RE: Enlightenment without phenomena?

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Daniel M Ingram, modified 10 Years ago at 3/11/14 3:33 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 3/11/14 3:33 AM

RE: Enlightenment without phenomena?

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Replying to the very first post:

I state clearly in MCTB that I describe things largely in extreme terms to point out the far end of what can happen, realizing that for most people it will not be that far.

Plenty have crossed the A&P and it was not any huge thing. One of my crossings of it lasted about a second and involved a small buzzy thing going back through my head and down my spine just a bit and was gone: that was the whole thing.

I know a number of people who have stream entry who report no strong or memorable experiences along the way at all. They are hard to sort out, as the more flashy landmarks to make for more recognizable landmarks.

What is interesting is to take people who may have stream entry and really try to put them through some Review-style exercises on retreat doing pretty intense practices and see what they can do when they get warmed up, stronger concentration, oriented to a few things and look at things in various lights and see how it goes and what they can do when they get a sense of what they have and where it can go.
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Daniel M Ingram, modified 10 Years ago at 3/11/14 3:38 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 3/11/14 3:38 AM

RE: Enlightenment without phenomena?

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Oh, yes, related to trolling...

I would really like things to go more in a practice and experience direction rather than an armchair skeptic direction when possible. I have no problem with skeptics who are willing to do the experiment and see how it performed when they followed instructions diligently, but armchair skepticism for the sake of armchair skepticism rapidly blows up threads with all sorts of drama and the signal-to-noise ratio rapidly tanks.

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