Jack Kornfield on Buddhist Geeks

As a reply to the opening post:

I, for one, found myself in a surprisingly large degree of agreement with Jack's words. I personally don't care whether my experience matches up against a trained monastic's. I don't rate enlightenments that way. I'm not saying anyone else does, but just using this end of the spectrum to frame my thought here.

My comparison or context within which I judge my practice is against my former self, levels of understanding, quality of perception, etc. That metric is more than enough to convince me of my success. I think Kornfield's words were in total agreement and support of this way of thinking. What does it matter if I am enlightened? My new way of perceiving is continuous, automatically ingrained, and is allowing me the freedom to behave in much more healthy and high functioning ways. If a change in perception gives one the CONFIDENCE to act or think differently, that is the pudding, right there. And I think many PD yogis would absolutely display this high degree of transformation.

-Noah

I thought Jack Kordfield was right on. I have heard other yogis that have spent time in SE Asia say the same, that some western teachers have set the bar for attainmaent much lower. Kornfield does say this is an advantage in motivating meditators. The phrase of his I liked the most was that experiences are just experiences unless they transform our way of being in the world. In myj case, my wife and friends are good references as to how I progress or not progress on the path. They are not the only indicators, of course.

I didn't get the sense of being poo-poohed but more like cautious, guarded, like let's not get fanatical about the stages of insight b/c buddhist practice is bigger and wider than just one particular progression.