Recommendation: Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha-Revised and Expanded Edition by Daniel M. Ingram
Soh

Comments by Soh:

I shared MCTB with John Tan back in 2006. I was quite skeptical of his book due to his claims at that time (putting the title 'Arahat' on the front cover of his book!), given that Daniel is claiming quite a high attainment (and generally, there is a taboo to claiming any attainments in the first place). John read the contents and got back to me, and informed me that "his understanding is thorough.. ...you should take this self-proclaimed arahat seriously. (he) got liao4 (substance)", "he is truly enlightened". And he also suggested in some way that, Daniel was the one with the most clear description of enlightenment he has seen (at that time). Afterwards I read the whole book and took it seriously. It is a very practical guide and full of great advises, although the path presented was not the exact path I took (I went into self-inquiry and awareness teachings first that led to Self-Realization, but the further insights into non-dual luminosity and anatta converge later at third and fourth path of MCTB).

(His proclamation of arahantship is a controversial topic I shall not get into. But I should add that it is not just him who claims arahantship, but his teacher from the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage who himself considers himself to be an arahant also confirmed Daniel's "arahantship" and asked him to teach. I shall not comment on how this lines up with traditional criterias, but just to present a bit of his story.)



Nikolai posted:



Revised 2nd Edition Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha- the author Daniel Ingram has given free access to it.

The original edition back in 2008 served me too well as a game changer for permanent perceptual brain changes.

Regardless of any initial feelings his outright claims triggered in me, the information inside this book was pivotal in me ceasing to spin wheels in my previous practice to then fabricate a gapless practice that quickly led to the permanent and extremely positive brain changes that I’ve incessantly gone on about in this blog over the past 8 years. The book that gave birth to the Pragmatic Dharma Movement. Nuff said.

Highly recommended.


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The Wind is Blowing, Blowing is the Wind
Soh
I wrote in 2013:



V: "...there is somewhere a One Thinker (of thought)"

Me: "A thinker is thinking a thought" is simply a construct of a faulty framework and view of inherent and dualistic self. Just like language is structured in a way that it often requires subject-action-object predicates, making us to say things like "the wind is blowing", "I am thinking a thought"... but is there really a truly existing and independent thing called "the wind" that "is blowing" or is "wind" and "blowing" simply two words referring to a single activity? Likewise is there truly an "I" that is "thinking, a thought" or is "I", "thinking", and "thought" three different labels imputed on a single activity? Seer, seeing and seen are just a conventional view... they only appear as separate, independent existences due to ignorance but such a view does not tally with reality.

River is flowing doesn't mean there is an independent thing called "river" that is "flowing", it actually means river IS the flowing and apart from the flowing there is no river... just conventional labels applied to a single activity. Wind is blowing means wind IS the blowing and apart from blowing there is no other wind... seeing the scenery means seeing IS the seen/scenery and apart from that seen/scenery there is no other seeing (nor a separate seer), there is no other consciousness apart from the specific manifest experience - seen/heard/sensed/smelled/touched/cognized. Mere conventions applied to a single activity, appearing to co-locate with each other in an independent and separate manner due to a distorted view that causes us to misperceive reality in a fundamental way, just like mis-perceiving a rope as a snake. Once we see that there isn't anything that 'nouns' point to than pure action/activity, then the verb alone is sufficient - 'blowing', 'flowing', 'thinking', 'seeing' - which is none other than the seen, thought, etc. There is no 'you', 'seer', 'thinker' apart from seeing which is sight, hearing which is sound, etc.

When we directly contemplate, investigate and challenge our view of 'seer-seeing-seen' and see that in the seen is merely the seen - that seeing is simply the seen and seen is just the seeing without any seer apart, that there is no other consciousness apart from the 'mere seen/mere cognized', a permanent quantum shift of perception takes place. When this is directly realized in one's experience and not merely understood inferentially, any delusion of agency (doer, controller, feeler), subject-object/perceiver-perceived gaps, divisions are seen through, the gapless/undivided self-clarity of experience without an agent, center or boundaries simply shines vividly in its raw, direct, unfiltered purity, and just that is free and liberating in itself. Later comes this seeing - the mind, the body, the breathing, the environment, in seamless exertion!

V: "Yes... only verbs... This is a great pointer!!!! Wow!!! Thank you Soh! I will sit with that pointer! It is so powerful! It is blowing my "mind" ! How could there ever be a story only with verbs? Yes! Yes! That's it! A verb can't "build" a self. Thank you so much!!!!!"
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Falling Away of Self
Soh


In this video, Adyashanti and Susanne Marie discusses the transition from Unity Consciousness and Divine Self (I AM and One Mind phase) phase to No-Self. On another note. I just wrote to our dear Jax after he remarked how rare spiritual realization is: "...when i first realised anatta i was so disappointed that only so few in the world realised anatta, i wrote about it
in my ebook
and i lost confidence in the various traditions in the world and was a bit disheartened. bcos i have already been through those insights and seen beyond that
but if u look deeper, its there in the texts of the various traditions whether dzogchen, mahamudra or zen or theravada. just that few modern teachers are realised.
i recently said to someone that among those with spiritual realizations, maybe 80% are I AM, 10% are one mind, only 2% or less are about anatta and emptiness
which is why i always share the contents of spiritual teachers i find are clear about anatta and emptiness because they are rare jems that need to be brought to light in the spiritual marketplace"

The purpose is not to brag about this or that realization but to point out the rarity of this and therefore treasure it. It is the path to liberation.
p.s. not that any sort of realization is a finality! It's really just another beginning of endless practice-actualization...
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