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Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book Paperback – December 1, 2008


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Product Details

  • Paperback: 406 pages
  • Publisher: Aeon Books (December 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1904658407
  • ISBN-13: 978-1904658405
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel M. Ingram began entering into classical meditation territory as a teenager quite by accident and without knowing it crossed into territory that he would later call various names, including The Dark Night and the Knowledges of Suffering. He had no idea what had happened, but somehow knew that he had to find something. After being inspired by a good friend who got to the first stage of enlightenment after a retreat in centers in the Buddhist tradition, he began going on intensive insight meditation retreats in the US, India and Malaysia. By simply following the instructions he achieved the expected results, and has since become part of the global movement of meditation reform, a movement that seeks to preserve core meditation technology and supports, integrate helpful aspects from across traditions, refine the techniques and maps through exploration and verification, and spread the message that it can be done. It is also a movement to strip away the aspects of dogma, ritual,rigid hierarchy, myth and falsehood that hinder high-level practice and keep the culture of meditation mired in unhelpful taboos and misplaced effort. Dr. Ingram also has an MD, a Master's degree in Public Health, and a bachelor's degree in English literature. He practices in the U.S. as a board-certified emergency medicine physician. He hopes that those on the path will practice well, aim high and become accomplished practitioners who will help to train others to do the same.

Customer Reviews

I wished I had read this book years ago.
Jnanavat
The author gives a detailed map of insight so that the meditator can gauge where they are on the path.
dreaming90
One clearly gets the sense Ingram knows what he says from firsthand experience.
Craig Shoemake

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 82 people found the following review helpful By Jackson Wilshire on February 10, 2009
Format: Paperback
Of the countless reasons that you should read this book, I offer the following three:

1.) Many books about meditation leave out important information about the sequential stages one will likely (dare I say "inevitably") encounter in their practice. The ups and downs in one's practice can be severe, which causes many people to get stuck, and maybe leave the practice all together. Daniel breaks down what one may experience on their journey, and gives very practical advice on how to navigate the territory.

2.) This book clears up a lot of confusion around the goals of meditation practice, particularly what it means to be enlightened (or "awakened", etc.). By supplying an extensive list of the various models of enlightenment that are used by various contemplative traditions, one may comparatively examine them and get a good idea of what is true and what is false in regards to the process and goal of awakening.

3.) Daniel is brutally honest. He is fully aware that calling himself an Arahat is likely ruffle many feathers. But, it is my impression that he wouldn't make the claim if he didn't believe with his entire being that it is beneficial to others to do so. By explicitly detailing his particular attainments and how he was able to gain mastery of very specific techniques, he provides hope to those who also believe that it can be done.

I can say with complete honesty that after reading and applying the basic practices in this book, my meditation practice deepend beyond what I knew was even possible (and still is). I can't even begin to express how grateful I am to have read it, and how hopeful I am that it will continue to benefit others.

If you want to learn meditation with the goal of attaining earth shattering insight in to the nature of your identity and the universal characteristics of the whole of reality, than this book is for you.
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100 of 109 people found the following review helpful By TC on October 11, 2012
Format: Paperback
There is so much right with this book, yet so much wrong. What is right is the unashamed attitude that the path is practiced to attain something, and that it is possible to do so. The discussions of the different models of awakening and of the "mushroom factor" in much of current Buddhism are also great. In Part I there are also extended and very good discussions of some of the important basic teachings of the Buddha: the three trainings, five spiritual faculties, seven factors of enlightenment, four noble truths and eightfold path.

What is wrong then?

Well, Parts II and II are largely not teachings of the Buddha, core or otherwise. The meditation practice that Ingram teaches ("noting") was developed in the twentieth century in Burma. It wasn't taught by the Buddha. The "Progress of Insight" that Ingram teaches comes from a document called the Visuddhimagga written in Sri Lanka in the fifth century AD, more than eight hundred years after the Buddha's death in Northern India. The Buddha didn't teach that either. So the title is misleading, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the practices are not helpful. Or does it?

The outcome of the practice recommended in the book is not the outcome of practicing the Buddha's teaching, which is nibbana ("unbinding"), the end of dukkha (usually translated as "suffering" or "stress"). The product of Ingram's practice as recommended in this book is a state of endless cycling through something which Ingram, borrowing from St John of the Cross, calls the Dark Night, some of whose stages are Fear, Misery, Disgust and Desire for Deliverance (as well as nicer sounding states like Equanimity).
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68 of 74 people found the following review helpful By Vincent Horn on January 8, 2009
Format: Paperback
I can say with extreme confidence that if you read this book, put its principles and techniques into practice and have a clear aim at making progress in your meditation practice, you will be amazed at how quickly you can make real and lasting progress. This book excels at the specifics regarding insight meditation practice (with enlightenment as its goal) and the states and stages related to concentration practice (with unusual and profound states of consciousness as its goal). It also excels at deconstructing the various confused models and misperceptions that spiritual practitioners often have regarding enlightenment.

So, if you're interested in down-to-earth, practical dharma, and want a clear guide on how to master the core teachings of the Buddha this is the book for you. If you're looking for coffee table dharma or feel good, new-age fluff, then I would suggest something a little less hardcore.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful By Craig Shoemake on February 8, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is not your daddy's Dharma book! (Your mommy's neither.)

The differences start with the cover, and no, I'm not talking about the flaming dude with a chakra wheel for his heart. I'm talking about the author's title: Arahat. Now, Ingram does have a regular title-he's a medical doctor (M.D.) specializing in emergency medicine-"Everything from hangnails to heart attacks" he told me in a phone conversation. As you may know, an arhat (there are variant spellings) is one who has completed the Buddhist path as laid out in the Pali Suttas. "Done is what had to be done and there is no more of this to come!" goes the standard refrain by those who have attained such. Clearly Ingram is, as the suttas say, ready to "roar his lion's roar" in the spiritual marketplace. He spells the differences out further in the "Forward and Warning," wherein he puts you on notice he does not intend to write a "nice and friendly dharma book"; you know you're in for it when an author tells you he hails from a lineage of "dharma cowboys, mavericks, rogues and outsiders" (16).

That said, the books proceeds normally enough through part one. Ingram begins his discussion of dharma in terms of the traditional "three trainings": morality (sila), concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (paññ'). I especially found his discussion of morality illuminating. Going considerably beyond the standard list of things we shouldn't do (the five precepts etc), he says

"Training in morality has as its domain all of the ordinary ways that we live in the world. When we are trying to live the good life in a conventional sense, we are working on training in morality. When we are trying to work on our emotional, psychological and physical health, we are working at the level of training morality...
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