Hi Taintless,
We may have crossed path before, no?
taintless wrote:
[*]The hardcore dharma movement places too much emphasis on experience as a validator, as opposed to faith and gradual practice.
Perhaps, but some of us within the movement, do not so much anymore. It's a mixed bag. Also,it seems no-one except those with opinions against seem to use the word 'hardcore' anymore. Doesn't fit the evolution of many of its past practitioners. It's now often referred to as the 'pragmatic dharma movement', though no doubt this term may irk some still.
[*]The hardcore dharma movement renders the path "goal-less" and useless. At least for myself and others (who may not be as public as they once were) it is the end of all mental dissatisfaction/stress as subtle and refined as it gets.
Some seem to adhere to this idea. I know of others who don't. I certainly don't.
[*]The hardcore dharma movement establishes bizarre and incorrect criterion for Awakening.
Yeh, it's a mixed bag these days. Not everyone agrees on interpretations for this and that concept, and some of us openly and non-aggressively disagree with Daniel as well. We still get along though.
[*]The hardcore dharma movement demoralizes and secularizes the path.
Not my experience. But it may be yours, so may be a valid argument. What it has primarily done for myself is forced much experimentation and results and made further progress in discernment, dispassion, and letting go of much mental dissatisfaction possible.
[*]The adherents of the hardcore dharma movement are method and technique obsessed.
Yeh, a little. But it is a movement, and often movements start with a big bang then start dispersing causing different projectiles going this way and that. Not everyone is 'obsessed'.
Concerning sila, though it may not be talked openly about as other aspects of practice, it is a part of many participants' practice within the movement. I personally have always found sila to be at first a vital support for calming and establishing the mind in a practice towards more discernment. And with progress has simple become more so the default mode of the current baseline. It does need more of the spotlight though, and as the movement is still moving, shifting, changing, sila is starting to become more relevant to people's practice. Thenagain, it was always my understanding form speaking with many yogis over the past number of years, that sila was already simply a part of our practices from the beginning and it was simply more practical to talk of technique and methods.Many of us were already well established in other traditions where sila was already part and parcel of what we were taking as a given.
Nibs