Dimensions of awakening and spiritual development

[Dorje Chang]

I'm creating this thread inspired by Leo's blog post on October 23rd, recent posts on this forum, Shinzen Young's writings, and books such as 1000 (Ramaji).

Needless to say,  different teachers and traditions talk about different (though possibly related) things when they talk about enlightenment, awakening and spiritual development.  Therefore, it would be interesting to identify the most important dimensions of awakening and spiritual development claimed by different traditions. 

We could then ask: 

1) Which practices allow you to progress most effectively along different dimensions? 

2) Which dimensions might not be worth focusing on because others subsume them? 

These are some dimensions that I can come up with off the top of my head. I'm not claiming that this list is correct or complete. Some dimensions may be redundant. I don't necessarily agree with every item. I'm just trying to collect the claims made by various teachers and spiritual traditions. 

• Increasing concentration.
• Increasing sensory clarity. 
• Decreasing reactivity.
• Dismantling habituated patterns of behavior.
• Reducing suffering beyond that caused by reactivity. 
• Increasing recognition of the constructed nature of the self.
• Increasing recognition of the constructed nature of phenomena.
• Increasing recognition of the nondual nature of experience.
• Increasing ability to rest in and live from more awakened levels of awareness. 
• Increasing ability to embody and sustain positive states such as love and open-heartedness. 
• Increasing recognition of consciousness as ultimate reality. 
• Realizing God (this is specific to Leo). 

Interestingly, some teachers are supposedly highly developed along the most sophisticated dimensions yet are clearly deficient in others. Think of a meditation master who fully recognises nonduality but suffers from alcoholism. 

Which dimensions would you add or remove?

Edited October 29, 2022 by Dorje Chang

[Thought Art]

Nice list ??