Wisdom Path and Overcoming Inherency

 

    Yin Ling

    oonrdpSestlf208mmliti0h324g676m7hh6163u8i6h4hm16ht2l0hc1817m 
    Buddhism is a wisdom path.
    By saying it’s a wisdom path it means,
    We use our intelligence to see how does reality works. And then the suffering will unravel itself.
    That is the beauty of Buddhism. That is why I am so attracted to Buddhism, only because it is so elegant and so clever. It aims at the jugular.
    I don’t like to faff around.
    If there’s no diagnosis how r u going to treat?
    When one ask me “what fetters are you trying to remove?”
    Or
    “Everyday I tell myself to ungrasp and I am improving..”
    I know that person don’t really understand how buddhism works.
    You cannot remove fetters.
    And you cannot ungrasp if you still hold onto a self view. The self is the grasping. The inherent existence of phenomena is the grasping.
    The only thing one can do is to learn to see what is the problem with our view.
    Educate ourselves, what is this ignorance.. the Buddha Says it’s the first of the 12 links that propel suffering, so what is it???
    When a person really see what is ignorance, really see the mistake in our perception, suddenly they will wake up.
    Even more amazingly, their whole perception will change itself. Feels like a new reconfigured nervous system tbh.
    The fetters will drop one by one by itself.
    The grasping will unravel itself.
    Slowly. Across lifetimes.
    That is why in the Pali tradition, all the fetters are dropped after one see “no-self”, then from gross to fine the fetters are gone.
    In the Mahayana one reach first bhumi at “path of seeing”, seeing what? Seeing truth! emptiness! Then the others parami are perfected slowly. Afflictive obscurations followed by cognitive obscurations dropped as one progress along the bhumis.
    Ehipassiko, means, come and see.
    Not come and drop your fetters.
    Before seeing, all are just moralistic self control and suppression. Jhana is temporary suppression too.
    So you understand how the zen masters never ask another one “what fetters have you drop?” Lol.
    They ask “have you pass Mu”.?
    Do you know what is the sound of one hand clapping?
    It’s an extremely beautiful and powerful wisdom path.
    Buddhism says, we suffer because we are seeing it all wrong.
    So we need to get down to the heart of the matter!
    We must practice elegantly.. the whole path to enlightenment, to the end of suffering is written down .. word by word.
    Enlightened people are around.
    Ppl like The Dalai Lama teaches with his 100% effort.
    Don’t underestimate your mind to able to see the end of suffering
    and don’t waste this human life,
    Carefully find and learn from compassionate teachers who teach the wisdom path..
    practice with wisdom.
    There’s no other way really.

    Comments


    Jason Lee
    Well written. Spot on. Sadhu.


    • John Tan
    Integrating wisdom into our daily life must also include seeing how "ignorance" in a slippery manner seeps into our thinking mechanism.
    For example,
    It is not uncommon that when we experienced "presence" and "clarity", we naturally conclude that if without this luminous presence, then there is no everything.
    Do take note that if we just stop there and really believe it, then we are habouring "essential and inherent pattern of thinking". Instead, also understand that without everything, there is "no luminous presence" either.
    So keep the presence and experience, but refine the "view".

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 Yin Ling

John Tan ooo thank you. Yes. Without consciousness there’s nothing manifest. There’s no external world.. just some very magic dependent process going on.

Reply1h

John Tan

Yin Ling likewise there is no "internal world" too for whatever originates in dependence is free from internality and externality, coming and going...etc free from all extremes. That is y it is important to see dependent arising until it is in our blood and bones then mind that grasps extremes (include life and death) can liberate.

Reply1hEdited

Yin Ling

John Tan ok! Thank you😁

Reply59m

Chappell Isom

https://youtu.be/eye33kD4uSI

Breaking the Chains of Suffering -- Fetters 4 & 5 with Kevin Schanilec

YOUTUBE.COM

Breaking the Chains of Suffering -- Fetters 4 & 5 with Kevin Schanilec

Breaking the Chains of Suffering -- Fetters 4 & 5 with Kevin Schanilec

Reply43m

Yin Ling

Chappell Isom I haven’t watch this but I understand Kevin doesn’t refer to fetters like how the Buddha refers to fetters. I generally try to abide by the tradition closely for best results haha.

Have you watch? What is the 4th and 5th fetter?

Reply20m

Chappell Isom

There’s no contradiction between cutting fetters and ehipassiko. Why would there be? A path of freedom is learning to unfetter oneself.

Reply41m

Yin Ling

Chappell Isom one need to actually see the insight directly before the fetters can drop.

That’s why I wrote the above.

That’s why we have stream entry, path of seeing, before any “perfections”.

Before insight, in Buddhism, you cannot even call it perfection. It’s mundane virtues.

Reply18m

Chappell Isom

Yin Ling absolutely! Clear seeing is paramount. The only game in town. I have to constantly remind myself. Thank you for the powerful reminder and your posts; they fire me up.

Reply13mEdited


 

    Yin Ling
    I don’t understand why some ppl want to create more confusion for others when dharma is already so degenerate.
    Why don’t they name their own system after themselves ? That should be easier.
    Any good intention is not an excuse really.


    • Soh Wei Yu
    They misinterpreted the meaning of self view and the meaning of “the conceit of I Am”


    • Soh Wei Yu
    They think the vedantic self is conceit of i am
    Actually it is precisely self view
    Cos its view of inherent existence


    • Soh Wei Yu
    Even a sotapanna demolishes such self view in anatman realisation
    There is no doubt about buddhadharma after that


    • Soh Wei Yu
    Just impersonality or nondual alone is definitely insufficient to see the truth and uniqueness of buddhadharma.. why buddha teach dharma as anatman and dependent origination and not atman brahman


    • Chappell Isom
    Soh Wei Yu Soh, when you share this article, I wonder, do you believe Ingram, Kevin, Angelo, etc. have fully realized the Buddha’s teachings? Freedom from suffering? Isn’t that what matters the most despite the interpretations?


    • Yin Ling
    Soh Wei Yu yes we have to remember Buddha is teaching a group of extremely intelligent Brahmans during his time in the Pali tradition. Sariputra and moggalana are Brahmans. They already know brahmanic view. It is the whole point of why Buddha comes out and risk his life teaching.
    But not that only. Do they seriously think themselves Arahant with that few insights? Really? 😂🤦🏻‍♀️ I don’t know. It’s laughable for me.
    It’s dunning Kruger. Must study more these ppl.


    • Soh Wei Yu
    Chappell Isom To me all these are stream entry area. Not Arahantship, not overcoming of cyclic rebirth.


    • Soh Wei Yu
    John TanFriday, January 23, 2015 at 6:13pm UTC+08
    u cannot choose and pick what u like about liberation and enlightenment. Saying one has actualized anatta and uprooted self and attained arahatship is not what u see ppl declaring here and there. I have told u many times what [these people] realized is only at most stream entry. U r talking about liberation and freedom from cyclical existence and therefore u r referring to arahatship.

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    • Chappell Isom
      Soh Wei Yu thank you Soh. I recognize I have resistance to the belief that freedom from rebirth takes lifetimes. I feel like I hang my hat on it being more possible than not to fully free oneself in one human lifetime. I thought that’s what the Buddha taught; 7 days, 7 months, 7 years, ya know?


      • Soh Wei Yu
      Chappell Isom Yes. But he was teaching that particular teaching to monks who dedicate full time to retreats and practice. Their dedication to practice is not like us. They spend months and years fully practicing and meditating full time.


      • Soh Wei Yu
      In Dzogchen it is also said that you can attain rainbow body or Buddhahood in 12 years (or a particular number of years). But this is for those who dedicate full time to retreats and practice.


      • Soh Wei Yu
      Realistically, Malcolm says, most of us will not be able to attain Buddhahood in this life. Although we can practice and hopefully attain liberation in bardo. Or have a rebirth in a dharma family to continue.


      • Soh Wei Yu
      A good thing about stream entry is that you are assured that you will attain liberation in a maximum of 7 lifetimes. There is a Dzogchen form of stream entry too, which happens even before first bhumi/stream entry, but that is something you will have to find out for yourself through learning the teachings if you are interested. In Mahayana, the Mahayana stream entry is first bhumi which also comes with the ending of the first three fetters, the end to lower births (meaning only births in human and deva realms like a sotapanna) and so on.

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Comments


Yin Ling

Senodrsotpaa8adi5844yht30  0 ltY:r1t1hci4ta5Pu74se3gg98lelM1 
Sometimes when I practice very hard,
I have some doubts if it works.
You doubt yourself a lot at times along the path.
Coz it’s such a long path.
Sitting in half lotus despite the cold,
Sitting in half lotus during Fever,
headache
Sit in my clinic room
Sit a 30 mins while waiting for my delivery,
Wake at 4am so that I can sit before work.
It just takes that one ☝️
middle of the night when the body is still sick, walking groggily go to the bathroom 🚽 , not on bit of dharma on my mind,
When I half open my eyes to see the whole bathroom in translucent, holographic splendour without a shred of solidity,
my whole minds nature gleaming luminously back at itself,
The whole dharma right there without a single doubt.
Holy shit.
Trust me,
When your toilet turns empty.
The whole world can promise you everything glitter and gold
but your faith in the dharma won’t be shakable.


    • William Lim
    Holy shit indeed 😂


    Yin Ling
    William Lim i went to do number 1 not 2. 😂


    • William Lim
    Yin Ling I would think number 2 more effective... need more one-pointedness focus 😂

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    • Bliss Rizal
    True, I had once nice blissful quiet moment with a glimpse of 'something open' in me when I'm also at cr. This gives me learning that ANYWHERE can practice. 😉


    Yin Ling
    Bliss Rizal with very very diligent practice and with the right insight, all glimpses will become moment to moment experiences all the time. 🙂
    Whatever Gautama has talked about.. he hasn’t exaggerate anything. He has downplayed it all 😂 it will shock the pants off anyone who actually dares to see what he’s trying to show.




    • Anna Mukherjee
    Thank you for sharing your practice. Very inspiring and motivating 🙏




    • Chappell Isom
    What fetters are you working to cut?


    Yin Ling
    Chappell Isom haha ignorance.
    I want to cut the root of all fetters. 😜

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    Dogen's Impermanence is Buddha-Nature

    [10/3/23, 6:40:43 PM] John Tan: You and Andre are talking about philosophical concepts of permanence and impermanence.   Dogen is not talking about that.  What Dogen meant by "impermanence is buddha nature" is telling us to authenticate Buddha nature directly in the very transient phenomena -- the mountains, the trees, the sunshine, the drumbeats of footsteps, not some super awareness in wonderland.
    [10/3/23, 6:41:40 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Oic..
    [10/3/23, 6:43:15 PM] Soh Wei Yu: I didnt talk with andre lol
    [10/3/23, 6:43:21 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Anna was talking with andre
    [10/3/23, 6:44:24 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Actually what dogen said is pretty obvious imo even after initial anatta
    [10/3/23, 6:44:32 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Wonder why mipham didnt emphasize that point
    [10/3/23, 6:44:43 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Maybe he did with the rongzom appearances are divine
    [10/3/23, 6:44:49 PM] John Tan: Different praxis

     

    ..........

     

    p.s. some recent quotes I shared:

    • Soh Wei Yu
      Dogen does not accept an unchanging Brahman. Being a Buddhist teacher he refutes an unchanging atman-brahman:
      As my mentor Thusness/John Tan said in 2007 about Dogen, “Dogen is a great Zen master that has penetrated deeply into a very deep level of anatman.”, “Read about Dogen… he is truly a great Zen master… ...[Dogen is] one of the very few Zen Masters that truly knows.”, “Whenever we read the most basic teachings of Buddha, it is most profound. Don't ever say we understand it. Especially when it comes to Dependent Origination, which is the most profound truth in Buddhism*. Never say that we understand it or have experienced it. Even after a few years of experience in non-duality, we can't understand it. The one great Zen master that came closest to it is Dogen, that sees temporality as buddha nature, that see transients as living truth of dharma and the full manifestation of buddha nature.”
      "When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine many things with a confused mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. But when you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that there is nothing that has unchanging self.
      • ⁠Dogen"
      “Mind as mountains, rivers, and the earth is nothing other than mountains, rivers, and the earth. There are no additional waves or surf, no wind or smoke. Mind as the sun, the moon, and the stars is nothing other than the sun, the moon, and the stars.”
      • ⁠Dogen
      “For Dōgen, Buddha-nature or Busshō (佛性) is the nature of reality and all Being. In the Shōbōgenzō, Dōgen writes that “whole-being (Existence itself) is the Buddha-nature” and that even inanimate things (grass, trees, etc.) are an expression of Buddha-nature. He rejected any view that saw Buddha-nature as a permanent, substantial inner self or ground. Dōgen held that Buddha-nature was “vast emptiness”, “the world of becoming” and that “impermanence is in itself Buddha-nature”.[23] According to Dōgen: Therefore, the very impermanency of grass and tree, thicket and forest is the Buddha nature. The very impermanency of men and things, body and mind, is the Buddha nature. Nature and lands, mountains and rivers, are impermanent because they are the Buddha nature. Supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddha nature.[24] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dōgen#Buddha-nature“
      Continued in my next post
      Dōgen - Wikipedia
      EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
      Dōgen - Wikipedia
      Dōgen - Wikipedia

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      Soh Wei Yu
      From Bendowa, by Zen Master Dogen
      Question Ten:
      Some have said: Do not concern yourself about birth-and-death. There is a way to promptly rid yourself of birth-and-death. It is by grasping the reason for the eternal immutability of the 'mind-nature.' The gist of it is this: although once the body is born it proceeds inevitably to death, the mind-nature never perishes. Once you can realize that the mind-nature, which does not transmigrate in birth-and-death, exists in your own body, you make it your fundamental nature. Hence the body, being only a temporary form, dies here and is reborn there without end, yet the mind is immutable, unchanging throughout past, present, and future. To know this is to be free from birth-and-death. By realizing this truth, you put a final end to the transmigratory cycle in which you have been turning. When your body dies, you enter the ocean of the original nature. When you return to your origin in this ocean, you become endowed with the wondrous virtue of the Buddha-patriarchs. But even if you are able to grasp this in your present life, because your present physical existence embodies erroneous karma from prior lives, you are not the same as the sages.
      "Those who fail to grasp this truth are destined to turn forever in the cycle of birth-and-death. What is necessary, then, is simply to know without delay the meaning of the mind-nature's immutability. What can you expect to gain from idling your entire life away in purposeless sitting?"
      What do you think of this statement? Is it essentially in accord with the Way of the Buddhas and patriarchs?
      Answer 10:
      You have just expounded the view of the Senika heresy. It is certainly not the Buddha Dharma.
      According to this heresy, there is in the body a spiritual intelligence. As occasions arise this intelligence readily discriminates likes and dislikes and pros and cons, feels pain and irritation, and experiences suffering and pleasure - it is all owing to this spiritual intelligence. But when the body perishes, this spiritual intelligence separates from the body and is reborn in another place. While it seems to perish here, it has life elsewhere, and thus is immutable and imperishable. Such is the standpoint of the Senika heresy.
      But to learn this view and try to pass it off as the Buddha Dharma is more foolish than clutching a piece of broken roof tile supposing it to be a golden jewel. Nothing could compare with such a foolish, lamentable delusion. Hui-chung of the T'ang dynasty warned strongly against it. Is it not senseless to take this false view - that the mind abides and the form perishes - and equate it to the wondrous Dharma of the Buddhas; to think, while thus creating the fundamental cause of birth-and-death, that you are freed from birth-and-death? How deplorable! Just know it for a false, non-Buddhist view, and do not lend a ear to it.
      I am compelled by the nature of the matter, and more by a sense of compassion, to try to deliver you from this false view. You must know that the Buddha Dharma preaches as a matter of course that body and mind are one and the same, that the essence and the form are not two. This is understood both in India and in China, so there can be no doubt about it. Need I add that the Buddhist doctrine of immutability teaches that all things are immutable, without any differentiation between body and mind. The Buddhist teaching of mutability states that all things are mutable, without any differentiation between essence and form. In view of this, how can anyone state that the body perishes and the mind abides? It would be contrary to the true Dharma.
      Beyond this, you must also come to fully realize that birth-and-death is in and of itself nirvana. Buddhism never speaks of nirvana apart from birth-and-death. Indeed, when someone thinks that the mind, apart from the body, is immutable, not only does he mistake it for Buddha-wisdom, which is free from birth-and-death, but the very mind that makes such a discrimination is not immutable, is in fact even then turning in birth-and-death. A hopeless situation, is it not?
      You should ponder this deeply: since the Buddha Dharma has always maintained the oneness of body and mind, why, if the body is born and perishes, would the mind alone, separated from the body, not be born and die as well? If at one time body and mind were one, and at another time not one, the preaching of the Buddha would be empty and untrue. Moreover, in thinking that birth-and-death is something we should turn from, you make the mistake of rejecting the Buddha Dharma itself. You must guard against such thinking.
      Understand that what Buddhists call the Buddhist doctrine of the mind-nature, the great and universal aspect encompassing all phenomena, embraces the entire universe, without differentiating between essence and form, or concerning itself with birth or death. There is nothing - enlightenment and nirvana included - that is not the mind-nature. All dharmas, the "myriad forms dense and close" of the universe - are alike in being this one Mind. All are included without exception. All those dharmas, which serves as "gates" or entrances to the Way, are the same as one Mind. For a Buddhist to preach that there is no disparity between these dharma-gates indicates that he understands the mind-nature.
      In this one Dharma [one Mind], how could there be any differentiate between body and mind, any separation of birth-and-death and nirvana? We are all originally children of the Buddha, we should not listen to madmen who spout non-Buddhist views.
      The Heart of Dogen's Shobogenzo
      BOOKS.GOOGLE.COM.SG
      The Heart of Dogen's Shobogenzo
      The Heart of Dogen's Shobogenzo

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      Alberto Befani
      Soh Wei Yu thank you so much, this passage is so important for my understanding of Dogen! 🙏🏼




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    1st Bhumi is not the end, Path of Meditation

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/AwakeningToReality/posts/8991712107536806/?__cft__[0]=AZWx_q39OS3pPpA1fb2uEr7gwuda8hx7vARjR2akAXwqHrcSkkgHZcGYukuSh4a_NnAgtWf_jdS8hTVk3oq8qK7W0DWLEwMncPkD1dVEsHDja-h4kq5s_Z6fPWLqxcfDoiy7MXTjPcVFsbLoFclDPr5AF_TeuBxOBRo2L-xmhBTUcRZS8XIzdB_BFicodszMWKc&__cft__[1]=AZWx_q39OS3pPpA1fb2uEr7gwuda8hx7vARjR2akAXwqHrcSkkgHZcGYukuSh4a_NnAgtWf_jdS8hTVk3oq8qK7W0DWLEwMncPkD1dVEsHDja-h4kq5s_Z6fPWLqxcfDoiy7MXTjPcVFsbLoFclDPr5AF_TeuBxOBRo2L-xmhBTUcRZS8XIzdB_BFicodszMWKc&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R]-R

     

    Soh Wei YuAdmin
    See Jamgon Mipham’s explanations:
    "PATHS TO ENLIGHTENMENT
    What follows is a short explanation of the way Mipam presents the structure of the Buddhist path to awakening. According to him, we can only go so far in the Lesser Vehicle, realizing the lack of a personal self based on its path, but without the Great Vehicle, we will not come to fully realize the lack of self (that is, emptiness) with respect to all phenomena. In other words, those in the Lesser Vehicle realize only part of emptiness (the lack of a personal self) but do not realize the entire scope of emptiness. They hang on to an ultimate foundation of reality (the fundamental elements of reality, or dharmas), whereas there is actually no such foundation. Therefore, according to Mipam, one cannot become a buddha based solely on the Lesser Vehicle path; becoming a buddha is the result of the Great Vehicle. Nevertheless, realizing the lack of a personal self is enough to free us from samsara, because in doing so, we relinquish the obscurations of the afflictive emotions. The afflictive emotions can be included within the “three poisons” of attachment, aversion, and delusion.
    These afflictive obscurations function to prevent liberation, and they are tied in with the apprehension of a personal self. Based on the notion of such a self, we become attached (to me and mine) and averse (to what is other). This notion of self keeps the wheel of samsara rolling, because it perpetuates the distorted framework through which we selfishly act out attachment and aversion, thus sowing the seeds of suffering. Afflictive obscurations have two aspects: a gross, imputed aspect and a more subtle, innate aspect. According to Mipam, the imputed aspects are relinquished on the first “ground” (Tib. sa, Skt. bhūmi) when you directly perceive the suchness of reality. This experiential realization is called “the path of seeing.”
    The imputed aspects of the afflictive obscurations are learned and not inborn like the innate aspects. Imputed aspects involve distortions that are explicitly conceptual, as opposed to the perceptual distortions that comprise the innate aspects. The difference between the imputed and innate aspects can be understood as something like the difference between software and hardware: the innate aspects are embedded more deeply in one’s mind-stream and are thus more difficult to eliminate. Imputed ego-clinging refers to imputing qualities to the self that are not there—namely, apprehending the self as a singular, permanent, and independent entity. This is overcome on the first bodhisattva ground in a direct, nonconceptual experience of reality that is the culminating insight of analysis. Nevertheless, the more subtle, innate aspect of ego-clinging hangs on.
    The innate ego-clinging, as the bare sense of self that is imputed on the basis of the five aggregates, is more difficult to remove. Rather than construing qualities to the self such as singularity or permanence, it is a more subtle feeling of simply “I am” when, for instance, we wake up in the morning. This innate sense of self is a deeply rooted, instinctual habit. It thus involves more than just imputed identity; it is a deeper experiential orientation of distorted subjectivity. Although analysis into the nature of the self paves the way for it to be overcome, it cannot fall away by analysis alone. Rather, it has to be relinquished through cultivating the path of meditation. According to Mipam, there are no innate aspects of the afflictive obscurations left on the eighth ground. However, the afflictive emotions are only one of two types of obscurations, the other being cognitive obscurations.
    Cognitive obscurations are nothing less than conceptuality: the threefold conceptualization of agent, object, and action. Conceptuality is tied in to apprehending a self of phenomena, which includes mistaking phenomena as real, objectifying phenomena, and simply perceiving dualistically. Such conceptualization serves to obstruct omniscience. Based on the Great Vehicle, these cognitive obscurations can be completely relinquished; thereby, the result of the Great Vehicle path culminates in not merely escaping samsara, as in the Lesser Vehicle, but in becoming an omniscient buddha. According to Mipam, up to the seventh ground, the realization (of the twofold selflessness) and abandonment (of the twofold obscurations) are the same in the Great and Lesser Vehicles.
    As with the Great Vehicle, he maintains that accomplishing the path of the Lesser Vehicle entails the realization of the selflessness of phenomena, to see that phenomena are empty. Those who accomplish the Lesser Vehicle path also realize the selflessness of phenomena, because their realization of emptiness with respect to a person is one instance of realizing the emptiness of phenomena. The final realization of the Lesser Vehicle path, however, is incomplete. Mipam compares it to taking a small gulp of the water of the ocean: we can say that those who realize emptiness in the Lesser Vehicle have drunk the water of the ocean, just not all of it.150 The final realization of the bodhisattva’s path in the Great Vehicle, however, is the full realization of emptiness, like drinking the entire ocean.
    - Jamgon Mipam: His Life and Teachings"
    Labels: Nirvana |

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        1d

    Anna Mukherjee
    Soh Wei Yu Sorry , I've been peeking on this conversation. Could you please clarify something that seems contrary for me?
    In the below quote
    Thusness/John Tan seems to be reffering to post anatta practice:
    "After this insight, one must also be clear of the way of anatta and the path of practice. (...)
    It does not mean because there is no-self, there is nothing to practice; rather it is because there is no self, there is only ignorance and the chain of afflicted activities. Practice therefore is about overcoming ignorance and these chain of afflictive activities. There is no agent but there is attention. Therefore practice is about wisdom, vipassana, mindfulness and concentration. If there is no mastery over these practices, there is no liberation. (...)
    However based on Jamgon Mipham’s explanations, it seems that it is enough to realise anatta to cut off all ignorance and the chain of afflicted activities?
    "PATHS TO ENLIGHTENMENT
    Nevertheless, realizing the lack of a personal self is enough to free us from samsara, because in doing so, we relinquish the obscurations of the afflictive emotions. The afflictive emotions can be included within the “three poisons” of attachment, aversion, and delusion.
    John Tan's quote makes much more sense to me, but perhaps I'm missing something from Mipham’s explanation 🤔

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    Soh Wei YuAdmin
    Anna Mukherjee You misunderstood. Realizing anatta is only stream entry ( https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/comments/igored/insight_buddhism_a_reconsideration_of_the_meaning/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf%20 ) or 1st bhumi (Mahayana stream entry) instead. For 1st bhumi it is the realization of twofold emptiness.
    John Tan wrote the 7 stages back in 2006 (updated in 2009). He realised both anatta and twofold emptiness for decades, two decades. But he made tremendous progress since, and even last year had further breakthroughs which he attributed to his 3-4 hours of meditation per day (or more). This is consistent with what Jamgon Mipham (and all other Buddhist masters starting from Buddha) have said, the deeper obscurations/afflictions require the path of meditation to overcome.
    r/streamentry on Reddit: [insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism
    REDDIT.COM
    r/streamentry on Reddit: [insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism
    r/streamentry on Reddit: [insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism

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    Soh Wei YuAdmin
    1st bhumi (emptiness realization) is not the end. There are 10, or 13, or 16 bhumis (depending on which tradition and scheme) to Buddhahood. Many stages.

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    Soh Wei YuAdmin
    " Nevertheless, realizing the lack of a personal self is enough to free us from samsara, because in doing so, we relinquish the obscurations of the afflictive emotions. The afflictive emotions can be included within the “three poisons” of attachment, aversion, and delusion." -- do read carefully, although the realization of emptiness (twofold emptiness: emptiness of self/Self and emptiness of all phenomena) is present in 1st bhumi, the emptiness of a self is only fully actualized totally to obliterate all afflictions at the 8th bhumi. This is explained in Jamgon Mipham's text above but perhaps not elucidated very clearly.
    At this point of the 8th bhumi you are also similar to a sravaka arahat in terms of overcoming all afflictions and cutting off cyclic rebirth (there may be some other differences between them but I digress). But a Bodhisattva proceeds on to put an end to the second obscuration through the full actualization of the emptiness of all phenomena (as opposed to merely emptiness of personal self), the cognitive/knowledge obscurations that blocks the omniscience of Buddhahood. This is accomplished at the point of Buddhahood.
    https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Two_obscurations
    Two obscurations - Rigpa Wiki
    RIGPAWIKI.ORG
    Two obscurations - Rigpa Wiki
    Two obscurations - Rigpa Wiki

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    Soh Wei YuAdmin
    Anna Mukherjee 1st bhumi realization is this, according to Mipham:
    "Then, at the time of the supreme quality on the path of joining, one realizes that since the perceived does not exist, neither does the perceiver. Right after this, the truth of suchness, which is free from dualistic fixation, is directly realized. This is said to be the attainment of the first ground."
    Jamgom Mipham Rinpoche

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    Soh Wei YuAdmin
    At which point, you put an end to the first three fetters (similar to Sravaka stream enterer), view of a self, skeptical doubts, attachment to rites and rituals. And you cut off the possibility of rebirth in the lower realms and can henceforth only be reborn in human or deva realms.
    Mipham: "The Bodhisattvas on this ground have a direct realization of the nonexistence of the self. This enables them to abandon the three fetters: the view of the transitory composite, the belief in the superiority of their ethical discipline, and doubt—together with all the obscurations eliminated on the path of seeing..... ....Birth in the lower realms is no longer possible It is said that when Bodhisattvas reach the first ground, all paths whereby they might fall into the lower realms are closed."
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