Nice video. View, experience, realization. Anatta, no mirror.




[7:41 PM, 6/19/2020] John Tan: Lol he speaks of the view, experience, realization
[8:01 PM, 6/19/2020] John Tan: Seems like he enjoys the one hand clapping koan. There is no mirror.
[8:02 PM, 6/19/2020] Soh Wei Yu: Yeah..



note: this does not necessarily correspond to the traditional buddhist full enlightenment of Buddhahood. Check out AtR guide chapter
"Traditional Buddhist Attainments: Arahantship and Buddhahood"  623
4 Responses
  1. TAFKA JESTDR Says:

    The only thing that doesn't jive with me here is that he says all spiritual paths lead to the same result (what he attained, no self).
    That's not true and also not what Buddha taught. I've never heard of a Christian, for example, attaining what he attained. Bernadette Roberts is the closest to that but still not quite that realization. And she seems quite unique among Christians. I mean if you want to extrapolate everything to infinity then maybe you could say even satanists will eventually become enlightened, but I think that's only because eventually they will follow the teaching of a Buddha in some future life maybe.

    It seems to me this guy is not fully enlightened. He's got some ignorance still. He mentioned that almost all his desires are gone. So maybe he's a non-returner. I don't see arahant in his understanding or in his release.


  2. Anonymous Says:

    He seems to have the insight of stream-entry but not necessarily further.
    He only calls himself Arahant and says all this stuff about perennialism that “all paths lead to the same result” because he is parroting Daniel Ingram, who considers Anatta realization to be Arahantship and for some reason believes that all spiritual traditions point to the same truth.
    Ingram is Frank’s main influence it seems with Vipassana.
    IMO it’s possible to have that insight of stream-entry and still make some mistakes about the maps/the path (but not about Anatta, which must be 100% clear since stream-winner has no self-view anymore). Even Ananda was corrected by the Buddha sometimes when he was wrong.


  3. Anonymous Says:

    @TAFKA JESTDR Are you saying that this whole process of enlightenment is not something universal or purely phenomenological in nature? It is reality's realization of itself. Moreover, Frank seems to say 'when taken to the extreme' all spiritual paths lead to the same result, which makes sense.


  4. TAFKA JESTDR Says:

    Hi Anonymous. I assume you aren't the other Anonymous who posted prior to you.
    " Are you saying that this whole process of enlightenment is not something universal or purely phenomenological in nature?"

    I am not quite sure what you mean by this question. Different people have different experiences and ideas of what enlightenment entails. Buddha laid out his own map, which has absolutely nothing in common with the Hindu map, for example. Thusness (John Tan) has his own map (6 stages of awakening) which sort of combines both, with the Advaita part coming first, which in my experience usually is the case with folks who are pursuing "ego death" type enlightenment.


    "Moreover, Frank seems to say 'when taken to the extreme' all spiritual paths lead to the same result, which makes sense."

    Again, not sure what you or Frank mean by this. When taken to the extreme, a cup of water becomes empty. What does this mean... which extreme was taken...

    Think of a mountain with many paths. Not all of the paths lead to the top. Some of the paths lead into other paths and some of those paths lead to the path to the top. Some paths lead down, down, down, to the depths of hell. You can ask Bill Gates about that one... he is famously quoted as saying that he doesn't believe there is anything divine in human nature.