Showing posts with label Gil Fronsdal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gil Fronsdal. Show all posts
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    The problem with most so called vipassana is that it is not properly taught and not guiding practitioners to the anatta insight. Just shamatha and experience but labelled as vipassana. 
    Vipassana Must Go With Luminous Manifestation
    AWAKENINGTOREALITY.COM
    Vipassana Must Go With Luminous Manifestation
    Vipassana Must Go With Luminous Manifestation
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    So if you want to go for vipassana retreats, find a 
    teacher who realised anatta that is guiding.
    For example gil fronsdal clearly realised anatta.
    There are two forms of knowing that come into play in mindfulness. One form of knowing has to do with sensing. Sensing our experience. Then the question is, where does sensing occur? So if you sense your hand right now. Where does the sensing occur in your hand. Does it occur in the foot, where does it happen? Does the sensing happen in the mind?
    ...In your hand. Of course. Something happens in your hand, that gives you the sensations right, and I call that sensing. Sensing the hand in the hand. The hand is having its own experience of the hand. Your foot is not experiencing your hands. But that hand is having its own experience of the hand. The mind can know what that experience is, but the
    hand is sensing itself. Vibrations, tension, warmth, coolness. The sensations happen right there in the hand. The hand is sensing itself. There is a kind of awareness that exists in the location of where we are experiencing it. Does that make some sense? Any of you are confused at this point?
    ...Part of what mindfulness practice involves is relaxing into the sensing of the experience. And just allowing ourselves to become the sensations of experience. Bringing a sense of presence or involvement... allow ourselves to really kick in that sensory experience... whatever happens in life, whatever experience we are having, has an element of also being sensory. "Awakening beckons us within everything" is a suggestion - Go in, and dive in to the immediacy of how it is being sensed. That's a nondual world. There is no duality between the experience and the sensation, the sensation and the sensing of it. There is a sensation and sensing of it right there, right? There is no sensation
    without a sensing, even though you might not be paying attention to it, there is a kind of sensing that goes on there. So part of Buddhist practice is to delve into this non-dualistic world... this undivided world of how the sensing is happening in and of itself. Most of us hold ourselves distinct from it, apart from it. We judge it, measure it, define
    it against ourselves, but if we relax and delve into the immediacy of life... then there is something in there that the Buddha-seed can begin to blossom and grow.
    ~ Gil Fronsdal on Buddha Nature, 2004
    ----------------
    (another part)... And as that gets kind of being settled and dealt with in practice, in order to get deeper and more fully into our experience, we also have to somehow deal with [inaudible] very very subtle, which the traditions call a sense of I Amness. That I Am. And it can seem very innocent, very obvious, that I'm not a doctor, I'm not this and I'm not that, I'm not going to hold onto that as my identity. But you know, I am. I think, therefore I am. I sense, there I am. I am conscious, therefore I am. There is some kind of Agent, some kind of Being, some kind of Amness here. Just a sense of presence, and that presence that kinds of vibrates, that presence kinds of knows itself... just a kind of sense of Amness. And people say, well yeah, that Amness just IS, it's non-dual. There's no outside or inside, just a sense of amness. The Buddhist traditions says if you want to enter this immediacy of life, enter into the experience of life fully, you also have to come to terms with the very subtle sense of Amness, and let that dissolve and fall away, and then that opens up into the world of awakening, of freedom.
    ~ Gil Fronsdal on Buddha Nature, 2004
    "Gil Fronsdal (1954) is a Buddhist who has practiced Zen and Vipassana since the 1970s, and is currently a Buddhist teacher who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) of Redwood City, California. He is one of the best-known American Buddhists. He has a PhD in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University. His
    many dharma talks available online contain basic information on meditation and Buddhism, as well as subtle concepts of Buddhism explained at the level of the lay person." he also received dharma transmission from a zen abbot."”
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    3 week Insight Retreat for Experienced Practitioners with Gil Fronsdal, assisted by Ines Freedman
    September 10 to 30, 2023 - Hours: Sunday check-in is from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm End time: Saturday 1:00 pm
    A silent mindfulness retreat for experienced yogis that includes alternating sitting and walking meditation, instruction, dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussion with the teacher.
    FAQ - RETREAT FULL - Registration CLOSED, Waiting List FULL - Login or Register for Carpooling
    Requirements: Attended at least four, 7-day (or longer) silent Vipassana retreats.
    Your deposit will only be charged if you are accepted to the retreat and cancel after 8/13/23.
    Note: This retreat will also be webcast to a Zoom Meditation hall for Online Participants. Ines Freedman will provide Practice Support for the Online Participants. To register for the Online option instead: REGISTER HERE
    Questions: Contact the Registrar: Sandra Sanabria, sandra@insightretreatcenter.org
    Residential Retreat Schedule – Insight Retreat Center
    INSIGHTRETREATCENTER.ORG
    Residential Retreat Schedule – Insight Retreat Center
    Residential Retreat Schedule – Insight Retreat Center
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    1 week Insight Retreat with Gil Fronsdal, Liz Powell, and Francisco Gable
    October 15 to 22, 2023 - Hours: Sunday check-in is from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm End time: Sunday 1:00 pm
    A silent mindfulness retreat with alternating sitting and walking meditation, instruction, dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussion with the teachers. Suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners.
    FAQ - APPLY ONLINE - Registration opened June 15, 2023 - Login or Register for Carpooling
    Your application and $200 deposit must be received by 7/6/23 to be entered in the lottery. Applicants will be notified about 2 weeks later if they have been Accepted or are on the Waiting List. Subsequent applications will be added to the Waiting List. Your deposit will only be charged if you are accepted to the retreat and cancel after 9/24/23.
    Note: This retreat will also be webcast to a Zoom Meditation hall for Online Participants. Tanya Wiser will provide Practice Support for the Online Participants. To register for the Online option instead: REGISTER HERE
    Questions: Contact the Registrar: Prerana Ghotge, prerana@insightretreatcenter.org
    Residential Retreat Schedule – Insight Retreat Center
    INSIGHTRETREATCENTER.ORG
    Residential Retreat Schedule – Insight Retreat Center
    Residential Retreat Schedule – Insight Retreat Center
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    • William Albert
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      Soh Wei Yu I appreciate this. I'll definitely drop my name in the hat for this one. What do you think about the effectiveness of doing a self-guided one from home? I think the discipline would be very challenging, but if I can find no workable option I might try it anyway. I've read all of MCTB and PIM and could probably follow the instructions, but obviously not having any teacher to ask for help or the solitude of the retreat environment would make it harder. I'm working towards I AM realization or first cessation / first path or both. I still don't really understand the difference, but I suppose the practice is the practice and come what may. I'm very over conceptualizing anything at this point and just want to do the work 🙏
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      • Soh Wei Yu
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        William Albert MCTB 1st path, marked by a nonpercipient state of blackout cessation, is not considered by mainstream Buddhists (besides the Mahasi and some sub groups of Buddhists) nor is supported by the suttas to be the actual stream entry. What Daniel Ingram calls MCTB 4th path on the other hand is similar to sutta stream entry and also AtR's anatman realisation. See https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/comments/igored/insight_buddhism_a_reconsideration_of_the_meaning/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf%20
        As for I AM, it is a very different realisation. Not related to MCTB 1st path. Also, in fact, not triggered by Vipassana practice but by self enquiry and the likes.
        r/streamentry on Reddit: [insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism
        REDDIT.COM
        r/streamentry on Reddit: [insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism
        r/streamentry on Reddit: [insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism
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      • Soh Wei Yu
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        “On a related topic, John Tan wrote in Dharma Overground back in 2009,
        “Hi Gary,
        It appears that there are two groups of practitioners in this forum, one adopting the gradual approach and the other, the direct path. I am quite new here so I may be wrong.
        My take is that you are adopting a gradual approach yet you are experiencing something very significant in the direct path, that is, the ‘Watcher’. As what Kenneth said, “You're onto something very big here, Gary. This practice will set you free.” But what Kenneth said would require you to be awaken to this ‘I’. It requires you to have the ‘eureka!’ sort of realization. Awaken to this ‘I’, the path of spirituality becomes clear; it is simply the unfolding of this ‘I’.
        On the other hand, what that is described by Yabaxoule is a gradual approach and therefore there is downplaying of the ‘I AM’. You have to gauge your own conditions, if you choose the direct path, you cannot downplay this ‘I’; contrary, you must fully and completely experience the whole of ‘YOU’ as ‘Existence’. Emptiness nature of our pristine nature will step in for the direct path practitioners when they come face to face to the ‘traceless’, ‘centerless’ and ‘effortless’ nature of non-dual awareness.
        Perhaps a little on where the two approaches meet will be of help to you.
        Awakening to the ‘Watcher’ will at the same time ‘open’ the ‘eye of immediacy’; that is, it is the capacity to immediately penetrate discursive thoughts and sense, feel, perceive without intermediary the perceived. It is a kind of direct knowing. You must be deeply aware of this “direct without intermediary” sort of perception -- too direct to have subject-object gap, too short to have time, too simple to have thoughts. It is the ‘eye’ that can see the whole of ‘sound’ by being ‘sound’. It is the same ‘eye’ that is required when doing vipassana, that is, being ‘bare’. Be it non-dual or vipassana, both require the opening of this 'eye of immediacy'.”
        In 2009, John Tan wrote:
        "Hi Teck Cheong,
        What you described is fine and it can be considered vipassana meditation too but you must be clear what is the main objective of practicing that way. Ironically, the real purpose only becomes obvious after the arising insight of anatta. What I gathered so far from your descriptions are not so much about anatta or empty nature of phenomena but are rather drawn towards Awareness practice. So it will be good to start from understanding what Awareness truly is. All the method of practices that you mentioned will lead to a quality of experience that is non-conceptual. You can have non-conceptual experience of sound, taste...etc...but more importantly in my opinion, you should start from having a direct, non-conceptual experience of Awareness (first glimpse of our luminous essence). Once you have a ‘taste’ of what Awareness is, you can then think of ‘expanding’ this bare awareness and gradually understand what does ‘heightening and expanding’ mean from the perspective of Awareness.
        Next, although you hear and see ‘non-dual, anatta and dependent origination’ all over the place in An Eternal Now’s forum (the recent Toni Packer’s books you bought are about non-dual and anatta), there is nothing wrong being ‘dualistic’ for a start. Even after direct non-conceptual experience of Awareness, our view will still continue to be dualistic; so do not have the idea that being dualistic is bad although it prevents thorough experience of liberation.
        The comment given by Dharma Dan is very insightful but of late, I realized that it is important to have a first glimpse of our luminous essence directly before proceeding into such understanding. Sometimes understanding something too early will deny oneself from actual realization as it becomes conceptual. Once the conceptual understanding is formed, even qualified masters will find it difficult to lead the practitioner to the actual ‘realization’ as a practitioner mistakes conceptual understanding for realization.
        Rgds,
        John"
        “The anatta I realized is quite unique. It is not just a realization of no-self. But it must first have an intuitive insight of Presence. Otherwise will have to reverse the phases of insights.” - John Tan, 2018
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      • Soh Wei Yu
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        If you want to practice self enquiry, go for Angelo's retreats.
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      Yin Ling
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      Soh Wei Yu amazing stuff, should share in a post !
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