Ep308: Anatomy of Awakening - Stephen Snyder & Mark Mininberg (Bonus Episode)

Interview Ian Baker

It can be unclear what awakening actually means. People making progress on the path might wonder if they have arrived. Keep going and more may be revealed. It’s probably wiser to keep refining yourself and to keep contemplating attachments.

What they say, does it not contradict what Daniel Ingram says? For them, you can always go deeper and deeper into the Absolute. However, for Daniel Ingram, you reach the fourth path and that's it

Those who say do not know, those who know do not say.

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Thanks for this discussion. I think one of the two speakers put it well when he said that the commercializing instinct in the West was problematic. True inner transformation and commercial interests are almost impossible to take forward together. Then again, it's barely a generation or two since such practices have come to the West. Perhaps things will settle in the future.

Curious, what these guys think of Dr. Angelo DiLullo. People want to know who the interview guests are. I think it’s sort of lame that they don’t provide that. Nor is it offered on their website.

I would be very suspicious of the person who claimed to be enlightened.

It’s good to see teachers encourage their students to seek awakening.
According to all accounts, Shakyamuni sat beneath the Bodi Tree with gaining intentions.

daniel ingram has the BIGGEST EGO >>>>
like all westerners.
Excrement rather than enlightened.

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Evasive non-answer to the question regarding whether the teachers are enlightened. Why can't these guests answer a straightforward question in a straightforward way? To be honest, it's cowardice.

Get Peter Ralston & Ken Wilber on the show!!

I avoid famous gurus/spiritual teachers. I have met many. The best teachers don't advertise, don't market themselves, and limit the amount of students they have to a small manageable group so that each student can have the full attention of the teacher. They deliberately try to not become famous. They don't take on students who are not mature, or are insincere, or not willing to discipline themselves, or who are looking for a guru to worship.

Can't the checks and balances come with the sangha and not a specific relationship with a specific teacher??

As a Zen student I appreciate this conversation very much 🙏

For some reason, this video reminded of this quote. I think its because dharma teachers can set up a false dichotomy between practitioners focused on awakening vs those focused on study or theory:

"There is never enough reading. All the main masters of the past [...] have spent a gazillion sessions of their practice in formal study. I don't think this has caused them any obscurations. I don't buy a single minute the legends of brainless yogis reaching Rainbow Body as a paradigm to follow for westerners without a proper buddhist/bon complete education. The Dharma is one of the three Jewels, it does not cause obscurations. I would add to this that ignorance comes from not recognizing one's state but it is maintained, developed and intensified by the absence of study. It is only among lay people in the West that there is this fancy that one will reach anywhere on the path of Dharma while despising texts and teachings."

-Jean-Luc Achard