582. Daniel P. Brown

Dr. Daniel Brown has been a clinical and forensic psychologist for almost 50 years. He has been at Harvard Medical School for almost 40 years. He has been a student of, translator for, and meditation master in the Indo-Tibetan and Bon meditation tradition for almost 50 years. He has the only Western neuroscience study identifying the brain changes in the shift from ordinary mind to awakened mind.

Books:

Pointing Out the Great Way: The Stages of Meditation in the Mahamudra Tradition

Transformations of Consciousness: Conventional and Contemplative Perspectives On Development (New Science Library)

Self-Arising Three-fold Embodiment of Enlightenment: [of Bon Great Completion Meditation]

Websites:

pointingoutway.org

drdanielpbrown.com

mindonly.com

attachmentproject.com

Main points discussed in this interview:

Whether enlightenment is correlated with ethical behavior. Enlightenment is a holistic development, where all lines of development have flourished.

An explanation of the four clouds of the Heart Sutra.

Establishing neurophysiological correlates of enlightenment.

What does it mean to see the world as sacred?

Development of multiple bodies serving different functions simultaneously (as a result of enlightenment). Has the Dalai Lama done this?

A baseball player who trained by having tennis balls fired in a batting cage at 200mph. A discussion of the relative speeds of thinking, attention, and awareness.

Is there a personal self or entity which reincarnates?

An enlightened person can choose an incarnation rather than being mandated to a particular life by existing “memory traces”.

Detailed discussion on the rainbow body and relics found in the cremation ashes of enlightened beings who have mastered rainbow bodies.

The potential pitfalls of silent retreats.

Not mistaking preliminary stages for more advanced stages.

The only true test of realization is conduct, how you live your life, and how you treat other people.

Witnessing

The difference between ordinary and awakened awareness. Integrating awakened awareness into all other activity.

Stages in the development of concentration.

The process of releasing memory traces.

What practices are good for a beginner? Eligibility requirements for different stages of instruction.

Discussion of the Padmasambhava quote, “Although my awareness is as vast as the sky, my attention to karma is as fine as a grain of barley flour.” The importance of continuing vigilance after enlightenment.

Do enlightened people all experience a universal, ultimate reality in the same way, or do different spiritual paths and personal tendencies result in enlightenment being different for different people?

Can you do anything to get to non-doing?

Conspiracies and cult mentality. The importance of cultivating discernment on the spiritual path.

The importance of enlightened leaders. Can they be effective without an enlightened populace?

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview.

Interview recorded January 10, 2021

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump

00:05:15 - The Universal Trouble of Relationships in East and West

00:09:11 - Morality and Enlightenment

00:13:18 - Realizations and Enlightenment

00:17:37 - Practicing Automatic Emptiness and Unbounded Wholeness

00:21:52 - The correlation between brain activity and subjective states

00:26:09 - Shifting the Basis of Operation

00:30:03 - The Speed of the Mind and Baseball Training

00:34:10 - The Indestructible Essence in Buddhism

00:38:14 - The Purification of the Body

00:42:12 - The Transformation into Rainbow Body

00:46:23 - The Desert Fathers' Teachings and Controversy

00:50:21 - The Seven Deadly Sins in Meditation

00:54:23 - Putting Realizations into Practice...