Bear in mind that David was repeatedly invited to share his side of the story here on this channel in a live (his stipulation) interview. But he was too much of a coward to do present himself on camera in any context other than pure self-promotion (i.e. Guru Viking's offering). This man is totally untrustworthy.

There are no Arahants living today.

@@BeingUntangled And why do you think that? Do you actually believe that there is not a single person who has uprooted all of the fetters?

@jonathanmollah907 The videos on this channel address your question. Suppose that a man knew exactly how the Great Pyramid in Egypt had been constructed. Not because he had heard about it from someone else, or because he had speculated about it, but rather because he had personally witnessed & participated in the construction of just such a pyramid using stones of the same type, size, and weight. How would such a man know that nobody else alive today or in the recorded past who had speculated about the method of construction was correct in their speculations? There are two ways that he would know: of those who had merely speculated, he could see that their understanding of the method is wrong, and of those who had attempted reproduction, he could also see that the attempts at reproduction had ended in failure. Now, someone who doesn't know what a pyramid is supposed to look like wouldn't be able to judge whether the reproduction of a pyramid has been a failure. And someone who doesn't know the method of construction of a pyramid wouldn't be able to judge whether a proposed method is correct or not. But to a person who understands both of these things, it is an easy task to understand the situation as it is. Now this simile is not perfect, and a foolish person would immediately jump to looking for loopholes, but in doing so they would totally miss the point and lead themselves away from the goal.

If you haven't yet, you may want to watch another video called "On the proliferation of false paths". In the comments section, you will find a response to a question similar to yours, reading: "The blanket statements made in the video should be understood as having been given with an awareness of all that is being taught & practiced today as well as what has been taught & practiced for many generations. Where I have called out individuals, my statements are not limited to those named, but refer to any & all sharing similar views." Having been an online student of Dhammarato, I can expand a bit on his particular case. Dhammarato is a student of Buddhadasa. On Wikipedia, Buddhadasa is described as "an innovative reinterpreter of Buddhist doctrine and Thai folk beliefs." Such was pretty openly the case. Buddhadasa altered and/or rejected fundamental aspects of the teaching. For example, he rejected the idea of rebirth across lifetimes, considering it irrelevant to Buddhism (reading the suttas should make it clear to you how radical of an alteration to the teaching this is). Stemming from his approach to the idea of rebirth, his understanding of kamma, another fundamental concept, was likewise altered (this much can be read about even in the Wikipedia article about him). Dhammarato passes on his own spin on that same altered teaching. Rebirth is deemed irrelevant, kamma is trivialized, Noble Attainments are considered meaningless. The teaching focuses simply on the present, providing a version of the "you are already enlightened" trope (showing a probable Zen influence present in Buddhadasa's work), and ending dukkha simply becomes about throwing away the dukkha in this particular moment (though it will undoubtedly arise again). The idea of striving becomes discouraged. Dhammarato mixes in some ideas from positive psychology and other personal interests of his as well. In summary, the Buddhadasa/Dhammarato teaching has little to do with the teaching of the Noble Ones found in the Sutta Pitaka and Vinaya.

Agreed, i sincerely feel Bhante V’s intentions were pure despite his wild views and too fast judgement to attainments however his intentions were pure. On the other hand i have stated my facts on Liam, Delson, David and company. Meditators beware.

They clearly are intoxicants, and ones that also create very strongly distorted perceptions, wrong views, and delusions. Suppose that you were needing to undergo brain surgery and your doctor took a tab of acid or ate a bag of mushrooms as he entered the operating room. Would you feel safe and in good hands? Suppose the pilot & co-pilot of the airplane you just boarded did the same just before taking off. Would you feel safe? When you use these drugs you distort your perception and impair your thinking, often for life. No one in the past has ever become awakened via the use of drugs and no one ever will. By indulging in these drugs, you're only making it harder for yourself.

The blanket statements made in the video should be understood as having been given with an awareness of all that is being taught & practiced today as well as what has been taught & practiced for many generations. Where I have called out individuals, my statements are not limited to those named, but refer to any & all sharing similar views. That being said, it is possible that a private dialogue between myself and Venerable Thanissaro could prove to be very beneficial. I am available to him, if he should wish to talk.

There are several videos on the channel that address Bhante Vimalaramsi and his views, this one being the most comprehensive: 👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/onqcYmZnYsanjMU

​@@BeingUntangled Would you agree that he at least seemed to have a genuine wish to promote what he believed was a way to find the Dhamma? Practically, that doesn't change much, though: being misled is being misled, whether that comes about because of associating with an outright scammer or with someone honest but misguided.

@robertg.3331 He (Bhante Vimalaramsi) did believe in what he was promoting, even though those immediately below him didn't believe it (such as his meninges theory for example). His conviction seems to have come mostly from the fact that he believed certain devas had visited him and told him that he was teaching what the Blessed One taught. Bhante Vimalaramsi did not recognize these devas as Māras. He should have known that what he was teaching wasn't what the Blessed One taught. That is to say, he had the information at his disposal and he had it pointed out to him on numerous occasions, but he stubbornly refused to do his duty (just like the "worthless persons" the Blessed One famously chastised in the suttas). There is nothing admirable about sincerely believing something that is false and harmful. That is fundamentally what all run-of-the mill, uninstructed people are doing. But what he did was far worse, because he represented what was not-Dhamma as Dhamma and misled many people (and people have continued to be misled since his passing away). But although Bhante Vimalaramsi did believe that he was teaching correctly, he was not sincere in all matters (as has been covered elsewhere)

Ya this is horseshit

FYI you can download via the KZbin music app on your phone and listen while you go about your daily activities: 👉 music.kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYKckmCFe7edlck

Try listen x 2speed, u get used to it😊

It is very hard for a person to see something they don't want to see, or to understand something they don't want to understand. Try telling the drug addict that the drug is bad for his long-term well-being, and you'll likely receive hatred and vitriol rather than thanks and appreciation, although you clearly mean them well. This is fundamental to how cults operate. They all offer people something, even such a little thing as the acceptance of a group. But this is only as a bait or a lure. Whatever short-term benefit there is in pursuing TWIM or any of these other forms of wrong practice is truly insignificant when compared to the benefits of pursuing the true Dhamma. And following these false paths always leads people eventually into some kind of suffering & stress, just as does drug addiction. Men and women who in the past reviled the Noble Ones suffered because of that. And just as it was then, any beings today in this cosmos with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, in this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & common folk, any & all who revile the Noble Ones and ignore their message will suffer greatly, going again and again to states of deprivation, having no knowledge, no understanding of stress, the origination of stress, the cessation of stress, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.

@@BeingUntangled When you say "TWIM or any of these other forms of wrong practice" I have to STRONGLY disagree. Whatever problems there may be with the TWIM leadership, the procedure of TWIM itself especially the 6R process is a VERY useful tool in any meditator's toolbox. All meditation instruction needs to be given clearly by a competent and compassionate teacher. I think you would be doing a huge disservice to the community, and generating a huge amount of negative Kamma for yourself, if you confuse your issue with the leadership and their teaching style to the potential results of practicing TWIM skillfully. Without entering into any discussion over which method is the best, only a small percentage of practitioners would agree that there is no benefit at all in TWIM.

@woomera8522 You haven't read what I wrote. Read it again. I did not say that there is no short term perceived benefit to be found in methods like TWIM, Kryia Yoga, Vipassana, or any of these other forms of wrong practice. If that were the case, few would persist with them for long. But just like the drug which is pleasant today, but leads inevitably to disaster with continuing use, so too can TWIM seem pleasant today and yet lead to disaster. The purpose of the Dhamma isn't to lead people into ephemeral pleasures, but to take them all the way to the total end of suffering and stress. To the the Noble One who knows and understands this fact, who has penetrated the Dhamma all the way to the end of investigation, even existence in the highest and most sublime realms is seen to be inconstant, stressful, and not self. You are arguing in favor of a drug which provides a brief distraction from suffering, while suppressing knowledge that the disease has a cure. You are acting just like those Brahmins who reviled the Noble Ones because they (the Brahmins) clung to the comfort of their fire worship and sacrifices.

​@@woomera8522 The problem lies in both the leadership and the method. This is not unique to TWIM, by the way, but it is more striking in this case because of the emphasis on trancing out for extended periods and more importantly, the underlying assumption that one can see the Dhamma simply by using a cheatcode, ie. following a sequence of mechanical steps; which is easy to miss because when done "right", these steps result in strong affective states and hence don't feel mechanical. In moderation and in the right environment, I'm sure this method can be beneficial on many levels, as can be any other technique, but if anyone makes a progress on the path, this is *despite* the technique and thanks to their own virtue, honesty, and renunciation, including the renunciation of lofty states of consciousness.

​@@woomera8522 I know it'll be hard for you to accept, as it was for me, but you should listen to Being Entangled. I was a follower of TWIM for many years. What he says here is absolutely true. TWIM is no dhamma. I wasted my time completely. I know it is hard to accept it. Like you, I thought the 6 R's were synonymous with the eightfold path. But it's not. It's just a method, a technique. You won't find it in the suttas. The Buddha didn't even encourage beginners to meditate. Instead, they should try to develop the right view (understand the teaching), follow the precepts and develop sense restraint. In my opinion, it is much better to put emphasis of the gradual training and abandoning unwholesome states of greed, hatred and delusion rather than following such techniques.

The body is made up of the four great properties the earth property, the water property, the fire property, and the wind property. “And what is the earth property? The earth property may be either internal or external. What is the internal earth property? Anything internal, within oneself, that’s hard, solid, & sustained: head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, contents of the stomach, feces, or anything else internal, within oneself, that’s hard, solid, and sustained: This is called the internal earth property. Now both the internal earth property & the external earth property are simply earth property. And that should be seen as it has come to be with right discernment: ‘This is not mine, this is not what I am, this is not my self.’ When one sees it thus as it has come to be with right discernment, one becomes disenchanted with the earth property and makes the earth property fade from the mind. Not only the body, but everything else in the world is made up of the four great properties: the earth property, the water property, the fire property, and the wind property (plus the space property) Whether it is internally or externally, earth property is earth property, etc.

@@BeingUntangled My point of confusion is how the body but also feelings, mind, mental qualities can be focused on in and of themselves internally, externally, or both internally and externally. So for example, the Buddha describes how to focus on feelings in and of themselves, that part I can understand. After that comes the passage "“In this way he remains focused internally on feelings in & of themselves, or externally on feelings in & of themselves, or both internally & externally on feelings in & of themselves." The body seems "internal", feelings seem "internal", so how would one focus on them externally?

@dhamma2561 It's the same kind of thing. The Blessed One often expressed the Dhamma by means of comprehensive categories and permutations. Any feeling what-so-ever, be it internal or external, of the flesh or not of the flesh, pleasant, unpleasant or neither pleasant nor unpleasant, any feeling is to be seen as just 'feeling', in and of itself. People are always looking for loopholes. "This feeling," they think, "is special, and not meant to be understood as a feeling by the Blessed One." But they think wrongly. "This consciousness," they think, "is special, and not meant to be understood as consciousness by the Blessed One." Do you understand?

@@BeingUntangled Yes, you have helped illuminate why the Blessed One chose to speak in this way. Having not considered this aspect, I was reading into these statements looking for some hidden meaning I was missing. Thank you.

Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident but rather a continuation of a pattern of behavior that's affected many people to varying degrees. They have been given ample opportunity to recognize this and make the necessary changes, but they refuse to and repeat the lie that "Nobody has ever had a bad experience with TWIM." They will even say this to the face of someone who was indeed harmed. It is truly evil.

Don't say that. It isn't good to say that. We do have the Buddha's words. If there were recording of his voice on magnetic tape, a faithless man might say, "we don't have his voice, only a recording of it on magnetic tape." Well a magnetic tape or a copy of a magnetic tape wouldn't last 2600 years. But an oral followed by a scribal tradition of preservation can last 2600 years. How can it be known for certain that the suttas contain the words & phrases spoken by the Buddha? Because these words are inspired, they are confirmed, they mean something, they are instructions for practice, and that practice gives specific results. Imagine finding Einstein's theory of relativity and doing all the calculations and finding that they work and are perfectly applicable for their purpose and then concluding that these must not be the statements of Einstein but rather some off the cuff ramblings of a scribe, or the work of some committee with no understanding of the subtle aspects of time, space, and motion. Just because Delson hasn't penetrated the meaning of this teaching, or you yourself haven't penetrated the meaning, don't therefore assume that penetrating the meaning is impossible. It is possible for those with little dust in their eyes.

@BeingUntangled People don't talk in the style found in sutras so it's obviously been edited, and it's not a complete biography. People will have to do their best to match their own experience with the second hand data in scripture. It would have helped if he just dictated his philosophy. Not very helpful. Maybe one day they find something old in a cave like with the Christian scriptures.

@StringVest Your comments are showing that you are quite ignorant of even the recent past. Read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. That wasn't so long ago. It is very clear that you are speaking from a place of ignorance and haven't studied the ancient world.

@@BeingUntangled Well, the Bible and Quran are also cobbled together by scribes, the bible being particularly problematic when it comes to accurately conveying the words of it's founder. Buddhist scripture was created a long time after his death so I'd take it with a pinch of salt. I'd also be cautious accepting the belief of devotees for the same reason I'd be cautious of accepting the scriptural interpretations of Christian apologists. Buddhism does, though, like you say, provide methods which you can experiment with and see for yourself although people are arguing about that too. That's people for you! The flower sermon even depends entirely on secondary scribal words, being the conveying of a non verbal event. They say.

@StringVest again you are showing a profound ignorance of the matter and yet have the confidence to make bold statements. The Flower Sermon and other Mahayana texts are fictional and much later works. Educate yourself and only speak to what you actually know. Please refer to the following statements from the Blessed One: “Monks, endowed with five qualities, even though listening to the True Dhamma, one is incapable of alighting on the orderliness, on the rightness of skillful qualities. Which five? ”One holds the talk in contempt. “One holds the speaker in contempt. “One holds oneself in contempt. “One is undiscerning, dim-witted, a drooling idiot. “Not understanding, one assumes one understands. You are clearly suffering very much from #4, and #5. Reflect on this. You have been corrected multiple times and yet persist in clinging to this evil, pernicious view of yours.

1) Yes of course. 2) This is a very shoe-string budget for such a production and only includes the hard costs, not the price of labor or the opportunity costs. The total expenditure now is closer to $100,000, again not including opportunity cost. Do you live in an inexpensive country? For some perspective, here's what GPT has to say about the cost to produce a 5 and a half hour documentary: Per Minute Cost: Documentary production typically costs between $1,000 and $10,000 per finished minute, depending on the complexity and quality desired For a 5.5-hour (330-minute) documentary: Low-end Estimate: 330×1,000=$330,000330×1,000=$330,000 High-end Estimate: 330×10,000=$3,300,000330×10,000=$3,300,000

Dor seems nice, polite and caring