http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

i’m immersing myself in Dharma Dan’s writings right now. thanks for the heads up. i could finally relate to your “ascending” tendencies i have this tendency all along too. that’s why i got attracted to the dharma in the first place

here’s to kick-ass dharma!

~C

Best of luck,

-Vince

Thanks for the comment. And for the question. Regarding your question: Will an understanding or interpretation of stream-entry as a landmark that will inevitably lead to a more full realization, lend itself toward hubris and righteousness and thereby encourage unethical behavior?

Not so far as I can tell. The converse seems to be much more true, where open discussions of awakening are largely avoided and people start to believe that awakening isn’t possible at all. This is a kind of false humility or fear of becoming arrogant. Or perhaps it’s a counter-cultural reaction to the achievement-driven neurosis of the mainstream culture in the West. Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s healthy and I think it leads to a lot of disempowered, and honestly “dumb meditators” who know almost nothing about the actual aims and landmarks of contemplative practice.

On the other hand, those people who have actually tasted the fruit of the practice (in this case nirvana) have a direct understanding of selflessness. If that isn’t a good seed for humility, I don’t know what is. Also, the confidence in the process in awakening is also the faith in the process (two sides of the same coin). Faith tends to foster humility. Most of the people I know who have gotten stream-entry tend to have a great respect for the impersonal and amazing nature of the awakening process itself. They have a much more direct experience of them not doing the process, but the process doing itself. They tend to be far less righteous, arrogant, & ridgid about awakening than those who haven’t yet realized what they have. In general.

All of that being said, it’s always possible that humans can co-opt the idea of awakening and use it too boost their neurosis. As far as I can tell awakening and neurosis can co-exist w/o any contradiction whatsoever. Those that are neurotic before awakening, if they manage to get stream-entry will almost certainly be neurotic afterwards. I don’t believe that the view that stream-entry is the 1st step in a very important journey will significantly change that in either direction. I do believe though that more people need to realize that it is possible to wake up, that others have done it, and that this is the whole point of contemplative inquiry.

As a side note I tend to distinguish pretty heavily between ultimate insight and the development of loving-kindness and compassion. There may be some overlap with these things, but compassion and loving-kindness are states of mind which can be cultivated, whereas ultimate insight is a progressive deepening of the understanding of the fundamental emptiness of all mind states. That understanding doesn’t necessarily change any of the states themselves, and so they can’t be equated.

But one question for you: I’ve been reading stories about Buddhist teachers who got caught up in various scandals: financial, sexual, power-manipulation, and so on. Some of the writers discuss how the “institutionalization” of rituals, awakening, dharma transmission, etc., makes students less able to think for themselves and question their teachers. When you describe stream-entry as signifying ‘[awakening] is in the bag’, couldn’t that attitude lend itself to hubris and away from humility? Suppose I’ve had this experience that tells me that awakening (and compassion and loving-kindness, etc.) is now inevitable for me, then I’m a pretty (self-)Righteous Dude, right?

Yeah, I basically think the 7 lifetime thing is a dogmatic remnant from culture that the Buddha came out of. I think the deeper and more useful meaning here, is that the process is doing itself from stream-entry on out and that arhantship is completely achievable from here. As far as I can see there’s no reason it shouldn’t be achievable in this lifetime, for everyone who puts in the requisite effort and who has already, as you put it, attuned to the process.

I still don’t understand why tradition says it takes at most 7 lifetimes from the attuning to Oneness.