Insight practice - the path of most expedient means?

Okay, I have my own weird theory to put forth. I think it's organic. This is based on my own limited, very limited, experience but it feels this way to me: what we're doing as we traverse this path is to develop neurological capabilities that exist as "nubs" in the human brain. These nubs (they're latent capabilities and "nubs" is not a very good word for what I mean so I'm open to suggestions) tend to remain dormant in most people. It is only when we engage with them that the biological/energy circuits start to expand, grow, develop and close. This explains the time required to traverse the path and the clear inability to experience phenomena that are accessible only AFTER the organic framework that allows them to be experienced is in place. Engaging with these latent capabilities is what we do when we meditate. It's what David and Mark do when they take up Chaos Magick. It's what Christian Mystics do, what Sufi Muslims do, what shamans do, what all manner of people have done over the course of human history. It's also possible that the development of these capabilities is a step in the process of human evolution. I don't know. That's "way out there" speculation on my part, as all of this is. But it fits with what I now know. I tend to perceive things in terms of physics and biology.

So there

This is why I'm so anxious for Vince Horn to publish his James Austin interview through Buddhist Geeks. Go Vince!

"In my past, I've encountered models that suggest the vertical plane - up through the chakras and strata of mind - planes of being - are infinite all the way through GodHead or undefinable absolute."-Adam

Hi Adam,

One thing we can say for sure about godhead is that it's here now. So a model that seems to imply some distance between us and the "undefinable absolute" is likely to lead us on a wild goose chase. More specifically, if we were to posit an infinite number of chakras or strata of mind leading from our ordinary daily existence all the way to primordial awareness, we might be distracted from noticing that we are not and have never been other than godhead (buddha nature).

This is why I created the 3-Speed Transmission; I wanted to avoid that confusion between the relative and the Absolute. As long as we are talking about strata of mind, we are talking about relative reality. From that point of view, I can confidently say that accessing and penetrating a finite number of strata of mind will result in the arahatship spoken of in the suttas. This is the culmination of a physio-energetic process that begins with the first Arising and Passing Away event. Arahatship confers a host of benefits to the yogi, not least of which is the end of wondering about what enlightenment is and what it isn't. But development continues, as the new understandings become integrated with the old. All of this is related to what I call 1st Gear Practice, as the yogi systematically deconstructs layer after layer of mind until it becomes apparent that there is no inherent "self" hiding anywhere. A physio-energetic circuit is completed when the kundalini energy, having made its way upward through the body and the chakras, exits the body at the crown chakra and curves back down to form an infinite loop. This is especially felt as the energy comes back to the heart chakra.

(cont)

(cont from post 26)

A yogi who has completed this circuit will never again be plagued by the existential angst that was so prevalent in the years leading up to arahatship. He is "off the ride," and if he never practices again, he'll be fine. On the other hand, why not continue to practice? There is an infinite universe to discover and someone who has come so far is in a unique position to keep exploring. It's not uncommon for arahats to want to master the jhanas; strata of mind that they may have briefly touched and deconstructed on "the way up" can now be revisited, fleshed out, fully developed, mastered as jhanas. Still, we are talking about the relative world, and 1st Gear practice. If there is a supramundane aspect to all of this, it occurs when the arahat's mind, finding no place to rest in the many strata of mind that are now seen as not-self, abandons the relative and takes nibbana as object. This is experienced as a cessation of all mental and physical activity, and may last from a brief moment to several hours or even several days. Nibbana is the goal of Theravada Buddhism and is considered to be the end of suffering.

2nd Gear Practice is born when you begin to wonder if it's possible to be free from suffering without abandoning the conventional world. You learn how to turn consciousness back on itself and take the "knower" of this experience as object. This is a meta perspective that does not admit suffering because the layer of consciousness that seems to know this experience, aka the "Witness," has no stake in the outcome, including the life, death, or suffering of the yogi. Already, we have have gone beyond the relative world as it is usually conceived. Ideas of strata of mind are not important here, as all phenomena have equal status from the point of view of the Witness.

(cont)

(cont from post 27)

The Witness practice, however, has its limitations. It occurs to the yogi to wonder "who knows the Witness"? Is there an infinite number of witnesses, each knowing the previous in an infinite regress? Surely not. In practice, when the witness is challenged by the gentle question "who?" it simply collapses. The subject/object split goes away and the entire manifest universe is known to itself. No separate "knower" is required. This is 3rd Gear Practice. From this point of view there is nothing further to be done and no one to do it. This is buddha mind. With practice, it becomes possible to surrender to buddha mind anytime throughout the day or night. 3rd Gear Practice, otherwise known as non-dual or direct path practice, is not linear. There are no layers to penetrate nor hoops to jump through. Arahats don't have any more or less budda nature then beginners. And you don't have to be enlightened to any level at all to recognize buddha mind; it's always blasting away full-force whether we recognize it or not. We just get distracted. All contemplative practices end here, with the simple recognition of what is always already the case. And the models we create to give structure to our thoughts and to help others gain the confidence to surrender are just rafts to be abandoned as soon as we let go into the inexorable current of things as they are in this moment.

Wonderful explication Kenneth! You are indeed, the man. Thanks!

In kind regards,

Adam.