First of all thanks for all your content over the years.
On this meditation topic, I suggest you check out the waking up app by Sam Harris. In the app, he and many other teachers teach meditation and have many conversations about enlightenment and awakening, all from a non-religious secular point of view (as you would expect from Sam). Perhaps you already have tried waking up, perhaps you don't. But anyway I'll put this 30-day trial link in case you (or anyone seeing this) are interested: https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SC6FBE7C0
I talk about waking up because Sam and other teachers say explicitly how it is possible (not easy or highly probable necessarily) to have an awakening (enlightenment) experience without expending months or years of meditating. In a talk (https://dynamic.wakingup.com/course/91b9d5?share_id=1200ADAA&source=content%20share) you can find in the app he talks about his experience in silent retreat meditating and not getting this enlightenment thing, and after going through different Buddhist traditions he got an instruction to look for the "self" that let him glimpse this enlightenment thing and understand it better. And in a way, he believes that you don't need that hard training to see the benefits of meditation in your daily life.
Hi Joseph, have you been on a vipassana retreat? I have been thinking about goint to one all this year and your last 3 post are helping me to decide what to do.
It’s crazy how similar our paths of life have been. Whenever I come across a subject and research it, it seems you have a post on it soon after. Weird but funny.
You got me hooked, thank you for your amazing work. You literally changed my life (or at least you are the one who gave me information I needed to have).
Great post! Apparently Buddhism is no less susceptible to dogma than anything else. I think it's interesting that a lot of teachers claim to have the "proper" technique or path to enlightenment. I found an old blog archive that you might find interesting which lists out examples of certain meditation teachers and traditions demonizing or shunning the Jhanas: https://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/criticism/demonizing.htm
So, the tricky thing for me is that a lot of these teachers and retreats tend to hide behind the curtain of "tradition." They can be quite unreasonable but you just brush it off because "hey it's a meditation retreat and that's how it is." For example, I love the Goenka retreats and have had some life-changing experiences on my 10 day silent sits.
BUT, in the case of the Goenka Vipassana retreats, the teachers basically dodge any questions you have. I have, on more than a couple of instances, mentioned Jhanas and asked more specific questions around the suttas, but told "this isn't important, just focus on the technique." I can understand where they are coming from, and this blind faith and acceptance in a teacher is probably how things used to be a long time ago. But that shit just doesn't fly anymore.
It's easy to accept this because I'd like to trust that these bald-headed monks who have dedicated their lives to their practice know what they’re talking about. And many of them have a lot of wisdom to share. But if a dude has spent 20 years in a cave and hasn’t got enlightened, or can’t teach you how to step by step in very clear language, then do they really know what they’re talking about? Perhaps they’re not good teachers, or their technique really will take that long to learn, or perhaps their methods aren’t updated for modern listeners.
What’s refreshing about your post is you are being clear and upfront about how things work, experimenting, and using less esoteric language to make meditation more accesible. I think is reflective of this trend of the pragmatic Buddhist movement, which is still niche but growing. Very excited to see more about this topic from you, and hopefully even some Muse brainwave data? :)
Hi Joseph.
First of all thanks for all your content over the years.
On this meditation topic, I suggest you check out the waking up app by Sam Harris. In the app, he and many other teachers teach meditation and have many conversations about enlightenment and awakening, all from a non-religious secular point of view (as you would expect from Sam). Perhaps you already have tried waking up, perhaps you don't. But anyway I'll put this 30-day trial link in case you (or anyone seeing this) are interested: https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SC6FBE7C0
I talk about waking up because Sam and other teachers say explicitly how it is possible (not easy or highly probable necessarily) to have an awakening (enlightenment) experience without expending months or years of meditating. In a talk (https://dynamic.wakingup.com/course/91b9d5?share_id=1200ADAA&source=content%20share) you can find in the app he talks about his experience in silent retreat meditating and not getting this enlightenment thing, and after going through different Buddhist traditions he got an instruction to look for the "self" that let him glimpse this enlightenment thing and understand it better. And in a way, he believes that you don't need that hard training to see the benefits of meditation in your daily life.
Also, there is some risk involved in doing long meditation retreats. You can hear it in more detail in this talk in the app: https://dynamic.wakingup.com/course/38d555?share_id=FB9B770D&source=content%20share . Although I think the benefits surpassed the risk involved.
All and all, you are presenting things I haven't seen before and I appreciate that you talk about this topic. Thanks.
Hi Joseph, have you been on a vipassana retreat? I have been thinking about goint to one all this year and your last 3 post are helping me to decide what to do.
It’s crazy how similar our paths of life have been. Whenever I come across a subject and research it, it seems you have a post on it soon after. Weird but funny.
You got me hooked, thank you for your amazing work. You literally changed my life (or at least you are the one who gave me information I needed to have).
Great post! Apparently Buddhism is no less susceptible to dogma than anything else. I think it's interesting that a lot of teachers claim to have the "proper" technique or path to enlightenment. I found an old blog archive that you might find interesting which lists out examples of certain meditation teachers and traditions demonizing or shunning the Jhanas: https://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/criticism/demonizing.htm
So, the tricky thing for me is that a lot of these teachers and retreats tend to hide behind the curtain of "tradition." They can be quite unreasonable but you just brush it off because "hey it's a meditation retreat and that's how it is." For example, I love the Goenka retreats and have had some life-changing experiences on my 10 day silent sits.
BUT, in the case of the Goenka Vipassana retreats, the teachers basically dodge any questions you have. I have, on more than a couple of instances, mentioned Jhanas and asked more specific questions around the suttas, but told "this isn't important, just focus on the technique." I can understand where they are coming from, and this blind faith and acceptance in a teacher is probably how things used to be a long time ago. But that shit just doesn't fly anymore.
It's easy to accept this because I'd like to trust that these bald-headed monks who have dedicated their lives to their practice know what they’re talking about. And many of them have a lot of wisdom to share. But if a dude has spent 20 years in a cave and hasn’t got enlightened, or can’t teach you how to step by step in very clear language, then do they really know what they’re talking about? Perhaps they’re not good teachers, or their technique really will take that long to learn, or perhaps their methods aren’t updated for modern listeners.
What’s refreshing about your post is you are being clear and upfront about how things work, experimenting, and using less esoteric language to make meditation more accesible. I think is reflective of this trend of the pragmatic Buddhist movement, which is still niche but growing. Very excited to see more about this topic from you, and hopefully even some Muse brainwave data? :)