I enjoyed the post!

If it’s a direct shot and something that I’ve not found out about myself I’m knocked off-balance for a bit. What a great learning opportunity though, you know? You know how rarely I get honest reactions from people? I want them, I crave them… and yet society has made us all into clones… we just do as everyone else. Trying not to hurt others’ feelings with the truth. Sure it’s our own truth, but sometimes people are going against the grain and need to find out what other people think about it. Sometimes it sucks quite frankly and if I’m not the one to tell them, maybe nobody else ever will. I don’t want to go through life not realizing I’m pissing people off on a daily basis. Why should I let someone else go through life like that? :P

Now, I can be tactful. What I was talking about above in which I blitz someone with a truthful response to the way they’re affecting me is usually when they’re overstepping their bounds… They’re interfering with my space… they’re talking too much about their own interests and aren’t also listening as much as they’re speaking - that’s one area I don’t have all that much patience for. Evangelical Christians, or anyone blissed out on their own religion come across like this at times.

Or maybe they’re blowing smoke in my face as they talk. Maybe they smell and co-workers have gossiped about them for the last few months. Maybe… well, there’s lots of circumstances that might lead me to get real honest with someone.

If it’s done with me - I look at it like - wow, someone actually cares enough to risk our friendship to let me know something really personal that’s going to hurt - but probably enable me to get through life a little easier… I’m all for that.

I have one question for you: are you at ease when your friends drop the truth on you as you are with telling them the unadorned truth?

I’m guilty of being stuck sometimes because of imagined limitations. A good night’s sleep helps me get unstuck, but so does taking my laptop and going to a different location in the house or to a coffee shop to work.

Making small changes is the secret to big success. Trying to make huge changes all at once is too overwhelming, and in the case of such things as rock climbing, foolhardy.

In my experience when women cut their hair extremely short or go bald it’s a signal to the world that they are no longer putting up with any sh– and are living life on their own terms. For reasons similar to why people shunned you, they get fewer looks of the old kind and more new looks.

This is a powerful quote and life-saving concept. Actively engaged in living the best life possible is the only way to be truly happy.

Thanks for sharing this.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t like to reach a larger audience (that is why I write a blog too, after all), but it’s not the end of the world (no pun intended) if it doesn’t happen.

In my opinion, I think the better question is “why do you want to change the world” rather than how. Once that is answered, you can work on executing your plan. It seems like too many people jump on a bandwagon of changing the world without ever thinking what exactly they are doing, or for what purpose. After all, in the grand scheme of things, solving global warming could be as trivial as your idea for a video game, if viewed from a relative universal perspective - sorry if that sounds a little cynical! :)

Either way, I just just found your blog and love your posts - they always keep me thinking! Keep up the great work!

Your experience with attaining the shamatha jhanas in 10 months is inspiring. My concentration tends to suck no matter how much I practice it. Have you been on many retreats?

I hope you don’t mind if I add my opinions to your article here. I’d love to engage with you in a dialogue, from the practitioner’s perspective, free from any dogma.

There are many enlightened beings now and in the past–that is, if you have an attainable model of enlightenment. Unfortunately Westerners don’t typically speak so openly of their attainments, which leads people to think that there aren’t any enlightened folks, or that it means something that it doesn’t. Daniel Ingram is enlightened. So is Jack Kornfield. And they will both say that they are.

But any state can’t possibly be “it,” because states change, just like sensations arise and pass. This includes states of deep peace, complete absorption, bodily bliss, desire, desirelessness, and equanimity. This includes all 8 shamatha jhanas. The jhanas arise, stay for awhile, and then go away. This is deeply unsatisfying, no? Is there anything that lasts?

I think there is, based on what other practitioners and dharma friends have told me. It seems to me that enlightenment as a model that’s actually attainable is more of a permanent identity shift than anything else. There’s also a parami model that posits the goal as more being about the development of good qualities, which I like as a way of living, but you are right in that the development of concentration and insight are not necessarily precluded by the development of morality.

Realization is beyond any state whatsoever. It is a permanent change, but not a permanent state. It’s a trait, not a state. Yes, there are highs and lows after enlightenment. Yes, enlightened people bodyboard, have sex, get angry, and everything else. Really it’s easier to speak of what enlightenment isn’t than what it is. I highly recommend reading Daniel Ingram’s wonderful article on what being enlightened isn’t here: http://interactivebuddha.com/arahats.shtml

I also encourage you to check out the Buddhist Geeks podcast, read Daniel Ingram’s book, or come over to the Dharma Overground and discuss these types of practice concerns with other hardcore dharma practioners like myself. These questions have been covered again and again by young, dedicated meditators and seekers like yourself.

In my opinion and from what I’ve read from Ingram and Kornfield, the jhanas are wonderful, but don’t necessarily lead to insight or a fundamental shift of identity to that of no-self. Concentraion is different from insight, although the two tend to merge together and depend on each other to some extent. Great work with mastering the jhanas though! My concentration tends to suck compared to my equanimity no matter how much I practice.

Enlightenment doesn’t necessarily answer questions of existential purpose either. Your intellectual-philosophical framework has a lot to do with how you answer that question. The stage of insight you are in also colors your answer to the question. This article seems to have been written from a dark night stage. When I’m cycling through the dark night, I too question the meaning of everything.

By the way, I encourage your questioning of all the teachings. There’s a lot of bullshit dogma in old texts, and especially in the east. Especially the morality of buddhist writings is usually stuck at a conventional stage. Western academic philosophy does a MUCH better job at that.