Making Resolutions for Stream Entry and Beyond

Hi guys,

I just went back and found an old thread on resolutions. I thought I'd post them up in the guest writers section here:
kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/Maki...eam+Entry+and+Beyond !

I included some extra advice by other yogis, like Clayton and telecaster who also posted on the thread I got the advice from. I also included some testimonials from two other yogis, jfmatteson and mpavoreal (hope you don't mind . I was hoping that other yogis would post their experiences of how they have taken resolutions to progress on the path in this thread. If you can post them here, I will edit them into the article in the link above so we can collect more inspiration for others seeking inspiration. Also if you have any advice for taking resolutions, please post it here and I will edit it into the mentioned article as well.

Happy resolution making!


Nick

Bump with a Quote from Daniel Ingram on Resolutions:

"They are just one of many factors contributing to any outcome.

I have used them a lot, my most common one being, "May I attain to full awakening as quickly as wisely possible for the benefit of all beings," which, while being a bit convoluted, nevertheless did help galvanize things.

I also made resolutions to attain to paths, to jhanas, to Nirodha, to powers, to many other things, and I think they help program the mind at some core level to actually accomplish what it can accomplish.

However, they can't force the process beyond what it can to, so this is an organic thing that will only go so far so fast. I have cooked myself a few times by using resolutions to push myself deep into territory I couldn't handle in my more gung-ho days, and that often caused difficulties, though I made relatively fast progress.

The most interesting thing about resolutions, aside from being powerful, is that they tell you a lot about what is going on right now, where you are at this point, what you are reacting to, what drives you, what forces are in play now, and that tells you about suffering, as that is what drives that, so look at what is driving you to resolve and see that directly at the sensate level: that's powerful practice.

Also, notice that resolving is a stage dependent process: some stages are much more likely to cause us to want to be somewhere other than we are, such as the Dark Night. Thus, balance effort and acceptance: easier said than done. See that goals occur now, effort occurs on its own now. These are key insights to see again and again. The more of the sensations that are present now that you are able to see making up your future achievement trip, the better you will do."

Daniel Ingram

bit.ly/cfBUA2

Great stuff Nick! I'm honored my testimonial was included

The bit about letting the resolution go will be helpful for me, I think. I made a conscious effort to try that this morning and it seemed to help. I made a resolution to enter 4th jhana/11th nana and to see each strata as clearly as possible along the way. Once I made it, I dropped it and just turned to the noting technique and I saw the strata more clearly than ever. I think before when I made resolutions they would sort of linger in the mind. Unless noted, I can see how this would get in the way of progress.

I especially like the resolution: 'I resolve to achieve stream entry by keeping the momentum going with noticing and noting all phenomena that takes centre stage until I get 1st path.' I plan on doing a weekend retreat on 11/20-11/21 and will add this resolution to my rotation to help set up the retreat.

Jarrod

Quick question Nick: I'm still learning to work with resolutions and when I make a resolution and it does not happen there tends to be a bit of discouragement, embarassment, dissapointment which arises afterward. That aftershock tends to derail things, and brings a hesitation to make further resolutions. It almost has the feeling of being really tense when trying to throw darts at a dart board.

"I'm still learning to work with resolutions and when I make a resolution and it does not happen there tends to be a bit of discouragement, embarassment, dissapointment which arises afterward. That aftershock tends to derail things, and brings a hesitation to make further resolutions."-MarkVanWhy

Hi MarkVW,

A couple of things come to mind here:

It's best not to make resolutions you don't think you can succeed at; part of the resolution game is building up you confidence over time, so you have to grow it up from a seed. If you make a resolution and then break it, you are working against yourself by undermining the very confidence you will need in order to strengthen the parami of "adhitthana" or resoluteness.

With this in mind, a resolution like "May I attain to arahatship as quickly and efficiently as possible with the least amount of suffering as possible" (the resolution I made directly after stream entry and later taught to Daniel Ingram), is good because it is open-ended: since you don't give yourself a deadline, you cannot fail. This kind of resolution can only support you. On the other hand, a resolution like "May I sit without moving for three hours" may just be setting you up for failure. Instead, try "May a sit for five minutes beyond the time that I would really like to get up." This is something you can succeed at and over time parlay into a powerful knack for making resolutions that support your practice.

One final thing is that the power of any individual's resolutions increases dramatically, almost as if by magic, upon stream entry. So don't be hard on yourself if your "adhitthana" is not yet fully developed. It's a process.