rachmiel wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:49 pm
If such a direct experience cannot be verified or measured in any kind of "objective" way ... all one has to go on is the word of the experiencer. This must be very tricky. A clever (and dishonest) person could learn the vibe of how enlightened people talk and act and imitate it ... and there would be no way to prove he/she was authentic or not. He/she could then go on to become a teacher ... and all manner of mischief could flow from that. No?
Why not just return to the source of these teachings, the Buddha, and the way he spoke about The Three Marks, or Characteristics Of Existence or Tilakkhana? This is what Dan74 linked to in his post. It seems much easier to understand as such:
All conditioned phenomena are impermanent..........
All conditioned phenomena are dukkha...........
All things are non-self..........
Aniccata:impermanence instability, and inconstancy; the condition of arising, deteriorating, and disintegrating.
Dukkhata: state of dukkha; the condition of oppression by birth and decay; inherent stress; resistance and conflict within an object due to alteration of its determinant factors, preventing it from remaining as it is; the internal imperfection of things, which prevents true satisfaction for someone whose desires are influenced by craving (tanha), and causes suffering for a person subject to clinging (upadana).
Anattata: the condition of non-self; the condition of things being void of a real abiding self that owns or controls phenomenon. Everything is nonself or not-self.
These 3 characteristics lead the way to wisdom when contemplated. Using mindfulness as described in the satipatthana sutta as a practice, is a direct way to enter these 3 truths of existence as being constant and stable and not trying to grasp mental concepts as being ultimately satisfying. These 3 are self evident when examined. They don't require measurement or verification. Since experiencer is another word for self, no one yet has produced a self to show the world.