Ego death and stream entry is it the same thing?
Upvote:4
Temporary ego death & stream entry are not necessarily the same thing.
Temporary 'ego death' can occur in different ways that are not 'stream entry'. For example, temporary ego death can occur from taking drugs.
Buddhist stream-entry includes two major characteristics:
Clearly seeing (with 'insight') the illusory, insubstantial & false nature of 'self'. This 'ego-death' eradicates belief or view of self (sakkāya-diṭṭhi).
Clearly seeing (with 'insight') the absence of self is also the absence of suffering. This eradicates doubt (vicikicchā) about the teachings and also eradicates the belief that morals (sīlabbata) alone can end suffering.
Therefore, what distinguishes mere ego-death from stream-entry is ego-death alone often leads to fear & confusion where as stream-entry leads to peace & liberation.
The Buddhist scriptures say about stream-entry:
A noble disciple who is consummate in view, an individual who has broken through [to stream-entry], the suffering & stress that is totally ended & extinguished is far greater. That which remains...is next to nothing: it's not a hundredth, a thousandth, a one hundred-thousandth, when compared with the previous mass of suffering. That's how great the benefit is of breaking through to the Dhamma, monks. That's how great the benefit is of obtaining the Dhamma eye.
Upvote:7
I wish it were so complete. Stream entry, while a major event in one's practice, is by no means the death of the ego. In fact, it only releases one from the lower three fetters (e.g. belief in a self, doubt, and attachment to rites and rituals). There's much more to go. I'd go so far to say that it's not until one becomes an arhant that the "ego", as we understand in the Western sense, is finally put to rest.
It's important to understand, however, that "stream entry" is category term for a collection of insights. While these insights can happen as the result of a single event, that event and the experiences surrounding it like feelings of oneness, visions, and the like are really inconsequential. What is important is the shift in perspective that follows. This is fundamentally what distinguishes Buddhism from other mystical traditions.
More post
- 📝 Selling and use Dhamma as advertising
- 📝 What does Buddhism say about practicing Spiritism?
- 📝 Non duality in daily life
- 📝 Are mindfulness and flow related
- 📝 Distinction between Dharmaguptaka and Mahayana
- 📝 So what is left? It is the true realization of Śūnyatā, or Ultimate Truth, a realm in which “reason is used to destroy itself”
- 📝 Experience of meditation
- 📝 Why is it that I always experience sleep paralysis (suffocating) very often?
- 📝 I don't know pali or Sanskrit if anyone can have pdf of english Tipitaka
- 📝 When is it love? When is it attachment?
- 📝 What is the difference between Enlightenment and Nibbana?
- 📝 Doubts and Ungathered Mind
- 📝 What is the difference between a cula sotapanna and 'faith follower' ?
- 📝 Does mind ever stop?
- 📝 Through which medium does kammic information travel after the break-up of the body?
- 📝 Do our habits prevent us from seeing things as they really are?
- 📝 What is the destination of a Buddhist?
- 📝 I'm confused about the seemingly irrational prioritization or vagueness (?) relating to the "3rd precept" compared to 5th precept of the 5 precepts
- 📝 Celibacy - why not?
- 📝 Is it possible to have a romantic relationship without attachment?
- 📝 Anesthesia, being knocked out, unconsciousness...what does the Buddha have to say about it?
- 📝 Sutta in which Buddha says that he/anyone don't have to take another person words?
- 📝 How does Buddhism explain the creation of everything (universe)
- 📝 The Sangha extinguished, the Dhamma sold out: what now?
- 📝 What are the relevant vinaya guidelines if a bhikkhu was to find a likely abandoned dwelling?
- 📝 Should we feel good about life?
- 📝 Introductory/Beginner books on Buddhism, but for children
- 📝 Looking for an online resource of the commentary(SNA.ii.476; SA.i.155) which says that the Brahma Sahampati was an Anagami from the Suddhavasa realms
- 📝 How to develop fortitude?
- 📝 How to mitigate the negative karmic effect of killing
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Ego death and stream entry is it the same thing?
- 📝 Can you gain stream entry by focusing on the clinging and stress going on at the five clinging aggregates?
- 📝 Do "conditioned" and "conventional" mean the same thing in Buddhism?
- 📝 Are Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism the same thing?
- 📝 Can one follow Hinduism and Buddhism at the same time?
- 📝 Can a human being reside both in this world and Nirvana at the same time?
- 📝 How does a monk cope with all the bad things happening in the world if the only thing monks do is sitting and meditating?
- 📝 Would a stream enterer no longer need the "I am the owner and heir of my karma" reflection?
- 📝 Is it possible to set goals for the future and be present at the same time?
- 📝 How do the stages of insight before stream entry relate to the suttas
- 📝 What do Birth, Age, and Death mean in the first noble truth?
- 📝 Do Mahayana Buddhists explain birth and extinction in the same way?
- 📝 Is sloth the same thing as torpor?
- 📝 Are some of the supernormal powers a direct contradiction to old age, sickness, and death being unavoidable?
- 📝 Bhanga and the ego
- 📝 Can stream entry be reached by focusing on the links in dependent co-arising
- 📝 Does "Connected Causes" mean the same thing as Dependent Origination?
- 📝 When the Pali suttas say that it is not the "same" thing that is born and dies what do they mean?
- 📝 Happiness, rebirth, and the death of an arahant
- 📝 Satori and stream entry
- 📝 Reunion with the loved one after death and in next life
- 📝 Queen Mallika story and stream entry
- 📝 Friend who is the same in happiness and sorrow
- 📝 Can bad karma be created and paid back in the same lifetime
- 📝 Are Aksobhya and Bhaisajyaguru the same buddha?
- 📝 Can someone be Buddhist and Christian at the same time?
- 📝 what is the difference between Ego and self respect?
- 📝 Can the same kamma cetana and action lead to somewhat different future physical consequences (the physical aspect of the kamma-vipaka)
- 📝 Suppose World War 3 occurs and manages to wipe out all humans and animals. Is the cycle of death and rebirth broken?
- 📝 'Antarabhava' existence between rebirth and the death