Mastering the Core Teachings of Buddha - An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book

The biggest problem with this model is that it delineates the number of duplicates of one's self that one should be able to manifest as bodhisattvas at each bhumi, and as the bhumis progress the numbers quickly get so large as to be absurd. Why some whackjob included this bizarre ideal of many-fold bi-location in the model I have no idea, but somehow no Tibetan since has had the balls to throw it out, and so a thousand years later they are still stuck with it. Aside from these problems, the texts that describe the bhumis makes for very interesting reading, particularly in the middle stages of enlightenment.

THE TIBETAN FIVE PATH MODEL

While I am on the subject of the Tibetan Models, I will present the Tibetan Five Path Model. In this model, the details of which can be found in various places, such as Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s book Dharma Paths on Snow Lion. As that book does such a good job of explaining the dogma and is not expensive, I will give only a brief treatment of that model here.

First Path covers the territory from just beginning through the Arising and Passing Away, and is called the Path of Accumulation. In the territory of First Path, one accumulates direct insight into the true nature of sensations by direct investigation of impermanence and the selfless nature of phenomena, as one does in the first four ñanas.

Second Path, that of Unification, encompasses the territory from the Arising and Passing Away, through the Dark Night, to High Equanimity and the first taste of Stream Entry. These are perfect correlations also, and thus have already been described. Third Path is the Path of Seeing, and encompasses Stream Entry, and then begins the Fourth Path, that of Meditation, which encompasses the rest of the Ten Bhumis. Third Path is described as a plane taking off, and Fourth Path as it flying higher and higher. Fifth Path is that of Buddhahood. As you can see, the Five Path Model does not really add anything to the other models, but knowing it will help you understand the correlations between the terminology when you are trying to cross over between the writings and oral teachings of various traditions. Back to the generic models…

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Models of the Stages of Enlightenment

THE ENERGETIC MODELS

In nearly the same vein as the Power Models are the Energetic Models. They tend to involve ideals that imply that enlightened beings will have all their energy channels clear, their chakras or energy centers all the right shape and color and all spinning in the correct direction, their aura large, regular, and some nice color such as white, gold or violet, and in general have perfected their energetic system, regardless of the particular energetic system model being used. The simple fact of multiple models and visions of what a perfected system should look like is already a red flag for anyone paying attention, as the various traditions can't even agree on how many chakras there are, much less the rest of the details. I have noticed that these things are very scriptable, meaning that one’s concepts of what is supposed to be happening can influence what one perceives in these areas. These models also leave much to be desired, and generally are referring to things that happen in the A&P

and the fourth jhana, as are the powers models.

Kundalini phenomena, where all the energy (prana, lung or chi) blasts through the central channel (shushumna), are very common in the A&P Event. Some traditions associate this event with awakening, though I consider this erroneous and premature, though I can understand why these stages impress people so much. It is during the A&P that some practitioners with a bent or talent for doing so may perceive energy channels, sometimes in outrageous detail, and be able to see chakras and the like. However, anyone who can do this in a sustained fashion will note the following: that in the Dark Night the channels are a mess in most people, and that in High Equanimity the focus shifts to experience itself, not nearly so much what is in that field of experience, and thus the channels can be difficult to perceive or a secondary background aspect of what is going on. Further, enlightened beings cycle all the time, their moods and health and other factors change all the time, and so what their channels are doing and how they perceive them will change all the time, leading to nothing resembling the stable, clean, orderly, perfected, predictable energetic state promised in the energetic models.

Thus, the energetic models are another example of a transient side effect of some people’s practice being incorporated into an ideal of 292