Equanimity. I'd meant to reply to it earlier but I'll try to get around to it today.

Braxton, welcome back. I don't know if this article I wrote on jhana would be of any use to you? I've tried to keep the descriptions as phenomenological as possible and to go into a bit more details about how this tends to present itself, hopefully it might clear up at least a few of the basics anyway.

I'm not on skype a lot but feel free to add me (hypenapungra) and drop me a line if you're on.

Post deleted; when I wrote it I was pretty excited, but after a day reading it felt silly all that excitement for just an experience...

you can add me on skype 'mrmacdude', we could find some time to chat.

You may want to read a few of my posts, particularly with regard to stream entry, first.
I'm not in exactly in the same camp the prevailing line of thinking on stream entry on these forums, but its pretty close.
That being said, I'm academically knowledgeable on the subject across traditions, and I'm sure you'd find the conversation worthwhile. My biggest outlier with regard to MCTB, i suppose, is how important it is to be sure of your sotapanna status or not.

-max

Thanks Tommy, just added you on Skype. I am going to read your post on Jhanas as soon as a get a chance. I would love to discuss my experience sometime when ever we both happen to be online.
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M M A, I just added you on Skype, when is a good time to talk? Unfortunately the next few days are bad for me as I am pulling a double shift tomorrow (friday) and then am out of town Saturday and Sunday. Lets try and set something up though. Also, care to link me to the stream entry post you are referring to? I browsed your "recent posts" and assume you are talking about the A & P vs Stream Entry post.

If you read my post in that thread, then you should have a pretty good idea of what I meant in the above post. I think I accidently implied too heavily that you should research my views; we can leave that for when we actually talk.

As far as schedule, I'm around pretty much every evening next week... the next time i'm on skype (tonight, probably) i should see your request and I'll send you a message through skype about when would be best; you'll get it the next time you sign on.