Stream-entry help!

Discussion of meditation in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions.
lite
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Stream-entry help!

Post by lite »

Please, I need step by step instructions on how to enter the stream.
florin
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by florin »

lite wrote:Please, I need step by step instructions on how to enter the stream.
Get yourself a boat .
One which preferably can take you all the way to the ocean.
Once you get your boat, find someone who can instruct you how to sail that boat.
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kirtu
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by kirtu »

lite wrote:Please, I need step by step instructions on how to enter the stream.
If you mean stream entry as in becoming a Stream Enterer following the Sravaka school classifications - well this is transcendental and you have three factors to abandon: personality-view, doubt, and attachment to rules and vows. So aStream Enterer has no doubt in the Buddha's teaching and they do not hold a view that mere following rules and vows accomplishes anything positive (this can be subtle) and they had abandoned the personality-view which can also be subtle but basically it means that they see that a permanent self-existent self really doesn't exist. Then the positive qualities that accompany this level of attainment are grouped into five categories but are basically having full faith in the Buddha Dharma, being constantly moral (at least seeming so because the Stream Enterer has not cut lust for example and some Stream Enterers in the Pali canon had moral issues with alcohol), craving is basically cut, they are developing wisdom. Basically they are developing the full fruition of goodness, morality and kindness.

If you mean just entering the stream turning away from the lower realms, then take sincere refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (which means that the Buddha as the teacher and the Dharma as the teaching are the protection you seek from a negative rebirth and the Sangha [really the Noble Sangha of Arhats and high Bodhisattvas] are the accompaniment and guidance on the path), vow to be moral and cultivate kindness and compassion.

AH! I didn't see that this was in the meditation forum. So: for now meditate on lovingkindness for all beings.

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
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Jinzang
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by Jinzang »

What's that old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice.
"It's as plain as the nose on your face!" Dottie Primrose
lite
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by lite »

So I sit, close my eyes, and do what exactly?
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justsit
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by justsit »

Open your eyes and do this.
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kirtu
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by kirtu »

“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
Jinzang
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by Jinzang »

lite wrote:So I sit, close my eyes, and do what exactly?
There are many books on Buddhist practice, you could start by reading this book by Ajahn Brahm (pdf).
"It's as plain as the nose on your face!" Dottie Primrose
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lobster
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by lobster »

lite wrote:So I sit, close my eyes, and do what exactly?
What exactly are you trying to do? What exactly is this 'stream' entering for? :hi:
lite
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by lite »

I have calmed the mind, and now developing concentration by doing samatha meditation. Once I do that I can start with vipassana meditation.
What am I exactly trying to do is described by a monk on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDDY4gOexVA
In Buddhism, a Sotāpanna, Srotāpanna, or "stream-winner" is a person who has eradicated the first three fetters of the mind. Sotapanna literally means "one who entered the stream", after a metaphor which calls the Noble Eightfold Path, 'a stream'. Sotapannaship is the first of the four stages of enlightenment.
I practice loving-kindness meditation occasionally.
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Ayu
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by Ayu »

Sounds good. :smile:
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kirtu
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by kirtu »

lite wrote: In Buddhism, a Sotāpanna, Srotāpanna, or "stream-winner" is a person who has eradicated the first three fetters of the mind.
In the Sravakayana - the main vehicle of personal liberation. Of course in the other yana's this is also recognized but the main aim in this vehicle is personal liberation.
Sotapannaship is the first of the four stages of enlightenment.
Again, in the Sravakayana. Sotopannaship is a stage of enlightenment, that's true. But following the Sravaka path to it's culmination results in the enlightenment of an Arhat (Arahant). This is pretty good but far from the perfect enlightenment of a Buddha or the merit of a Bodhisattva.

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
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Astus
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by Astus »

1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by Ramon1920 »

lite
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by lite »

It's a study guide. I was looking for practice guide.
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Astus
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by Astus »

lite wrote:It's a study guide. I was looking for practice guide.
It includes practical teachings.
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
hansen
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by hansen »

Stream Entry as a goal might be over-rated. What are you going to do after Stream Entry? Sure you will have empirical certainty as to the Dhamma, but you'll still be lugging about all the baggage of attachment. It's better to view Non-Attachment as the Goal, isn't it?
hansen
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by hansen »

So I sit, close my eyes, and do what exactly?

As suggested, maybe the quest is for something transcendental, e.g. the Divine or Eternal which is not found anywhere in the Universe, known or Unknown. I can only answer about meditation practice from the basis of my own experience, because all else coming from me would purely be conjecture, and the question is too important to be handled that way. So, I use my natural breathing as an object of meditation. This is consistent with Pali texts. But what makes it different than other meditation is that the entire context of experience has to be accounted for, for it to have any kind of meaning. It's a life for a life. Your trading this life for a different one. You are travelling from one set of possibilites to another. So, "mindfulness" means in part :quoteunquote: exactly that. Being aware that a transaction, on your part, is taking place. The result is transformation. The fun part is you really won't know what the transformation results in until you experience it.
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Jose Chung
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by Jose Chung »

lite wrote:It's a study guide. I was looking for practice guide.
The guide by Thanissaro is a practice guide. Did you bother to read it? From the Introduction:
This study guide on stream entry is divided into two parts. The first deals with the practices leading to stream entry; the second, with the experience of stream entry and its results.

The practices leading to stream entry are encapsulated in four factors:

Association with people of integrity is a factor for stream-entry.

Listening to the true Dhamma is a factor for stream-entry.

Appropriate attention is a factor for stream-entry.

Practice in accordance with the Dhamma is a factor for stream-entry.


— SN 55.5
You might want to, you know, actually read the first section, the one describing "the practices leading to stream entry". It contains the Buddha's own instructions on how to cultivate each of the four factors listed above.

When you say "practice guide", I'm assuming you mean that you wanted a step by step meditation manual. There are plenty of those all over the internet, and if you were paying attention you'd have noticed that several have already been linked to in this thread.

If you are serious about attaining Stream Entry, you'll probably want to find a qualified teacher, learn meditation from them in person. You will also most likely find going on retreat conducive to attaining that goal.

I will say that asking one-liner questions on an internet forum is probably no way to get there. And frankly, you could have found all of the information provided here by doing a simple internet search, and judging from your reactions to the material presented you haven't even bothered to read what has been shared here. If you can't even put forth the effort to do your own research and read the materials others provide you, how do you expect to attain anything at all?
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retrofuturist
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Re: Stream-entry help!

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,
Jose Chung wrote:You might want to, you know, actually read the first section, the one describing "the practices leading to stream entry". It contains the Buddha's own instructions on how to cultivate each of the four factors listed above.

When you say "practice guide", I'm assuming you mean that you wanted a step by step meditation manual...
Well said, Jose.

Speaking from a Theravada perspective (as the aforemention guide does), I find it somewhat disturbing that many people regard "practice" as synonymous to "meditation", rather than as a comprehensive application of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Not saying that's necessarily what the OP is doing, but I appreciate you making this point clear as you have done.

Maitri,
Retro. :)
Live in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes.
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