Dharma Treasure Community

Blake, it would great to get Culadasa’s input, as well as the input of other senior teachers like yourself. Perhaps what we can eventually do is come up with a more fleshed out proposal (including proposed survey questions), and then send it through to the Dharma Treasure community leaders to review and potentially endorse. I’m also more than…[Read more]

Is that aimed at me, Doug? If so, I think you may have misunderstood me. I’m by no means hostile to what Culadasa is offering; I think he’s the best Dharma teacher out there, and I can understand why he has taken the option of offering premium consultations.

In respect to your comments, I don’t think the analogy with nutritious food really…[Read more]

I think Samuel’s underlying concern is that the commodification of Dharma teachings might rub some people the wrong way, especially if the price tag is seen to be rather high. For many, the subject matter of the Dharma has a sanctity to it, and commodifying it would be demeaning. We don’t charge others for our friendship or our honesty, because we…[Read more]

Thanks Neko.

Again, my question that provoked Wiley’s response dates back a while to May (7 months ago). My understanding of the practice has, thankfully, come along a bit since then. (It’s also gone backwards many times since then, too. Haha!)

Revisiting my own question, I can now see that I was somewhat confused about the relationship between…[Read more]

Thanks Wiley.

My question on the jhanas dates back a while. Thankfully, things have progressed a little since then.

To be fair to Matthew, I think in his reply to me he was maybe noticing that I’d only just begun to access jhanas, so perhaps he didn’t think I needed to be splitting hairs about which jhana I was technically in. Well, at least…[Read more]

moln1, yes, some of it might be a little dense on details, and perhaps not entirely for our purposes. Sorry, I should have mentioned that the parts that are social commentary and political in nature can be ignored. It’s really only the bits of animation that illustrate how perception can be narrowly focussed or broadly open that are relevant, in…[Read more]

moln1, yes, some of it might be a little dense on details, and perhaps not entirely for our purposes. Sorry, I should have mentioned that the parts that are social commentary and political in nature can be ignored. It’s really only the bits of animation that illustrate how perception can be narrowly focussed (attention) or broadly open (awareness)…[Read more]

I’ve been following the attention-awareness discussions from afar, and I think (well, I hope) I might have a couple things that I can contribute here.

It seems what often makes the distinction between attention and awareness so vexing is that, initially, many of us try to understand awareness *through* the lens of attention, so what naturally…[Read more]

moln1,

Before I saw Blake’s response, I wanted to reply to you and repeat the point about taking it easy, so perhaps we (Blake and I) have picked up on something similar.

Maybe the key in getting through this stage of your practice is less to do with *what* you’re doing in your practice and more so about *how* you’re doing your practice. *What*…[Read more]

moln1,

It sounds like what you’re experiencing is a textbook case of strong dullness and gross distraction, which, as I’m sure you know, are the obstacles of Stage Four in Culadasa’s model.

So, firstly, and without trying to be condescending: congratulations! This is a sign of progress — at least according to the model and my own experience of i…[Read more]

Thanks for your reply, Matthew.

The chapter of the Mind Illuminated on Stage Six seems to suggest that one should learn to access jhana via the breath sensations in the body before moving onto the pleasure jhana, but I suppose there’s probably no need to adhere to that rigidly, so I will take your advice and just work on accessing jhana…[Read more]

Hi Jonas,

In the practice of loving-kindness, as I understand it, we’re essentially attempting to do two things. Firstly, we’re trying to evoke a state of profound ease and goodwill in the mind; and, secondly, we’re wishing for that mental state to be directed both outwardly to others and inwardly to ourselves.

Which statements or sentiments…[Read more]