The Experience of Insight

=The Experience of Insight, by Joseph Goldstein—a Synopsis= Conducting a life of meditative practice means holding in your awareness the things described below.

The following is my attempt to aggregate the key concepts and ideas put forth by Joseph Goldstein in his 1976 book on experiencing insight.

Refuge
Taking refuge in:


 * Buddha – enlightenment within ourselves; and in qualities embodied by Buddha, for instance, fearlessness, wisdom, love, and compassion


 * Dharma – law. The way things are. Surrender to truth


 * Sangha – mutual support in the community

Five Moral Precepts
The five moral precepts for meditative practice are:


 * 1) Not killing
 * 2) Not stealing
 * 3) Refraining from sexual misconduct
 * 4) Not lying
 * 5) Not taking intoxicants

Noble Eightfold Path
The noble eightfold path maps the way to enlightenment. It includes:


 * 1) Right understanding – natural laws governing life, for example, Karma – cause and effect. Cultivate wholesome states of mind like generosity; honor parents, recognize impermanence of everything, selflessness, deep observation.
 * 2) Right thought – free of desire, ill will and cruelty
 * 3) Right speech – speaking the truth. Honest and helpful words. No slander or abusive, harsh language.
 * 4) Right action – not killing, stealing, nor engaging in sexual misconduct
 * 5) Right livelihood – that does not involve killing, stealing, or dishonesty.
 * 6) Right effort – motivation in meditative practice
 * 7) Mindfulness – being aware of what’s happening in the present moment
 * 8) Right concentration – a one-pointedness of mind

Four Ultimate Realities
The four ultimate realities that can be experienced are:

1. Material elements
 * a. ​ Earth – extension. The harshness or softness of objects
 * b.  Air – vibration in movement
 * c.  Fire – heat or cold
 * d.  Water – fluidity and cohesion – holding things together

​2.  Cons ciousness – the knowing faculty

3. Mental fac tors
 * ​a.  Greed, hatred, delusion: unwholesome


 * b Generosity, love, wisdom: wholesome

4. ​ Nirvana – going beyond the conditional mind-body process into freedom

Hindrances
Referred to as “enemies,” the hindrances are:
 * 1) Sense desire – lusting and grasping
 * 2) Hatred, anger, ill will, aversion, annoyance, irritation – the condemning mind
 * 3) Sloth and torpor – laziness of mind, sluggishness
 * 4) Restlessness
 * 5) Doubt

Three Pillars of Dharma
Parami—the three pillars of Dharma—entails purity of conduct and purity of wisdom. These are:
 * 1) G enerosity
 * 2) Moral restraint
 * 3) Meditation – cultivation of insight

Four Noble Truths
The four noble truths are:

 (1) Inevitability of suffering. Our four great attachments are:

      (a) Sense pleasures

      (b) Opinions and views

      (c) Rites and rituals

      (d) Belief in self

 (2) Cause of suffering; desire of attachment

 (3) Inevitability of Nirvana

 (4) Dharma – being mindful; aware and balanced.

Four Main Groups of Karma

 * 1) Reproductive
 * 2) Supportive
 * 3) Counter-active
 * 4) Destructive

“Dwellings of Brahma” – The Divine Abodes
These are the states of mind developed through concentration. They are:
 * 1) Universal loving-kindness
 * 2) Comp assion for suffering of all beings
 * 3) Sympatheti c joy
 * 4) Equanimity – per fect balance of mind – undisturbed by vicissitudes

The “All”
The “all,” or purity of view, is described by Buddha in six phrases:
 * 1) The eye and visible objects
 * 2) The ear and sounds
 * 3) The nose and smells
 * 4) The tongue and tastes
 * 5) The body and sensations
 * 6) The mind and mental objects or ideas

The Law of Dependent Organization
This describes what’s known as the wheel of life, death, and rebirth. It was 12 aspects:
 * 1) Ignorance
 * 2) Volitional actions of body, speech, and mind (motivated by wholesome or unwholesome mental factors)
 * 3) Rebirth consciousness – first moment of consciousness in this life
 * 4) Mind-body phenomena
 * 5) Six spheres of the senses
 * 6) Contact
 * 7) Feeling
 * 8) Craving/desire
 * 9) Grasping
 * 10) Karmic formations – repeating volitional actions
 * 11) Birth again
 * 12) Suffering and death … the wheel roles on

The  key to breaking the chain is powerful mindfulness in every moment.

The Bare Basics of Tao

 * Everything is impermanent, in flow, and in constant transformation


 * Being invisible to the world


 * Nothing special to be, to do, or to have


 * Nothing to strive for, nothing to get rid of. No ego to destroy! Just stop creating the self in our minds in each moment.

Seven Factors of Enlightenment
Also referred to as the “limbs of freedom,” these are as follows:

(1) The first limb keeps balance between arousing and tranquilizing

(2) - (4) These are the arousing factors.

(5) - (7) T hese are the tranquilizing factors.

1. Mindfulness – awareness of what’s happening in the moment. Foundations and applications of mindfulness are:

a.        Body – breath, sensations, movements and postures

b.       Feeling – quality of pleasantness, unpleasantness, or neutrality

c.        Consciousness – awareness of mental states

d.       Dharma – awareness of truth, the law, the three characteristics of existence (pillars of Dharma), the four noble truths.

2. Investigation of the Dharma – wisdom; analyzing mind-body process with a silent and peaceful mind

3.   Energy/effort

4.   Rapture – intense interest in the object. Cultivated by 10 perfections of Buddha’s engagement:

a.        Generosity

b.       Morality

c.        Renunciation

d.       Energy

e.       Wisdom

f.         Patience of mind – continuing perseverance

g.        Loving-kindness

h.       Truthfulness

i.          Resolution

j.         Equanimity

5.   Calm

6.   Concentration - two kinds:

a.        Single object: one-pointed – the basis of psychic powers

b.       Momentary: changing objects – leads to freedom

7.   Equanimity: evenness of mind – impartiality toward all phenomena. No elation, no depression