Stream entry report

A few months ago while meditating, I experienced extremely intense kundalini phenomena (reported here: kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/thread/44...ing+%26+Passing+Away ), which I later intuited to be an A&P event. It seemed like an incredibly momentous event in my life but, after reporting it to a Zen teacher, I was told it was a "makyo" phenomenon. Essentially, a distraction.

I continued practicing and, after the afterglow of that event wore off, I realized I had a lot of work to do.

I took up noting practice for a while but realized my concentration abilities were lacking, so I focused on more of a shamatha approach for a matter of months. At some point, if felt kind of like I hit a brick wall. I didn't know if I was making progress any more or not, so I became a student of Kenneth's.

After following what are essentially the instructions on the front of this page for about two weeks, I got stream entry. I did this while maintaining a 9-5 job and going to retreats on the weekends and meditating whenever I possibly could. I noted like crazy. I started having all of these insights but I ignored them and kept noting. Kenneth walked me through the correct technique on the phone, so I was confident that I was doing it correctly.

The actual stream entry event happened, funnily enough, when I walked to a neighborhood restaurant with my wife and just decided to relax. I remember listening to a song on the radio and asking my wife who it was that was singing the song. Then, it was like I lost consciousness entirely for a moment and reality surged back on with seemingly greater intensity. I didn't know what had happened at first and kept asking my wife "what was that," "what just happened?" And she reassured me that she hadn't noticed anything amiss. A few seconds later, I started wondering, "was that it?"

I didn't pay attention to bodily sensations to feel a "bliss wave" I have heard described earlier but I felt remarkably better. Like, all of the sudden, all was right with the world. I remember telling my wife I loved her and I hugged her. My wife told me that my voice had become louder after the event.

I remember looking around in the restaurant and seeing that everything seemed more intense...more colorful and alive than before. Shortly thereafter, I started noticing that my sense of self seemed very diffuse and fluid. My sense of space was frequently panoramic and seemingly boundless. It took me several days to get used to how intense reality seems. All of the microscopic tension in my body became much more obvious. I remember going to a sitting and seeing a statue of the Buddha and being incredibly inspired to put out the flames of samsara to a greater degree. I now have much more faith in the teaching of the Buddha (and I had been pretty obsessed (in a good way, I hope) with Buddhism already) .

After a while though, I started wondering if I was experiencing repeat fruitions or not because I didn't have repeated experiences with the same degree of clarity as the first time around. There were moments that I wondered if a fruition had just happened but I wasn't sure.

I scheduled another phone conversation with Kenneth and, after describing my experience and talking to him, he assured me that he thought I had attained stream entry. I have since developed a better knowledge of what to look for and have indeed confirmed that, when meditating, I effortlessly cycle through certain ñanas. I have also become better at observing the fruition occurring while meditating. There have been a fair number of nice, emotional side effects, too, but I realize I still have a lot of work to do. It feels like I'm just getting started...

Congratulations, Notbrian.

Kenneth

Wonderful!

Congrats!

Nice report. Well done!

Cool!
Congratulations!

Congratulations, and thanks for sharing!

Notbrian (and his wife) walk warily down the street with the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of their feet, machine gun's ready to go
Are you ready? Hey, are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip to the sound of the beat, Yeah
Another one bites the dust *
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone
And another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

* Dust=Path!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!

: ) Just getting started

Thanks for all of the comments!

I had a question for you guys.

First a quick intro...Since my wife was there during my stream entry event, she realized that something profound had happened to me. She has been meditating off an on with me for the past year or so with me, although she hasn't been infected with "insight disease" as badly as me.

A couple of days after the whole stream-entry thing happened, my wife told me that she had a lucid dream where she was in a Zen monastery. She said she was walking along a path at the monastery to go talk to a teacher, who was waiting for her in a small house-like building.

She then decided to literally wake up and then she reports "everything went away and there was nothing." I asked her for clarification and she stressed "there was just nothing. I don't know how to describe nothing."

She said after that event, she blinked and the "room came back" and she felt shaken and an "odd energy." She also remarked noticing that sometimes reality was "vibrating really fast."

So my question is: Do you think it is plausible that this was stream entry for her? Is it possible to have an experience of radical emptiness while lucid dreaming? Or is this likely an A&P event?

"Thanks for all of the comments!

I had a question for you guys.

First a quick intro...Since my wife was there during my stream entry event, she realized that something profound had happened to me. She has been meditating off an on with me for the past year or so with me, although she hasn't been infected with "insight disease" as badly as me.

A couple of days after the whole stream-entry thing happened, my wife told me that she had a lucid dream where she was in a Zen monastery. She said she was walking along a path at the monastery to go talk to a teacher, who was waiting for her in a small house-like building.

She then decided to literally wake up and then she reports "everything went away and there was nothing." I asked her for clarification and she stressed "there was just nothing. I don't know how to describe nothing."

She said after that event, she blinked and the "room came back" and she felt shaken and an "odd energy." She also remarked noticing that sometimes reality was "vibrating really fast."

So my question is: Do you think it is plausible that this was stream entry for her? Is it possible to have an experience of radical emptiness while lucid dreaming? Or is this likely an A&P event?
"

Plausible : Yes.
Give it time: Yes.
Tell her to record her sits: Yes
Congratulate her on a most awesome dream: Yes
Keep practicing: Yes
Let your eyelids flicker and watch for the last sensation of the last flick as it ends. WHat happens?

Thanks for the answer,

She reports a little blip when letting the eyelids flicker.

I'm not jumping to conclusions yet, but I'm not dismissing it as a possible stream entry either.