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

by Daniel Ingram, Jameson Walker (Narrated by)

Overview

A comprehensive guide to the understanding and practicing Buddhist meditation

The very idea that the teachings can be mastered will arouse controversy within Buddhist circles. Even so, Ingram insists that enlightenment is an attainable goal, once our fanciful notions of it are stripped away, and we have learned to use meditation as a method for examining reality rather than an opportunity to wallow in self-absorbed mind-noise.

Ingram sets out concisely the difference between concentration-based and insight (vipassana) meditation; he provides example practices; and most importantly he presents detailed maps of the states of mind we are likely to encounter, and the stages we must negotiate as we move through clearly-defined cycles of insight.

Its easy to feel overawed, at first, by Ingram's assurance and ease in the higher levels of consciousness, but consistently he writes as a down-to-earth and compassionate guide, and to the practitioner willing to commit themselves this is a glittering gift of a book.

In this new edition of the bestselling book, the author rearranges, revises and expands upon the original material, as well as adding new sections that bring further clarity to his ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911597100
Publisher:	Aeon Books
Publication date:	06/06/2018
Edition description:	2nd Second Edition, Revised ed.
Pages:	620
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Daniel Ingram is a leading proponent of Buddhism as a practical path to enlightenment in this lifetime. He has played a key role in keeping Buddhism vital and accessible while also grounded in the core teachings.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

If you have not yet read the Foreword and Warning, please do so now. The Buddhist path has often been called a "spiritual path", and this use of religious language can be very inspiring for some people. The Buddhist path can also be thought of in terms of a scientific experiment, a set of exercises that the Buddha and his followers have claimed lead to very specific, reproducible, verifiable effects, which are deemed not just worthwhile but liberative. Using this sort of practical, more scientifically oriented language can also be very inspiring for some people. However, as science doesn't often provide explicit emphases on the meaning and relevance of its findings to living humans with hearts and minds, language and concepts that can bridge that gap are often useful.

To inspire a broader audience, I will use both spiritual and practical language when discussing some of the elements concerning the Buddhist path. My preference, however, is generally for the practical language. You could throw out many of the religious trappings of the Buddhist path and still have a set of basic practices that lead to the expected effects. You could also keep all the religious trappings, do the basic practices, and produce the same results, assuming of course that you had the extra time and resources necessary to do both. That said, sorting out which elements are disposable and which are vital for getting the experiment to work is not always straightforward. Some reformative movements can easily go too far when their proponents attempt to remove all elements that don't fit with their current cultural preferences, aesthetics, and biases. So, it will be for you, me, and our fellow practitioners and adventurers to help sort this out by our own practice.

In this same pragmatic vein, there has arisen a global movement, inspired by numerous things and promoted by many people, now often referred to as the "Pragmatic Dharma" movement — which I hope one day will be called something more welcoming of those allergic to words such as dharma. This movement can be characterized as embracing a worldview that includes the following ideas:

We can improve the way our minds function and the way they perceive and process reality, in numerous skillful ways.

What works is key. Specifically: it doesn't matter at all where you draw useful things from if they are effective, meaning that they provide the specific benefits sought.

Innovating by extracting key useful elements from various traditions, and combining things to come up with something that works for you is encouraged, as is pursuing traditional goals in traditional ways, as long as the approach works.

This book follows this general approach while refraining from being dismissive of elements of great value from the old traditions.

Part One contains some traditional lists that were taught by the Buddha and relate directly to spiritual training. They make important and practical points in very concise ways. These teachings were presented succinctly on purpose so that people could remember them and use them. It is their very simplicity that makes them so practical and down-to-earth.

However, I am going to take these very condensed teachings and go on and on about them. It turns out that the Buddha sometimes made things so simple that we, 2,500+ years later, are left wondering what he was talking about and how to apply his teachings to our lives. Still, it is amazing that his teachings are still so relevant to our lives today. These teachings are designed to help people get in touch with their reality in some way that makes a difference. They can also help people avoid some of the common pitfalls on the spiritual path and in life in general, some of which I will talk about later.

The Buddha's teachings are also designed to help people develop along some of the nearly infinite axes of development. By axes of development, I mean all the ways we can improve our mind, body, and world. Since this is an endless undertaking, in this book we will focus on a relatively few very specific ones. As the book goes along, I will introduce various things we can practice, experience, gain insight into, develop, and modify that make a positive difference.

Chapter one, "The Three Trainings", introduces morality, concentration, and wisdom (see also The Long Discourses of the Buddha, or the Digha Nikaya, sutta 10, usually referred to as DN 10). These three trainings encompass the sum of the Buddhist path. Thus, as is traditional and for good reason, they will be used as the conceptual framework for this book. The three trainings involve skills that we consciously and explicitly try to master. Each training has its own specific set of premises, goals, practices, and standards of mastery for those practices. These are different from each other, and problems can arise if we conflate the premises of one training when pursuing the others. Each training also has its common pitfalls, limitations, and shadow sides, which are rarely made clear, and failure to do so has caused much confusion.

Thus, I will do my best to make them clear, particularly in Part Two ("Light and Shadows"). The specific standards for success and mastery can sometimes seem a bit technical, particularly the maps of the high concentration states and the stages of insight, so I will wait until Parts Three through Six to present these to keep Part One focused on the basic framework and practices that make the whole thing possible in the first place.

While I think that each part of this book contributes to the whole, there are reasons you may want to skip to certain sections first and fill in the rest later. For instance, if you are having powerful visions or kundalini experiences, you might want to read the first few chapters of Part Four and then go back and read the rest. If you are simply interested in the maps of the stages of insight, go straight to the chapter called "The Progress of Insight". If you just want to get right to some core insight practices, read the chapters on "The Three Characteristics" and "The Seven Factors of Awakening". Should you be in a mood for some social commentary, the beginning of Part Two is for you. If you just want to hear my take on awakening, then "Models of the Stages of Awakening" might be a good place to start. That said, skipping sections is likely to lead to misunderstandings, as plenty of sections that are not close to each other are yet designed to counter excesses that could arise from some other section being read on its own.

I struggled for a long time over whether to present at the beginning or at the end of the book the maps that detail what these practices lead to. I have included them at the end, but you might be the sort who wants to see them first, and if so firstly you should read the chapter called "The Three Characteristics" and then skip to Part Three.

CHAPTER 2

Morality, The First and Last Training

The original Pali word for this training is sila, which I am translating as "morality". People translate it in various ways. Regardless of the word we choose, it is likely to resonate for people both positively and negatively. If the word "morality" bothers you due to the associations it suggests, look at the assumptions, agendas, and practices of this training and come up with your own word for it. I don't think that it is so important what we call it. I do, however, think that we should give careful attention to trying to live it.

From my perspective, training in morality has as its domain all the physical, verbal, and mental behaviors belonging to every single aspect of life that is not explicitly meditative. When we are trying to live a good life in the conventional sense, we are working on training in morality. When we are trying to work on improving our physical, emotional, and mental health, we are training in morality. When we philosophize, we are training in morality. When we exercise, we are training in morality. When we are taking care of others or ourselves, we are training in morality. When we try to guard the environment by not misusing or wasting resources, reform corrupt governments, or make this world a better place for everyone, we are training in morality. When we commit to a non-harming and benevolent livelihood, build a healthy marriage, raise healthy children, or shave our heads and move to a remote place to dedicate ourselves to intensive spiritual practice, we are training in morality. Whatever we do in the ordinary world that we think will be of some benefit to others and ourselves is an aspect of working on this first training.

I should add a qualifier here, relating to what a life well-lived might mean. For some, that is a life of riches, decadence, and hedonism. That is not what I am talking about. It is not that wealth is inherently bad, though there are strong moral arguments to be made for a vastly more equitable distribution of wealth. It is not that all decadence is inherently bad, and I would hate to make someone feel terrible for having a second dessert occasionally, but clearly there is a great degree of spending on luxury that is contributing to the destruction of the planet and behavior that simply leads to more misery for all concerned in the name of "fun". It is not that we shouldn't enjoy our lives, as an enjoyable life is a much easier one to accept, but clearly plenty of the pathways people go down seeking enjoyment do predictably lead to more suffering than they produce pleasure or fulfillment. So, with those qualifiers in mind, ponder what a life well-lived would mean and aspire to that.

The third training, called wisdom, as understood within the Theravada framework, has limits, in that you can only take it so far, and it can be fully mastered. Interestingly, this cannot be said of the first two trainings of morality and concentration. There is no limit to the degree of skill that can be brought to how we conduct ourselves in the world. There are so many ways we can develop, and no obvious ways to define what one hundred percent mastery of even one of these might be. Thus, morality is also the last training in the sense of being the training we need to cultivate throughout our lives. We may be able to attain to extraordinary states of consciousness and understand many aspects of the actual nature of sensate reality, but what people see and what is causal are the ways that these abilities and understandings translate into how we live in the world. Some folks who read MCTB1, for reasons I am unsure of, came away with the mistaken impression that I somehow consider morality as unimportant. Let me now be completely clear on this: morality cultivated throughout our entire lives is critical for everyone, and particularly for those who want to train in concentration and wisdom!

There are basic premises that are extremely helpful when undertaking training in morality. It is very helpful to accept, for example, that a basic moral code, that is, a universal and non-harming ethic, is helpful for getting along in this world, and thus that there is practical, real-world benefit to be derived from training in morality.

It is also helpful to accept in an easygoing and non-dogmatic way, that the more good we do in the world, the more good there will appear in that world both for us and for others, and thus the more good things will happen to us and all others. It is also worth assuming the corollary of this, which is that the more we do harmful actions in the world, the more harm we experience and therefore the more that miserable circumstances arise.

These premises are not unique to Buddhism, nor are they in any way extraordinary, and that brings me to an important point about the spiritual traditions in general: most religions have points that are generically useful that they have attempted to appropriate as exclusively theirs, such that extremist followers of that faith may come to believe that their tradition's teaching on morality is the only teaching on morality. The corollary of this fallacy is that people not of their own religion are considered unlikely or incapable of being truly moral, when, in fact, societies and traditions throughout the ages and around the world have advocated for a universal, non-harming ethic.

It is worth realizing that defining "negative" and "positive" action is often very much a question of perspective. In the face of this, some will retreat into the semi-dysfunctional and often self-serving position of moral relativism, in which we decide that morality is totally subjective or that morality is arbitrary and thus futile or unnecessary to bother with. Paradigms that are less intellectual and more grounded in common sense can help us to avoid falling into the paralyzing and extremely dangerous trap of imagining that it is futile to train in morality, however seemingly relative and arbitrary. It is better to try to do our best and fail than not to try at all.

Thus, the Buddha taught that what we think, say, and do has consequences for our subsequent moment-to-moment experience. When undertaking training in morality, we are proceeding from the premise that we can, if we choose, control what we think, say, and do, thus creating consequences that are pleasant and beneficial, both in terms of our experience and that of others. Rather than accepting our current level of intellectual, emotional, and psychological development as being beyond our power to change, we consciously and explicitly adopt the empowering view that we can work with these aspects of our lives and change them for the better. We assume that we do have the capacity to change our world and our attitudes towards our world. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences.

Further, as a part of our empowerment, we assume that the more we bring our resources and abilities to this training, the likelier we are to succeed. We have a body, we have reason, we have our intuition, we have our heart, and we can learn and remember. We have a community of others who have wisdom to share, we have books and other media that contain advice for living a good life, and we have our friends and family. We can draw on all these and more to try to live a good life, a life in which our thoughts, words, and deeds reflect as closely as possible the standards we have consciously adopted and defined for ourselves. The more consciously engaged we are with our task, the more we are likely to be successful.

Crucial to the control of what happens in our lives is our intention. Thus, training in morality places much emphasis on intention, with the basic assumption being that the more our intentions are kind and compassionate, the more we are likely to be able to manifest kind and compassionate thoughts, words, and deeds.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Daniel M. Ingram.
Excerpted by permission of Aeon Books Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition xiii

Foreword and Warning xv

Part I The Fundamentals 1

1 Introduction 3

2 Morality, The First and Last Training 6

3 Concentration, The Second Training 13

4 Wisdom, The Third Training 17

5 The Three Characteristics 21

Impermanence 21

Dissatisfactoriness 29

No-Self 32

6 The Five Spiritual Faculties 38

Faith and Wisdom 38

Energy and Concentration 39

Mindfulness 40

7 The Seven Factors of Awakening 43

Mindfulness 43

Investigation 46

Energy 49

Rapture 50

Tranquility 52

Concentration 53

Equanimity 53

8 The Three Trainings Revisited 58

Happiness 58

Renunciation 59

Suffering 60

Awakening 61

The Play 63

9 The Four Noble Truths 65

Truth Number One: There Is Suffering 65

Truth Number Two: There Is the Cause of Suffering 67

Truth Number Three: There Is the End of Suffering 69

Truth Number Four: The Noble Eightfold Path 70

10 Objects for Insight Practices 71

When, Where, and For How Long? 74

11 On Teachers 76

12 Daily Life and Retreats 86

13 A Few Odds and Ends About Retreats 88

14 Post-Retreat Advice 94

15 Postures 96

16 Resolve 99

Part II Light and Shadows 101

17 Introduction to Parts Two through Five 103

18 Buddhism versus the Buddha 106

19 Content and Ultimate Reality 110

20 What Went Wrong? 115

21 A Clear Goal 122

22 Harnessing the Energy of the Defilements 129

23 Right Thought and the Augean Stables 134

24 From Content to Insight 137

Part III The Shamatha Jhanas 141

25 Introduction to Part Three 143

26 The Wide World of Jhana 145

The First Jhana 150

The Second Jhana 151

The Third Jhana 152

The Fourth Jhana 154

27 The Concentration States (Shamatha Jhanas) 156

The First Shamatha Jhana 159

The Second Shamatha Jhana 164

The Third Shamatha Jhana 165

The Fourth Shamatha Jhana 168

28 The Formless Realms 171

The Fifth Jhana, Boundless Space 171

The Sixth Jhana, Boundless Consciousness 173

The Seventh Jhana, Nothingness 175

The Eighth Jhana, Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception 177

Limitations of Concentration Practice 179

29 Kasina Practice 181

Part IV Insight 191

30 The Progress of Insight 193

1 Mind and Body 198

2 Cause and Effect 199

3 The Three Characteristics 200

4 The Arising and Passing Away 203

5 Dissolution, Entrance to the Dark Night 211

6 Fear 221

7 Misery 223

8 Disgust 223

9 Desire for Deliverance 224

10 Re-observation 226

11 Equanimity 240

12 Conformity 252

13 Change of Lineage 256

14 Path 256

15 Fruition 256

31 The Three Doors 259

32 "What Was That?" 265

33 Review 273

34 The Vipassana Jhanas 279

Bill Hamilton's Model 280

Fractals

U Pandita's Model 293

One More Model 293

35 How the Maps Help 294

36 Beyond First Path ("What Next?") 300

Part V Awakening 309

37 Models of the Stages of Awakening 311

General Problems with Current Models 311

Models That are Mostly Unhelpful 313

The Non-Duality Model 320

The Sudden Schools of Awakening 322

The Direct Perception Models 323

Tune and Space Models 324

The Fundamental Perception Models 324

The Specific Perception Models 325

The Emotional Models 326

The Theravada Pour-Path Model 330

A Revised Four-Path Model 335

The Bodhisatrva Bhumi Model 343

The Mahayana Five-Path Model 345

The Vajrayana Models 345

The Concentration Models 347

The Cessation of Perception and Feeling (Nirodha Samapatti) 349

Back to the Vajrayana Story 352

The Simple Model 353

The Action Models 356

The Perfect Speech Models 358

The Perfect Internet Behavior Models 359

The Powers Models 359

The Energetic Models 360

The Sleep Models 361

The Specific Knowledge Models 362

The Psychological Models 363

The No-Thought Models 366

The God Models 369

The Unity Models 370

The True Self Models 371

The Physical Models 375

The Biological Models 376

The Radiance Models 378

The Karma Models 380

The Perpetual Bliss Models 381

The Three Kayas 382

The Immortality Models 387

The Transcendence Models 388

The Extinction Models 389

The Love Models 389

The Equanimity Models 391

The No-Preferences Models 391

The Special Models 392

The Social Models 397

The Ultimate Reality versus Unreality Models 399

The Meaning Models 400

The Three Yanas 403

Ditching Our "Stuff" versus Ditching the Split 406

The "Nothing To Do" and "You Are Already There" Schools 407

Depths of Realization and Integration 409

Archetypes, Roles, Inspiration, and Becoming 411

Dependent Origination 411

Final Points 413

Towards Contemporary Models 413

38 Integration 416

39 It Is Possible! 420

40 More on the "Mushroom Factor" 422

41 So, Who the Heck Is Daniel M. Ingram? 431

Part VI My Spiritual Quest 435

42 Backstory 437

43 The Early Years 441

The Arising and Passing Away 443

44 Bodysurfing 447

45 College and Pre-Buddhist Exploration 449

46 The Middle Years 451

47 Thank U, India 455

48 The First Bodh Gaya Retreat 462

49 The First MBMC Retreat 464

50 The Dark Night Gets Ugly 469

51 The Second Bodh Gaya Retreat 471

52 The Great Stream Enterer 475

53 Dharma Power, Dharma Poison 478

54 The Middle Paths 480

Slam-Shifting Nanas and Jhanas 480

Luminosity 485

Nirodha Samapatti 486

55 Map Failure 489

56 Wandering 493

57 Kasinas, Powers, and Retreats 496

58 Introduction to the Powers 498

59 Are the Powers Real? 501

60 Paradigm Fluency 502

61 Crazy? 505

62 Those Damn Fairies 514

63 Definitions of the Powers 517

64 Ethics and the Powers 519

65 How to Cultivate the Powers 524

66 Made Pliant and Malleable 528

67 Benefits of the Powers 531

68 Magick and the Brahma Viharas 535

Formal Definitions 536

The Brahma Viharas 545

Bodhicitta as Magick 550

Vipassana as Magick 550

69 Bhavana Society 2001 Retreat 552

Fire Kasina Practice 553

Morality and Magick 556

70 Around the World and Finding Home 558

The Second MBMC Retreat 559

Untangling 560

Agencylessness 561

Wobble and Fall 563

Vimuttimagga, The Path of Freedom 564

71 More Practical Tidbits 566

Describing Your Practice 566

Dependent Origination Revisited 570

72 Conclusion and Best Wishes 572

Index 575

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