Episode 5 – “Going off script” with Liam Chai

Really enjoyed this conversation with ‘Awake In’ friend and marathon meditator Liam Chai. Be warned: The conversation is wide ranging and includes all kinds of risky subjects like: Kundalini awakening on retreat, spiritual bypassing, and secret dinosaur civilizations.

Audio Version

Topics

• 1:00 Intro to Liam and going “off script”
• 1:40 How me and Liam met via Jasmine & Awakin Circle
• 4:30 How Liam began his road to spirituality
• 6:03 Liam’s first meditation experiences
• 8:00 Vipassana’s life changing experience for Liam (sexual ref)
• 12:15 Did Liam tell the teachers about the occurrence?
• 13:20 Daoist sexual practices
• 13:45 Bill’s take on Liam’s experience – Arising & Passing (A&P)
• 14:22 Kevin Rose interview with Zen Master Henry Shukman – Arising and Passing event
• 16:20 Bill’s Arising & Passing experiences
• 17:18 Universality of these types of experiences
• 19:00 Liam’s first experiences with Goenka style Vipassana retreats
• 22:30 Seeking meditation references – Alan Wallace – The Attention Revolution
• 24:00 Phenomenon of extreme Jhanic states and how Liam understands the possibility in them
• 28:00 Encounters with Allan Wallace, contemplative PhD, and his Attention revolution book
• 31:00 Liam meeting Allan Wallace and reasons for seeking other teachers
• 35:00 Liam’s 6 month meditation retreat and decisions why
• 38:30 Funny experiences on retreat
• 40:30 Kindness on Liam’s retreat
• 41:00 What Liam practiced on his retreat
• 46:00 Brasington’s different explanation of Jhanic states
• 52:00 Bill on meditative attachment
• 53:00 Liam on Shinzen Young’s meditative maximisation of life
• 56:00 Spiritual bypassing
• 59:00 Contemplating meditation for the masses
• 1:01:00 MBSR’s powerful benefits
• 1:03:00 Liam’s experiences teaching mindfulness to schoolkids
• 1:04:00 Deep history, human records in the fossil record, dinosaur civilizations and moon visits

Links

Liam’s site – liamchai.com

Books

• Daniel Ingram – Mastering the core teachings of the Buddha
• Allan Wallace – Attention revolution
• Leigh Brasington – Right Concentration

We’re on Youtube too