The following presentation is a synthesis of the stages of awakening as presented in Theravadan Buddhism, meditation teacher Kenneth Folk’s “A 9 Stage Map of Developmental Enlightenment”, my own experience and the experience of awakening as recorded throughout the ages by the those who have ventured into the deep territory of spirit. These stages are not events. They are not experiences. The positive effects of passing through these stages create permanent changes in the way the meditator experiences reality. Further, this is by no means the correct presentation.It is just the one that I am most familiar with and that lines up most succinctly with my own experience.

In the Buddhist tradition with which I’m most familiar, the first stage of awakening is known as “The Arising and Passing Away”. Sounds rather undramatic, but for most the experience is anything but. For those who have reached this stage life will never again be quite the same. In whichever way it occurs, the one who has experienced it knows that life is forever changed. Never again will the world be perceived in quite the same way and the meditator now understands the words of wisdom teachings in a direct rather than conceptual way. This is a time of increased clarity, joyfulness, hope and exuberance, and many find they need less sleep at this stage and that their mood is generally quite positive and optimistic. Where once meditation required effort practice now takes on a life of its own and the time spent practicing becomes a joy rather than a chore. Those at this stage typically become enthralled with the life of the spirit and dive headfirst into whatever tradition or practice brought them to this stage.

The second stage of awakening is known as “stream entry”. To move into this stage one must have arrived at the first stage and then progressed through what is known as “The Progress of Insight“, a series of meditative insights that a yogi passes through on the way to awakening. Some of the movements through the initial progress of insight can be difficult, but the process is necessary as one must confront one’s own negative habitual patterns in order to let them go. The good news is that this process need not be a big deal, and it is here that a meditator really learns to surrender to what is deeper than the temporary display of thoughts and feelings that we take to be reality. The even better news is that this process is followed by peace at a new and deeper level than the practitioner has ever previously experienced.

Following the initial run through these insights, and the deep peace that follows, one day a yogi has the experience that ushers them into the second stage. This experience is known as “fruition” and it is the instantaneous recognition of nirvana through which a doorway opens that can never be sealed again. To avoid the confusion that comes from arcane Buddhist terminology and subsequent interpretation, I will define nirvana as the recognition of the non-separate, unified, complete nature of reality. This second stage is arrived at in an instant when the stream of consciousness literally stops for the yogi, but awareness continues unblemished. The meditator may experience a sense of disorientation at this stage. Generally there is a feeling of great joy, rejoicing, relief, gratitude and contentment in the initial aftermath of this moment. Though at this stage the practitioner knows something deep and profound, to some extent their perception still tends towards the dualistic.

The third stage of awakening is arrived at once a practitioner once more moves through another full insight cycle like the one that came before. Two things can be said about this new insight cycle: It is generally much quicker, taking a small fraction of the time it took to move through the initial process and it is almost always much easier.

The next stage involves a signifigant shift in perception which occurs when following a fruition at the end of another insight cycle the practitioner begins to experience what my own teacher Vincent Horn referred to as “emptiness in real time”. Though emptiness has a negative connotation in the west and is often meant to signify a hollow sort of depressed feeling, the Buddhist meaning of emptiness is that it is the direct perception of reality undivided. Another way might be to say that it is reality free of the boundaries that cause us pain. The direct perception of reality in all its natural wholeness is received as a beautiful relief. This was a huge shift for many others and myself in the way I perceived reality. I remember feeling the most naturally content I’d felt in twenty years. From here the baseline way that one perceives reality is changed and the meditator’s baseline state is much calmer.

The next, or fifth stage, is the culmination of all the introductory phases that have come before. What can be said about it? At a certain point a dramatic change happens. This shift has been called “awakening”,“4th path”, “non-dual reality” or simply “a shift”. There seems to be a paradigm shift in the way that reality is perceived. This is the stage that meditation teacher Kenneth Folk referred to as “the happiness that is not dependent on conditions”. This stage is generally accompanied by a tremendous sense of relief and joy and a feeling of completion. This does not mean that this stage is a 24/7 bliss out or that the meditator is done. The practitioner may still experience the full range of emotions, thoughts and perceptions, but their experience of these things is signifigantly different and generally occurs at a much subtler and less bothersome level.

The sixth stage is the stage of emotional transformation. To reach this stage involves paying close attention to the body and the way that emotions are experienced in the body. After some time of this practice the meditator notices that the negative and egoic emotions are gaining less traction and being replaced by compassion, calm, contentment, and love. This transformation is not absolute and the meditator will still struggle at times with difficult emotions, but the general trend is away from the resistance to reality that breeds these emotions and towards the openness through which unified mind states like love, contentment and compassion are born. Once a meditator has reached this stage the egoic emotions are still in a much subtler for occurring, but the resistance to emotions that lead to painful mind states are generally recognized as bodily sensations rather than mind states and they are quick to heal.

A most crucial distinction should be made here. The meditator does not at this stage lose the ability to feel painful emotions. All of the emotions are still available, but there is a major attenuation in the resistance to the bodily sensations that lead the mind to resist a feeling and jump into a story about the feeling. Instead, one really feels what they are experiencing in a way that is much more honest, vulnerable and healing. I wrote in my own practice journal upon reaching this stage that I felt I had come home from a war I didn’t even realize I was fighting, such was the relief.

The seventh stage involves paying attention to the way that the mind contracts around identity. This is the stage of paying attention to the way that the mind fixates and tightens around self-referencing thoughts. To reach this stage it is useful to contrast the moments when the mind is involved with self referencing to those when it is not. The meditator sees that life progresses just fine without the added weight of self-referencing, and the painful tension of self-referencing fades in a major way.

The eighth stage involves a deepening of the sixth and seventh stages and is a major turning point. This stage is the end of the effort needed. With this stage comes the recognition of perpetual grace whereby the practitioner in a very sustained way experiences reality as whole, complete, perfectly peaceful and perfectly satisfactory on its own terms. Though this has been seen countless times before it becomes much more solidified and profound. At this stage any effort or striving becomes painful and it becomes most natural to allow the mind to rest in its natural state. This natural mind is referred to as buddha nature and the meditator has access to this sweet, simple clarity persistently throughout the day. As of January 2o12, I would put myself at this stage.

The ninth stage is marked by the near or total dissapearance of self-referential thinking so that a meditator’s daily experience involves little or none of the thinking that causes mental tension. What remains when this goes away is the experience of being continually present without resentment, fear, doubt or any of the other afflictive mind states occuring. Though I am aware of others at this stage, having not arrived here myself I can only guess at its implications.

The tenth stage could be conceived of as the resting place or complete enlightenment.It’s safe to assume that spiritual figures like Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddha, and Ramana Maharshi were/are at this stage. When the knowledge of the unified nature of reality has been brought to final perfection, this stage has been reached. In the realm of relationships at this stage love and compassion for other beings and the world has been brought to final perfection. This is the human being whose mind is silent and open at all times, and whose heart is constantly connected to the unconditional love that in theistic traditions is referred to as God.

Authors note* It’s probably safe to assume that there are a variety of changes that occur between the ninth and the tenth stage, and that there is a deepening the occurs even upon reaching the tenth stage. By my sights awakening is a continually deepening process that may never stop and it would be foolish to mark an end point. This information is my current estimation of how the process unfolds.
-Bill, May 2012

I personally still meditate: I think it is good for the brain and body to do so and it just seems a natural, skillful thing to do, as well as it also being basically unavoidable past a certain point.

If you like the technical dogma: arahatship is not quite full awakening: Buddhahood is. Even the Theravada is very clear on this.

And there's no use skirting round the issue, Daniel, of claiming arahantship, by saying it's not really full enlightenment anyway. Buddha's definition of arahant was always a bit wet, saying that anything after arahantship (liberation from rebirth) was icing on the cake. Buddha kept meditating in order to reach full realisation, which requires perfect control of the psychic powers. He didn't meditate because it was just some intrinsically good thing to do, like several of you suggest..

SN 22.58 PTS: S iii 65 CDB i 900
Buddha Sutta: Awakened
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
© 2005–2013
At Savatthi... "Monks, the Tathagata — the worthy one, the rightly self-awakened one, who from disenchantment with form, from dispassion, from cessation, from lack of clinging (for form) is released — is termed 'rightly self-awakened.' And a discernment-released monk — who from disenchantment with form, from dispassion, from cessation, from lack of clinging (for form) is released — is termed 'discernment-released.'

"The Tathagata — the worthy one, the rightly self-awakened one, who from disenchantment with feeling... perception... fabrication, from dispassion, from cessation, from lack of clinging (for feeling... perception... fabrication) is released — is termed 'rightly self-awakened.' And a discernment-released monk — who from disenchantment with feeling... perception... fabrication, from dispassion, from cessation, from lack of clinging (for feeling... perception... fabrication) is released — is termed 'discernment-released.'

"The Tathagata — the worthy one, the rightly self-awakened one, who from disenchantment with consciousness, from dispassion, from cessation, from lack of clinging (for consciousness) is released — is termed 'rightly self-awakened.' And a discernment-released monk — who from disenchantment with consciousness, from dispassion, from cessation, from lack of clinging (for consciousness) is released — is termed 'discernment-released.'

"So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between one rightly self-awakened and a monk discernment-released?"

"For us, lord, the teachings have the Blessed One as their root, their guide, & their arbitrator. It would be good if the Blessed One himself would explicate the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from the Blessed One, the monks will remember it."

"In that case, monks, listen & pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said, "The Tathagata — the worthy one, the rightly self-awakened one — is the one who gives rise to the path (previously) unarisen, who engenders the path (previously) unengendered, who points out the path (previously) not pointed out. He knows the path, is expert in the path, is adept at the path. And his disciples now keep following the path and afterwards become endowed with the path.

"This is the difference, this the distinction, this the distinguishing between one rightly self-awakened and a monk discernment-released."

"An arahant should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. Although, for an arahant, there is nothing further to do, and nothing to add to what has been done, still these things — when developed & pursued — lead both to a pleasant abiding in the here-&-now and to mindfulness & alertness."silavant sutta

Buddha said the four jhanas were a worldy reward for attaining arahantship, since nirvana is only inferred, rather than experienced. This doesn't even mean quick access to the jhanas, as he calls those with instant access particularly skillful recluses.

So the bar for arahantship is rather low. I can enter the jhanas rather quickly with great intensity, but I find them highly gross, and take no pleasure from it. Does this mean I have destroyed the fetter of desire for heavenly birth?

Patanjali says the powers are definitely encountered, at least in part, and must be set aside before getting anywhere near cosmic union. You're fooling yourselves if you think otherwise. Patanjali said mental modifications were needed to attain this, such as what we would call jhana. Sleep is another mental modification. 'Actual freedom' is a mental modification which is tragic if it leads people away from the goal, thinking they are already done.

While I follow Patanjali as the best teacher, the insight cycles described in hardcore dharma are curious and I follow it, jhana or samadhi is a more positive way forward than pushing into the refresh rate of vision.

Please examine the sutras of Patanjali, you'll all be better off. It deals with the entire moral side of practise on one or two sentences, which is all it deserves. I'm glad to see this forum dying, it means people are following their own meditation.
bob

The difference between a buddha and an arahant according to the following sutta



So, not much difference concerning end result.

9. "Sariputta, the Tathagata has these ten Tathagata's powers, possessing which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.[5] What are the ten?

10. (1) "Here, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible.[6] And that [70] is a Tathagata's power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.

11. (2) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the results of actions undertaken, past, future and present, with possibilities and with causes. That too is a Tathagata's power...[7]

12. (3) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the ways leading to all destinations. That too is a Tathagata's power...[8]

13. (4) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the world with its many and different elements. That too is a Tathagata's power...[9]

14. (5) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is how beings have different inclinations. That too is a Tathagata's power...[10]

15. (6) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the disposition of the faculties of other beings, other persons. That too is a Tathagata's power...[11]

16. (7) "Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the defilement, the cleansing and the emergence in regard to the jhanas, liberations, concentrations and attainments. That too is a Tathagata's power...[12]

17. (8) "Again, the Tathagata recollects his manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births, many aeons of world-contraction, many aeons of world-expansion, many aeons of world-contraction and expansion: 'There I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared elsewhere; and there too I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared here.' Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past lives. That too is a Tathagata's power...

18. (9) "Again, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, the Tathagata sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands how beings pass on according to their actions thus: 'These worthy beings who were ill-conducted in body, speech and mind, revilers of noble ones, wrong in their views, giving effect to wrong view in their actions, on the dissolution of the body, [71] after death, have reappeared in a state of deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, even in hell; but these worthy beings who were well-conducted in body, speech and mind, not revilers of noble ones, right in their views, giving effect to right view in their actions, on the dissolution of the body, after death, have reappeared in a good destination, even in the heavenly world.' Thus with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands how beings pass on according to their actions. That too is a Tathagata's power...

19. (10) "Again, by realizing it for himself with direct knowledge, the Tathagata here and now enters upon and abides in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that are taintless with the destruction of the taints. That too is a Tathagata's power that a Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.

20. "The Tathagata has these ten Tathagata's powers, possessing which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.

Monks, there are four best kinds of faith. What four?

Monks, among all living beings—be they footless or two-footed, with four feet or many feet, with form or formless, percipient, non-percipient or neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient—the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One, is reckoned the best of them all. Those who have faith in the Buddha have faith in the best; and for those who have faith in the best, the best result will be theirs.

A reply to that extended quote. It is absurd to create a new 'map for enlightenment' every few weeks. The fact that these 'meditation teachers' who claim to know it all add a new stage at the end every five minutes undermines any use of what they have to say. First we have 4,5,7 now 10. And that's all before running into one supramundane power, which is meant to be the halfway point by vedic texts. Stop trying to teach people and just do the work...

And there's no use skirting round the issue, Daniel, of claiming arahantship, by saying it's not really full enlightenment anyway. Buddha's definition of arahant was always a bit wet, saying that anything after arahantship (liberation from rebirth) was icing on the cake. Buddha kept meditating in order to reach full realisation, which requires perfect control of the psychic powers. He didn't meditate because it was just some intrinsically good thing to do, like several of you suggest.

Buddha said the four jhanas were a worldy reward for attaining arahantship, since nirvana is only inferred, rather than experienced. This doesn't even mean quick access to the jhanas, as he calls those with instant access particularly skillful recluses.
So the bar for arahantship is rather low. I can enter the jhanas rather quickly with great intensity, but I find them highly gross, and take no pleasure from it. Does this mean I have destroyed the fetter of desire for heavenly birth?

Patanjali says the powers are definitely encountered, at least in part, and must be set aside before getting anywhere near cosmic union. You're fooling yourselves if you think otherwise. Patanjali said mental modifications were needed to attain this, such as what we would call jhana. Sleep is another mental modification. 'Actual freedom' is a mental modification which is tragic if it leads people away from the goal, thinking they are already done.

While I follow Patanjali as the best teacher, the insight cycles described in hardcore dharma are curious and I follow it, jhana or samadhi is a more positive way forward than pushing into the refresh rate of vision.
Please examine the sutras of Patanjali, you'll all be better off. It deals with the entire moral side of practise on one or two sentences, which is all it deserves. I'm glad to see this forum dying, it means people are following their own meditation.
bob

'Actual freedom' is a mental modification which is tragic if it leads people away from the goal, thinking they are already done.

While I follow Patanjali as the best teacher, the insight cycles described in hardcore dharma are curious and I follow it, jhana or samadhi is a more positive way forward than pushing into the refresh rate of vision.
Please examine the sutras of Patanjali, you'll all be better off. It deals with the entire moral side of practise on one or two sentences, which is all it deserves.

I'm glad to see this forum dying, it means people are following their own meditation.

... and omniscience was, all along, a feeling too familiar to know. 

Hi Folks,

To the forum members who claim to have attained "full enlightenment" - however you choose to define that term. Do you still meditate? If so, why? Have you tried stopping for any length of time after awakening? What happened? Is there such a thing as an arahat experiencing another awakening?

Just super curious and looking for a little info.

If you like the technical dogma: arahatship is not quite full awakening: Buddhahood is. Even the Theravada is very clear on this.

Rist Ei, I see you.  Namaste!

Rist Ei is right.  I have seen several enlightened beings speak in just a few threads.  I may go through all the threads and greet them all, if I ever have time.  Daniel ingrams has gone past Enlightenment to a point of teaching.  Though an enlightened being that can teach is rare,  enlightened beings are not as rare as people seem to think.

Enlightenment, in the context I generally use, means freedom from suffering.  It is a mastering of Jhanas.  It does not take away unpleasant sensations, but it does give escape when desired.  It can be tested when pain comes, whether it is the pain of a severe toothache, the grief of a dead lover, or even the pain of despair when life becomes obviously meaningless (this despair arises from the last of the ego.  Nothing is actually meaningless).

That is it!!!  That's what so many people work for.  But never realizing that it is this simple, so many seekers become bitter when heaven does not explode into being all within them and around them.  They walk around grumbling that 'enlightenment is beyond all but the most disciplined and gifted', when all the time they just need to see that they have seen the bottom.  Enlightenment is seeing that You have no-self.  That the Jhanas are all.  When you realize this, you see the world clearly.  Enlightenment is seeing clearly.

Anytime someone says 'I am Enlightened', they very well have been enlightened in some way.  They may see clearly in one way or about one matter or another.  But the one that is needed to be a Buddha, to be an avatar, to be Born Again Saint, to be a prophet, to be a better human, is the enlightenment that allows escape from suffering through Right View, the view of no-self.

Full Enlightenement is so rare that I have not found one person with such attainment in 3 years of searching.  I do know, though, that attainment is cultivated effortlessly as the arhat works to alleviate suffering in the world with his new ability to eat his own pain.  It is called 'Noble Wisdom', 'inner knowing', 'christ-nature'.  It is a gradual cultivation that uses all your impermanent constituents as tools.  The feeling of "I" becomes one with the force of love itself.

Full Attainment should not be a goal.  It cannot be pushed through effort.  It is not of the mind or body, though it uses mind and body.  Enlightenment, once achieved, is enough as it allows you to save the world, take on all filfth, pain, and Hellfire, swallowing them as all phenomenon can be swallowed.  Enlightenment, is the beginning of True Life.