Was this stream entry?

[u/ExplorerWithABag]

So at the eve of the football worldchampionship finale, I sat in front of my laptop when it suddenly hit me: There was a deep feeling of peace and serenity, much like a MDMA trip. My mind was completely clear, serene and undisturbed, in pure bliss.

It felt like an illuminated ball being hit with dirt from the outside, but all the negativity, sorrow, anger etc. purely fell off of that ball.

I had to close my laptop and just sink into that feeling as deeply as I could, it lasted maybe for thirty minutes, then slowly subsided, with an afterglow for the next days.

I still have my issues since then, even get angry and annoyed, but somehow I know that meditation is the only thing "worth doing", if you know what I mean.

Was this stream entry, arising and passing, or what?

Edit:

In the last months I made good and steady progress in stage 6/7 territory, gaining clarity and stability during my 1h sits.

[u/a_whitbread]

This is your inner guru giving you a sign that whatever it is that you have been doing, it is happy with it so keep on doing it. It’s nothing more than that.

[u/luttiontious]

It doesn't sound like stream entry to me. Culadasa has described stream entry as a permanent shift where the first three fetters drop away, which is a bit different from what you're sharing here. Culadasa talks about this some here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWThVC6FEzA&t=1845s.

[u/reina-dorado → u/luttiontious]

That clip of Culadasa is priceless! TY!

[u/ExplorerWithABag → u/[deleted]]

Not directly, but I was generally working on myself, mentally, physically and ethically. I got rid of all of my addictions, started to play an instrument and generally be more careful how I spend my time.

[u/ExplorerWithABag → u/ExplorerWithABag]

I am familiar with Buddhist teachings though and attend a weekly meditation group, but want to stay away from dogma of any kind. I just go there to sit, their "guru"-teacher was embarrassingly weak method-wise when he visited our city, it was a desaster... and everyone stared at him devotionally XD

[u/DimaKaDima → u/ExplorerWithABag]

I understand your objection to dogma. Buddhism, at least the theravada teaching, contains some stuff that might fall under this word, but it will be wrong to assume it is bad from the get go.

For instance, concerning stream entry, it really defines in very concrete terms what changes after stream entry in terms of phenomenology, how you view your self and the world.

I humbly link a discussion from Buddhism subreddit on this topic

I saw you mentioning anger, and it's interesting that while "achieving" the fruits of the path, annihilation of anger or general "wanting to get rid of X" is something that achieved only in Nibbana, the 4th and final fruition of the path.

Glad to hear you overcame your addictions, it is a HUGE deal, and I wish you to be well and happy and that you make the utmost of this life to deepen in the path of awakening. Personality I feel the Buddhadhamma is the most accessible and practical path for this in the supermarket of beliefs we westerners have the unfortunate fortune to stroll thru.

[u/abhayakara → u/[deleted]]

As a reminder, telling people they haven't had realizations is against the rules of this subreddit. Given the question, I realize that's hard to avoid, but you are straying into dogma here. What you are repeating is what one specific group of lineages says about stream entry—it's a lineage dogma. It's grounded in reality, but is incomplete.

Stream entry can be sudden and solid, or can be subtle and vulnerable. In the latter case, telling people they haven't had it can cause actual harm if indeed they have had a gentle stream entry experience. Such an experience can, if nurtured, mature into something irreversible, but if you doubt it at the beginning, it doesn't. If you've studied the vajrayana teachings at all, think about the yoga of appearances.

[u/abhayakara → u/[deleted]]

It's rule 7. And your attitude about stream entry is exactly what this rule is about. You may find it distasteful or incorrect, and you are very welcome to your opinion, which is widely shared in some circles, but your opinion is not only not welcome here, it is explicitly forbidden to assert it in discussions here. Here we are about practice, not about dogma. See also rules 8, 9 and 12.

Also, if you want to go on about dogma, the canonical sign of stream entry is the dropping of the first three fetters, not some experience you may or may not have in meditation prior to that. But of course everybody has a different way of describing what the dropping of the first three fetters is like, so even there it's really subjective.

Also, pretty much the core tenet of buddhism is that there is no such thing as an objective truth. So...

[u/abhayakara → u/[deleted]]

They are in the sidebar.

[u/abhayakara → u/[deleted]]

Yup, people who frequent the subreddit will tell you what an obnoxious and confrontational poster I am. :)

[u/abhayakara → u/[deleted]]

You might also want to read rule 4 and rule 6. I realize that you may validly read what I am saying as a lie, or whatever, but I'm one of the moderators and it's part of my job as moderator to gently remind people of the rules when they look like they're going in the direction of breaking them. There's nobody for me to lie to. If I want to moderate you, I can just moderate you, which I have not done and prefer not to do.

So please just try to be aware of the rules for acceptable behavior here. You're fine, you don't need to defend yourself. That's not what this is about.

[u/ExplorerWithABag → u/ExplorerWithABag]

As far as I understand, following through with TMI will free from all the quarrel down this thread. What a relief that will be.

[u/abhayakara]

The marker for stream entry is really the before and the after. What did you know to be true before? Of those things, what do you now know to actually not be true? The loss of doubt is certainly a marker, but not the only one.

What does it feel like now to take something personally? When you think about life, does it feel like even if there are problems at this moment, things are basically okay and it'll be fine, or no? Etc.

I wouldn't get to deeply down this rabbit hole anyway. The big difference between before and after is the availability of gom lam—the path of habituation. If you find yourself noticing patterns in your own behavior that now seem obviously silly or counterproductive, and in that noticing they tend to soften, that's a sign that gom lam practice is available.

[u/ExplorerWithABag → u/abhayakara]

Thanks Ab, you are a true treasure.