Published on March 22, 2025 6:54 AM GMT
According to Nick Cammarata, who rubs shoulders with mystics and billionaires, arahants are as rare as billionaires.
This surprised me, because there are 2+[1] thoroughly-awakened people in my social circle. And that's just in meatspace. Online, I've interacted with a couple others. Plus I met someone with Stream Entry at Less Online last year. That brings the total to a minimum of 5, but it's probably at least 7+.
Meanwhile, I know 0 billionaires.
The explanation for this is obvious; billionaires cluster, as do mystics. If I were a billionaire, then it would be strange for me to not have rubbed shoulders with at least a 7+ other billionaires.
But there's a big difference between billionaires and arahants; it's easy to prove you're a billionaire; just throw a party on your private yacht. It's much harder to prove you're an arahant. In this way, billionaire-status is extremely legible whereas arahant-status is just as extremely illegible.
The arahant I admire the most is not famous and has no public writings on the Internet. Zuiko looks like any other little old lady. She likes talking about her cat. She sometimes teaches basic classes on Buddhism, which I find boring and which always run late.
Zuiko has no students and no disciples. While people sometimes attend Zuiko's classes, they're not really "her" classes. Zuiko is just the person who happens to be teaching. Curious people come because there is "a class on Zen", not "Zuiko's class on Zen". The other teacher (who I do not consider[2] an arahant) is more charismatic. People do come to see him specifically.
Imagine if Thích Nhất Hạnh or the Dalai Lama taught a class identical to Zuiko's. They'd fill a football stadium, because they're so famous.
<🔔 dingggggggggggg 🔔>
When I first got into meditation, the first meditation center I tried out was vajrayana (Tibetan). On the wall were three photos of living human beings who had supposedly attained enlightenment. The teacher explained that these photos were there to inspire us that it was possible to achieve enlightenment in this lifetime.
What? Are you kidding me? Imagine if you went to a powerlifting gym and there were pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans on the wall to prove that it was possible to build muscle by lifting weights. And the photos contained only their faces—no body pics. I bet all the men in that gym would be skinny (or gay). The best teachers rarely cite ancient texts. They don't point to cult leaders. They don't even say "from my experience". They just tell you to pay attention to RIGHT NOW in a hundred different ways.
<🔔 dingggggggggggg 🔔>
I like drawing. In the past month, I've been to two art groups.
One group is an anti-racist anti-sexist collective. They're a growing community with two physical locations. Membership costs $150/month, and members are expected to contribute labor to the community. There's a long[3] waiting list to become a member. They host regular events full of people who dress fashionably and talk fashionably. Their art sucks, by the way. It's ugly and boring, like the crap modern art museums are full of.
My drawing club meets at a coffee shop. The application process is "show up" and the membership requirements are "buy a drink to support the coffee shop". The table next to us plays Dungeons & Dragons. There's a woman with really obvious ADHD who tells funny stories while drawing her webcomic. The rest[4] of us are doing studies to get better at drawing. We like anime, webcomics, and classical Renaissance style.
- ^
Not counting myself.
- ^
He might be an arahant. I don't know if he is—and I've never asked. Ultimately, it doesn't matter.
- ^
The membership form asks for your race. I am curious if the waiting list is shorter for preferred races.
- ^
Discuss
