Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book - Revised and Expanded Edition

by Daniel M. Ingram

If people start with “just open to it” and yet don’t develop strong mindfulness, look into the Three Characteristics and gain deep insights, then their practice may be less like meditation and a lot more like psychotherapy, daydreaming, or even self-absorbed, spiritually-rationalized, neurotic indulgence in mind noise. It was noticing the high prevalence of this activity and the pervasive and absurd notion that there was no point in trying to get enlightened that largely demolished my vision of being a happy meditation teacher in some mainstream meditation center somewhere. Psychotherapy, on the other hand, can be a fine undertaking, but it is a completely different endeavor from meditation and falls squarely in the domain of the first training. I do not, however, advocate wallowing in self-absorbed mind noise, and anyone who has been to a small group meeting on a meditation retreat knows what I am talking about. This is what happens when people don’t ground the mind in the object of meditation. On the other hand, even if you gain all kinds of strong concentration, look deeply into impermanence, suffering and no-self, but can’t just open to these things, can’t just let them be, can’t accept the sometimes absurd and frightening truths of your experience, then you will likely be stuck in hell until you can, particularly in the higher stages of insight practices. Reflect on these previous three paragraphs now and often, as many, many errors on the spiritual path come from not...