This talk reviews a system developed over several centuries after the life of the Buddha that describes various levels of conscious awareness that can be experienced during the process of Awakening. The Progressions of Insight, as they are often called, begin with developing an ethically integrated lifestyle and the cultivation of the basic skills of mindfulness, investigation and Right Effort. As the development of the process matures, insights of an increasingly subtle and profound nature are experienced that validate the Buddhist foundational concepts of impermanence (anicca), the distress and confusion that results from craving and clinging (dukkha), and the absence of an enduring and autonomous self (anatta). The final goal of this progression is direct experience of Nirvana (the ultimately unconditioned state of mind).
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: STAGES OF AWAKENING
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