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How to know if you are stream winner or enlightened?
hermitwin
Veteran
How to know if you are stream winner or enlightened?
Only you know. If you think you are sotapanna what would you do? Just sit back and wait for enlightenment?
To me, enlightenment is sth you attain. You put in effort to get there.
And when you get there, you will know. Can you imagine an arahant wondering, am i enlightened?
Thats like Buddha wondering if he is already the Buddha or not.
Only you know. If you think you are sotapanna what would you do? Just sit back and wait for enlightenment?
To me, enlightenment is sth you attain. You put in effort to get there.
And when you get there, you will know. Can you imagine an arahant wondering, am i enlightened?
Thats like Buddha wondering if he is already the Buddha or not.
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I think for me whether knowing you are a stream winner or enlightened is realizing that the destination is the path itself. There is no finish line, because we're basically walking on a Mobius strip.
read this as it describe the progress of insight.
Stream enterer, once-returner, non-returner and arahant are technical titles.
Stream enterer means you have experienced the first 16 insights (which are described in the book i linked).
Stream entry means you have completed the first path (the first 16 insights).
There are 4 paths and you are fully enlighten when you have completed the 4 paths.
Question 15: Can we attain realization if we practice, even in this age of decline?
Answer: In the scriptural schools they explain various names and aspects, but in the true Mahayana teachings dharma is not divided into periods of truth, imitation, and decline. Instead, it is taught that everyone attains the way by practice. Particularly in this correctly transmitted teaching of zazen, you are enriched with the treasure of yourself, entering the dharma and leaving bondage behind. Those who practice know whether realization is attained or not, just as those who drink water know whether it is hot or cold.
Bodhisattva vows: May I attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
In my opinion a buddha is a buddha but endless buddha qualities emerge. So they still alive.
like this search
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/search_results.html?cx=015061908441090246348:al1bklhbjbi&cof=FORID:9;NB:1&ie=UTF-8&q=sakadagami&sa=Search#1107
you can search for
Stream-enterer (Sotāpanna), Once-returner (Sakadagami), Non-returner (Anāgāmi), Arahant.
or a combination of those... good reads.
"178. Better than sole sovereignty over the earth, better than going to heaven, better even than lordship over all the worlds is the supramundane Fruition of Stream Entrance. "
My guess is that he probably used Enlightenment only as way of speaking.
He offered people a Path and a Goal, so that he would capture their attention.
That gave him a starting point from where he could work on their liberation.
The whole thing (the dharma) is a raft, a tool, a finger pointing at the moon.
In his heart the Buddha just smiled.
(As always in my humble opinion of course)
is this how you feel about the whole Buddhist religion?
How do you feel about the Bodhisattva vows, and those who took them?
The Bodhisattva vows?
A raft, a tool, a finger pointing at the moon.
It would be a finger pointing at another finger.
So what about the moon?
It simply can not be explained.
:-/
it doesn't have to be complicated or cryptic.
I recited the Heart sutra too often.
But if it works for you, that’s wonderful.
Stream entry has the exerience of the mind or consciousness 'flowing'
Its flows when letting go happens
With each letting go, the meditation both deepens & clarifies
In stream entry, all stages of meditation unfold by themselves, all tranquility & insight manifests by themselves, simply via letting go
Stream entry is like opening the door of a cage which allows the bird (with its bird shit) to fly out
Where as non-stream entry is like trying to keep the bird quiet in the cage, trying to clean up the bird shit in the cage and even trying to kill or starve the bird in the cage
Even if the bird dies, it is still in the cage
Where as stream entry opens the door of the cage and the bird flies out
This "flying" is the flow of stream entry
Through stream entry, the door of the mind is opened and negative formation flow out of the body & mind and at the same time clear consciousness flows in
It is like opening the windows in a hot room or hot motor car. The heat streams out & the cool air streams in
kind regards
I don't know what is going on with his home. Stepmother, stepniece, stepbrother. A lot of signals. So I kept quiet and watched. Felt like I was going to blow.
As for families, they can be nut houses. So best we stay grounded in the Dhamma, grounded in breathing & emptiness, rather than get pulled into their often disfunctionality. When family pressure gets too much, we have to let it go & detach from it.
With metta
DD:)
But what do I know?
So stream entry could be a formulaic description.
I'm sure that in monk talk in the temple or whatever they said 'dude its like....whoa (insert stream entry description of the moment)'
I care. And I believe many other Buddhists care.
When you are enlightened, you have attained mastery of the path, the ultimate goal.
Analogy; a brain surgeon who is certified to train other surgeons.
If you prefer a path with no goals, all the best to you.
The point is, you will know for yourself. An real arahant will definitely know he is enlightened. A person who is not yet enlightened may overestimate his own achievement. Just as a person who tastes honey everyday knows the taste of honey.
As opposed to someone who has only read a description of the taste of honey, trying out different sweet liquid trying to determine what was described.
the reply would be that we already have honey in our mouths just by our connection to the earth and the bees. The potential is there. And the relationship to the whole mandala.
A hearer is when we start getting interested in honey including a few tastes. Some sudden. As a child I reached for my 'grape juice' and got a slug of my father's wine!
Isnt that the purpose? All of Buddha teachings is about how to reach enlightenment.
Why do you not care whether you reach enlightenment or not? I just cant wrap my mind around it.
there is definitionly a path and fruition in vajrayana. I need to study harder
However, as I also mentioned earlier, I couldn't give a hoot about what stage I'm at myself - its probably ' the Braingone One' !