when, where, how

"It would be interesting to know how many people had an awakening experience on retreat-- or even "on the cushion", doing formal practice... maybe I'll start a new thread."

I'm about to run off to class; will chime in when I get home.

me, reading damnyouautocorrect.com
friend k, out for a walk
friend d, sleeping
friend a, during a teaching
friend a, folding laundry
friend e, during a teaching
....
eta, thought of another one (friends who aren't on this forum): friend j, during a nap on the train

If you talk about KFD style paths:

1st path - after sitting, went to go to sleep but continued to meditate. Blip! In bed "what was that?"

2nd path - similar to first, while meditating

3rd path - suddenly able to access NS after working on jhanas for months

4th path - just something I relialized one day. A duh kind of moment. Hard to explain. I might have been talking to Ona when I realized that may have been it though.

Other shifts seem to come the same way, just suddenly notice something else has dropped away.

1st according to Kenneth, a hiccup while meditating on the mindstreamnwhile in EQ.

2,3,4th unclear...4th either never, or after hearing a chipmunk "bark" and then hearing the not-barking really loud afterwards.

Frankly, I'm quite lost.

...but eating pizza, so who can complain?

While watching television.

Gazing idly out the window while pleasantly loopy on brandy-- first hard liquor in a couple of decades or longer.

Acquaintances had reported: in the bathroom "on the throne"; taking a freeway cloverleaf off-ramp; driving over the Golden Gate bridge; being interrogated by a teacher about where "I" was; being interrogated by a teacher demanding proof of NOT being enlightened.

Some kind of 'A&P' which is still by far my deepest-seeming and most awe-inspiring meditation experience: on a Mahasi vipassana retreat in Burma.

First path: at the gym, on the cross-trainer, while listening to Pet Shop Boys' 'Minimal.'

Second Path: while living at a Thai-tradition nuns' monastery two hours outside of Sydney - had a few blips which I was unsure about, and then one while reading on the verandah (from memory I think it was Gregory Bateson's fascinating 'The Cybernetics of "Self": A Theory of Alcoholism,' highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the self or itnerdependence) which seemed reasonably incontrovertible.

My deepest experience was also my first A&P, a near-death experience when I wiped out on the Massachusette Turnpike a few miles west of Worcester in late March of 1973. I got stream entry during sitting meditation at home the evening of January 19, 2012. Second path, the morning of July 4th of the same year (last year). Stream Entry was kind of dramatic, especially the after effects, but second path felt like just a blip followed by a bliss wave. Third path was accessing PL1 on New Year's Eve. It was beautiful. Who knows what will be next. Will I wake up on a train? Will I wake up in a plane? Will I wake up on a boat? Will I wake up with a shoat?

p.s. All three paths occurred while doing sitting meditation at home.

Laurel Carrington wrote: Who knows what will be next. Will I wake up on a train? Will I wake up in a plane? Will I wake up on a boat? Will I wake up with a shoat?

Dying. Thanks for that.

"Who knows what will be next. Will I wake up on a train? Will I wake up in a plane? Will I wake up on a boat? Will I wake up with a shoat?"

-- I am Piglet, hunter of Heffalumps, and I approve of this message.

As I remember it:
KFDh-map.

A&P: Fall 2010. Half-napping / Half meditating lying down on a comfy sofa. After a period of serious meditation effort. (No-Big-Wow)

1:st path: Spring 2011. On the cushion. On an actual cushion. After a formal 1 hour+ meditation session at the end of a period in Equanimity. (Pretty-Wow)

2:nd path: Summer 2011: Half-napping / Half meditating lying in a comfy airplane chair. (Starting up physical/energetical changes)

and maybe/maybe not:
3:rd path around new year 2011/2012. Getting "panoramic", getting PL-jhana-like jhanas.

and then:
2:nd or 3:rd to 20:th-isch path in never ending, but slowing down cycles up to now. Most of them Half-napping / Half meditating lying in a comfy chair or recliner.

1st Path: meditating
2nd Path: in bed sleeping in, not quite awake yet, not really asleep either, but a heckofa big bang
3rd Path: not a clue when, pureland jhanas started appearing one day
4th Path?: at the computer, reading a dharma practice journal

Seems a whole lot of "when relaxed and not particularly expecting anything"...

ETA-- of course, that's like saying, "The radishes came up while I was reading a book with my feet up; ten days after I'd finished working the soil in the garden and planting them."

Okay, so I know this question is probably doomed, but can anyone tell us all the "marker" for fourth path? First and second are reasonably straightforward, third less so but still there are criteria. What about fourth? Of course that's the one transition I haven't experienced yet, so it makes sense for me to ask.

I was browsing through some older threads and found a list of criteria marking awakening, which Chris and Ona put together. If you remember it, it would be nice to bring it back again. If you don't, I'll try to do some rooting around for it.

Levitation. Send your video in to get your certificate.

Or as I get tormented with every time I ask questions, "who wants to know?"

Ona Kiser wrote: Levitation. Send your video in to get your certificate.

Or as I get tormented with every time I ask questions, "who wants to know?"

Dang, you beat me to it!!

I knew you'd pull something like that! Both of you together are a composite royal pain in the ass. As for who, a twelfth path yogi wants to know, that's who.

"Yogis (and even more so, yoginis) just wanna have fun!"

Love you, Kate, and you can add yourself to the above description. In fact, I'm ready to include all awakened people. Meh.

May you too, someday, become a royal pain in the ass....for the benefit of all beings, of course.

what if no one gives you a straight answer and you wake up but you somehow don't know it... what would that be like? would you be awake or not?

That's kind of what is motivating the question. Silly, I know. I guess this does happen, but it's unlikely in a community like ours, where people can chime in and say what they think is going on with someone.

I also want to know what to look for. Hahahahahaha, silly once again. I'd be willing to wager that I'm not the only one wishing the awake people would cough up something for us to hang onto, even if it's to say, give up wanting something to hang onto. Wait a minute--that must be it!!!!

Okay, so the question is, what are we hanging onto? And how do we know we're hanging onto it?

I'd better continue this on my own thread.