Ep253: The Buddhist Path - Leigh Brasington

In this episode I am once again joined by Leigh Brasington, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of ‘Right Concentration, A Practical Guide to the Jhanas’.
Leigh discusses his latest book, ‘Gradual Training: The Buddha’s Step-by-Step Guide for Awakening’, in which Leigh lays a 13 step training which culminates in enlightenment.
Leigh explains the scriptural origins of this formulation, why it is so crucial for meditation success, and speculates as to why it is so rarely taught by Buddhist teachers in America.
Leigh also emphasises the importance of moral precepts, wrestles with contradictions in the Buddhist scriptures, considers how the scriptures have been altered over the centuries, and reveals his opinion of Buddhist claims to psychic powers.
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www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep...
Also available on KZbin, iTunes, & Spotify - search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
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Topics Include:
00:00 - Intro
00:53 - Leigh’s latest book
02:09 - A life changing meditation encounter
03:00 - The gradual training
05:05 - Training in insight practice under Ayya Khema
05:49 - Leigh’s insight journey
07:31 - Why isn’t gradual training taught in Western Buddhism?
07:55 - Buddhist teacher schtick
09:00 - People don’t teach the suttas
09:47 - 13 steps to awakening
12:23 - Origin and evolution of the 13-step Gradual Training
13:23 - The Buddhist scriptures have been tampered with
15:23 - Evolution of the doctrine of 12 links of dependent origination
16:34 - Philological implications
17:51 - Did the Buddha have supernatural powers?
21:59 - Contradictions in Buddhist scripture
24:11 - Early vs late suttas
26:20 - When were the suttas composed?
29:39 - When was the gradual training devised?
31:11 - Gradual training vs Lamrim
32:35 - Fruits of the spiritual life
36:38 - Keeping the precepts
40:08 - Guarding the senses
42:41 - Mindfulness and clear comprehension
44:47 - Contentment with little
47:04 - Overcoming hinderances
49:12 - Are psychic powers real?
50:14 - Meditation or morality?
54:13 - Consequences of skipping ethics
58:05 - Do the precepts spoil the fun of life?
01:01:19 - What makes practice life changing?
01:02:36 - Enjoyment without attachment
01:04:17 - The power of motivation to change habits
01:06:19 - How Leigh gave up pot and sweets
01:08:19 - How to do insight practice
01:09:08 - Future writing projects
01:13:30 - Why Leigh publishes his books for free
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Previous episodes with Leigh Brasington:
- www.guruviking.com/search?q=b...
To find our more about Leigh Brasington visit:
- www.leighb.com/
For more interviews, videos, and more visit:
- www.guruviking.com
Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James

[@zachparade2791]

Thank you, Guru Viking! I’ve gotten so much out of watching your channel, especially the videos with Leigh Brasington. 🙏✌️

[@guido3771]

If he doesn't understand the sniper's concentration and insists on the killing aspect (dualism/sila), we know that his experience of the 8th Jhana is just as impermanent as anything else.

[@5piles]

hes nowhere near shamata let alone 1st jhana let alone anything else. hes deluded uneducated clueless and a joke.

[@isisneteru1013]

Could it also be that because Leigh practises "soft" jhanas taught by Aya Khema as opposed to vissudhimagga jhanas that he hasn't stumbled into "the powers"? The people who do the latter tend to verify these and also say that a 4th soft jhana is more akin to access concentration and while we can do insight practice from there, the mind isn't refined enough to develop magical capacities with that.

[@5piles]

no its nowhere near access concentration. samadhi cannot be cultivated at all if the mind is moving between different objects.

[@farhaanhabeebgazi3849]

But how come there is no concrete evidence of anyone using psychic powers ? At least some video, if not a scientific investigation I really want to believe in powers, if it just seems like fantasy

[@mattmccartney5996]

Any religion that has meditation and contemplation practices will run across the siddhis, a fact that people who cling to the wrong view of materialism find absolutely abhorrent and will use every opportunity to attempt to remove. Read Ajahn Brahmali's work The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts if you want the opinion of an actual Pali scholar.

[@razzmaster02]

It's a little shocking to me - it feels like his reasoning is somewhat specious given that the buddha also speaks of how, having attained the fourth jhana, one is able to incline their mind towards and achieve the supranormal powers easily. He does this in multiple suttas! All that the Kevatta Sutta says is that those powers have drawbacks, compared to the power of instruction...

[@mattmccartney5996]

@@razzmaster02 "Secular Buddhism" is wrong view which leads to wrong effort (ie Vipassana as a separate stand-alone practice that leads to the "stages of insight." Commentarial. Not in the suttas and not what the Buddha taught. (In my opinion and experience.)

[@5piles]

@@mattmccartney5996 yea its completely degenerated dharma. doing vipassana with a mind without shamata, which constantly moving between objects, is a way to guarantee one will never develop single-pointed concentration.

[@92AlexanderS]

I mean worldly siddhis are absolutely not the point of the practice anyway.

[@user-fg3fv9hl3b]

​​​@@92AlexanderSyes but here we have a supposedly extremely advanced practitioner and teacher who denies them despite the fact that people absolutely do have such experiences. As I listen more to the video, I find the same frustrations as any other time I listen to Leigh Brasington. He confuses his opinion for fact and doesn't even consider that he could be wrong. I like him but I just think he's wrong when it comes to this. If he wants to live in a boring material world by all means do so, but don't be arrogant about it. Not you, him. That being said I like most about him and don't expect even the best teacher to be totally agreeable haha. Doesn't mean they are wrong or I am, I think I would just like less certainty on topics that you don't know about.

[@Hermit_mouse]

Is this really just all about driving an electric car and only eating free cake?