Newbie asking question

Hi all,
When people mention sotapanna, anagami, or arahant, are they talking about enlightenment? I don't have any idea what are they talking about. Is there anyone here a sotapanna, anagami, or arahat?
Sorry if my question is kinda silly, funny, or stupid. I'm new to Buddhism.

Thank you,
Leon

Welcome, ignobleone.

You can start investigating and learning the answers to your questions here on this very site. Start here...

kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/The+...sight+%28Part+One%29

... with the Progress of Insight, Part One, and read through all five parts. Once you've read through that material come on back here and we can help you put it together if you have more questions.

"Once you've read through that material come on back here and we can help you put it together if you have more questions.

"

Yes I do have more questions. Can anyone here provide the sutta references regarding stream-entry?
Thanks.

Here you go:

www.accesstoinsight.org/search_results.h...UTF-8&q=stream+entry

If you use the Access to Insight web site you will be able to do these searches on your own.

Hi cmarti,
I couldn't find any passage in the suttas which says or supports that stream-entry corresponds to jhana attainment or first jhana. I also have searched using google. Maybe you can give me some clue, or shall I open a new thread regarding this, so that other members can try to give the answer?
Thanks.

That's a nice specific question with a very specific answer, ignoble one -- stream entry is a path attainment. It is separate and distinct from any of the jhanas. Jhanas are concentration states that a yogi can go in and out of many times over, at will with enough practice. Stream entry is a permanent change in one's baseline realization. It is generally, buys maybe not always, a one time event.

Does that help?

Yes, it does help.

But there's something I don't understand from reading the article from the 1st gear menu on the left, titled "Physio-energetic and Psychological Models of Enlightenment" written by Kenneth Folk. The last paragraph says: "My latest thinking is that we need to do a lot more research and investigation before we can confidently build a model that integrates physio-energetic and psychological phenomena across the whole spectrum of enlightenment. Meanwhile, we should be hesitant use hybrid models to draw conclusions about the relative enlightenment of others, particularly when they are trained in a tradition other than our own."

I don't understand why (to me it seems as) you guys are still looking for the answer (by trying to build a model) for Enlightenment. Has anyone here found the conclusion from reading the Suttas?

How do you think? If possible, I'd like to also hear from Kenneth regarding this.

Thanks.

Brains and minds are extraordinarily complicated things. Psychology is not meditation, and vice versa. It appears that to a large extent the kind of meditation practice a person performs results in a fairly specific kind of result, but by no means always. A lot of people who practice do not agree on the existing models. Various traditions have detailed models, or very few models with no detail. There is a huge, wide and extremely varied history of people who practice meditation who then get some results and report back. While there are very obviously similarities to the results folks report there has been little objective, third party, replicable investigation and reporting on this area until recently. There is a lot of academic and private research going on in regard to mapping brain activity using tools like fMRI and EEG while people meditate, but it will take a lot of time before any consistent picture emerges.

I'm not sure the Suttas will help us get there, as they're thousands of years old and translated from an oral tradition. They're great pointers and great reading, but modern investigations hold the promise of really getting to the biological/physiological model we really need.

Hope this helps.... and Kenneth will no doubt come along with his reply, too.

"I'm not sure the Suttas will help us get there, as they're thousands of years old and translated from an oral tradition. They're great pointers and great reading, but modern investigations hold the promise of really getting to the biological/physiological model we really need."

This website is about the Teaching of the Buddha, right? So, what else do you think could be the most credible source of the Teaching, if it is not the Suttas?
I think it's a good idea to post a new thread about this question.

To take the suttas as the authoritative word of the Buddha is an act of faith. It's a religious act and is no different than taking the Bible to be the Word of God. No scholar takes the suttas as the authoritative word of the Buddha (who actually didn't speak Pali but instead spoke a dialect called Magadha). Over the past few years, for example, the Pali scholar Bhikkhu Analayo has been studying every early Buddhist text he could get his hands on (learning Tibetan and Chinese, for example, in order to read translations of very early texts that are only available in those languages) with the goal of figuring out what is common to the suttas, the commentaries and everything in between. Certain teachings are there in all the texts, including the Five Hindrances and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, but many others are found in later texts only. Believe it or not, this includes the Four Noble Truths!

Does this mean the concept of the Four Noble Truths is somehow wrong, because maybe the Buddha didn't say it after all? Of course not. To base your practice on the suttas is perfectly fine--and it's perfectly fine to choose to believe that they are the Gospel Truth. In some ways, this is what Access to Insight is all about. However, taking a sutta-based approach to enlightenment is just one possibility of many.
There are all kinds of models of enlightenment, from a great many Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions. Kenneth has an integral view because he's aware of these models.

Here are some links to recent talks by Analayo that you might find interesting.

"Mindfulness According to Early Buddhist Sources"
www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/439/talk/14214/

"Dynamics of Insight Meditation":
www.audiodharma.org/teacher/208/

James Baraz's four-part series on enlightenment might also be of interest:
www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/86/talk/11620/

"This website is about the Teaching of the Buddha, right?"

Well. not really, ignoble one. It's more specifically about Kenneth Folk's teachings of his unique process of engaging with a meditation practice, which may or may not be according to the Suttas. This site is, after all, called "KennethfolkDharma.com."

""This website is about the Teaching of the Buddha, right?"
Well. not really, ignoble one. It's more specifically about Kenneth Folk's teachings of his unique process of engaging with a meditation practice, which may or may not be according to the Suttas. This site is, after all, called "KennethfolkDharma.com.""

@jgroove, you've brought up a very good point. I'll further reply to your comment after I have finished with more questions for cmarti.

@cmarti
I think it's also correct to say that this website is about the Buddha's Teaching since KF teaching is based on it. In fact KF has learned from the Theravada Burmese tradition. About KF's teaching or his unique process which may or may not be according to the Suttas, it is another thing to comment on.
And btw just for your information, I should have stated it since the beginning, when I say 'the Suttas' what I mean is the Pali Canon. I refer to the four main Sutta Pitaka collections: Digha, Majjhima, Samyutta, Anguttara, without any commentaries.

Talking about KF, I have another specific question regarding what he wrote on this website. At the Goals section of the "The Three Speed Transmission" menu on the left, kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/Goals, he wrote: "I can access all sorts of wonderful jhanic states whenever I want to. I can manifest an astral body and fly through the air and dive into the earth. It's all very nice, and if you dedicate yourself to this practice, you'll be able to do it too."

Is it true he has such abilities? Anyone has seen the proof? How can I see the proof?

Hmmm... I'm not sure how to answer your questions as they are meant for Kenneth Folk... so I'm going to stand on my previous answers and suggest that you private message Kenneth, or wait for him to come along and answer you here.