u/TravelFn

Perhaps you’ve heard this koan before.

Or maybe you’ve heard that Buddha said: think the thought that is unthinkable. Do the deed which is not doing. Speak the speech that is unspeakable.

I just had an intellectual insight into the purpose of these paradoxical statements.

The purpose of them is specifically to speak to the ego-identified self. The ego-identified self is also living in a paradoxical (illusory) reality.

It’s like if you could go into someone’s dream and show them something which makes no logical sense in order to get them into a state of questioning. Hoping to provoke them to question the other things around them too to wake them up.

That’s exactly what these statements (tools) are meant to do.

Neat!

This must already be known, but I just came to this realization myself, so I thought I would share in case this resonates with anyone else.

It’s been almost 6 months since I believe I entered the stream.

The first 2 months were “amazing”. Which of course is a very poor word to describe the experience! But it was remarkable in the sense that I had remarkably less suffering, a ton of flow and effortlessness. I felt more present in conversations with friends.

I really enjoy my work and I found myself deeply involved and productive after somewhat of a stagnant period prior. I could work extremely hard, but it felt easy. And after an intense day I could switch off quickly, which was hard for me in the past.

But slowly I would say this faded. It is not gone, but some identification crept back in and suffering has rebounded to a degree. I’m not living in the 90% of the time automatic flow mode that I had for the first two months.

One thing that was probably bad, in retrospect, is that after stream entry I basically stopped all practice! At first, in the immediate afterglow of the insight it felt like every moment it was easy to be mindful because I had a lot of things clicking, conditionings unraveling, generally a lot of “stuff” to witness in the novelty. So I figured… ok “this” is the practice now, living life and unwinding conditions.

But I think that was naive because over time that novelty wore off and I feel I’ve become less mindful and some identifications have crept back in. I’m now returning back to more formal practice and I’m seeing changes more quickly. Sometimes I’m able to switch back into the spacious awareness mode where things feel like they’re happening more or less automatically for several hours from even a quick intentional practice.

I’m still new, but now I’m committed to consistent practice again. I guess what I’m learning is that even after stream entry… chop wood, carry water. Or in this case, meditate, train the mind.

Can anyone relate? Curious to hear about post-stream entry experiences.

Before enlightenment the stars remind us how small and insignificant we are.

After enlightenment it gives us awe for how big and significant we are.

:)

Not a detailed post, but I’ll make one after my experiment has more data.

I’ll share a brief anecdote. Day 1 was surprising. I took 1mg before fasted cardio.

I did 45 minutes of zone 2 which isn’t a lot but it felt so effortless. I didn’t feel any fatigue at the end. I had lots of energy after and this is despite having no caffeine before the gym which I usually do.

After I continued to fast (not hungry at all), and got some work done while also getting in steps on my desk treadmill. Again it felt effortless, zero fatigue. By around 1pm I already logged around 12k steps and I didn’t have any food yet. Lots of mental energy and clarity as well.

I had a protein shake, and then proper food around 4pm. Felt good, fairly stimulated. Then things took a bit of a turn where I started to feel too stimulated and full of energy and a bit uneasy. Sitting there felt uncomfortable. I ended up going for another walk and shirt jog at 10pm to get this energy out.

Now it’s 12:30am (past my typical bedtime) and I’m still a bit wired. I logged my highest activity day (well over 20k steps) since getting my whoop 4 months ago and it wasn’t even by trying. I feel like I could’ve done far more if I actually tried.. I didn’t want to push myself too hard on purpose.

Overall my first impression is good. The added energy had a nice mental benefit. I’ve been in a slight energy deficit lately I think because of two things: 1, I quit nicotine 3 weeks ago and I’m still recovering from that and 2, I’m 10 weeks into a cut and getting fairly lean now and I think that’s catching up with me. But today I found myself with the most physical and mental energy I’ve had in weeks.

Let’s see how this goes over the coming weeks.

Anyone else have some MOTSC anecdotes to share? I’d love to hear them.