It appears my Canmore pickup is imminent.

A few days

Thank you





For Stream-Enterers: A Different Way of Doing 2nd Path

i'm writing this for stream-enterers, to suggest an alternate way of
doing 2nd path; alternate, that is, to what daniel ingram writes about
in 'mastering the core teachings of the buddha'. keep in mind as you
read this that the evidence behind this suggestion is mostly based on
the experiences of one person, me. i should also point out that in no
way am i knocking what worked so well for me for getting 1st path. i
would probably still be wandering around aimlessly, alternating
between getting oddly neurotic about my crap and spacing out into
equanimity and the formless strata, if it weren't for daniel, his
book, mahasi, and the maps. however, my rapid success at finishing 2nd
path makes me think this is worth putting out there because the method
i employed was so markedly different from how daniel portrays 2nd path
practice that i think other people should know about this alternative
as a possibility.

daniel recommends doing 2nd path like he recommends doing 1st path:
note note note, rise through the cycles, let it sync up, pop a
fruition. i did not do this. in fact, although i'd already dropped
into the next mind-and-body, i thought it might be better to not start
another path so soon and made no effort to cross the a&p. i went about
my daily life, making little or no time for formal practice, and
electing instead to, purely out of curiosity and fascination, watch
inclusively and in particular to see through the sensations that make
up the notions of 'inclusive', 'watching', and 'centre' whenever it
occurred to me to do so, or whenever it just happened on its own
(which, upon reflection, happened pretty often). the times i noticed
the cycles at all, i noticed them in a very basic and uninterested
way, made no effort to investigate them or the sensations that make
them up, and only recognised when i'd broken into a new stage after a
day or two had already passed. in retrospect, the a&p was inspiring
and energised, the dark night sucked, and equanimity was equanimity..
but i wouldn't have been able to tell you that while it was going on
(except by two days into the dark night, i knew it sucked).

here is the suggestion:
if, in working on 2nd path, you find yourself scrambling up the
insight ladder just because you think you're supposed to, but are not
sure why you're doing this, it might work for you to focus on seeing
the quality of the sensations here and now in an open and inclusive
way, keeping a clear eye on the so-called background to see if
anything's moving around back here. ignore everything that is not
obviously the clear and direct answer of paying attention here and
now.

it didn't occur to me, for the most part, to try to move from one
stage to another, but while i was in the dark night, i got concerned
about making progress for a day or two. but when it occurred to me
that i was only doing that because of pain and worry, i resolved to
stop running away and promptly did. if you tune your eye in to the
here and now, all that stuff will just rush by like water going down
the drain. just keep re-tuning your eye to this, knowing that none of
it is the solution. scary, mildly yet deeply painful, but try to run
this process in the back of your mind again and again while you're
going about your day. that's all i did, and less than a week after
crossing the new a&p, i got a fruition that left the background
shattered thoroughly and in an entirely new way. i had no idea i was
that close. it took a few hours to be sure i'd really finished the
path (but that still beat the few days it took to be sure about the
first one), and when i'd answered that question to my own
satisfaction, the certainty did not come from having had another
fruition, but from the clear difference in my baseline (read: right
now) perception and the diminished level of solidity in it.

so, once again:

see the sensations here and now in an open and inclusive way, paying
careful attention to the totality of experience as well as what seems
to be 'outside' that totality. don't get caught up about what things
mean and if you do, don't give a shit that you're caught up cos you're
not really, you just think you are. just keep paying attention in such
a way that nothing will take it away. the cycles may, and probably
will, happen, but ignore them and basically just practise as if you're
already in equanimity regardless of what shows up.

you don't have to wait until going for 3rd path to do this if it makes
sense to you to do this here and now.

tarin greco (theprisonergreco)


After a number of conversations recently with various people, I realized
that my conception of the hierarchy and essence of vipassana practice
wasn't written down anywhere I could remember, so I thought I would write
it down here. This is more geared to the type of concentration one
develops on retreat, but may apply just as well in daily life for those who
are diligent and skilled or aspire to be.

It would be nice to start at the top, even though people don't generally
seem wired to do that, but just to keep it in mind:

At one's best, one attains to Conformity Knowledge, Insight Stage #12, in
which one comprehends simultaneously two of the Three Characteristics
of one's entire sense field completely including space, consciousness, and
everything else in that volume as an integrated whole. That's what you are
shooting for if you are going for stream entry at least, and it even works
well for the sort of continuous complete mindfulness that works well for
higher paths.

However, I will go back to the bottom, which is where most start and often
return, and work back up from there:

1) Not trying to practice, lost in one's stuff, spacing out, mindfulness weak.

2) Mindfulness weak, lost in one's stuff, but at least attempting some
technique at times, even if one can't actually do it. People spend whole
retreats at this level, unfortunately.

3) Able to actually practice and follow basic instructions somewhat, such
as noting, body scanning, or whatever you are trying to do. I'll go non-
technique specific here, as this is a guide to the essence of the thing.
Basically any technique or object or posture that moves you up this
hierarchy and keeps you there is what matters, and nothing about the
specifics of what you are paying attention to or how you are trying to pay
attention to it is important so long as it serves that fundamental goal.

4) Able to actually do a specific vipassana technique or set of techniques
well with few interruptions.

5) Able to actually do that with no interruptions.

6) To be able to directly perceive the Three Characteristics of objects in
the center of attention consistently and directly whether or not one is using
a more specific technique or not. In short, if you can do this, at that time
and for however long that lasts, whether or not you use a more formal
technique is irrelevant.

7) To be able to directly and continuously perceive the sensations that
make up the coarse background components also in that same light of
strong, direct vipassana awareness, meaning direct comprehension of the
Three Characteristics of not only the foreground objects, but things like
rapture, equanimity, fear, doubt, frustration, analysis, expectation and
other sensations in the periphery, as well as other objects as they arise,
such as thoughts and the component sensations of feelings as well as the
primary object or objects, assuming one is even using primary objects at
this point, which is not necessary.

8) To be able to do #7 very well and then add core processes such as the
sensations that seem to make up attention itself, intention itself, memory
itself, questioning, effort, surrender, subtle fear, space, consciousness, and
everything that seems to be Subject or Observer or Self all the way
through the skull, neck, chest, abdomen and all of space such that nothing
is excluded from this comprehensive, cutting, piercing, instantly
comprehending clarity that is synchronized with all phenomena or just
about to be.

9) Able to do #8 naturally, effortlessly and clearly due to one's diligent
efforts to write that wiring on the mind as one's new baseline default mode
of perception.

10) We are back where we started: one comprehends simultaneously two
of the Three Characteristics of one's entire sense field completely
including, space, consciousness, and everything else in that volume as an
integrated whole and so attain to Change of Lineage, Path and Fruition.
That's what you are shooting for if you are going for stream entry at least,
and it even works well for the sort of continuous complete mindfulness that
brings on higher paths.

Keeping this hierarchy in mind, many questions are answered either
directly or with small amounts of additional information.

Q: Does it matter what object I use?
A: Only if that object at that moment in time helps you at least stay above
the lower few levels of the hierarchy and hopefully progress up them.

Q: Does it matter if my concentration is really focused or broad?
A: As all you have to do is comprehend the Three Characteristics of one's
sum total reality for 3 moments, you only need really limited objects if you
haven't gotten automatically fluent enough with other objects to attain to
Conformity Knowledge on them. By way of example: if you can get your
attention focused exclusively on the breath and comprehend the
sensations that make it and the attention focussing apparatus, as that is all
there is, that's all you need to understand. If you can't get it that focussed
but have attained through diligent work a natural fluency in a wider array of
other sensations, then broader attention will do you just fine.

Q: Does it matter what technique I use?
A: I would say scramble up the hierarchy however you can using any
object you can and whatever dose it takes to get there, changing objects,
focuses, techniques, postures, or whatever other factors need to be
changed if those help you rise higher and stay there. This is the
pragmatists approach to vipassana rather than the dogmatic traditionalists
approach to vipassana. If a dogmatic and traditional approach gets you up
the hierarchy, there is no conflict between these at all. If your dogmatic and
traditional approach is not working at that moment, sit, walking period,
hour, month, or year, try switching things around, preferably with the help
of good guidance if available, to see what does get you up a notch.

Q: When should I stop noting and just pay attention?
A: You can definitely stop when at that particular time you are at stage #6
or higher, but you could also continue so long as it didn't slow you down or
restrict your ability to comprehend whatever arises in its rich and
comprehensive entirety.

Q: Which technique is better: Noting, Body Scanning, Zen Koan Training,
or what?
A: Whatever at that time helps you progress or at least stabilize above the
bottom levels of that hierarchy. Note: techniques take time to learn, so
continuous abandoning of one poorly-learned technique for another poorly-
learned technique is unlikely to do much of anything good, but if you have
learned a few techniques well, they anything that works goes. One should
realize that this is for most people a very dynamic and non-linear
progression, with many risings and fallings up the ranks of the hierarchy,
and learning how to shift focus or approach at the right time is a learned
skill that requires constant vigilance and practice, but having the basic
goals in mind should help guide you.

For instance, say one had decided to use noting practice, and had gotten
to stage 2, Cause and Effect, with steady, slow noting, but then bad back
pain began to derail one's attempts at noting in stage three, Three
Characterisics, during which time one fell back to poor practice. One might
reflect: "Ah, I am no longer able to do slow noting, at least I should try to do
slow noting, and perhaps choose a different posture that wasn't so painful
for a time in a mindful way."

Or, one might have been doing noting up through the Three
Characteristics stage, but then began to notice energetic phenomena, heat
and kundalini stuff show up that was too fast to note, at which point one
might think, "Ah, I was really good at blasting through the A&P using more
Goenka-style body scanning on a previous retreat and know how to do
that, maybe I will give that a try, as it worked well before."

Or, one might have been rockin' it in the A&P by rapidly and directly
perceiving fast vibrations and tingling interference patterns, but when one
got to Dissolution notice that one's practice was completely derailed and
one was just spacing out. One might reflect, "Ah, whereas before I was
rockin' it in the A&P, now my practice has fallen to the bottom of the barrel,
and perhaps attempting to do slow noting and build back up to more direct
methods when I can would be better than floundering." Good plan.

Or, one might be high up in Equanimity and yet not be able to land a
Fruition. One might ask oneself, "What core process, subtle background or
foreground sensations, or other patterns of experience are not yet brought
into the clear light in the way I have done for so many objects?" In this
way, one sees what one is missing and, having learned to see those
objects naturally also, lands it.

Working thus, one gets a sense of how one may adjust one's practice to
accommodate what is happening and keep one riding the waves of
changes that vipassana in all its forms can throw at one.

I hope this is helpful,

Daniel