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Stream-entry help!

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:02 pm
by lite
Please, I need step by step instructions on how to enter the stream.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:40 pm
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.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 1:26 am
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

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 1:43 am
by Jinzang
What's that old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 11:42 am
by lite
So I sit, close my eyes, and do what exactly?

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 12:32 pm
by justsit
Open your eyes and do this.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 5:52 pm
by kirtu

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:06 am
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).

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 5:42 am
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:

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:02 pm
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.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:17 pm
by Ayu
Sounds good. :smile:

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:45 pm
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

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:39 am
by Astus

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:24 am
by Ramon1920

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:59 pm
by lite
It's a study guide. I was looking for practice guide.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:25 pm
by Astus
lite wrote:It's a study guide. I was looking for practice guide.
It includes practical teachings.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:34 pm
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?

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:49 pm
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.

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:55 pm
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?

Re: Stream-entry help!

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:46 am
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. :)