Jack Kornfield and the 3 Speeds

I shared this with Kenneth via email, and he's asked me to post it here in the forum...

I was digging through the Shambhala Sun magazine archives and came across and article by Jack Kornfield titled "A Mind Like Sky: Wise Attention Open Awareness" (read it here --> bit.ly/4nhnm5 ).

In the article, Kornfield says that our Awareness is like a focus lens, in that we can zoom all the way in to notice the Three Characteristics of every little micro sensation that arises. In doing so, "Entanglement in our ordinary sense of self dissolves; our troubles and fears drop away. Our entire experience of the world shows itself to be impermanent, ungraspable and selfless. Wisdom is born." This is what Kenneth refers to as 1st Gear.

(continued)

There are times when the 1st Gear practice is too tight for us - too much of a struggle. If so, we can widen our attention to the middle range. Kornfield writes, "Here wise attention has a gracious witnessing quality, acknowledging each event'”whether boredom or jealousy, plans or excitement, gain or loss, pleasure or pain'”with a slight bow. Moment by moment we release the illusion of getting 'somewhere' and rest in the timeless present, witnessing with easy awareness all that passes by. As we let go, our innate freedom and wisdom manifest. Nothing to have, nothing to be." He also mentions that this is what his teacher Ajahn Chah referred to as, "resting in the One Who Knows." This lines up perfectly with Kenneth's 2nd Gear.

And finally, there are times when the 2nd Gear practice doesn't serve us well in the moment. "We sit and our heart is tight, our body and mind are neither relaxed nor gracious, and even the witnessing can seem tedious, forced, effortful." At this time, Kornfield writes, "we can open the lens of attention to its widest angle and let our awareness become like space or the sky." This practice, which correlates to Kenneth's 3rd Gear, is all about recognizing the Unconditioned - the Awareness that is completely free of entanglements with sense phenomena. Kornfield cites the Thai Forest monk Ajahn Jumnien, who calls this practice Maha Vipassana - " resting in pure awareness itself, timeless and unborn."

(continued)

Kornfield is quick to state that he does not see that these practices form any sort of practice hierarchy. He writes, "Fully absorbed, graciously witnessing, or open and spacious'”which of these lenses is the best way to practice awareness? Is there an optimal way to pay attention? The answer is 'all of the above.' Awareness is infinitely malleable, and it is important not to fixate on any one form as best. Mistakenly, some traditions teach that losing the self and dissolving into a breath or absorbing into an experience is the optimal form of attention. Other traditions erroneously believe that resting in the widest angle, the open consciousness of space, is the highest teaching. Still others say that the middle ground'”an ordinary, free and relaxed awareness of whatever arises here and now, 'nothing special''”is the highest attainment. Yet in its true nature awareness cannot be limited. Consciousness itself is both large and small, particular and universal. At different times our practice will require that we embrace all these perspectives."

In other words, Kornfield (and the other senior teachers at IMS) teach that liberation is found in non-clinging, which is a very traditional view. Whatever practice aids the practitioner in releasing their clinging ("I/ME/MINE making") is best. Most of us will discover that all three perspectives (i.e. 3 Speeds) are useful for us at different times. Thus, I feel it is important to learn and develop all three.

Be sure to read the article and post any questions or comments below. Once again, the article may be found here --> bit.ly/4nhnm5

Practice well,
~Jackson

Thanks, Jackson. I love Kornfield's take on this, and you have given us an excellent summary of the article. Learning all three of these perspectives is what I think of as "the package." Highly recommended!

This goes along with the idea that no one map or conceptual point of view can give us an accurate way to think about enlightenment. We need as many perspectives as we can get! As the Zen masters say, there is "no fixed position." It makes sense. You can't see the entire elephant from any one angle, so it's best to keep dancing around it.

Kenneth

Hi Kenneth,

The "no fixed position" teaching is true. As Stuart Lachs said to me in an email once, "There is really no place to put your feet!" I guess that's what he was referring to.

What I find interesting about Kornfield's article is that he is describing all three modes of practice (i.e. all 3 Speeds) from within the context of the Theravada tradition alone. The 1st Gear he relates to Burmese vipassana (without saying it outright), and then goes on to describe the 2nd and 3rd Gear practices from the context of this experience with teachers in the Thai Forest tradition.

For me, this completely re-contextualizes the whole debate. It is no longer a question of Theravada, Mahayana, or Vajrayana, or even of gradual or direct. It now becomes a question of how much territory is being explored. Latching on to any of these modes as being the Highest Teaching reeks of dogmatism and ethnocentrism, and I want nothing to do with those things.The full picture of experience is there for the experiencing, and approaching it from the context of all three Speeds is the broadest, most inclusive way to do this. If there were a known "4th Speed", I would learn to practice that too

~Jackson

Marvelous stuff!

Thanks, Jackson, for the inspiring reference, and I appreciate the wisdom of your comments. At least one more quotation from the Kornfield article that seemed worth mentioning: "But remember too that every practice of awareness can create a shadow when we mistakenly cling to it. A misuse of space can easily lead us to become spaced-out and unfocused. A misuse of absorption can lead to denial, the ignoring of other experiences, and a misuse of ordinary awareness can create a false sense of "self" as a witness."

What I hear in this is that there are ways to use and abuse our practices in liberation of suffering. We can abuse these practices to avoid suffering, and we can use these practices to be liberated from suffering. It takes some discernment, and dare I say, practice to sort this out. The teachers, that Kornfield has taught who I've sat with, generally suggest greater and greater degrees of inclusiveness, so that everything is included; there are no secret or higher teachings, everybody has access to the same instruction. Certainly, people hear that instruction in different ways.

Clinging to an awareness practice -- embracing it as the best/one and only or denying one as unimportant or less important -- hides aspects of what is happening, and clinging to an awareness practice just sets the stage for more suffering. I wonder why any of us would want to suffer from 'graspingly' debating or arguing over which awareness practice is better or deeper or lesser or shallower or whatever. On Thanksgiving Weekend (in the USA), why don't we celebrate the multitude of beneficial means available to us? Personally, I enjoy the variety of practice options and prefer it to the opposite of 'the one right and true way for forever and ever.' I imagine it would feel very constricting to only have the singular way rather than the middle way.

Aaron

"
Marvelous stuff!

"

Money in the bank! This is why hangin' out here's cool.

Very cool stuff Jackson - great find! Money in the bank indeed!

So, why are these 3 perspectives so powerful when practiced together? It's because together they address the question of reality from the perspectives of the personal (vipassana/samatha), the transpersonal (the Witness), and the Absolute ("resting in pure awareness itself, timeless and unborn...").

What's more, these practices reinforce one another. If you develop samatha to the 6th jhana (jhana of infinite consciousness), you can easily identify the witness within that state. If you then extend the Witness practice to the other jhanas and to daily life, you will automatically develop the physio-energetic circuitry, because dwelling as the witness requires prodigious concentration and investigation. And finally, even the subtle subject/object duality of the Witness collapses, leaving only undifferentiated awareness, "timeless and unborn."

With practice, all of these perspectives become second nature, and you can move freely between them as circumstances dictate. In this way you start out as a student of perspectives, and end up as a student of perspectives. No fixed position. This is the package. The 3 Speed Transmission. Are you as excited about this as I am? Practice, people! It's right there for you!

Kenneth

Hi Jackson,

Thanks for this is a piece of integration. It puts the focus firmly on the investigation, I guess good investigation is good practice.

"What's more, these practices reinforce one another. If you develop samatha to the 6th jhana (jhana of infinite consciousness), you can easily identify the witness within that state. If you then extend the Witness practice to the other jhanas and to daily life, you will automatically develop the physio-energetic circuitry, because dwelling as the witness requires prodigious concentration and investigation. And finally, even the subtle subject/object duality of the Witness collapses, leaving only undifferentiated awareness, "timeless and unborn."
"

Correct me if I'm wrong Kenneth, but I remember you discussing the whole 6th Jhana to Witness shift with Alex Weith. And IF I remember correctly, you were the PIONEER in this connection in between traditions -->

Visuddhimaga based Vipassana (MN 111) 6th Jhana
+
Mahamudra - Witness

This quite possible is your contribution to literature/living dharma. In the scientific world one could make a career on such a move (IMHO).

Kudos to you sir, and this should be highlighted for all advanced practitioners.

Andrew

p.s. (as an aside, I don't want to over-glorify the scientific professional realm) Science academia manifests the same "people are people" dynamic as everywhere else, so publication prowess does NOT necessarily mean true reknown/brilliance. There is always a way to game the system for personal gain/celebrity, but still.

"This is the package. The 3 Speed Transmission. Are you as excited about this as I am? Practice, people! It's right there for you!

Kenneth"

There is a logo somewhere in that statement (advertising people jump in anytime). This should be all over this site.

Practice, practice, practice.
It's right there.

We can dharma-losophize all we want, but if you want to K-N-O-W, you have got to clock-in the time.

In timeless words of Chuck K(CheleK):
"No matter how much we tell you about it, it's still going to be a surprise party."

Andrew

"Correct me if I'm wrong Kenneth, but I remember you discussing the whole 6th Jhana to Witness shift with Alex Weith. And IF I remember correctly, you were the PIONEER in this connection in between traditions -->

Visuddhimaga based Vipassana (MN 111) 6th Jhana
+
Mahamudra - Witness

This quite possible is your contribution to literature/living dharma. In the scientific world one could make a career on such a move (IMHO).

Kudos to you sir, and this should be highlighted for all advanced practitioners."-Seekr

Thanks, Andrew. Yes, as far as I know, I'm the first to explicitly connect vipassana, Advaita/Witness, and nondual awareness in this way, and I've been more than thrilled by the way yogis have responded to this bit of guidance. Alex and Monica in the Case Studies section of this website have both had remarkable success in connecting 6th jhana to the Witness, and then parlaying the Witness into rigpa. This is my entry into the elusive Grand Unified Field of Dharma sweepstakes.

By the way, as long as I'm tooting my own horn, my first pioneering effort was correlating the jhanas to specific ñanas. Other people, including U Pandita, have pointed out that both the jhana and ñana systems cover the same territory, but without proposing a clear one-to-one connection. Interested parties can read about that connection here:

kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/Jhana+and+%C3%91ana

This revelation formed the basis for my third contribution to the literature (I'm on a horn-tooting roll), the 20 Major Strata of Mind map:

kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/20+Major+Strata+of+Mind

edit: added more horn tooting

This is, indeed, a very good article. Thanks for posting, Jackson. I sometimes feel like the "hardcore" approach practiced here and at DhO is really in the fringes and wonder how the "mainstream" dharma teachers feel about or relate to it.

That said, as a pre-stream-entry practitioner, the comments here still leave me wondering: what is the best practice to get stream entry? It is fine to say (as JK does in the article) "Every form of genuine awareness is liberating", but I take that last word with a small "L". I am in this community to move the marker forward, and my first milestone continues to be stream entry which, I gather, still needs diligent vipassana to get ahead. If Witness work really is easier from 6th jhana, for example, in my mind that says "leave the Witness stuff for later" since the higher jhanas are really best left for after first Path (as noted elsewhere on this site).

So while "this is the package" and there is no direct hierarchy of practices, is that really true for those of us in this community that are still slogging away in the trenches and darkness of awareness?

BTW, that I can even *ask* stuff like this and get expert advice both here and at "the other" community never ceases to blow me away. I don't say that often enough, I think.

Hi Tom.

Those are great questions. Stream entry is your immediate goal, so how do you get there?

Vipassana (i.e. noting practice) works, but it's not the only practice that leads to stream entry. I agree with Shinzen Young that what is required to make progress on the path to awakening is the sincere and diligent application of mindfulness and equanimity. Noting practice is good for this, which is why it works. But the other two "speeds" also include mindfulness and equanimity. Thus, they all work.

Even though there are many tools one can use to get the job done, one can only use the tools they have and know how to use. If at any time one can gain access to any or both of the other modes of practice (2nd and 3rd Gear), then either of those will work also. I think this is what Kornfield was getting at in regards to his statement about awareness being "liberating."

So then, the magical formula for progress on the spiritual path is... (drum roll, please...) the application of mindfulness and equanimity. How one chooses to apply these two aspects may vary

-Jackson

Mindfullness and equanimity.
Today that really rings true for me. These practices, of course, are all about SEEING, seeing our true nature and the true nature of all things.
Mindfulness is the looking, awareness, attention, etc.
But, without equanimity, one can easily distort what one sees and thus prevent one from seeing the "true" nature of things, right?

Equanimity eliminates content, stories, unrealistic expectations, etc. and leaves behind the bare truth.

aaronj1 - I left Christianity in part for the exact reason you listed above! What you discuss above reminds me of the old joke about religion that takes place in heaven while St. Peter is giving a guided tour to a recently arrived soul, "the Lutherans are in that room, and in this next room are the Unitarian Universalists, and as they pass a group with earplugs and blindfolds on, the new soul asks who they are - St. Peter says, "Oh, those are the (pick your denomination), they think they're the only ones here." Here's to inclusiveness and liberation! Thanks again Aaron!