RE: Complete Guides Like MTCTOTB - Discussion
Well said, Bahiya. 
I think I agree with the broad strokes of your post. Done well, each style converges into total receptivity. And, like you said, the problem that the dharma addresses is having too much yang. But I think the yin and yang styles are distinct beyond aesthetics.
In MCTB, Daniel advocates for an always-on mindful vigilance. As a reader, I got the impression that I should be hunting down sensations, capturing their smallest details, and cracking them open to witness their vibratory impermanence. These days, I think directly trying to be mindful of details is beside the point. I also don't think that intentionally tracking experience is necessary. I had a sense that witnessing the three characteristics required some kind of doing, but it doesn't. It was a big revelation when I realized the three characteristics are always here, underneath the tension.
I think yin practice is also "always on," but it's an always-on willingness to relax. Experientially, texturally, emotionally, it's very different from the always-on yang vigilance.
Here's a good expression of the yang sentiment, from Roger Thisdell's "Meditative Workouts":
Along these lines, a common yang belief is that yin practices are not appropriate for beginners, but merely something accessible to advanced practitioners. As if relaxation were merely the fruit, not the path. Similarly, when I first joined this forum I asked what the point of do-nothing practice was, and the response was that it's just shamata. Even if the yang teachers themselves think yin practices are legitimate or even inevitable, oftentimes their students walk away with the opposite impression.
To the contrary, I think Daniel's last retreat involved total exertion. I remember him describing it as "machine-gun style practice" on the Ten Percent Happier Podcast. In line with this, U Pandita Jr told him he lacked "strong concentration," and Daniel responded by "taking his advice to heart with [his] standard macho bravado" and going for "one hundred percent capture, not letting a single sensation anywhere in the entirety of experience go by without perceiving the three characteristics clearly" and "pouring basically every last ounce of power into perceiving every single sensation." He continues:
For a while, Daniel's account defined the dharma for me. I thought it was about an ultimate relaxation that was only possible through lots of perfectly precise utter exertion.
I can't say much about the efficacy of yang practices since my path has been mostly yin. But I have heard tell of full awakenings happen from simply chanting someone's name and visualizing their likeness all day long every day. One-pointed practices like mu are similar. It ain't easy, but I think that kind of work can get you there.
I think I agree with the broad strokes of your post. Done well, each style converges into total receptivity. And, like you said, the problem that the dharma addresses is having too much yang. But I think the yin and yang styles are distinct beyond aesthetics.
In MCTB, Daniel advocates for an always-on mindful vigilance. As a reader, I got the impression that I should be hunting down sensations, capturing their smallest details, and cracking them open to witness their vibratory impermanence. These days, I think directly trying to be mindful of details is beside the point. I also don't think that intentionally tracking experience is necessary. I had a sense that witnessing the three characteristics required some kind of doing, but it doesn't. It was a big revelation when I realized the three characteristics are always here, underneath the tension.
I think yin practice is also "always on," but it's an always-on willingness to relax. Experientially, texturally, emotionally, it's very different from the always-on yang vigilance.
Here's a good expression of the yang sentiment, from Roger Thisdell's "Meditative Workouts":
Roger Thisdell:
Put in the work now and the levels of relaxation, equanimity and joy you can achieve over the course of your life will be even greater than if you were to only do do-nothing or letting go type meditations. Sometimes you actually need to contract more, to expand even more!
Along these lines, a common yang belief is that yin practices are not appropriate for beginners, but merely something accessible to advanced practitioners. As if relaxation were merely the fruit, not the path. Similarly, when I first joined this forum I asked what the point of do-nothing practice was, and the response was that it's just shamata. Even if the yang teachers themselves think yin practices are legitimate or even inevitable, oftentimes their students walk away with the opposite impression.
Bahiya Baby:
I recall Daniel describing the exact approach to the practice he used to attain 4th path as complete receptivity which is by definition a 'Yin' practice.
To the contrary, I think Daniel's last retreat involved total exertion. I remember him describing it as "machine-gun style practice" on the Ten Percent Happier Podcast. In line with this, U Pandita Jr told him he lacked "strong concentration," and Daniel responded by "taking his advice to heart with [his] standard macho bravado" and going for "one hundred percent capture, not letting a single sensation anywhere in the entirety of experience go by without perceiving the three characteristics clearly" and "pouring basically every last ounce of power into perceiving every single sensation." He continues:
MCTB:
As the power spun up higher and higher, it got so that I was having a Fruition every few minutes even when walking. However, practice was still in many ways as it had been before other than the extreme intensity and rapidity of it, and this was profoundly unsatisfying…
[That kind of practice leads to an experience of non-duality, which then wears off, to his disappointment.]
I pulled it together, went back to core assumptions (six sense doors, three characteristics), started practicing again, powered up to total sensate comprehension again, and, relatively shortly thereafter, it flipped over, everything righted itself, the knot untangled, fundamental perceptual identification and division stopped, and it was okay, actually much better than okay: I was satisfied!
[That kind of practice leads to an experience of non-duality, which then wears off, to his disappointment.]
I pulled it together, went back to core assumptions (six sense doors, three characteristics), started practicing again, powered up to total sensate comprehension again, and, relatively shortly thereafter, it flipped over, everything righted itself, the knot untangled, fundamental perceptual identification and division stopped, and it was okay, actually much better than okay: I was satisfied!
For a while, Daniel's account defined the dharma for me. I thought it was about an ultimate relaxation that was only possible through lots of perfectly precise utter exertion.
Bahiya Baby:
I don't really believe that anything which could produce even stream entry could be labeled as a 'Yang' practice.
I can't say much about the efficacy of yang practices since my path has been mostly yin. But I have heard tell of full awakenings happen from simply chanting someone's name and visualizing their likeness all day long every day. One-pointed practices like mu are similar. It ain't easy, but I think that kind of work can get you there.
If you’re going to bring Taoist terms like Yin and Yang into the conversation, remember they’re not static concepts. Instead, they represent a dynamic, ever-shifting interplay. It’s the impermanent alternation between Yin and Yang that defines the Taoist concept. In fact, that’s likely what the Buddha was pointing to when he spoke of the Middle Way, not a static/permanent middle way but a dynamic middle way. By the way, here's Daniel's take (in MCTB2) on the Buddha’s core teachings, summed up in the Seven Factors of Awakening framework:
Check MCTB2: some summaries
Let's say you were going to be stranded on a desert island, what complete guides would you bring with you?
Check MCTB2: some summaries
