Vajra Fist

I'd probably suggest following a tradition. From what I've heard, Rob Burbea's jhana course is a good place to learn whole body breathing from a Buddhist perspective. Similarly Thanissaro Bhikku's guided meditations also lead you there gradually.

Thanks for the recommendations! We really enjoyed Death's Game

That's very interesting! So karma is basically how you relate to the experiences of your life? If you're happy or regretful, angry or sad when you experience memories of your past. And if you no longer have craving or aversion, and have perfect equanimity when these memories arise, that effectively means karma is extinguished? I wonder why in early buddhism they emphasised mudita, I.e. cultivating joy at the recollection of your own good deeds. Is that to increase the weight of good karmic causes, for those unlikely to reach the goal?

In Buddhist cosmology there are six realms. The lower rebirths are places of suffering, hells, ghosts and animals. The higher births are of humans, demi-gods and gods. In some traditions, these correspond to mental states. For instance: Hells - anger Ghosts - greed Animals - ignorance Humans - desire Demi-gods - jealousy Gods- pride/torpor Generally speaking, one would need exceptionally good karma to be reborn in the higher realms. So the issue then comes to your next life. If you spend your life in cultivation, but fail to reach the state of an arahant, where you have extinguished all karma, then you will still be subject to rebirth. Unless you've entered the stream, there is a high likelihood that whatever merit you have generated from your practice will be transformed into good fortune in your next life. You might become a chief executive of a company, or else be reborn in the realm of the gods. But even there you will be subject to rebirth. After extinguishing your good karma, you may fall to the lower births again.

It's like no backsliding. I.e. you will no longer be reborn in lower realms, you will encounter the dharma in every lifetime, and you are guaranteed to eventually attain nibbana within five rebirths. Stream entry works like this. Pure land doctrine is a little different and is mainly based on the Amitabha sutra, a mahayana text. The principle is if you recite Amitabha Buddha's name (a practice known as nembutsu/nianfo) then at death you will be reborn into a pure abode. This is kind of like a special training environment where you can cultivate and eventually realise buddhahood. The idea is that you are no longer subject to rebirth. You are therefore protected from falling onto evil paths, being lost in samsara and not encountering the dharma again in hundreds of thousands of rebirths.

Yes, I don't know. Part of the issue is the moving goalposts. Mahayana can be a bit vague, but the early Buddhist texts are quite specific. The classical definition is someone who has shed the 10 fetters. That means no aversion no sensual desire. In other words, they don't arise, the karma has already been extinguished. This is a person who is effectively comfortable with being stabbed or shot. Who has no sexual feelings at all. You see this with Delson Armstrong, who strongly implied he was an arahant. Then several unflattering videos emerged of him on YouTube, and he was forced to say that he wasn't where he thought he was. Or else the early Buddhist texts weren't to be taken literally. Others say this too, like Daniel Ingram. That stuff like aversion or craving still emerge even at the state of an arahant, but you are unmoved by them. There are also hundreds of people calling themselves stream enterers on reddit forums too. Others take a more traditionalist approach. For instance, Thanissaro Bhikku said that he was aware of several laypeople who claimed stream entry, but never met one who had actually achieved it. This was the case in the Buddha's time too. Honestly, my point wasn't really to argue that achieving nibbana in this life is close to impossible, even more so for the layperson. It was that - if we're wrong about our attainments, then we find ourselves in a precarious position after death. Whatever good seeds we have sown, our negative karma could be heavier and we could be reborn onto the lower paths. We may have a good rebirth, perhaps in the celestial plane, or else have an affluent life, but there's no guarantee we encounter the dharma. In other words, nothing is certain after death. I sometimes just feel that pure land is a path better suited to us, as homemakers. Where at death, the strongest cow - the first one out of the gate - is the one that leads to pure land rebirth and non-retrogression.

I've been thinking a lot about mortality recently. The algorithm knows my mind, clearly, and recommended this talk. I feel like I've been on some inverse dunning kruger curve in my meditation practice. I started getting into buddhism about a decade ago, primarily with pure land. My thought was that non-retrogression was the best I could hope for as a layperson. As I learned more, I realised that lots of people were getting stream entry with diligent practice. Stream entry, for those that don't know, is like the initial awakening. You're guaranteed to attain nibbana withing a fixed number of lifetimes, according to the suttas. So I started thinking that if perhaps I could reach that point, then non-retrogression becomes something tangible in this lifetime. I can die in peace, knowing I won't be lost again in my next life. Now after practicing quite intensely for a while, looking at people who are supposedly near the end of the path, I can see there's still a lot of personality material there to be worked through. I wonder if there's anyone in this whole world who has reached the point of completion. I have had a practice of nembutsu recitation before bed - nothing too intense, just a single turn of a mala. But I feel called to make it my main practice for a while. If Beth is right in her understanding of the commentaries, and jhana is an exceptionally good seed that can influence your next rebirth. Then I'd wager that mindfulness of the Buddha, even without the operation of the primal vow, might also be some good juju.

I understand your concern, I share it too. But I've never once found that arguing with people who have different political views than me has convinced them they are wrong. There's a thing called cognitive dissonance - people find ways to accommodate facts that sit contrary to their own views, to the point it resembles mental gymnastics. That's because there's a whole lot of ego and self validation bound up in being right, or winning an argument. Go vote or protest. Speak out and campaign for what you believe in. But - in my experience at least - it doesn't do anyone any good arguing online.

Honestly, it seems that everywhere you go, people are arguing bitterly against each other over politics. Sometimes I feel like social media algorithms have radicalised people on both ends of the political spectrum. Because social division drives 'engagement' - which is where the social media companies get revenue. Either way, it's nice to have a place where people aren't constantly kicking the shit out of each other. I was never part of current events section of the forum.

About a decade ago, I used Eric Isen to psychically 'test' the effect of various qigong forms on me over the course of a couple of years. I ended up spending several thousand dollars. I became slightly suspicious, so I asked him to test a fictitious system. To make it interesting, I made it an anagram of the words 'Eric the Liar'. He gave me a glowing recommendation for this system. I paid him, thanked him and never contacted him again.

Zen Mind, Beginners Mind is one I return to time and again. Currently halfway through Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith by Thich Thien Tam, and can see myself rereading it again.

Do you think that sounds a bit like nirodha samapatti? Although three weeks sounds perhaps a bit far out.

Of course! I am still very curious about the system. Wish you all the best in your practice

Edited. Best let sleeping dogs lie.

I watched this documentary with interest. He describes a state of 'oneness' as enlightenment. It reminds me of a dharma talk by Guo Gu, heir of Chan master Shen Zhen. I can't find it now, but said he had a moment of acute oneness during a retreat, sparked by watching tree branch fall in the garden. When he presented his teacher with the tree branch, he was sorely rebuked. He came to realise that the state of oneness also needs to fall away for there to be true awakening. (Couldn't find the talk, included a snippet here) And the quote below from his book