To Whom It May Concern

Hi Chris,

I realised that you might have been referring to the 'advanced yogi' I actually called an 'advanced yogi' rather than my mention of the AFers. My mistake. That advanced yogi is someone Kenneth and Owen know. I do not know them but was told stuff by Owen. I think Kenneth mentioned their name on another thread where we were talking about fruitions and PCEs. They participated in the brain scan thing at Yale where Owen and Kenneth and other yogis went.

Sorry for the lack of info.

Nick

Could someone explain why a meditator would want to "end becoming" or have "freedom from being"? In a different context I would take these phrases to be euphemisms for death, which is why I'm confused.

"Could someone explain why a meditator would want to "end becoming" or have "freedom from being"? In a different context I would take these phrases to be euphemisms for death, which is why I'm confused."

Hi Cliff,

Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes it in a buddhist theravadan context in his excellent The Paradox Of Becoming

"The Buddha had a word for this experience of an identity inhabiting a world defined around a specific desire. He called it bhava, which is related to the verb bhavati, to 'be,' or to 'become.' He was especially interested in bhava as process'”how it comes about, and how it can be ended. So 'becoming' is probably a better English rendering for the term than 'being' or 'existence,' especially as it follows on doing, rather than existing as a prior metaphysical absolute or ground. In other words, it's not the source from which we come; it's something produced by the activity of our minds.

The Buddha's analysis of becoming as process throws a great deal of light on how imaginary, fictional, or dream worlds are created, but that was not his main concern. He was more interested in seeing how the process of becoming relates to the way suffering and stress are brought about and how they can be brought to an end. One of his first discoveries in analyzing the relationship between becoming and suffering was that the processes of becoming operate on different scales in space and time. The process by which the mind creates a psychological sense of location for itself in states of becoming within this lifetime is the same process by which it establishes a location for itself in another world after death. The question of whether death was followed by rebirth was hotly debated in the Buddha's time, so in teaching the fact of rebirth he was not simply parroting the assumptions of his culture. The experience of his Awakening is what gave him proof that becoming has both psychological and cosmological dimensions'” within the moment and stretching over lifetimes'”with a parallel pattern in each. You can learn how the mind finds a place for rebirth by watching how it moves from one becoming to another here and now.

The Buddha's Awakening also taught him that the craving and clinging leading to stress are identical to the craving and clinging that lead to becoming. So becoming is inevitably stressful. This explains why the typical human way of avoiding suffering'”which is to replace one state of becoming with another'”can never fully succeed. If, to escape the sufferings of being a painter, you decide to become a miner instead, you simply exchange one set of sufferings for another. Regardless of what identity you take on, or however you experience the mountain of the world, it's going to entail some degree of stress.

Thus to put an end to suffering, it's necessary to put an end to becoming. And to do that, it's necessary to understand the process that gives rise to becoming, so that the problem can be attacked at its cause. This is why the Buddha focused on becoming as process. And he found that the process has three components, which he likened to the act of planting a seed in a field. The field stands for the range of possibilities offered by past and present kamma. The seed stands for consciousness, together with other kammic factors that nourish it. The water moistening the seed represents the present mental act of craving and clinging, which fixes on a specific spot in the range of possibilities offered by the field, allowing becoming to develop from the potentials offered by the seed." Thanisarro Bhikkhu

www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/TheParadoxOfBecoming.pdf

Nick,

Really awesome stuff, and succint to boot.

Eric

Thank you Nick, for that very comprehensive answer to my "180 degrees" inquiry.
How about this one:

naivete

"Thank you Nick, for that very comprehensive answer to my "180 degrees" inquiry.
How about this one:

naivete"

Hi Gary,

Best one experiences this for themselves. I haven't thought of a way to explain it yet.

nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/...ions-sweet-spot.html

"Hi Gary,

Best one experiences this for themselves. I haven't thought of a way to explain it yet.

nickdowntherabbithole.blogspot.com/2011/...ions-sweet-spot.html



"

Thanks Nick. I've read that post before, and just now re-read it.
I've tried over and over, but I have not found the way to fully shift my location of awareness to that spot as you did.
I'll keep trying.

Gary

"Thanks Nick. I've read that post before, and just now re-read it.
I've tried over and over, but I have not found the way to fully shift my location of awareness to that spot as you did.
I'll keep trying.

Gary"

Hi Gary,

I put a bunch of quotes about the sweet spot in this post on the DhO which I found useful:

www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discu...ards/message/2245864