Consilience

The fact that this is your interpretation is extremely telling.

This is pure ego and a recipe for self-deception. There is no you to put your responsibility off to or others to give responsibility or authority. Did you really miss how deep this is? Are you this self-bias you’re missing something so obvious? The authority you’re clinging to is no more or less authoritative than your own direct experience. Both are direct experience. Your entire post is mental, egoic masturbation. The authority you think hold is like dust, worthless than actually. If you don’t have the humility to recognize wisdom, to recognize awakened mind outside of the activity of your own mind (ie the ability to recognize an awakened mind in a teacher), you’re pretty much fucked. Of course the only one that can awaken is you. But if you think what my post points to contradicts this, you’re not understanding what’s being pointed to.

The mistake is thinking your little ego mind and body are some kind of authority figure, which by the tone and judgement of other teachers, seems to be the implicit assumption. “Because Im god, Im the ultimate authority, therefore, other teachers can’t hold authority over me.” This entire chain of reason is mired in self clinging, self deception, and illusion. It’s really quite simple. If you are God, and God is solipsistic, any teacher is also a manifestation of you. Therefore, when giving one’s authority over to a teacher, you’re really choosing to give authority over to yourself. The question is, as God, do you give authority over to the ego/mind, or a teacher? Both are you. In either decision, you’ve handed your authority over to yourself. This is the part this post misses, and Leo missed as well. Which is more trustworthy? A spiritual master, or your petty ego/mind?

Such a great reply! The importance of dropping self-clinging in all modalities of perception seems to be lost in the goenka community. Self clinging can literally exist as mental imagery and therefore exist even as body sensations are seen as non-self. Self clinging can exist within the perceptions of space, in sight sound and touch. It’s not enough to deconstruct the body and emotions as they relate to the sensations of touch. Sounds and sights, in all forms, must be penetrated. This is why I love the Unified Mindfulness approach to vipassana.

You should look into Shinzen Young’s work. Teaches vipassana without the dogma and imo way more effective than the Goenka approach. The specifics for why this is the case are nuanced, deep, and a little beyond a simply reply. I highly would suggest you look into the unified mindfulness system though. The fundamental shifts happening as a result of the goenka body scanning technique needed for liberating insight are not specific to vipassana or Buddhism. That being said, you’re still doing great work on the 10 day retreats. Dont doubt the power of the practice. Just doubt the dogma attached.

Real wisdom. Your posts are a breath of fresh air around these parts. I would add, their comes a point when even psychedelics stop being as useful. The time spent preparing, tripping, and coming down would have been better spent just meditating. Again, unlike psychedelics, meditation create permanent shifts in mental activity and permanent shifts in one’s direct experience. The significance of this is so fucking critical, and Im still utterly shocked how so many on this forum completely miss this.

Nope. Meditation is extremely effective at accessing and ACTUALLY reprogramming the subconscious mind, unlike psychedelics which offer temporary shifts. The examples you’re describing are not indicative of meditation, but the individuals. If the individuals really wanted to go in and face their fears, reprogram their minds, deconstruct their world views and seek truth, meditation is an indispensable tool. Meditation doesn’t necessarily or automatically create transformation, it demands the practitioner do more than just the practice - contemplation, right action, speech, thought, studying, and working with a real teacher.

How many retreats do you go on per year? Who is your teacher? How many hours a day do you practice? What is your main technique/approach? You keep making excuses about why you shouldn’t have to do the work, why you’ve already done the work, etc. The fact of the matter is, this takes time, sometimes 10+ years depending on the persons karma. Keep going is the best advice you’ll receive but if you don’t have the wisdom to receive it, you’re not going to find what you’re looking for.

Not to be dismissive but I doubt you really did what Im referring to. The degree of work Im talking about is incredibly rare; you’ll be so busy contemplating and meditating, you wouldnt have any room for the type of shallow doubt you’re describing in your post. Moreover, if you’ve met legitimate masters, you know what is possible with manual practice. If not, seek a real master out. Edit: Leo once said in a blog post we should be going on silent retreats once a quarter. This is a good place to start. Having actually followed through the this advice the last 2.5 years, I can confirm it works. Have you thrown yourself in completely and utterly? Have you worked to build a lifestyle around this path? If not, you’re not going to wake up. There is a reason sages, mystics, monks, and yogis give up everything to pursue the truth. It is a full time endeavor.

Meditation and not dropping the technique outside of formal practice. You should also be going on multiple retreats per year, studying with masters, and relentlessly practicing. Dont expect 1 hour per day to cut it. But after a certain point, the practice takes a life of its own and starts exponentially compounding. Instead of chasing God, God will chase you, and then, well, poof. ?

Your relentless bashing and misrepresentation of Buddhism is astounding. ?

The depth and projection of your own self deception is such a wild case study dude. You criticize, attack, and condemn spiritual traditions as though it’s some competition, as though you’re trying to sell a product and brand and must win at all costs. The fact of the matter is this level of understanding is possible without psychedelics and no one needs to do 300 trips to understand what you’re speaking about. Nothing you’ve said or teach contradicts other spiritual traditions, fundamentally. It’s possible to stare death in the eyes, opening up to it without concern, hesitation, or fear because the insight is that deep. This IS possible when one understands the nature of death, life, and reality and only possible when one understands death, life, and reality. This level of understanding is achievable and has been achieved by masters across the ages. The fact that you lack the humility and posses the arrogance to doubt this is astonishing and should serve as an example of one of the many traps on this path.

OP, to understand Buddhism, you would need to actually put your ass on the line, commit to relentless meditation, contemplation and work with a real master. Until then, you wont understand. The tone, argumentation, and projection in your post is clear you haven't put your ass on the line. All the energy and time you spent criticizing Buddhism would have been better spent practicing, training your mind, working towards a direct consciousness/breakthrough.

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*eating samahdi snacks* ?

Samaneri Jayasara for spirituality. Probably the highest quality spirituality channel on YouTube.

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If you don’t have the appropriate teachings and teachers, sure. Otherwise, meditation one of the most powerful tools available, particularly the deconstructive kind like self inquiry or vipassana.

The tone of this post is immature, and ideological. There is no you, no tricks, and that life you think is a belief is none other than no life. Go practice dude.

Right. Life.

This sounds a lot like belief, a belief built from a lack of stepping into the depth of suffering beings are capable of. Perhaps it is a game, and perhaps there never was anyone to lack enlightenment. And yet war, genocide, and numberless atrocities rage across reality. But hey, maybe I'm wrong, maybe you do see the game for what it is. I would add, the deeper truth is, there is no everyone to pretend and there is no you to pretend with others, or play all alone. There is no one to know the truth. There is just life.

@Bronson Again, how do these skeptics account for electron microscopy imaging of viral particles? You can quickly do a google search and start finding images of various viruses.

Confused what the specific claim is. You can view electron microscope images of virus particles?

@Devin Enlightenment opens up the capacity for a joy that a self cannot hold. Way more joy is available post enlightenment.

This depends on how intense your daily formally practice is, how often you're going on meditation retreats, and it depends on keeping up a technique 24/7. For me, the most effective forms of life practice are Shinzen's see hear feel or self inquiry. Lately self inquiry has had a lot of momentum in life as I'm going about my business. The biggest issue is this separation between practice and life. They have to merge and even more, the duality ultimately needs to collapse. (The spiritual bypassing version of this collapse is Neo Advaita) But when you talk to masters, unanimously they'll agree, practice must be maintained at all waking moments. So how much awakeness? In my experience, a lot more than I thought possible 1, 2, and certainly 3 years ago. Year by year the depth of the practice still amazes me, in both deep states of meditation and in life. Yet, the required work is, admittedly, enormous, however, so utterly worth it.