Daniel Ingram (author)

Daniel Ingram
Born1969 or 1970[1]
OccupationAuthor
Notable workMastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha

Daniel M. Ingram is an American author and researcher on Buddhism and meditation.[2] A physician, Ingram worked in emergency medicine before retiring in his late forties.[2] Ingram is the author of the 2008 book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book,[3] in which he argues that enlightenment is an attainable goal. He describes becoming an arahat on a retreat in April 2003,[4] a step that few Buddhist teachers take, and one that has been met with some criticism within the religion.[3][5]

Ingram describes Mahasi Sayadaw and Bill Hamilton as important influences.[1]: 17  With Kenneth Folk, he is associated with the "Pragmatic Dharma" movement.[6] He leads the Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium,[7] a group that seeks to study spiritual experiences through scientific methodologies.[8] He has co-authored several scientific papers on meditation experiences.[9][10][11][12] Ingram is married and lives in rural Alabama.[13]

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha

Ingram's book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (MCTB) was first released in 2008. A second version was released in 2018 and is freely available online.

Contents

The book is divided into six parts. Part I is about the fundamentals of practice, part II is about common pitfalls, part III is about the jhanas, part IV is about insight practice (as opposed to shamatha) part V is about enlightenment, and part VI is about his personal story.

In the book, Ingram describes first beginning meditation practice after attaining an Arising and Passing Away (A&P) experience at a concert, without any meditation. Shortly after this, he went on his first nine-day retreat in Massachusetts, at the urging of his friend Kenneth Folk, in August 1994.

India

In the chapter "Thank U, India", he describes going on his second meditation retreat in Bodh Gaya, Bihar in January 1995. It was a seventeen-day intensive course at a Thai monastery, with other experienced Western meditators such as Christopher Titmuss.[1]: 462  This is where he first attained stream entry.

As he was considering going to medical school at the time, the retreat also involved volunteering at a local health clinic for the impoverished. After a month in Bihar, he visited the neighborhood of Kalighat in Kolkata, West Bengal to continue doing public health work. He stayed there for the next 5 months at an outdoor street clinic in the northern slums of Kolkata.

Reception

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha was reviewed on the blog Slate Star Codex, which described it as "a lucid guide to issues surrounding meditation practice and a good rational introduction to the Buddhist system."[14] Naval Ravikant recommended the book in an appearance on Tim Ferriss's podcast.[15] In 2020 Bhikkhu Anālayo published a negative assessment of Ingram's work in the journal Mindfulness,[5] which Ingram responded to on the podcast Guru Viking.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Ingram, Daniel (2021). "Mastering the core teachings of the buddha" (PDF). p. 462. Speaking of retreats, and backtracking just slightly to the beginning of my time in India before I went to Calcutta, the next time I crossed the A&P was about five months after the August 1994 retreat. I was then twenty-five years old.
  2. ^ a b Holden, Michael (December 26, 2018). "The Other Side Of Paradise: How I Left A Buddhist Retreat In Handcuffs". Esquire.
  3. ^ a b Simpson, Daniel (2 January 2017). "From me to we: Revolutionising Mindfulness in Schools". Contemporary Buddhism. 18 (1): 47–71. doi:10.1080/14639947.2017.1301032.
  4. ^ Daniel Ingram - Wiki
  5. ^ a b Anālayo, Bhikkhu (September 2020). "Meditation Maps, Attainment Claims, and the Adversities of Mindfulness". Mindfulness. 11 (9): 2102–2112. doi:10.1007/s12671-020-01389-4.
  6. ^ Gleig, Ann (2014). "From Buddhist Hippies to Buddhist Geeks: The Emergence of Buddhist Postmodernism?". Journal of Global Buddhism. 15: 15–33. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1306187.
  7. ^ Jarow, Oshan (May 6, 2024). "What if you could have a panic attack, but for joy?". Vox.
  8. ^ https://theeprc.org/executive-summary/ "The Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC) is a multidisciplinary, multinational alliance of researchers, clinicians, and patrons who share a vision of bringing scientific methods and clinical sensibilities to the rigorous, ethical, ontologically-agnostic study of emergent phenomena...we use the neutral term 'emergent phenomena' to describe a range of effects and experiences, both potentially beneficial and challenging, that would often be referred to as 'spiritual', 'mystical', 'energetic', 'magical', etc. in less scientific and less clinical contexts."
  9. ^ Chowdhury, Avijit; van Lutterveld, Remko; Laukkonen, Ruben E.; Slagter, Heleen A.; Ingram, Daniel M.; Sacchet, Matthew D. (November 2023). "Investigation of advanced mindfulness meditation 'cessation' experiences using EEG spectral analysis in an intensively sampled case study". Neuropsychologia. 190: 108694. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108694. hdl:1871.1/5cdd1195-31bf-4eeb-8689-0d96a367a204. PMC 10843092. PMID 37777153.
  10. ^ Woollacott, Marjorie; Riddle, Justin; Hermansson, Niffe; Sacchet, Matthew D.; Ingram, Daniel M. (November 2024). "Fire Kasina advanced meditation produces experiences comparable to psychedelic and near-death experiences: A pilot study". Explore. 20 (6): 103056. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2024.103056. PMID 39244904.
  11. ^ Galante, Julieta; Grabovac, Andrea; Wright, Malcolm; Ingram, Daniel M.; Van Dam, Nicholas T.; Sanguinetti, Joseph L.; Sparby, Terje; van Lutterveld, Remko; Sacchet, Matthew D. (May 2023). "A Framework for the Empirical Investigation of Mindfulness Meditative Development". Mindfulness. 14 (5): 1054–1067. doi:10.1007/s12671-023-02113-8.
  12. ^ Wright, Malcolm J.; Galante, Julieta; Corneille, Jessica S.; Grabovac, Andrea; Ingram, Daniel M.; Sacchet, Matthew D. (May 2024). "Altered States of Consciousness are Prevalent and Insufficiently Supported Clinically: A Population Survey". Mindfulness. 15 (5): 1162–1175. doi:10.1007/s12671-024-02356-z.
  13. ^ Warren, Jeff (17 December 2012). "The Anxiety of the Long-Distance Meditator". Opinionator.
  14. ^ Alexander, Scott. Book Review: Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha. Slate Star Codex. September 18 2017.
  15. ^ Naval Ravikant on The Tim Ferriss Show — Transcript
  16. ^ "Ep73: Dangerous and Delusional? - Daniel Ingram".
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