Here is the page dedicated to public debate of the big issues that impede straightforward, open, honest, down-to-earth, empowering dharma. There are so many different angles on these problems that no listing could possibly be complete, but we welcome public comment on these issues so that they may be made clear, various positions may be elucidated, and public consciousness regarding how the broad dream of the Dharma Overground contrasts with what actually happens. We expect this site to be a bit of a mess, and in being so, prove certain points. Please, in the spirit of open discussion, please feel free to post a thread or response to any of the below-listed issues or any that are related that you wish to see addressed here. Let the games begin!

Some Big Issues:

1) Taboos: When most practitioners and teachers talk about actual attainments, the reactions people have to these vary from frank disbelief, anger, fear, jealousy, confusion, comparison, self-doubt, doubt about the speaker, to wild positive projections, such as that this person must be amazing, sane, widely knowledgeable, trustworthy, have magical powers, etc. Such reactions and projections typically cause most practitioners to not discuss these things, which leads to more confusion, projection, doubt, speculation, etc.

2) Faulty Expectations: Most people's maps of what spiritual practice leads to are simply radically out of touch with reality. These faulty maps include the territory of meditation and the territory of awakening. This is due to many factors, among these being lack of knowledge of the traditional, dogmatic maps, the often very poor quality of the traditional, dogmatic maps when people do know them, lack of access to more accurate, verified maps, the strange messages of popular culture around these issues, and often people's own unexamined projections about how they are sure that meditation must lead to certain things and couldn't possibly lead to other things.

3) Hierarchy: There is a hierarchy in one sense in the meditative world, in that there are people who have attained to various levels of meditation states, insight stages, and levels of what might be called awakening, enlightenment, etc. This is simply true. However, the various traditions have widely different reactions as to what to do with this, with some giving people great benefits from this, including titles, costumes, money, power including possibly political power and within control of the spiritual community, and possibly many other benefits. Other traditions emphasize a more down-to-earth approach, emphasizing that people should simply be there if they wish to share with others what they know so as to help those others develop it for themselves.

4) Development: There are those who argue that you can't have open, straightforward dharma in the way envisioned by the Dharma Overground because people are at different stages of development. Some are stuck at the magical phase, thinking that angels will save them or some such thing, others are stuck on rites and rituals, others are true-believers in whatever religious dogma and thus stuck there, others haven't had enough experience with meditation to handle disclosures of real attainments and must be kept from honest, open dharma conversations, others feel that disclosing real attainments just causes power struggles and chaos and so all should be kept quiet. The counter argument is that just about everyone who is into this stuff are adults to some degree, most have the capacity for rational thought, and to dumb down meditation culture to serve and perpetuate the lowest common denominator of meditation culture is a gross disservice to those who would thrive if given the real, uncensored deal.

It should be clear from these descriptions which side of the things the Dharma Overground team tend to fall, but there is still room for debate and discussion, so let it roll!