Daniel Ingram is an emergency medicine physician and long-time dharma practitioner. He is the author of the seminal text Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha — now out in its second edition-  and also the main force behind the radical dharmaoverground website, which specializes in a brand of unusually-frank discussion of meditation.

The book Michael mentions is Theravada Meditation by Winston King

Daniel explains how jhanas and ñanas can be matched across systems in this video.

The Fire Kasina website

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Tucker Peck, Ph.D., is a meditation teacher and clinical psychologist whose specialties include working with advanced meditators and using meditation to help those suffering from psychological disorders. Tucker is a published author on the scientific study of meditation, focusing on how meditation affects the brain and is a faculty member of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Tucker was also a founding board member of Culadasa’s Dharma Treasure sangha.

Tucker Peck’s website

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Mukti is a spiritual teacher, whose name originates in Sanskrit and is most often translated as “liberation.” Mukti has been the Associate Teacher of Open Gate Sangha since 2004 and has been a student of her husband, Adyashanti, since he began teaching in 1996, when they founded Open Gate Sangha together. In addition to her teachings, Mukti offers talks, dialogues, silent retreats, private meetings, and online broadcasts and courses.

https://www.muktisource.org/about-mukti

Support the Deconstructing Yourself podcast via Patreon.

Jayarava is a longtime member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, who writes about the history of ideas in Buddhism. Since 2012 he has been mainly focused on revising the text and history of the Heart Sutra, and also writes about karma and how it changed over time. His blog explores the clash between modernity and tradition with respect to Buddhism. He also works in various art forms, including music, painting, photography, and calligraphy.

Links

• Jayarava. (2018) ‘Anupalambhayogena: An Underappreciated Mahāyāna Term’. http://jayarava.blogspot.com/2018/05/anupalambhayogena-underappreciated.html
  
• Huifeng. (2014). ‘Apocryphal Treatment for Conze’s Heart Problems: “Non-attainment”, “Apprehension”, and “Mental Hanging” in the Prajñāpāramitā.’ Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. 6: 72-105. https://www.academia.edu/8275423/Apocryphal_Treatment_for_Conze_s_Heart_Problems_Non-attainment_Apprehension_and_Mental_Hanging_in_the_Praj%C3%B1%C4%81p%C4%81ramit%C4%81_Hrdaya

On the anupalambha meditation practice:

• Cūḷasuññata Sutta. Majjhima Nikāya 121. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.121.than.html
• Satyadhana. (2014) ‘The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness (Cūḷasuññatasutta, Majjhima-nikāya 121): translation and commentary.’ Western Buddhist Review 6: 78–104. https://thebuddhistcentre.com/system/files/groups/files/satyadhana-formless_spheres.pdf
• Anālayo. (2014). Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhism. https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product/compassion-and-emptiness-in-early-buddhist-meditation/

Please support the Deconstructing Yourself podcast on Patreon

Erik Davis is an author, podcaster, award-winning journalist, and popular speaker based in San Francisco. He is probably best known for his book TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information, a cult classic of visionary media studies that investigates how our fascination with technology intersects with the religious imagination. And his podcast, Expanding Mind has long been a favorite of mine.

Techgnosis.com

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Dr. Joscha Bach is an Artificial Intelligence researcher at MIT and Harvard who works and writes about cognitive architectures, mental representation, emotion, social modeling, and multi-agent systems. Bach’s mission to build a model of the mind is the bedrock research in the creation of Strong Artificial Intelligence, i.e. cognition on par with that of a human being.He is especially interested in the philosophy of Artificial Intelligence and in the augmentation of the human mind.

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Daniel Ingram is an emergency medicine physician and long-time dharma practitioner. He is the author of the seminal text Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha — now out in its second edition — and also the main force behind the radical dharmaoverground website, which specializes in a brand of unusually-frank discussion of meditation.

Links:

Dharma Treasure

The Mind Illuminated (TMI)

Shinzen Young

Shannon Stein/The Hermitage

DY Fire Kasina Interview

Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness

The Body Keeps the Score

DY Stream Entry Interview with Culadasa

Show Notes

2:26 – Daniel’s recent visit to Dharma Treasure

4:34 – Daniel’s teaching model

9:11 – Fire Kasina update

12:16 – The “Play and Fun” of Fire Kasina work

17:23 – Waking up the mind

25:14 – How Daniel processed trauma from working in emergency medicine

27:12 – Hindrances for smart people

29:22 – How skillful faith can clear the way through the analytical mind

32:45 – Michael’s shift from sarcasm and skepticism to beauty and love

36:57 – The inspiration and dignity of beauty in spiritual practice

40:47 – Daniel’s journey to embracing faith

44:57 – Pragmatic faith

47:05 – Working with analytical thinking

51:02 – The meta-hindrance of self-loathing

54:05 – Addressing attachment to intellect and drivenness in spiritual practice

58:18 – Daniel’s tips for Vipassana practitioners

1:01:48 – Rapture and awakening

1:05:49 – The analogy of the kazoo player

1:12:25 – How the insight of impermanence changes the experience of concentration

1:16:29 – Stream entry and the over-diagnosis of attainment

Chandra Easton studied Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and Tibetan language at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India, and translated Tibetan Buddhist texts on meditation with B. Alan Wallace. Chandra has taught meditation and yoga since 2001. She has studied with many Tibetan and Western Buddhist teachers such as H.H. Dalai Lama, H.H. Karmapa, Lama Tsultrim Allione, B. Alan Wallace,Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, and Jennifer Welwood. She is currently the Assistant Spiritual Director & Head Teacher at the Tara Mandala Retreat Center. To learn more visit www.shunyatayoga.com and www.taramandala.org.

What women practicing Buddhism looks like.

Links

The teachings of Chöd

Namkhai Norbu

Lama Tsultrim Allione

The Alchemical Body

The Anam Cara

Show Notes

2:57 – Chandra’s move to Colorado

4:14 – The Tara Mandala retreat center

6:35 – The Chöd practices

11:33 – Namkhai Norbu and “self-secret”

14:33 – The technology of Tantra

20:38 – The motivation of compassion

25:54 – Guru sexual misconduct and The Feminine in Buddhism

34:04 – The Buddha’s views on women

37:38 – The Tantra movement

40:01 – Women in Buddhism and what needs to change

44:41 – Women-run sanghas

47:39 – Gender in Tantric practices

52:16 – Sexual abuse and spiritual leaders

59:05 – How to choose a teacher

1:05:04 – Qualities to look for in a teacher

1:10:11 – Is the guru still needed?

1:13:05 – The Soul Friend

1:15:40 – The story of the Grandma and the Dog’s Tooth

1:19:54 – The teacher vs. the teachings

1:28:35 – Education changing the female experience in Buddhism

Erik Newton is a lawyer and was the head of a successful family law firm, which gave him the opportunity to take part in 1000s of divorces. As the result of his experience, two things happened: one was that he created the wildly popular podcast entitled “Together” — the podcast that explores the truth of human relationships — in which Erik uses his hard-won knowledge of the many failure modes of relationships to help couples understand how come together. The second was that he had a major awakening experience.

Links

Kenneth Folk on DY

• Am I Mindful Right Now
• The Cosmic Joke
• Masters of Oblivion

Talking Heads Song

The Forest Refuge

Michael’s Book on Non-Duality

Daniel Ingram on DY

• Meditation Magick Fire Kasina
• Popping the Bubble of Projection

Michael’s Article on Awakening

The Mindful Geek

Show Notes

3:50 – How The DY Podcast Began

6:58 – The Conversation of Awakening as a Creative Journey

9:30 – The Joy of Getting Inside Somebody Else’s Mind

10:40 – What is “The Path”?

12:09 – Where Did the Name “Deconstructing Yourself” Come From?

14:48 – Deconstructing Leads to Reconstructing

16:13 – Deconstruction and Reconstruction in Buddhism

16:57 – Erik’s Awakenings and Emptiness Experiences

18:58 – “Heaven is a Place Where Nothing Ever Happens”

20:24 – The “What Next” Factor Leads Us Back to The World

21:30 – The Pros and Cons of Michael’s Style of Learning and Teaching

24:04 – The Value of Academia and Scripture

25:24 – Everything is Partially True and False

26:43 – Michael’s Time as a Seeker

28:00 – What is a Seeker?

28:36 – The Slow Death of the Seeker

31:02 – Awakening Can Save the World

32:36 – Nothing Matters and A Lot Matters

34:51 – Does It Hurt to Be Aware of Suffering?

36:03 – The Game of Recognizing Emptiness and Engaging Anyway

37:37 – Awake People Are Still People

38:46 – A Perfect Relationship Doesn’t Exist

40:21 – Popping the Bubbles of Projection

41:33 – Redefining Awakening Through Science

43:06 – Empathizing with Critics

43:54 – Teaching for The Western Mind

45:42 ]]> Turning the tables on the usual show format, host Michael Taft gets interviewed by Erik Newton. They talk about the meaning of awakening, the paradox of suffering, the end of seeking, the value of personal experience vs. scriptural understanding, Erik’s awakening experience, new technologies of awakening, the genesis of the Deconstructing Yourself podcast, and more.

Erik Newton is a lawyer and was the head of a successful family law firm, which gave him the opportunity to take part in 1000s of divorces. As the result of his experience, two things happened: one was that he created the wildly popular podcast entitled “Together” — the podcast that explores the truth of human relationships — in which Erik uses his hard-won knowledge of the many failure modes of relationships to help couples understand how come together. The second was that he had a major awakening experience.

Links

Kenneth Folk on DY

• Am I Mindful Right Now
• The Cosmic Joke
• Masters of Oblivion

Talking Heads Song

The Forest Refuge

Michael’s Book on Non-Duality

Daniel Ingram on DY

• Meditation Magick Fire Kasina
• Popping the Bubble of Projection

Michael’s Article on Awakening

The Mindful Geek

Show Notes

3:50 – How The DY Podcast Began

6:58 – The Conversation of Awakening as a Creative Journey

9:30 – The Joy of Getting Inside Somebody Else’s Mind

10:40 – What is “The Path”?

12:09 – Where Did the Name “Deconstructing Yourself” Come From?

14:48 – Deconstructing Leads to Reconstructing

16:13 – Deconstruction and Reconstruction in Buddhism

16:57 – Erik’s Awakenings and Emptiness Experiences

18:58 – “Heaven is a Place Where Nothing Ever Happens”

20:24 – The “What Next” Factor Leads Us Back to The World

21:30 – The Pros and Cons of Michael’s Style of Learning and Teaching

24:04 – The Value of Academia and Scripture

25:24 – Everything is Partially True and False

26:43 – Michael’s Time as a Seeker

28:00 – What is a Seeker?

28:36 – The Slow Death of the Seeker

31:02 – Awakening Can Save the World

32:36 – Nothing Matters and A Lot Matters

34:51 – Does It Hurt to Be Aware of Suffering?

36:03 – The Game of Recognizing Emptiness and Engaging Anyway

37:37 – Awake People Are Still People

38:46 – A Perfect Relationship Doesn’t Exist

40:21 – Popping the Bubbles of Projection

41:33 – Redefining Awakening Through Science

43:06 – Empathizing with Critics

43:54 – Teaching for The Western Mind

45:42 ]]> clean No no no 1:03:36 Michael W. Taft https://deconstructingyourself.com/podcast/dy-025-emptiness-liberation-and-beauty-with-guest-rob-burbea Mon, 27 Aug 2018 14:58:20 +0000 Michael W. Taft http://deconstructingyourself.com/?post_type=podcast&p=7449 dharma,emptiness,metarationality,shunyata,soulmaking In this episode host Michael Taft speaks with Rob Burbea about Rob’s book, Seeing That Frees, the power of perception (ways of seeing), his creative methods of working with meditation practice, meditating with a more analytical vs more phenomenological focus, how analytical meditation works, Rob’s “soulmaking dharma,” the emptiness of conceptual frameworks, facing the end of life, and the meaning of emptiness.

Rob Burbea is a meditation teacher, musician, author, who teaches at Gaia House in Devon, England. Rob is the author of the groundbreaking meditation practice book entitled, Seeing That Frees: Meditations on Emptiness and Dependent Arising. Rob and Michael discuss it at length in this episode.

Seeing that Frees on Amazon

Show Notes

0:24 – Introduction

1:49 – Seeing That Frees, the idea of ways of looking that are liberating

4:34 – Example of the classical Buddhist anattā way of looking, unhooking identification, and
moving towards less fabrication of perception

14:14 – Rob’s teachers and how his creative meditative exploration unfolded

22:57 – Following the lead of beauty and the sense of liberation into new territory

27:01 – What is emptiness?

35:10 – An example of analytical meditation on time and its effect on the fading of perception

41:38 – Soulmaking, skillful fabrication, and broadening the scope of the purpose of
meditation beyond just the release of obvious suffering

44:55 – Working with soulmaking and images that are intrapsychic or in the world of material
objects, contextualizing these practices, and parallels with meta-rationality

48:54 – Gauging the progress of insight into emptiness through palpable senses of relief and
release and senses of perception opening up in wondrous and beautiful ways

53:12 – On a personal journey of soulmaking through health crises and the possibility of dying

1:01:12 – Outro

Christopher Titmuss is an insight meditation teacher, author, and former Theravada Buddhist monk. He is the co-founder of Gaia House, a large Buddhist retreat center in Devon, England, where he has been teaching since the early 1980s. A renowned proponent of engaged Buddhism, Christopher is the author of numerous books, and twice ran for election as a top Green Party candidate in England.

Evan Thompson, PhD, works on the nature of the mind, the self, and human experience. His work combines cognitive science, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially in Asian traditions. His most recent book, Waking, Dreaming, Being, examines the self and consciousness in neuroscience, meditation, and philosophy.

Show Notes

1:50 – Evan’s personal practice and retreat in Nelson, British Columbia.

4:55 – Central metaphor of awakening from sleep-wake cycle. Fractal nature of awakening.

8:50 – Phenomenal sense of insight into waking up, false awakening.

11:40 – Is waking up a recurring process as in the ordinary sleep-wake cycle?

15:10 – Awakening as metaphorical concept and not a state. Ethics, values tied to awakening.

17:15 – Embodied nature of consciousness and awakening.

19:55 – Extended consciousness involving brain, body and environment vs panpsychism.

23:35 – Meditation is not first person science, more similar to dance and martial arts.

28:25 – Basic structure of Waking, Dreaming, Being based on Upanishads.

29:05 – Unpacking the Upanishadic structure in the context of meditation.

33:45 – Lucid dreaming for cultivating awareness rather than dream control.

37:45 – Connection between framing of dream and waking states.

38:50 – Consciousness versus contents of consciousness. Sense of self while awake, dreaming.

43:25 – Neuroscience of self and memory while dreaming.

45:30 – Neuroscience of self and memory while awake.

46:20 – Brain as active while asleep as awake, but in different local and network ways.

48:00 – Sleep needed for memory consolidation, learning and self regulation.

49:35 – Meditation not only limited to brain but an activity practiced in a social context.

53:05 – Meditation embodied in a wider context that may be missed in brain only fMRI scans.

55:40 – Wings needed for flight but flight is not in the wings, brain needed for meditation …

56:55 – Meditation reduced to neuroscience correlates may be too reductionist.

58:05 – Neuroscience being used to “prove” Buddhism. Fetishizing Buddhism.

1:00:35 – Buddhism is a religion despite claims to the contrary, a lot of Buddhist exceptionalism.

1:03:00 – Critique of Buddhist exceptionalism in new book. Cosmopolitan Buddhism preferred.

1:05:35 – Evan’s book in progress Why I am not a Buddhist.

1:07:05 – Hopeful signs in greater sensitivity to environment, equality.

1:10:05 – Unbalanced approach to psychedelics. Consciousness hacking as fear of death.

1:13:20 – Outro

Culadasa has been practicing Buddhist meditation for over four decades, mainly in Tibetan lineages. He is the director of Dharma Treasure Buddhist Sangha in Tucson, Arizona where he teaches meditation and Buddhism from a modern, progressive scientific perspective. His groundbreaking book, The Mind Illuminated, is a modern road map to Buddhist meditation for a Western audience which combines age-old wisdom teachings of the Buddha with the latest research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Learn more at culadasa.com.

Show Notes (coming soon)

Eve Ekman PhD, MSW designs, delivers and evaluates trainings on the development of emotional awareness and the cultivation of deep seated contentment. Eve draws from educations and life experience in clinical social work, integrative medicine and contemplative practice. Eve is a second generation emotion researcher and has had meaningful collaborations with her father, renowned emotion researcher Dr. Paul Ekman. Their most recent project, The Atlas of Emotions, is an online visual tool to teach emotional awareness, a project commissioned and supported by the Dalai Lama. Eve is a founding teacher for Cultivating Emotional Balance, an evidenced based training with a rich contemplative science lineage of Western and Eastern approaches to emotional and genuine happiness.

Shinzen Young is an American mindfulness teacher and neuroscience research consultant.His systematic approach to categorizing, adapting and teaching meditation, known as Unified Mindfulness, has resulted in collaborations with Harvard Medical School, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the University of Vermont in the burgeoning field of contemplative neuroscience. You can learn more about Shinzen on his website shinzen.org.

Show Notes

1:40 – Shinzen Intro
3:00 – Shinzen talks about Homology Theory
7:50 – Meditation and science complement each other like algebra and geometry
9:30 – Coupling of science and contemplative practice
12:50 – What science can teach contemplative practice
13:49 – In some ways scientists have less ego than meditation masters
15:50 – All meditators are teachers
20:55  – Ability of a “professional meditation teacher” to lead students through all goals
24:24 – Why meditation teachers should have respectful but open and unhurried dialog to improve the field
36:44 – Improving science by reducing ego in other ways via Meditation
38:25 – The contradiction of advanced meditators exhibiting unacceptable behavior
42:44 – The high profile flagrant behavior of a few tends to overshadow the overall positive impact of practice
46:30 – What’s missing in the case of advanced meditators who go morally off track
59:30 – Unrealistic paradigms of what liberation and meditation delivers and how it’s possible to do wrong from a place of emptiness
1:10:20 – Role/Power of a meditation teacher and culture
1:16:01 – Plane crash analogy and Shinzen’s story of going off-track
1:21:40 – The feedback that helped Shinzen fix co-dependence
1:24:50 – Bill Hamilton, “the great unsung hero of vipassana in the West”

Leigh Brasington has been practicing meditation for decades and is the senior American student of the late Venerable  Ayya Khema. Leigh began assisting her in 1994, and began teaching retreats on his own in 1997. He teaches in Europe and North America and is the author of the book Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas. Find more about Leigh’s teaching and schedule at leighb.com.

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Kelly Boys is a consultant with the United Nations Foundation where she helped to create and works to deliver a mindfulness and well-being program for UN humanitarian aid workers on the front lines in the Middle East and beyond. She is also a freelance producer at Sounds True Publishing and the author of the forthcoming book entitled The Blind Spot Effect: How to Stop Missing What’s Right in Front of You. Kelly is a mindfulness teacher and founding advisor for the meditation app Simple Habit. She teaches retreats and workshops at spots like the Esalen Institute.

Show Notes

coming soon

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Daniel Ingram is an emergency medicine physician and long-time dharma practitioner. He famously exploded the Buddhist world when he declared himself to be an arhat and published the seminal text Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: an Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book in 2008. He is also the main force behind the radical Dharma Overground website, that specializes in a brand of unusually-frank discussion of meditation practice.

You can learn more about Daniel at his website, www.integrateddaniel.info.

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D.  is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order and founder of Prajna Mountain Buddhist Order, her work and practice for more than four decades has focused on engaged Buddhism. Her books include: The Fruitful Darkness, A Journey Through Buddhist Practice, Being with Dying, and her forthcoming, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet.

Upaya Zen Center

Standing at the Edge on Amazon

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books include Buddha’s Brain, Hardwiring Happiness, and the new book Resilient. Rick began meditating in 1974, has trained in several traditions, and teaches at meditation centers around the world.

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Leigh Brasington has been practicing meditation since 1985 and is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema. Leigh began assisting Ven. Ayya Khemma in 1994, and began teaching retreats on his on in 1997. He teaches in Europe and North America and is the author of the book Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas. Find more about Leigh’s teaching and schedule at http://leighb.com.

A page rife with fascinating jhana links and docs.

Show Notes

0:31 – Introduction
1:59 – The Jhanas, de-emphasis on jhana practice in American practice, the Visuddhimagga, Paw Auk Sawadaw,  overview concentration vs vipassana
5:23 – The variety of systems of jhana, why there are differences in what counts as jhana,  sermons, meditation instructions and one on one interviews
8:08 – The Jhanas – specific states
10:16 – Did the Buddha learn the jhanas from his teachers?
12:19 – The Buddha’s unique contribution – a well-concentrated mind can more accurately investigate reality – vipassana
13:21 – Redefinition of the jhanas over time – Sutta to Abhidharma to Visuddhimagga
15:37 – What makes concentration a jhana?
17:36 – Jhana from a light switch or other object how to generate it, access concentration, feedback loops to generate piti-sukkha
19:41 – Piti-sukkha  gleeful happiness  – variety of experience among meditators
20:23 – How long does attention need to be there?  Indistractability, and when to switch between access concentration and the first jhana
22:26 – Why is this better than meditating on a cloud? Why meditate on piti-sukkha? A great way to set up your vipassana practice.
24:34 – The higher jhanas, discussion of emotions with bodily components vs emotions as embodied with mental aspects.
27:10 – Focus in the first four jhanas on the mental aspect of the emotion vs. the physical aspect
28:36 – How long does it take to learn the jhanas
29:36 – Unresolved psychological stuff may show up as a function of concentration, getting those up and out,
32:04 -Example feeling of unworthiness, low self esteem, how to handle it,
35:21 -Purification practice
39:55 -Unwise action that won’t lead to the results you are hoping for, social media, where people are trying to get happiness and be safe
42:21 -Strong piti in first jhana, moving from first to second jhana
45:21 -Jhanic states and neurotransmitters and transition to third jhana, varying time in different jhanas
47:56  -The Difference between the second and third jhana, third jhana afterglow
49:38  – Moving into the fourth jhana, attention on the quiet stillness wherever you find it
52:16  – Hanging out in the fourth jhana, and insight practice
55:28  – Misinformation on the jhanas
57:48   – The four immaterial jhanas
1:00:40   – Getting to the fifth jhana
1:02:17   – The sixth, seventh, and eighth jhanas
1:05:03   – The ninth jhana – cessation of feeling and perception
1:07:17  – Weird experiences with jhanic concentration, powers
1:13:40 – Which jhanas are helpful for insight practice, even access concentration helps,
1:15:01  – The jhanas and retreat
Concentration master Leigh Brasington talks with Michael W. Taft about the jhanas, a Buddhist system of eight altered states of consciousness that arise in states of high concentration. The conversation dives deep into practicing each of these eight states, how the jhanas relate to vipassana practice, ways to work through major challenges that may arise, the so-called “powers” that are often attributed to concentration practice, and much more.

Leigh Brasington has been practicing meditation since 1985 and is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema. Leigh began assisting Ven. Ayya Khemma in 1994, and began teaching retreats on his on in 1997. He teaches in Europe and North America and is the author of the book Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas. Find more about Leigh’s teaching and schedule at http://leighb.com.

A page rife with fascinating jhana links and docs.

Show Notes

0:31 – Introduction
1:59 – The Jhanas, de-emphasis on jhana practice in American practice, the Visuddhimagga, Paw Auk Sawadaw,  overview concentration vs vipassana
5:23 – The variety of systems of jhana, why there are differences in what counts as jhana,  sermons, meditation instructions and one on one interviews
8:08 – The Jhanas – specific states
10:16 – Did the Buddha learn the jhanas from his teachers?
12:19 – The Buddha’s unique contribution – a well-concentrated mind can more accurately investigate reality – vipassana
13:21 – Redefinition of the jhanas over time – Sutta to Abhidharma to Visuddhimagga
15:37 – What makes concentration a jhana?
17:36 – Jhana from a light switch or other object how to generate it, access concentration, feedback loops to generate piti-sukkha
19:41 – Piti-sukkha  gleeful happiness  – variety of experience among meditators
20:23 – How long does attention need to be there?  Indistractability, and when to switch between access concentration and the first jhana
22:26 – Why is this better than meditating on a cloud? Why meditate on piti-sukkha? A great way to set up your vipassana practice.
24:34 – The higher jhanas, discussion of emotions with bodily components vs emotions as embodied with mental aspects.
27:10 – Focus in the first four jhanas on the mental aspect of the emotion vs. the physical aspect
28:36 – How long does it take to learn the jhanas
29:36 – Unresolved psychological stuff may show up as a function of concentration, getting those up and out,
32:04 -Example feeling of unworthiness, low self esteem, how to handle it,
35:21 -Purification practice
39:55 -Unwise action that won’t lead to the results you are hoping for, social media, where people are trying to get happiness and be safe
42:21 -Strong piti in first jhana, moving from first to second jhana
45:21 -Jhanic states and neurotransmitters and transition to third jhana, varying time in different jhanas
47:56  -The Difference between the second and third jhana, third jhana afterglow
49:38  – Moving into the fourth jhana, attention on the quiet stillness wherever you find it
52:16  – Hanging out in the fourth jhana, and insight practice
55:28  – Misinformation on the jhanas
57:48   – The four immaterial jhanas
1:00:40   – Getting to the fifth jhana
1:02:17   – The sixth, seventh, and eighth jhanas
1:05:03   – The ninth jhana – cessation of feeling and perception
1:07:17  – Weird experiences with jhanic concentration, powers
1:13:40 – Which jhanas are helpful for insight practice, even access concentration helps,
1:15:01  – The jhanas and retreat
clean No no no 1:19:56 Michael W. Taft https://deconstructingyourself.com/podcast/dy-013-enlightened-sexuality-guest-jessica-graham Mon, 22 Jan 2018 03:39:24 +0000 Michael W. Taft http://deconstructingyourself.com/?post_type=podcast&p=7203 awakening,Buddhism,human sexuality,spirituality,tantra In this episode, I talk with Jessica Graham about her book Good Sex, the #MeToo movement, the power of self love and acceptance, a beginner’s guide to spiritual awakening through sexuality, mindful masturbation, aspects of puritanism in Buddhism, the meditative way to work with “love drugs,” and much more.

Jessica Graham is a spiritual teacher, sex and intimacy guide, and author. Jessica began studying meditating in earnest a decade ago and started teaching soon after. Jessica is also passionate about exploring sexuality and helping others heal, evolve, and awaken sexually. She is the author of Good Sex: Getting Off without Checking Out .Jessica is also an award-winning actor and filmmaker. And, of course, Jessica is the author of many of the articles on the Deconstructing Yourself blog.

Read Jessica’s series of posts on Mindful Sex

Visit Jessica’s website

Show Notes

(coming soon)

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Thomas Metzinger is full professor and director of the theoretical philosophy group and the research group on neuroethics/neurophilosophy at the department of philosophy, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. He is the founder and director of the MIND group and Adjunct Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute of Advanced Studies, Germany. His research centers on analytic philosophy of mind, applied ethics, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. He is the editor of Neural Correlates of Consciousness and the author of Being No One and The Ego Tunnel.

Thomas Metzinger’s website.

A video of Metzinger’s Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty talk.

Read an interview with Thomas Metzinger, entitled “What Is the Self?”

Show Notes

0:25 – Introduction
2:53 – Interesting times in the world
4:12 – Summary of Thomas’ talk, “Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty”
7:46 – Impact and divided reactions to “Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty”
12:43 – Internal moral integrity: belief formation & authority
17:05 – Needing a teacher, master or guru
21:10 – Surrender, Western enlightenment and the “crazy corner”
24:13 – Getting science to say something interesting about human experience
26:08 – Neurofeedback glasses for walking meditation; taking meditation into life
30:00 – Virtuality and nothingness, consciousness as virtual reality
34:03 – Suchness; spirituality as de-immersion from conscious experience, meditating on artifacts
36:20 – The feeling of being real, transparently and opacity
38:55 – Hyperreality & derealization: hallucinogens, religious ecstasy and seizures
40:42 – VR meditation, getting in touch with virtuality
42:28 – Reaching earlier brain processing stages through meditation or hallucinogens
45:43 – The Ruining Innocence podcast: a half-serious criticism of taxonomies and discussing meditation
49:33 – Thomas’ thoughts on the Arrow of Attention; correlates in neuroscience
53:20 – Mindfulness of inattention and avoidance, pitfalls of mindfulness
56:07 – Discussing Douglas Harding: the Headless Way and immersion; more discussion of the Arrow of Attention
1:00:14 – The self as a visual metaphor; the pre-3D lump of sensations and motor babbling
1:03:23 – Thomas’ recent studies of subjectivity: the epistemic agent model of self
1:09:48 – How it transpires that the Self is not conscious
1:11:34 – Questioning science’s value for practice; the moral imperative of trying to improve contemplative practice
1:15:12 – Thomas’ critique of the perennial philosophy; strategies of mortality denial
1:22:07 – The simulation hypothesis; thoughts in the mind of god
1:25:41 – Is suffering real, and how deep does reality go?
1:29:05 – A hypothetical merging of scienc]]> Thomas Metzinger and Michael W. Taft discuss having moral integrity with yourself, intellectual honesty in the pursuit of spirituality, the overlapping goals of science and spirituality, the possibility of a fully secularized spirituality, neurofeedback and virtual reality, mortality denial, the simulation hypothesis, and a whole bunch more.

Thomas Metzinger is full professor and director of the theoretical philosophy group and the research group on neuroethics/neurophilosophy at the department of philosophy, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. He is the founder and director of the MIND group and Adjunct Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute of Advanced Studies, Germany. His research centers on analytic philosophy of mind, applied ethics, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. He is the editor of Neural Correlates of Consciousness and the author of Being No One and The Ego Tunnel.

Thomas Metzinger’s website.

A video of Metzinger’s Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty talk.

Read an interview with Thomas Metzinger, entitled “What Is the Self?”

Show Notes

0:25 – Introduction
2:53 – Interesting times in the world
4:12 – Summary of Thomas’ talk, “Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty”
7:46 – Impact and divided reactions to “Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty”
12:43 – Internal moral integrity: belief formation & authority
17:05 – Needing a teacher, master or guru
21:10 – Surrender, Western enlightenment and the “crazy corner”
24:13 – Getting science to say something interesting about human experience
26:08 – Neurofeedback glasses for walking meditation; taking meditation into life
30:00 – Virtuality and nothingness, consciousness as virtual reality
34:03 – Suchness; spirituality as de-immersion from conscious experience, meditating on artifacts
36:20 – The feeling of being real, transparently and opacity
38:55 – Hyperreality & derealization: hallucinogens, religious ecstasy and seizures
40:42 – VR meditation, getting in touch with virtuality
42:28 – Reaching earlier brain processing stages through meditation or hallucinogens
45:43 – The Ruining Innocence podcast: a half-serious criticism of taxonomies and discussing meditation
49:33 – Thomas’ thoughts on the Arrow of Attention; correlates in neuroscience
53:20 – Mindfulness of inattention and avoidance, pitfalls of mindfulness
56:07 – Discussing Douglas Harding: the Headless Way and immersion; more discussion of the Arrow of Attention
1:00:14 – The self as a visual metaphor; the pre-3D lump of sensations and motor babbling
1:03:23 – Thomas’ recent studies of subjectivity: the epistemic agent model of self
1:09:48 – How it transpires that the Self is not conscious
1:11:34 – Questioning science’s value for practice; the moral imperative of trying to improve contemplative practice
1:15:12 – Thomas’ critique of the perennial philosophy; strategies of mortality denial
1:22:07 – The simulation hypothesis; thoughts in the mind of god
1:25:41 – Is suffering real, and how deep does reality go?
1:29:05 – A hypothetical merging of scienc]]> clean No no no 1:33:28 Michael W. Taft https://deconstructingyourself.com/podcast/dy-011-reality-let-loose-guest-h-almaas Thu, 14 Dec 2017 20:44:18 +0000 Michael W. Taft http://deconstructingyourself.com/?post_type=podcast&p=7114 awakening,Buddhism,diamond heart,nonduality,post-buddhism,spirituality

In this episode, I speak with spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali, more often known by his pen name, A. H. Almaas.

Almaas is the creator of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization, which is a contemporary teaching developed within the context of both ancient spiritual teachings and modern depth psychology theories. Almaas has authored eighteen books about spiritual realization, including the Diamond Heart series, The Pearl Beyond Price, The Void, The Unfolding Now, and The Point of Existence.

I met Almaas at his office in Berkeley, where we sat down for a comfortable chat about attachment to the nondual viewpoint, a way of awakening that he calls the “unilocal,” the role of instinct in the spiritual quest, the essential activation of continuous awakening, integrating awakening with the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger, and much more. He’s a fascinating guy with a lot to say, and so I’m very happy to present to you the episode that I call “Reality Let Loose.”

Find out more about Almaas at his website.

Show Notes

00:25 – Introduction and summary
02:07 – The Alchemy of Freedom & the many faces of true nature
05:22 – The second turning, nonduality & the third turning, the presence in the Void
08:57 – Exploring the presence: unilocality and the experience of containing everything
14:55 – The fourth turning: singularity & the delight of freedom
19:42 – Immense lightness & the sliding scale of emptiness
23:10 – More on the fourth turning: the view of totality & the pain of going past non-duality
30:50 – Non-duality as part of a sequence of awakenings
33:39 – More fourth turning awakenings: not-anything, non-condition
38:34 – The philosopher’s stone & the dynamic, quantum nature of reality
42:30 – Working with true nature & endless awakenings
46:23 – Learning to accept the view of totality & moving beyond belief
51:32 – Aliens, red sulfur, & no-end
58:47 – All spiritual paths are valid
1:00:00 – Almaas’ upcoming books: phenomenology of awakening
1:05:33 – Upcoming, continued: instinct & awakening
1:09:19 – Lifeforce, enlightened aliens & the self-revealing nature of true nature
1:12:00 – True nature without consciousness & the mystery at the source of awareness
1:13:34 – Concluding remarks: practice is realization
1:16:16 – Outro

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by <a href=”https://www.patreon.com/michaeltaft”>contributing through Patreon</a>.

In this episode, I speak with spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali, more often known by his pen name, A. H. Almaas.

Almaas is the creator of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization, which is a contemporary teaching developed within the context of both ancient spiritual teachings and modern depth psychology theories. Almaas has authored eighteen books about spiritual realization, including the Diamond Heart series, The Pearl Beyond Price, The Void, The Unfolding Now, and The Point of Existence.

I met Almaas at his office in Berkeley, where we sat down for a comfortable chat about attachment to the nondual viewpoint, a way of awakening that he calls the “unilocal,” the role of instinct in the spiritual quest, the essential activation of continuous awakening, integrating awakening with the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger, and much more. He’s a fascinating guy with a lot to say, and so I’m very happy to present to you the episode that I call “Reality Let Loose.”

Find out more about Almaas at his website.

Show Notes

00:25 – Introduction and summary
02:07 – The Alchemy of Freedom & the many faces of true nature
05:22 – The second turning, nonduality & the third turning, the presence in the Void
08:57 – Exploring the presence: unilocality and the experience of containing everything
14:55 – The fourth turning: singularity & the delight of freedom
19:42 – Immense lightness & the sliding scale of emptiness
23:10 – More on the fourth turning: the view of totality & the pain of going past non-duality
30:50 – Non-duality as part of a sequence of awakenings
33:39 – More fourth turning awakenings: not-anything, non-condition
38:34 – The philosopher’s stone & the dynamic, quantum nature of reality
42:30 – Working with true nature & endless awakenings
46:23 – Learning to accept the view of totality & moving beyond belief
51:32 – Aliens, red sulfur, & no-end
58:47 – All spiritual paths are valid
1:00:00 – Almaas’ upcoming books: phenomenology of awakening
1:05:33 – Upcoming, continued: instinct & awakening
1:09:19 – Lifeforce, enlightened aliens & the self-revealing nature of true nature
1:12:00 – True nature without consciousness & the mystery at the source of awareness
1:13:34 – Concluding remarks: practice is realization
1:16:16 – Outro

 

 

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by <a href=”https://www.patreon.com/michaeltaft”>contributing through Patreon</a>.

 

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In this episode, I speak with spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali, more often known by his pen name, A. H. Almaas.

Almaas is the creator of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization, which is a contemporary teaching developed within the context of both ancient spiritual teachings and modern depth psychology theories. Almaas has authored eighteen books about spiritual realization, including the Diamond Heart series, The Pearl Beyond Price, The Void, The Unfolding Now, and The Point of Existence.

I met Almaas at his office in Berkeley, where we sat down for a comfortable chat about attachment to the nondual viewpoint, a way of awakening that he calls the “unilocal,” the role of instinct in the spiritual quest, the essential activation of continuous awakening, integrating awakening with the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger, and much more. He’s a fascinating guy with a lot to say, and so I’m very happy to present to you the episode that I call “Reality Let Loose.”

Find out more about Almaas at his website.

Show Notes

00:25 – Introduction and summary
02:07 – The Alchemy of Freedom & the many faces of true nature
05:22 – The second turning, nonduality & the third turning, the presence in the Void
08:57 – Exploring the presence: unilocality and the experience of containing everything
14:55 – The fourth turning: singularity & the delight of freedom
19:42 – Immense lightness & the sliding scale of emptiness
23:10 – More on the fourth turning: the view of totality & the pain of going past non-duality
30:50 – Non-duality as part of a sequence of awakenings
33:39 – More fourth turning awakenings: not-anything, non-condition
38:34 – The philosopher’s stone & the dynamic, quantum nature of reality
42:30 – Working with true nature & endless awakenings
46:23 – Learning to accept the view of totality & moving beyond belief
51:32 – Aliens, red sulfur, & no-end
58:47 – All spiritual paths are valid
1:00:00 – Almaas’ upcoming books: phenomenology of awakening
1:05:33 – Upcoming, continued: instinct & awakening
1:09:19 – Lifeforce, enlightened aliens & the self-revealing nature of true nature
1:12:00 – True nature without consciousness & the mystery at the source of awareness
1:13:34 – Concluding remarks: practice is realization
1:16:16 – Outro

 

 

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by <a href=”https://www.patreon.com/michaeltaft”>contributing through Patreon</a>.

 

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Learn more about Culadasa and his teaching at culadasa.com

Show Notes

0:15 – Introduction and overview
2:30 – Culadasa’s system vs. Shinzen Young’s: stability of attention
7:55 – Sustained attention and effortlessness
10:20 – Culadasa’s system vs. Shinzen Young’s: sensory clarity and peripheral awareness
19:55 – Mindfulness as the optimal interaction between attention and awareness
22:55 – Conceptual overlays and the lower limits of conscious perception
32:50 – Attention selects objects from peripheral awareness
35:00 – The interactive role of attention and awareness in maintaining mindfulness in daily life
38:30 – How strong mindfulness affects emotions, wholesome and unwholesome behavior, and the practice of virtue
43:50 – The importance of the Eightfold Path post-awakening
47:20 – The Ten Fetter, Four Path Model: characteristics of paths and the dropping of fetters
59:49 – Spiritual development does not end at Fourth Path
1:01:57 – Old age, sickness and death are part of the Great Adventure

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Judson Brewer is an MD-PhD and a thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery”, having combined nearly 20 years of experience with mindfulness training with his scientific research.

A psychiatrist and internationally known expert in mindfulness training for addictions, Brewer has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including both in-person and app-based treatments. He has also studied the underlying neural mechanisms of mindfulness using standard and real-time fMRI. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, Fetzer Trust among others.

Check out Jud’s recent book, entitled, The Craving Mind.

In this TED talk, Jud describes how to “get out of your own way.”

Show Notes

3:37 – Has Jud found the neurocorrelates of enlightenment?
4:40 – The Default Mode Network and science, the PCC – Craving and tanha – Details of fMRI experiments
5:57 – Trying, Flow and PCC activity, contraction vs. expansion
9:36 – Jud’s own practice in the scanner, metta, calibrating the scale of exp/con
20:45 – High concentration vs. effortlessness – no force necessary – 7 factors of awakening
28:54 – What has Jud found? Excitement vs. happiness – a learning tool
30:30 – What we see with experienced meditators / Best use of his neurofeedback technology
36:09 – Michael’s experience in the device
38:30 – Neurophenomolgy effort vs. non-effort, and the feedback loop of reward-based learning – the perpetual Skinner box of relative rewards – anger vs. kindness
42:30 – Addiction – allcohol, cocaine, smoking – smoking tastes bad when you pay attention
45:50 – Paying attention to eating – Joie de vivre – PCC and digital therapeutics – apps
53:24 – The trickiness of the black hole of anxiety – Unwinding Anxiety app
56:20 – Do we have to practice abstinence or not? – Is addiction a disease?
1:00:27 – Jud’s new book, The Craving Mind
1:01:37 – Self-referential thinking as a kind of addiction – Instagram addiction
1:04:05 – Meditation from the Lab – Dependant Origination (PDF Download) – Siddhis

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Daniel Ingram is an emergency medicine physician and long-time dharma practitioner. He famously exploded the Buddhist world when he declared himself to be an arhat and published the seminal text Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: an Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book in 2008. He is also the main force behind the radical Dharma Overground website, which he founded together with Vince Horn, that specializes in a brand of unusually-frank discussion of meditation practice.

You can learn more about Daniel at his website, www.integrateddaniel.info.

You can download a free PDF of The Fire Kasina book here.

Show Notes

00:25 – Introduction and overview
2:10 – Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha 2, its purpose and release
4:55 – The fire kasina: what it is, what happens as concentration increases, and how it provides immediate feedback on the strength of concentration
8:01 – Fire kasina’s benefits beyond concentration: insight, crafting your reality, fusion of śamatha and vipassanā
12:57 – The awakening components of fire kasina practice, fruitions
17:28 – The ontological status of deities seen during fire kasina practice and the meaning of joint powers experiences
22:50 – Daniel’s fire kasina experiences and teaching the practice to others
29:42 – The line between madness and meditation
35:30 – Siddhis, synchronicities, and the collective unconscious
40:22 – Daniel’s cutting edge in practice and use of magick
51:24 – Dzogchen and the post-magickal
59:19 – Deconstructing sensory experience into fruition
1:10:44 – What meditation teachers get wrong: lack of warning about potential dangers
1:21:49 – The cross-pollination and experimentation the internet affords the meditation scene
1:24:51 – The Fire Kasina, a book with Shannon Stein

You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Listen to more with Daniel Ingram.

Also here is a pdf of Shinzen’s Periodic Table of Happiness Elements.

Show Notes

0:25 – Introduction and overview
2:38 – Defining mindfulness, and what mindfulness teachers can improve on
15:20 – Fulfilling the ethical duty to inform students about the possibilities and challenges of deeper meditation work
20:05 – The Dark Night and DP/DR, and the amount of guidance students need to integrate emptiness
25:24 – Addressing student concerns about becoming derailed or idle if they make spiritual progress
28:24 – Clarifying what the Dark Night is, what it might look like, and how to address it prophylactically and remedially
51:31 – More about what mindfulness teachers can improve on
1:19:28 – Frosting Shinzen’s buns by shutting down a meditator’s no-self experience
1:26:06 – Being careful not to set up barriers that keep people away from practice

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

David Chapman is a writer, computer scientist, engineer, and Buddhist practitioner. He’s been practicing Vajrayana Buddhism in the Aro Ter tradition for 20 years. David is a leading proponent of metarationality—a subject we’ll go into in some depth in this episode—and writes about it on his website Meaningness.com.

Show notes

1:43 – What is metarationality?
2:45 – What happens when you run off the edge of the map?
4:44 – Pattern and nebulosity, emptiness and form
6:45 – Story of scientist Barbara McClintock, and epicycles
13:30 – Donald Schön & design creativity
14:37 – Ways to deal with system failure, Nihilism
17:28 – Timothy Leary & Robert Anton Wilson, switching between reality tunnels
20:22 – Is metarationality just a larger rationality?
22:15 – David’s vampire romance novel, Ken Wilber’s novel Boomeritis
23:38 – What does metarationality have to do with meditation and Buddhism?
24:27 – Seeing the relationship between thought and reality
27:57 – Metarationality as a signpost of deep awakening
30:31 – Dzogchen and Advaita – are practices of view simply indoctrination?
32:17 – Metarationality as a path beyond postmodernism
33:09 – Fundamentalism as a huge LARP, Eternalism vs. Nihilism
36:06 – Spiral dynamics & Robert Kegan’s stages of adult development Link to Wilber/Kegan dialog (Warning: behind a paywall)
41:20 – What a Kegan Stage 3 group looks like in American Buddhist sanghas
43:23 – Transitioning to Stage 4, examples in relation to Buddhist practice and sanghas
44:22 – The edge of the map and the lack of support for Stage 5 in Buddhist communities
46:22 – Kegan Stage 4.5, rejecting systems for their limitations, and how to get to Stage 5
47:25 – The importance of intersubjectivity
49:20 – Future echoes of David’s teaching of metarationality
50:21 – Engaging metarationality in ways that don’t involve meditation, Bongard problems, and the word “intuition”
54:33 – Vipassana techniques for generating intuition
57:43 – Do we need gurus/lamas to transmit deep understanding?
1:04:20 – Students covering up their teacher’s crimes
1:05:33 – The desire to be metarational and the dangers of self-diagnosing your Kegan stage
1:07:54 – David’s background in artificial intelligence and philosophy
1:10:19 – Is AI dangerous?

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Learn more about Vince at meditate.io

Show Notes

0:25 Introduction and overview
1:52 – Vince talks about Buddhist Geeks, his interest in mindfulness and his teaching project at meditate.io
3:45 – Vince’s meditation and teaching background, working with somatic practices and vipassanā, and his time at Naropa University
8:16 – What’s exciting and interesting in mindfulness now, radical experimentation in the new generation, the unbundling of the Dharma
11:38 – Playing with the core meditative elements (concentration, inquiry, etc.) of different traditions
14:45 – Defining mindfulness and awareness, and how they work together
24:45 – Has Buddhism weeded out all meditative dead-ends or is experimentation and knowing for oneself useful? Can we discover things that haven’t been done before?
28:22 – Technology and making sense of what practice is while rapid change is occurring
30:34 – Scatology: literal and figurative shit
33:50 – Human relationships: self, other, and “individuality first” in practice
37:00 – The co-construction of reality, and social noting
42:15 – Meditation’s reinvention in the 1800s and 1900s, and the arising of noting in response to colonialism
44:54 – Is Buddhism dying?
49:33 – Silicon Valley, immortality, and Ray Kurzweil
57:36 – The juice of the unknown and a shift in the way we know things
1:04:40 – As many types of nonduality as dualities
1:07:16 – Vince and Emily’s teaching synergy, one-on-one teacher meetings

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Show Notes

0:25 – Intro
4:12 – How does Advaita/Nonduality relate to Mindfulness?
7:45 – Shinzen defines modern mindfulness and the component parts of contemplative practice (concentration, clarity and equanimity)
9:51 – Michael’s simplified working definitions of mindfulness and advaita
10:37 – Shinzen asserts that mindfulness and advaita converge towards the same thing, under his own understanding of mindfulness
16:08 – How to investigate one’s own awareness through mindfulness; Shinzen’s quadrants of practice 20:50 – Appreciation practice (“note everything”) or “regular mindfulness”
22:54 – The arrow of attention
26:31 – Classical mindfulness in the Burmese tradition: penetrative awareness and working with the arrow of attention
31:48 – Outside time and space: what the arrow of attention reveals
34:06 – Shinzen defines primordial awareness in materialist, reductivist terms: the sound that’s not sound 39:15 – Are nondual experiences externally real, or do they reflect only subjective experience?
45:05 – Shinzen’s conjecture: connectivity vs thingness; cones of association
51:38 – By what criterion is connectivity assumed to be fundamental to reality, not only subjectively experienced?
56:55 – How appreciation and self-inquiry practices converge
1:01:01 – Reconciling the fruits of mindfulness and nonduality: differences in perception and language vs. differences in experience
1:06:25 – Deconstructing the arrow of attention in a nondual setting
1:07:50 – Micro-cessations vs lights-out cessations; the lightness and thinness of the ordinary
1:11:55 – Shinzen’s many-layered experience of cessations; the sphere of experience and the void
1:18:08 – Bigger cessations
1:19:38 – Disambiguations: what does it mean to be feather light and paper thin, and what are the characteristics of micro-cessations?
1:23:56 – The lightness of immediate experience
1:29:30 – Outro

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Kenneth Folk is an instructor of meditation who has received worldwide acknowledgement for his innovative approach to secular Buddhist meditation. Learn more about him and his work at Kenneth Folk Dharma.

Show Notes

0:25 – Introduction and overview
2:20 – Preferring to be conscious or not conscious
5:28 – Avoiding eternalism and entertaining the possibility of death…or immortality
11:33 – The enjoyability of oblivion/nirvana (and establishing a definition of both)
19:15 – The Buddha presents a life extinction program, not a life improvement program
25:28 – Fear and denial of death, and rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic
33:15 – The relief of accepting the reality of death
34:48 – Enlightenment as a real-time report about what’s arising in experience
37:52 – The limitations of coming to meditation as a life improvement program
41:10 – Kenneth’s current practice assessing mindfulness, checking for tightness and temporarily suspending the self model
48:45 – The preposterousness of eradicating the self
53:41 – The Dharma Overground forums and posters having bad days after attaining some level of enlightenment
58:31 – How do know anything? Does Kenneth feel like he has any special or ultimate knowledge?
1:03:53 – Certitude is just another feeling on a level playing field with all others
1:12:10 – Awakening experiences invalidating each other: the second awakening erodes some of the truth of the first
1:14:10 – The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Kenneth Folk is an instructor of meditation who has received worldwide acknowledgement for his innovative approach to secular Buddhist meditation. Learn more about him and his work at Kenneth Folk Dharma.

Books by Thomas Metzinger: Being No One and The Ego Tunnel . 

Listen to a DY podcast with Thomas Metzinger here.

The actual paper we discuss can be found at: Suffering.

Show Notes

0:25 – Introduction and overview
1:52 – Thomas Metzinger, machines and suffering. Can machines think? What if they could suffer? Consciousness, ownership, negative valence (bad feelings), and realness—“CONR”—as necessary conditions for suffering
11:19 – Suspending one CONR condition at a time to prevent suffering
13:37 – Suspending Consciousness, and nirvana as a state of unconsciousness
22:57 – Suspending Ownership through “who am I?” inquiry and other anattā practices that target the sense of ownership
26:32 – Suspending Negative valence through jhāna (and the fragility of this possibility), and going into sensations deeply enough to lose the sense of pleasant and unpleasant
32:25 – Suspending Realness through paying attention to characteristics in continuous flux
34:40 – Is there one right way to be enlightened?
39:07 – The show Westworld (major spoiler alert until 42:57)
44:20 – Affecting multiple CONR categories at once, how this kind of cross-training is helpful
47:27 – Getting the cosmic joke
59:20 – If it’s all a cosmic joke where do CONR interventions come in? What about equanimity?
1:03:35 – Kenneth’s own story about stream entry and equating the cosmic joke with attainment
1:11:21 – The difficulty of engaging with the Zen version of getting the cosmic joke
1:13:09 – Reviewing CONR

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.

Kenneth Folk is an instructor of meditation who has received worldwide acknowledgement for his innovative approach to secular Buddhist meditation. Learn more about him and his work at Kenneth Folk Dharma.

Show Notes

0:48 Introduction and overview
4:00 Deconstructing “mindfulness”
11:47 Kenneth’s new mindfulness practice
15:02 Mindfulness vs. checking the box; auditor vs. meditator
23:58 Is mindfulness enlightening?
30:03 Defining engagement and the problem with prescriptions
31:52 Sense doors and applying mindfulness to thoughts
36:06 Alternatives to meditation for experiencing mindfulness and awakening
42:37 Is there a “right” way to experience awakening?
47:25 Getting to a 100 percent attention
52:45 Liberating working memory from the feeling of being the observer
55:06 Concentration hacking: making experiences sufficiently interesting
59:27 Flow and how it relates to mindfulness
1:06:23 How important is the ability to concentrate?
1:12:04 Do you need clarity, concentration, or both?

You can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.