In this episode I am joined by David Johnson, a meditation teacher and author of ‘A Path to Nibbana’, a complete meditation guide to TWIM.

David shares details about the life of his recently deceased teacher, Bhante Vimalaramsi, including their first meetings in the 1970s meditation scene, the last days of Bhante Vimalaramsi’s life, and the consequences of his death for the religious organisation he left behind.

David recounts his own life story, including twenty years of meditation in the Vipassana movement and a detailed description of how he achieved its version of stream entry.

David explains how practicing Bhante Vimalaramsi’s teachings showed to him that the stream entry achieved through Vipassana meditation is merely a mental blackout, and explains how to achieve true awakening through the practice of TWIM.

David also defines enlightenment, discusses psychic siddhi powers, and questions the enlightenment of figures such as Dipa Ma, suggesting their attainments were much less than widely believed.

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Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep212-path-to-nibbna-david-johnson

Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.

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Topics Include:

00:00 - Intro

03:12 - Death of Bhante Vimalaramsi

09:12 - Meeting Bhante Vimalaramsi in 1975

11:42 - Disco killed meditation

12:24 - Becoming a millionaire and going to India

16:52 - David’s work as librarian of Bhante Vimalaramsi’s teachings

18:42 - Filming Dipa Ma and other famous teachers

21:22 - What’s next after Bhante Vimalaramsi’s death?

25:56 - David’s middle class upbringing in the USA

27:17 - Teenage interest in hypnosis

27:58 - Talking about guitars and music

30:29 - Attending Evergreen College, LSD, and Carlos Castaneda

33:04 - Bouncing between colleges

36:06 - Extensive experience in vipassana meditation

38:22 - David details passing through the progress of insight stages

45:54 - Did David achieve stream entry?

47:08 - Discovering the real stream entry

50:18 - Real stream entry vs vipassana black-outs

55:35 - The practice story of the Buddha

01:02:00 - The importance of tranquillising the mental formations

01:07:02 - The dangers of meditation and psychedelics

01:10:56 - Secularising meditation

01:13:50 - David asks Steve, ‘What is enlightenment?’

01:16:01 - David accuses Steve of eel-wriggling

01:17:11 - David defines enlightenment in terms of the 4 noble truths

01:22:19 - Dipa Ma was not as enlightened as she thought she was

01:29:29 - Dipa Ma’s mastery of psychic powers

01:34:16 - Going to hell after suppressing the mind with concentration

01:36:58 - How to evaluate your enlightenment level

01:48:04 - Why did Buddhism go wrong?

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Previous episodes with Delson Armstrong and Bhante Vimalaramsi visit:

- https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=delson

- https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep112-bhante-vimalaramsi-relaxing-into-nibbana

To find our more about David Johnson visit:

- https://www.dhammasukha.org/david-johnson

For more interviews, videos, and more visit:

- https://www.guruviking.com

Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James