Hello all,

James Yen here, in terms of Buddhism some good things have been happening in my life, in terms of everyday life (school, social life) it's been less than average.

In December of 2013 I undoubtedly reached the fruit of stream-entry, which I believe I claimed before then, but that previous claim was false (if you read it). I have no idea where that leaves a lot of this forum, but I suspect that many here have penetrated this teaching and thus have some discernment of this Dharma, most importantly; suffering, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation.

I wish you all well.

And I hope you all keep up the good work, or if you're not working, that you are well either way.

Best,

James

(your colleague)

Hi James,

It's nice to read you here. Thank you so much for all the kind well wishes. I hope you are well, too.


Katy

PS edit: the mistaken claim thing can happen. It's so normal. I had such an experience in 2011, too. It was okay. I just kept practicing and letting go of practicing, aiming and letting of "getting any results".

Nice to hear from you, James.

And how does one start to understand that the current claim isn't just a repeat of past behaviour? Perhaps you could explain how it came about in terms that the DhO is familiar with, as in sufficient phenomenological descriptions of before and after whatever is being titled "the fruit of stream entry" ?

And around we go again?

Nick (moderator mode)

Nikolai your questions are illegitimate.

Edit:

Nick, no hard feelings. I am just a layman in this Dharma, don't think about it too much. Just worry about yourself, I'm fine.

James

Why?



Claiming and then not backing the claim up with some detailed explanations (especially with a long record of claiming and retracting) reeks of grandstanding, status building silliness or just the act of feeding the incessant urge to get attention and satisfy that urge. To avoid this conclusion, let's discuss what happened to you, in layman's terms.

James, we've been here and done this a few times. The sequence seems to be 1. You appear and claim something (such as SE or actual freedom or some moral highground). 2. Maybe post something relevant such as quotes from the suttas etc, but then slowly the silly rant posts against the DhO populace pop up and then you get mad at the DhO or the mods for not taking you seriously. 3. You storm off and rant about the DhO on other forums like the actual freedom yahoo list, or the dhammawheel forum or are banned from the DhO, either one. Usually you are banned as was decided by all the mods including Daniel way back for whenever you turned up again. 4. When the ban is automatically lifted after a certain time period (which is the case for the DhO software platform), you appear again and the sequence begins again.

This is what I have observed. The boy who cries wolf is the moral of the story. Perhaps I'm not worried about you and I only had but a few thoughts upon seeing your post, and perhaps you feel fine. But as mod, I'm making sure, James, that we can avoid the repetitive troll-like behaviour. That's all. Can you?

Nick (mod)

Your questions are illegitimate because they are formed with the explicit intention of "outing" me, which is based on the premise that "there is something to be outed".

Which you don't know. Hence I can't answer them, also your intentions are malicious, and I can't deal with that.



If you would accuse me of something you should do it properly, by actually saying it. Not by implying it.



This is just plain hurtful and I call you out for that.

But I will play ball.

Here is my claim:

I claim stream-entry because I discern as it actually is: suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the way leading to the cessation of suffering. Similarly I discern the five faculties (faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom), their destiny, excellence, rewards and consummation, but I do not yet touch them with my body.

I am on the path, but I am not yet there.

Now if it your intention to otherwise hound me, then hound me all you want, I will simply leave.

Have I answered your questions to your satisfaction?

You know what, you're right. I'm being confrontational and this doesn't feel right. I'm retracting my claim and leaving.

Peace.

It would be helpful if you talked about why you think you attained to SE. Was there a discontinuity? Do you cycle? Jhana access? Emotional/psychological benefits? Can you call up a fruition?

If you would post a more detailed description of your practice to back your claim that would be beneficial to everyone, but you seem to have a history of trolling so perhaps this is just more of that.

I wish you all the best in your practice, at any rate.

Peace,
E

Yes of course.

(You'll have to forgive me for the late reply, I assumed there was some sort of backlash to me retracting my claim, so I didn't check back on this thread.)

First of all I did not meditate formally nor did I practice the Vipassana technique (a la Mahasi Sayadaw).

I practiced appamada (non-negligence), and through appamada the noble eightfold path arose in me, when I clearly saw suffering, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation then I concluded I was a stream winner.

Similarly I possessed wise faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, as well as noble virtues, pure, unbroken, unspotted, unmixed, liberating, praised by the wise, giving rise to concentration.

At will I touch jhanas with my body and can touch the deathless.

I frequently see anatta in dukkha.

I can no longer go to any other teacher than the Buddha, it is not possible, the teachings of other recluses are barren.

That's pretty much it, most of this comes straight from the Pali Canon.

Enjoy,

James