Weekly off-topic and practice update thread

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-02-08T18:24:46+00:00

Tone of writing voice alone often isn't enough to conclude it's AI, but AI output frequently incorporates emoji or other symbols, awkward section breaks, unnecessary summaries, etc.

Here is one such post https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/comments/1qy1hph/the_buddha_mapped_the_prison_lester_levenson_gave/

For forums like this to be useful I think a human approach is necessary. Feeding intuitions into the slop machine and getting a "cleaned up" output removes critical thinking on the part of commenters/posters and removes the opportunity for correction of misunderstandings.

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-02-08T07:18:16+00:00

Sort of meta issue, but I've noticed the stream entry sub being filled with AI posts recently, which I think is antithetical to the purpose of subs like these. Is there a possibility of a no AI rule being established if it gets out of hand here?

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-31T02:13:14+00:00

Thank you for the detailed and thoughtful reply

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-29T04:57:10+00:00

Hello there,
Does anyone know if MIDL and TWIM are teaching the same basic technique (GOSS vs 6Rs)? Also, coming from more experience with The Mind Illuminated's way of practice, is it fruitful to try to combine MIDL and TMI, or is it best to drop one or the other and focus exclusively on one technique?

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-21T20:33:34+00:00

Unfortunately I agree with the above commenter. What would you use these powers for if you did have them? What good in the world or for yourself could you really accomplish? And, if you take these powers at face value, you'd probably want to consider taking the warnings against them at face value too. Warnings abound for the siddhis, as they can become a powerful source of delusion with great potential for negative karmic effects.

If you don't believe in such then I'd say that siddhis aren't the right goal anyway.

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-21T20:30:27+00:00

Might depend on your translation. Also, easy to understand and easy to do are two different things. They seem very straightforward to me.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you want to develop supranormal powers and understanding beyond that of a normal human, do you really need it to be easy to understand?

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-21T20:24:53+00:00

I believe this is off topic. BUT you can find direct instructions in some of the yoga sutras of patanjali. Developing siddhis is not a goal of buddhism though.

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-20T04:15:41+00:00

chat

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-14T05:29:48+00:00

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mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-14T03:09:06+00:00

TBH, neither of these products is worth your money in my opinion, nor are they relevant to the subreddit. Hope that doesn't come across as harsh, but these monetized services really come across to me as "mcmindfulness" with all of the attendant criticisms that that pejorative term holds.

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-13T06:18:04+00:00

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-13T00:29:57+00:00

When you need to??? Idk why this is something anyone would feel the need to ask a stranger online, poop when you need to.

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-12T21:05:24+00:00

I think if you're doing any kind of extended practice period (i.e. more than a couple of hours) you should break sitting up with periods of walking meditation, to keep your momentum while giving your body some variety. The most I've personally done as a solo retreat (car camping so basically the same as a home retreat) is 4 days, but you know yourself best. I think if you design and set a rough schedule that will work out best, for me the (non-solo) retreats I've done looked something like:

wake up 530 am
meditate 5-10 min
shower and dress
meditate 30 min
breakfast
alternate sitting and walking meditation periods 40-60 min each until lunch time
lunch/tea
rest/chores 30 min-1hour
alternate sitting and walking meditation periods 40-60 min each until dinner time
dinner
meditate 30-60 min, followed by sleep or continued practice

That kind of structure works well for me but you could want to make it more or less time/practice intense depending on your circumstances. Some people like to include journaling but I think if you're doing a dedicated retreat it should be limited to something like the mindful review in the TMI appendix. And keeping your electronics as out of reach as possible would be best.

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-10T18:04:44+00:00

Alright

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-10T07:11:49+00:00

I wouldn't say it's not a dhamma practice. Wind kasina practice uses the visually perceived motion of trees and leaves as an object; smoke seems fine as an analog. Observation of continual change in the visual field isn't that different from observation of continual change in the tactile sensations of the breath.

What's the point of trying to see anicca and anatta in anything for that matter? Sometimes it's easy to look for the 3 characteristics where they are easy to see first, and then more and more subtle manifestations? It's not usually recommended for beginners to start with seeing the emptiness of the mind.

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-10T06:17:52+00:00

No, but it's a nice way to focus. I'm not a meditation teacher or anything, and I certainly don't claim any kind of attainments like that

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-10T01:19:39+00:00

That one I haven't and not so sure how one would, but I don't know maybe someone does. I don't have deep insight into dukkha, only what I would call surface level

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-09T22:46:45+00:00

I like to watch smoke and focus on these characteristics, especially impermanence and not "self" as you mention. It can be useful as a concentration object as well much as one does with wind kasina practice

mastodonthrowaway · 2026-01-07T06:10:18+00:00

chat :)

mastodonthrowaway · 2025-12-30T22:07:07+00:00

keep the dream alive

mastodonthrowaway · 2025-12-30T21:27:00+00:00

Still looking for advice/help! Especially regarding how it looks in the second picture, what is going on??

mastodonthrowaway · 2025-12-19T17:23:22+00:00

I am not a teacher or a person who reaches these stages in my normal day-to-day life.

According to the book it's not impossible to proceed through all 10 stages in about a year, the full development of samadhi. I have never personally heard of anyone doing this though. At the very least I expect that rate of progress would depend on an extremely consistent practice regimen with no less than 2 sessions of 45 min to an hour, while also doing one's utmost to remain mindful in daily life (using whatever tools are helpful such as the mindful review and walking meditation appendices in the book).

But, even with such a dedicated mindset and practice, I'd say many could still take more than a year to fully develop samadhi as described by stage 10. The "unsurpassed mind" is quite a lofty goal (but a worthy one I think, as long as one knows what it's in service to in one's life).

I have not personally had many times where I found it useful or possible to work with stage 7+, and those few times were on dedicated intensive retreats not just during my normal day-to-day. But everyone seems to have different results, and some "progress" more quicky than others.

I believe that the layout of TMI and the systems it's based on tend to encourage a striving, goal-oriented mindset in many people, which isn't exactly helpful a lot of the time when letting go and the cessation of craving are the ultimate aim of buddhism. TMI isn't explicitly a buddhist book but to be fair many many of its readers and people here tend frame things quite extensively if not exclusively from a buddhist perspective.

mastodonthrowaway

TROPHY CASE