Hey folks.

I'm on the early stages of creating a dharma channel on youtube, and I'm coming up with creative, inclusive ways to talk about the benefits of meditation and enlightenment to a broader audience. Reading the first chapter of the dharma book the swedish arahant Filip Ravik is writing, he mentions something like "this freedom is better then a billion dolars".

And I figured, yeah, prolly that's a non-issue for the arahants, if they had to chose, they would prolly pick arahanthood over a bil any day of the week.

But then I realized I didnt need to go as far as the arahants. I attained sottapana in 2016 and my horrible horrible existential dread vanished like flippin' magic. Even a lowly realized pesant as myself would chose stream entry over a billion dolars ANYTIME. But i realize first enlightenment might not be that dramatic for everyone lol, so I wanted to throw the question to any enlightened friend out there.

What's your level of attainment, and if you had to chose IT or 1 billion dollars, what would you choose?

Thank you for the attention, I hope this is fun!

6 pack of beer! Cold beer!!! 

Damn near impossible to find enlightened people, and even harder to get them to give a serious answer about it. 

Hi Diogo,

I don't have an answer but would be curious, perhaps on another thread since it's a different topic, to read what kind of existential dread you suffered and how stream-entry ended that.

AFAIK I am a stream enterer or perhaps 2nd path, in answer to your question, YES i would choose it over 1 billion dollars.

Why does pretty much every single billionaire seem to be at best completely unsatisfied, but more often, absolutely batsh*t and depraved?  Another billion, even all the money in the world won't solve that.

"YES i would choose it over 1 billion dollars."

You sure sound like a stream enterer!  

I don't think you even have to get as far as stream entry to make meditation attainment worth more than 1 bil. My early realisations about the impermanence and non-solidity of stuff had already given me a freedom, even a taste of conditionless happiness, that is worth more than money can buy. It's stuff about how the mind creates its own heaven or hell, how there isn't an "actual and true" interpretation or definition or answer, how it is unnecessary to find or create one's true identity. I imagine such realisations can come long before SE.

Without these realisations, I could easily be drowning in recursive loops of self-pity (which is how parts of my life had played out). When stuck in such loops, no amount of wealth helps, or any other conventional marker of success for that matter.

Whatever I’ve got is definitely worth a billion. I wouldn’t trade the state of my life right now for anything — except, of course, the reasonable goals I’m working toward to make a living and continue to grow. But even as someone who delivers pizzas for a living at the moment, I wouldn’t trade this life for any other — certainly not the experiences that led me here.