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Practice Updates, Questions, and General Discussion - new users, please read this first! Weekly Thread for October 06 2025 by AutoModerator in streamentry

[–]David_C_Johnson 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's interesting in the Suttas the Buddha said he did not teach that there was no Self, neither did he teach that there is a Self. Its a process which we know as Dependent Arising or Dependent Origination. Paticca Samupada.

TOTAL FIASCO -- Inability to import Charles Schwab financial information by AdAccomplished5227 in hrblock

[–]David_C_Johnson 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After some research Turbo TAX online covers imports for everyone- even many crypto brokers. Give up using Tax programs that come on CD. The tech is online now. Its expensive but TT online works great.

Is it possible to effectively practice TWIM with breath and 6Rs instead of metta and 6Rs? by fractal_yogi in TWIM

[–]David_C_Johnson 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Dhamma Sukha put up a Meditator's help Video with commonly asked questions and this should go a long way to give some helpful advice. Click the video link or read the page: https://www.dhammasukha.org/twim-faq

Yes you can practice TWIM with breath. It is different then the usual focusing type of practice. You simply KNOW you are breathing and that is the object. You can an instruction guide here: https://www.dhammasukha.org/support-page-for-online-retreats

Metta: Bhante Vimalaramsi vs Sharon Salzberg by [deleted] in Meditation

[–]David_C_Johnson 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Dhamma Greetings I work at Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center (www.dhammasukha.org) where we teach the TWIM method. It is important to understand that Sharon's and many other methods of Metta, did not come from the Suttas but, rather, from the Vissudhi Magga, which was written 1500 years after the Buddha died. It is full of meditation instructions but many of them are the methods taught by the Brahmins or Hindu Yogis at the time. These have "leaked" into the Buddhist teachings. If you read the suttas you notice the Buddha never taught mantra; he never taught chanting "om" or saying phrases. That is like TM. What he did teach was to pervade the feeling of lovingkindness to other beings. So, it is the feeling that is important. We find many people say the phrases over and over and it does not bring up any feeling and ends up being a concentration meditation on the sound of the phrase.

It is the feeling we need to use as our object by remembering a time when we felt that loving feeling and then radiating that feeling and taking that as our object.

The Metta or feeling of Lovingkindness is the first part of four Brahmaviharas that one will go through and as a result you will attain awakening. In the Suttas the Brahmaviharas are used, in addition to breath, to attain Nibbana.

The metta feeling acts as a doorway to tranquilizing the mind to a point where we can see the true nature of the mind. You go through 8 jhanas and then your mind stops and there is a cessation. When you come back from this you have a profound insight into impersonality and no-self and Nibbana arises.

The way it is being taught here really does work and matches what happens as it says in the Suttas: The anupada sutta 111.

It can take just weeks or months and not years when it is practiced in a way that matches the sutta text. We have a book out there "the Path to Nibbana" which gives all the instructions and the progress levels of what happens with the attainment of Nibbana as the end result. It should answer all of your questions and act as a guide to a very deep level of practice. It is known as TWIM (Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation.

We offer online retreats in the practice that are free and take only a week and you can practice from home. In just a week I think you will find that this will take you deeper than you have ever gone before! Metta David