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Doubting the quick attainments of the Mahasi Tradition
I have noticed that a lot of Mahasi practitioners seem to reach sotopanna very quickly.
What is the difference from other methods of Buddhist Meditation and the Mahasi Method, relative to the apparent speed of attainment in the Mahasi Method?
Maybe you think Mahasi style practice does not lead to these better results?
If so, who, what, where, when and why do you think this?
I hope this is an appropriate question but if it's not, that's ok :) metta
PLEASE NOTE: I have,
"doubts about such quick progress in the Mahasi Tradition, not pride"
It appears, many assumed something else.
My mistake, I should have been clearer.

@Uuu could you elaborate on it and tell us as to why, what, where,and  when you think that Mahasi Sayadaw's  systematic exercises greatly help towards becoming a Sotapanna? Then I will be in a better position to tell you that it is not so. The question is whether we can become a “Sothapanna” before we pass on. Then we are saved. To help you on this, read the “Thayodhamma Sutta” in the Anguttara Nikaya as it tells us how to go about it.

@SapthaVisuddhi I think it is best to include all aspects (than narrowing it down), since the OP whats a 360 degree answer, of the practice in and answer and show why it might be positive in which case the OPs claims are valid and were it not where the OPs claims are invalid.

@SapthaVisuddhi Is it possible to give the AccessToInsight or SuttaCentral links to Thayodhamma Sutta. I checked in the Tika Nipāta assuming it was to do with items of 3 but could not find it.

@Saptha Visuddhi but I don't know about the sotopanna thing, that is why I am asking.

@Saptha Visuddhi I didn't mean to imply that I believe the whole quick  sotopana thing. I was just curious because I hear it all the time but never hear anything definite about it.  Now I flagged the question because I can't delete the question. I hope people flagged it so I can start all over.

@Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena I made no claims in the question. I wrote "I have NOTICED that a lot of Mahasi practicers SEEM TO reach sotopanna very quickly." I am just saying what I had been hearing about.

@Saptha Visuddhi  I made no claims in the question. I wrote "I have NOTICED that a lot of Mahasi practicers SEEM TO reach sotopanna very quickly." I was just saying what I had been hearing of.

If we want to cross a river we build a boat; if we want to cross a desert we build a wagon. So which is better, a boat or a wagon?

To help get an understanding  into who, what, where, when and why about Mahasi Sayadaw, I started to read “Practical Vipassana Meditation Exercises, by Mahasi Sayadaw: Part 1, Basic Practice. It was interesting to note that nowhere in that whole document any reference being made to the Scriptures (the Suttas). If there were any, @Uuu, even you would have found out for yourself what I came to know of him and his “meditation instructors”. Be it Mahasi, his ‘instructors, you or any one of us in this Group, we can only be 'DISCIPLES' of the Supreme Buddha. And nothing more. If we follow the scriptures (original Suttas & Vinaya) to the letter, we can be guides to others. In this document Mahasi never defined WHAT a Sotapanna / Stream Entry is, and HOW a Stream Entry occur.
In his reply to the OP How does stream entry occur?
@yuttadhammo (Ven.) answered this clearly, and precisely. He took the Rathavinita Sutta (The only sutta that fully explains the seven purifications) to explain the road to become a Sotapanna. This Sutta explains in full the seven purifications (SAPTHA VISUDDHI) taught by the Buddha. The Ratha-vinita Sutta: Relay Chariots  (MN 24; M.I,145)  To fully explain each of these seven purifications would require a separate OP for each.
I took the Thayodhamma sutta(Abandon three things at a time)......  to explain the skills that should be developed to achieve this supreme task.
The Sotāpanna attains an intuitive grasp of Dhamma (right view) and has complete confidence in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha) WHEN the Sotapanna  have "opened the eye of the Dhamma" (dhamma chakkhu), because he has realized that whatever arises, will cease. (impermanence). His conviction in the true Dhamma is unshakable. Instead of these three supreme protections - The Three Jewels (Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha) – Mahasi talks about “Four Protections”. This is the first time that I came across such. I have read but a very few suttas. So if someone could refer me to where these “Four Protections” came from I’ll be thankful. The Three Jewels are mentioned in the Dhajagga Sutta. Taking  refuge in the 3 jewels of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha was recommended by the Buddha as providing protection from afflictions. It is specifically mentioned in the **Dhajagga-paritta ("Banner Protection") - SN 11.3.
@Uuu, please compare Mahasi’s explanation of the nine supreme qualities of the Buddha and my reply to the OP Why worship Buddha?. Mahasi describes Lokavidû as “World Knower”.  I have explained this fifth quality “Lokavidu” to mean ‘knower of the three worlds’ – the Human, the Deva, & the Brahma, and as It is one who understands the origin of all worlds, understands the cessation of all worlds, and understands how to escape from all the three worlds.
I can go on and on and on in comparing Mahasi Sayadaw’s article to the Scriptures, but I do not want to. It should be clear to you by now, that WHERE those who fall into such trappings will go NO-WHERE. Let us now analyze our lives. By not realizing the truth, we have travelled this long and sorrowful cycle of birth and death, with great suffering and pain. Due to ignorance and delusion we perceive self in what is not self. When we are caught up in this delusion, we view, perceive and think erroneously. These wrong views prevail in the world until a very few amongst us accept only the original suttas – the scriptures – and be true to it – be committed to it. The Supremely Enlightened One reveals the true nature ONLY if we commit to the Truth. The Blessed One proclaimed how one can achieve deliverance from ignorance and delusion,  but hardly anyone amongst us will ever get there.
Supreme Buddha explained this WHY with a simile. The Blessed One placed a little soil on the tip of a fingernail, and compared that to all the soil on this great Earth. The soil on the tip of the fingernail is insignificant in comparison to the soil on this great Earth. Even so insignificant, are the beings who reach perfect sanctity, the final liberation from suffering. Here Buddha is referring to Sotapanna Disciples.
A Sotāpanna (Pali) or "He who entered(āpanna) the stream(sota)." ‘stream” is a metaphor for the third of the Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path. A stream which rigidly flows will not stop until it enters the sea. A Sotapanna has completely entered in to the Eightfold Noble Dhamma Path (has gained the first magga-phala). So he will surely achieve Arhathood within seven births that are born in human and heavenly happy realms and his spiritual development will not descend.
Therefore, it is clear that this is not something that can be accomplished effortlessly. Each individual has to put forth the necessary effort, and work out his own deliverance with mindfulness. A noble disciple, who possesses unflinching energy with firm determination to realize the Four Noble Truths, will be able to work out his deliverance.
Let’s Live Close to the Perfect One, the Tathagata.

I have not known all that many practitioners of The Mahasi method, but I know it is very popular.  The criteria for sotopanna are self-evaluated.  The only criteria which the Buddha always includes in his definition is "unwavering confidence (or faith)".  Sometimes he also includes the Five Precepts, sometimes he also includes the other three parts of Right Speech, and sometimes in addition includes contemplating the chain of causation.  So if people state that they have achieved unwavering confidence in the Triple Gem, who could say otherwise?  The only check on this would be to ask the same person many years later if they still believe they have unwavering confidence.

Yes and then they have the progress of insight from the Visudhimagga If I'm not mistaken. Welcome to BuddhistSE :)

@MettaforBullies Personally, I do not regard the post-canonical writings as authoritative at all for the Buddha's teachings, but I know that the Theravada largely does.  I do regard them, however, as authoritative about what Buddhaghosa believed.

It's regarded as commentary  in the Theravada. and the progress of insight is supposed to be found in other religions as well.

@MettaforBullies But, of course, whatever is in other religions is meaningless for the definition of sotapanna, which is solely about confidence in the Triple Gem, and the other things the Buddha gave in his definition.  Even the Commentaries do not add the part about what  is in other religions.  So even though the authors of the Commentaries were not arahants, they were likely Stream-Winners.

What does have meaning?

@MettaforBullies I interpret your question as "What has meaning regarding the definition of sotapanna (streamwinner)".   Since the Tathagata was the one who invented the term, the criteria that he gave are the meaningful ones.

It is unlikely the Mahasi method brings quicker wisdom because the method is based in verbal thought noting. Whatever degree of conceptual thought exists, to that degree the clarity of consciousness available for genuine insight is diminished.

The Mahasi Mantra has a lot of unexpected uses. Some practitioners fall in love with the Mahasi Mantra when they experience what it can do. Have you tried it?

I have noticed that a lot of Mahasi practicers seem to reach sotapanna very quickly.

There is no solid evidence for this. Many of the early practitioners have also switched practice, for more on this see this answer. Also there are other practices like that taught by S.N.Goenka which has been more successful at a mass scale, for more information see this answer.
In addition, the tradition claims being orthodox to Theravada but thought the theoretical aspects of the tradition and the taught the practice diverges from that is in the Pali Canon and Commentaries, which the tradition itself endorse, which lead to an ambiguity or inconsistency as to why not practice what is in the Pali Canon and Commentaries which is accepted and endorsed by the tradition. This effectively translates to "you have to do A" in dhamma talks and "you have to do B" when meditation is taught, which are tangential to the theory in the Talks. Even remote justifications from the Pali Canon, are from more obscure passages then commonly recurring passages.
If this technique is most effective the Buddha would have sensed this and would have trained accordingly. Having said this some practitioners may get results quickly due to perhaps past practice, but I doubt it would be the majority.

What is the difference from other methods of Buddhist Meditation and the Mahasi Method, relative to the apparent speed of attainment in the Mahasi Method?

Some meditation masters advise against mental noting and concentration on the abdomen. More on mental noting see below. On using the abdomen see: What is the Interpretation of Parimukham in the context of Buddhist Meditation?. The practice of Breath Meditation is given in the Anapanasati Sutta and the practice of this tradition is tangential to the technique in the Sutta.

Maybe you think Mahasi style practice does not lead to these better results?
If so, who, what, where, when and why do you think this?

The benefit of mental noting is getting concentrated and reducing the chance of uncontrolled mental proliferation (verbalisation and sub verbalisation in a way can be considered mental proliferation abide with some control), at the expense of creating verbal fabrication, nutriment (ahara), concepts (pannatti), which are dealt with in more detail in this answer, this answer, this answer, this answer, and this answer. When verbally noting in the spear of concepts and perceptions than the ultimate realities of deep insights. In the abdomen method you trade deeper concentration for ease of practice, where easy may not be as effective. Also for the ease of practice the method advocates staying with the more grosses sensation than reaching the important stration of feeling the whole body. For more information see: How is the Pali Phase "Sabbakayapatisamvedi Assasissami... passasissamiti sikkhati..." Interpreted as per Different Linage?. Also misconception about emphasising walking meditation as required, than being an aid to avoid sleepiness, see this answer and this answer.
Some masters to not make these compromises which can have a negative effect on progress.

Thanks for answering :) I think I blew it with my whole question. People are misunderstanding where I am coming from. I have "doubts" about the Sotopanna thing not "pride".

"'I have noticed that a lot of Mahasi practicers seem to reach sotapanna very quickly.'
There is no solid evidence for this."
He did not claim there was solid evidence for it.  He simply said that he had noticed it.


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What are the alternative titles of Thayodhamma Sutta, it's reference number, subsections where it appear in?
I am looking Thayodhamma Sutta but could not find it based on the following searchers: accesstoinsight.org search on Google, suttacentral.net search on Google. But references do turn up in a general Google search.
Is it possible to give the Alternative titles of the Sutta, Sutta reference number and link to the Sutta or subsections in which appear in?
I think this Sutta maybe know by a different title on some of these sites which is why it is not found.

Thayodhamma sutta (Abandon three things at a time).  The Discourse on the Three Things (Regarding Incapability)
To abandon…  1. Birth;  2. Old age;  3. Death
You have to abandon…   1. Greed (passion);  2. Hatred;  3. Delusion
To abandon the above three you have to abandon…  1. Personality view;   2. Doubt;   3. Rituals and observances.
To abandon the above three you have to abandon…  1. Drowsiness of the mind;   2. Following the wrong path;   3. Unwise attention
To abandon the above three you have to abandon…   1. Unmindfulness (wrong mindfulness);   2. Unawareness;   3. Mental distraction.
To abandon the above three you have to abandon…  1. Dislike to see the noble ones;   2. Dislike to hear the noble teachings;   3. Fault-finding mind;
To abandon the above three you have to abandon…  1. Conceit;  2. Unrestraint;   3. Immorality
To abandon the above three you have to abandon….  1. Lack of confidence;  2. Dislike to listen to others;   3. Laziness
To abandon the above three you have to abandon…  1. Unfriendliness;  2. Disobedience;   3. Bad Friends (Asathpurisa Sevanaya)
To abandon the above three you have to abandon…  1. Shamelessness;   2. Fearlessness;   3. Non-diligence.
A Sotāpanna (Pali) or "He who entered(āpanna) the stream(sota)." ‘stream” is a metaphor for the third of the Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path. A stream which rigidly flows will not stop until it enters the sea. A Sotapanna has completely entered in to the Eight fold Noble Dhamma Path(Has gained the first magga-phala). So he will surely achieve Arhathood within seven births that are born in human and heavenly happy realms and his spiritual development will not descend.
Attainment
Sotapanna is a person who has eliminated the first three bondages (sanyojanas) from the mind.
Those are,

Strong ego or Personality view(sakkaya dhitti)
Doubt(Wichikiccha)
Wrong rituals and observances/ Superstitions(Seelabbatha paramasa)

Thayodhamma sutta(Abandon three things at a time) explains the skills that should be developed to achieve this supreme task.

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Where can I find a reference for someone becoming a sotapanna through meditation?
I've come across many stories in the Tipitaka where people attained arahanthood or became non-returners through meditation. However, I cannot recollect any instance where someone becomes a sotapanna through a meditation practice (including vipassana).
Can someone provide me a reference for such an instance (or multiple instances) from suttas, commentaries or any other source in the Pali canon (ideally excluding Visuddhimagga)?
The reason why I'm asking this is that there's a claim by certain lineages that stream entry cannot be reached through meditation, at least based on Tipitaka evidence.

to become a sotapanna, meditation is not really needed, but 1.Associating Noble good friends. 2.Giving ear to the Dhamma. 3.Contemplating in that Dhamma in order to realize. Yonisomanasikara)
4. Practicing the Dhamma...... is what is needed. If you are interested I can elaborate on this and give sutta references. with metta....

Of course, if you can construct a full answer with references it'll be helpful.

I've come across many stories in the Tipitaka where people attained arahanthood or became non-returners through meditation.

The different doors through with you can get liberation are given in Vimutt’āyatana Sutta, which are:

listens to the Dharma
teaches the Dharma in detail
recites the Dharma
applies his mind to the Dharma
properly grasps some concentration-sign

Which in turn leads to:

gladness arises in him;
because of gladness, zest arises;
because of zest, the body becomes tranquil;
when the body is tranquil, he feels happy;
a happy mind becomes concentrated
unfreed mind of a monk, dwelling heedful and exertive, finds freedom; or where the mental influxes, not wholly destroyed become wholly destroyed, where the unattained unsurpassed safety from the yoke is attained.

Meditation is only one of them.

Mahanama, Sarakani the Sakya kept the training (in moral virtue, concentration, and
    wisdom) at the time of his death.

Sarakani Sutta 1
Sarakani became a stream winner because keeping up the training though he was a drunken also. This might happen all at once where one becomes liberated or may achieve it in stages, entering through any of the doors above, where sotapanna is 1st of the stages:

Bhikshus, I do not say that final knowledge is achieved all at once. On the contrary, final knowledge
    is achieved by gradual training, by gradual practice, by gradual progress.

Kīta,giri Sutta

Someone might argue that the 'freedom' in Vimuttayatana sutta is not stream entry. What could be the answer to that?

Vimuttayatana Sutta highlights the doors of entry. Freedom may be any shade of sainthood but Sarakani's case it is Stream Entry due to keeping the practice.

See if it is more clearer now. Updated it.

Kindly ask to read the start of the Vimkthayathana sutta very carefully. It clearly explains that those 5 doors are for the stream winners (Sotapanna and above)

Here is a link: Vimutt’āyatana Sutta

I see that all English resources I read does not have the first paragraph (is omitted in translation). The first paragraph of the Pali sutta says like this: (my translation so might not be accurate).
"...Those Bhikkus, who are trying hard on Immorals (Akusal), and whos' mind is towards Nirwana... has five escape doors..."
...
Now think, a being only understands these two only upon stream entry.
1 What are Immorals (Akusal): those actions which lead to a birth in any 31 realms (this is the definition by Lord Buddha)
2 Thoughts towards Nirwana: Before stream entry Nirwana is just a word.

Further to the above described "first paragraph", throughout the sutta, those who have the 5 escape routes are referred to as "Bhikkus in this Sasana". Then, the definition of "Sasana" by Lord Buddha has only 8 people. The arya sangha - stream entry and above.

@GayanDasanayake "akusala" doesn't seem to be in this Pali version either.

@ChrisW you are correct, although the exact word is not there the meaning is some what there in this part "appamattassa ātāpino pahitattassa". In the Sinhala sutta it is described as "keles tawana wera ethi", Keles is Akusala moola.

NOTE:  Vimuttāyatanasutta link may be broken, in which case, please see https://suttacentral.net/an5.26

As stated in SN 13.1, sotappana (stream-entry) requires acquiring/having the Dhamma-Eye (dhamma-cakkhu-paṭilābho).
In his 1st sermon (SN 56.11), the Buddha said the noble eightfold path (the middle way) gives rise to insight or the dhamma eye (cakkhu-karaṇī). Therefore, eight factors, including three meditation factors, are required for stream-entry, which is why SN 55.5 states the streamwinner is one who is endowed with this noble eightfold path itself.
After the 1st sermon was given, the stainless dhamma-eye arose only in Koṇḍañña of “whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.”(koṇḍaññassa virajaṃ vītamalaṃ dhamma cakkhuṃ udapādi: “yaṃ kiñci samudayadhammaṃsamudaya sabbaṃ taṃ nirodhadhamman”ti).
For Koṇḍañña to have this insight, particularly the insight of cessation (of craving, self-becoming & suffering), his mind must have been free from the five hindrances, otherwise he could not have experienced cessation (nirodha) & tasted Nibbana. Whenever, the mind is free from the five hindrances, it will naturally have samadhi. Here, AN 5.51 states:

And when a monk has not abandoned these five obstacles, hindrances that overwhelm awareness and weaken discernment, when he is without
  strength and weak in discernment: for him to understand what is for
  his own benefit, to understand what is for the benefit of others, to
  understand what is for the benefit of both, to realize a superior
  human state, a truly noble distinction in knowledge & vision: that is
  impossible.

It follows to attain stream-entry requires having some degree of noble concentration (but not necessarily jhana; 'neighbourhood concentration' is sufficient) or 'meditation'. MN 117 defines noble concentration as:

...noble right concentration with its supports and its requisites, that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action,
  right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness...

MN 56 describes the stream-entry of the householder Upali. MN 56 clearly states Upali's mind was free from the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa), i.e., had samadhi/meditation, prior to the stream-entry:

Then the Blessed One discoursed to him a graduated sermon, that is to say, he spoke on the subjects of liberality, virtue, the heavens, on
  the evil consequences, the vanity and the depravity of sensual
  pleasures and on the advantages of renunciation.
When the Blessed One perceived that the mind of Upāli, the householder, was prepared, pliant, free from hindrances (vi-nīvaraṇa-cittaṃ), elevated and
lucid, then he revealed to him that exalted doctrine of the Buddhas,
  viz. Suffering, its Cause, its Ceasing and the Path.
Just as a clean cloth, free from stain, would take the dye perfectly, even so, to Upāli, the householder, whilst seated in that place, there
  arose (in him) the spotless, stainless vision of Truth. He knew:
  Whatsoever has causally arisen must inevitably pass utterly away.’
Then Upāli, the householder, having thus, in the Dispensation of the Exalted One seen the Truth; attained to the Truth; comprehended the
  Truth, penetrated the Truth, overcome doubt; cast off uncertainty and
  gained full confidence without dependence on another.

In conclusion, intellectual or 'book' knowledge of Buddhism alone, even if it is Right View, cannot result in stream-entry because, as described in every example above, the mind of the stream-enterer must be free from the five hindrances and, more importantly, must have the experience of nirodha (cessation) and taste Nibbana.
For stream-entry to occur, as described in MN 117, Right View plus the meditation factors of Right Effort & Right Mindfulness must function together in unison:

One makes an effort for the abandoning of wrong view & for entering into right view: This is one's right effort. One is mindful to abandon
  wrong view & to enter & remain in right view: This is one's right
  mindfulness. Thus these three qualities — right view, right effort
  & right mindfulness — run & circle around right view. MN 117

Dhammapada Verse178 (Anathapindikaputtakala Vatthu) says:  “Higher than being a Monarch, greater than being born in the Deva Lokas, or heavenly planes, greater than being a ruler of the three worlds, higher than all of these is the attainment of Sovan  (Sotapanna  / The Way to Stream Entry)
At this stage the practitioner / sothapanna, begins to understand that there is the deed but not the doer, and this knowing is complete in an Arahant. We have to understand that there is no individual who owns body, feeling, perception, thought and consciousness. That is the most difficult aspect of the Buddha’s teaching. Difficult to conceptualize and even more difficult to experience. Without meditation, it will remain an intellectual exercise. For this one’s meditation should be exactly as per Supreme Buddha’s instructions found in the many suttas like Girimananda Sutta, Ananda Sutta etc.
To understand a simpler person, who is a sotapanna, it is good to read the story of Kukkuta Mltta the hunter and his family comprehend the Dhamma.  The story is about a girl who had comprehended the Dhamma, marrying a hunter. In explaining the actions of this hunters wife, Buddha said:

'Bhikkhus, those who are sotapannas don't kill, they don't wish others to get killed. The wife of the hunter was only obeying her husband in getting things for him. It never occurred to her to think she was helping her husband to commit evil deeds. Just as the hand that has no wound is not affected by poison, so since she has no intention to commit evil she has not created any bad kamma.'

The first of the three fetters which the Sotāpanna eradicates is strong self Identity view (Strong ego) /  Sakkaya Dhitti - The view that there is a permanent controllable self or soul which can be considered ME/MINE/MY SOUL / MY SELF, which survives after the death. In other words it is the speculative view that a so-called self / Soul (Atta/ Atman exists in the five aggregates of clinging  (physical forms, feelings/sensations, perception, mental formations and consciousness), is eradicated because the Sotāpanna gains insight into the selfless nature of the aggregates.
Sakkaya Dhitti is explained in detail in..  Chula vedalla Sutta: The Shorter Set of Questions-and-Answers.
Skeptical Doubt is the second of the three fetters which the Sotāpanna eradicates. - Doubt about Supreme Buddha and his teaching is eradicated by a Sotapanna, because the Sotapanna personally experiences the true nature of reality through insight, and this insight confirms the accuracy of Buddha’s teaching. There is no need for a Sotapanna to associate teachers to take advice to develop spiritually. Through intuition he knows what to do.
Clinging to rites, rituals and superstitions is the third of the three fetters which the Sotāpanna eradicates. - Clinging to the view that one becomes pure simply through performing ritual or rigid moralism, such as relying in a god for non-causal deliverance, slaughtering animals for sacrifice, ablutions, following superstiotions, Astralogical auspicious ways..etc. is eradicated because the Sotāpanna realizes that the excessive rites, rituals and superstitions are nothing more than an obstructive tradition and deliverance can be won only through the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path.
The fifty-fifth Samyutta of the Samyutta Nikaya is called the Sotāpatti-saṃyutta, and concerns Sotapannas and their attainment. In Sutta-numbers of chapter 1-4, 6-9, 11-14, 16-20, 22-36, 39-49, 51, 53, 54, Sotapannas are praised as a part of the Ariya Sangha.
The Anguttara Nikaya (A.iv,392-95) records a fabulous alms-giving conducted by the Bodhisatta when he was born as a brahman named Velama. Lavish gifts of silver, gold, elephants, cows, carriages, etc., not to mention food, drink and clothing, were distributed among everybody who came forward to receive them. But this open-handed munificence was not very valuable as far as merit was concerned because there were no worthy recipients. It is said to be more meritorious to feed one person with right view, a stream-enterer (sotapanna), than to give great alms such as that given by Velama. It is more meritorious to feed one once-returner than a hundred stream-enterers. Next in order come non-returners, arahants, Paccekabuddhas and Sammasambuddhas.
@dmsp.. your question was how to become a Soptapanna (Stream Entrant) through meditation. So I will give a short answer as I do not want the answer to be too lengthy. The meditative way to go about it is this:
Here one should be aware that there are two levels in this Noble Eightfold Path.  It is the laukika and the lokottrara levels. Almost all of us that identify ourselves as ‘Buddhists’ are at the ‘laukika’ level. It is the "mundane" (or "worldly") level where we try to follow the Noble Eightfold Path with expectations of a better life now and in future lives, depending on our beliefs, or need, or level of knowledge. As a result we also gain ‘kleshas’ & ‘upakkleshas’ at this mundane level. Buit it is not so at the lokottrara level. This is the "supramundane"(or "transmundane") level where no ‘kleshas’ & ‘upakkleshas’ develop.
If we want to work towards this higher level we have to be like the “kata kirilli”. The Buddha had referred to the kata kirilli, the common hedgebird, found in paddy fields, in the Sakunagghi Sutta-The Hawk. The kata kirilla builds its nest under the mud raised by ploughing the fields, and as long as it stays there, that’s it’s safeguard. Likewise our safeguard is the Satara Satipatthāna (The four foundations of mindfulness).
The path to free oneself from suffering is the Satara Satipatthāna (The four foundations of mindfulness), which means establishing one’s mind (on it). One should learn it with utmost respect and establish one’s mind according to it, if one wants to embark on this road less travelled. Then we will be able to free our minds from other external ‘mundane’ objectives and concentrate on the Satara Satipatthāna (The four foundations of mindfulness). If one could do it, then it is the Sapta Bojjañga (the Seven Factors of Enlightenment) that is going to get developed in him/her. That is, the items that aid in attaining realization of the Path, that will start to get developed. There are seven items that aid realization. They are: Sati (mindfulness); Dhammavicaya (investigating the Dhamma); Viriya (effort; energy); Pīti (happiness); Passaddi (tranquility); Samādhi (concentration) and pēkkā (equanimity).
We will start to understand that cultivation little by little (Sati). When a mind concentrate on the Dhamma in this manner, one will develop the talent of investigating the Dhamma by his wisdom (Dhammavicaya). When the talent of investigating Dhamma by his mind is developed, his effort gets cultivated (Viriya). When effort is developed, happiness gets cultivated (Pīti). When happiness is formed, alleviation/tranquility with respect to his (physical) body and mind gets cultivated (Passaddi). When he feels that relaxation with respect to his body and mind, his mind gets concentrated (Samādhi). A concentrated mind will become temperate since it is cultivated by wisdom (Upēkkā). This mind we have can be cultivated to that level.
Through meditation, the seven factors are developed sequentially since mindfulness factor leads to investigative analysis and so on. Anapanasati sutta (Majjima Nikaya) explains development of the seven factors:

"How bhikkus do the four foundations of mindfulness developed and cultivated, fulfill the seven enlightenment factors?
  Bhikkhus, on whatever, occasion a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as body, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world – on that occasion unremitting mindfulness is established in him.  On whatever occasion unremitting mindfulness is established in a bhuikkhu  - on that occasion the mindfulness enlightenment factor is aroused in him, and he develops it and by development it becomes to fulfillment in him. Abiding thus mindful he investigates and examines the state with wisdom and embarks upon a full inquiry into it. "

Please continue :-)

Thank you for prodding @Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena ... I just expanded on it. :)

IE Anapanasati Sutta

"In this community of monks there are monks who remain devoted to the
  development of the four frames of reference... the four right
  exertions... the four bases of power... the five faculties... the five
  strengths... the seven factors for awakening... the noble eightfold
  path: such are the monks in this community of monks.
"In this community of monks there are monks who remain devoted to the
  development of good will... compassion... appreciation...
  equanimity... [the perception of the] foulness [of the body]... the
  perception of inconstancy: such are the monks in this community of
  monks.
"In this community of monks there are monks who remain devoted to
  mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.
"Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when developed & pursued, is of
  great fruit, of great benefit. Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when
  developed & pursued, brings the four frames of reference to their
  culmination. The four frames of reference, when developed & pursued,
  bring the seven factors for awakening to their culmination. The seven
  factors for awakening, when developed & pursued, bring clear knowing &
  release to their culmination.

Satipatthana Sutta:

"This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the
  overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering
  and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana,
  namely, the four foundations of mindfulness."

Liberation Sutta:

(5) “Again, neither the Teacher nor a fellow monk in the position of a
  teacher teaches the Dhamma to a bhikkhu, nor does he teach the Dhamma
  to others in detail as he has heard it and learned it, nor does he
  recite the Dhamma in detail as he has heard it and learned it, nor
  does he ponder, examine, and mentally inspect the Dhamma as he has
  heard it and learned it, but he has grasped well a certain object of
  concentration, attended to it well, sustained it well, and penetrated
  it well with wisdom. In whatever way the bhikkhu has grasped well a
  certain object of concentration, attended to it well, sustained it
  well, and penetrated it well with wisdom, in just that way, in
  relation to that Dhamma, he experiences inspiration in the meaning and
  inspiration in the Dhamma. As he does so, joy arises in him. When he
  is joyful, rapture arises. For one with a rapturous mind, the body
  becomes tranquil. One tranquil in body feels pleasure. For one feeling
  pleasure, the mind becomes concentrated. This is the fifth basis of
  liberation, by means of which, if a bhikkhu dwells heedful, ardent,
  and resolute, [24] his unliberated mind is liberated, his undestroyed
  taints are utterly destroyed, and he reaches the as-yet-unreached
  unsurpassed security from bondage.“These, bhikkhus, are the five bases
  of liberation, by means of which, if a bhikkhu dwells heedful, ardent,
  and resolute, his unliberated mind is liberated, his undestroyed
  taints are utterly destroyed, and he reaches the as-yet-unreached
  unsurpassed security from bondage.”

Here the term Bhikkhu is used not Ariya Savaka as one would expect if it was dealing with Sotapannas, some people claim that the early Suttas the term Ariya Savaka was used loosely even. So the fact that it is not used here is strong evidence that it means what it seems to mean.
i dont think there are passages that i know of in the Sutta Pitaka that state it explicitly how OP asks because in the Sutta the term Sotapanna is used rather loosely, evidently from "Faith Follower", "Dhamma Follower" definitions ie. This is also evident from Ratana Sutta etc where The Noble Individuals constitute Four Pairs, so a pair of Sotapanna at least. Abhidhamma talks about one Cula-Sotapanna.
So what is evident however one looks is that there are several people who according to Suttas can be referred to as Sotapanna of some sort. There are those incapable of passing away before realizing the fruit, do not have the Path but have Right View;

one who has entered the fixed course of rightness, entered the
  plane of superior persons, transcended the plane of the worldlings.

So there it is very safe to say based on the Sutta Pitaka alone that there are Noble People who have not realized Nibbana and the Three Fetters but have Right View, wereas the other becomes fixed in Right View.

This is evident from Suttas where we can read about People who "Hold Right View" and people "Of Right View" the ladder is Ariya Savaka, this is evident in Suttas and commentary too. See Sutta Sammaditthi Sutta & Bija Sutta for example

which leads me to conclude that OP question does not really make much sense as he seems to assume that Sotapanna is one single thing in the Sutta

It's not possible to find an evidence where there is no evidence.
Althought there is bbroad believe that Path can be gained by (simply) meditation, it's not the case.
Why? Because the path has right view as it's base, right view as it's foundation. And as taught:

"In a person of wrong view, wrong resolve comes into being. In a person of wrong resolve, wrong speech. In a person of wrong speech, wrong action. In a person of wrong action, wrong livelihood. In a person of wrong livelihood, wrong effort. In a person of wrong effort, wrong mindfulness. In a person of wrong mindfulness, wrong concentration. In a person of wrong concentration, wrong knowledge. In a person of wrong knowledge, wrong release.
"This is how from wrongness comes failure, not success."
— AN 10.103

And how is right view gained? By the Voice

"Monks, there are these two conditions for the arising of wrong view. Which two? The voice of another[1] and inappropriate attention. These are the two conditions for the arising of wrong view."
"Monks, there are these two conditions for the arising of right view. Which two? The voice of another and appropriate attention. These are the two conditions for the arising of right view."

And as quoted by others, ther are outwardly conditions which are conductive to meet such.
Just for example, if one learns to recite, including understanding the meaning, once proper attention might be there and one remembers (e.g. hears the voice) than right view can be gained, the path developed and realized.
So one does not act wise to seek after meditators but primarily after people having, teaching, training right view. That should ones effort to gain the stream:

"One tries to abandon wrong view & to enter into right view: This is one's right effort...
"One tries to abandon wrong resolve & to enter into right resolve: This is one's right effort...
"One tries to abandon wrong speech & to enter into right speech: This is one's right effort...
"One tries to abandon wrong action & to enter into right action: This is one's right effort...
"One tries to abandon wrong livelihood & to enter into right livelihood: This is one's right effort."
— MN 117

One can meditate for eons not even near and still an outsider:

Nandiya Sutta: To Nandiya
On one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Sakyans near Kapilavatthu in Nigrodha's Park. Then Nandiya the Sakyan went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "Lord, the disciple of the noble ones in whom the factors of stream entry are altogether & in every way lacking: Is he called a disciple of the noble ones who lives heedlessly?"
"Nandiya, the person in whom the factors of stream entry are altogether & in every way lacking I call an outsider, one who stands in the faction of the run-of-the-mill. But as to how a disciple of the noble ones lives heedlessly and heedfully, listen well and pay attention, I will speak"...

For more about how to gain the stream (and no wise would suggest: go meditate!) see: Into the Stream
Do! Don't be heedless, since

Sole dominion over the earth,
  going to heaven,
  lordship over all worlds:
      the fruit of stream-entry
      excels them.
  — Dhp 178

And what would one have gained in wasting time with meditation if not based on firm right view?
All an act of will? Or natural by having given causes?
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma, not meant for commercial use or other lower wordily gains by ways of exchange or trade]

There were a few who reached Sotapanna and higher stages through Anapana and Vipassana meditation only. Webu Sayadaw, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, Sayamagyi, and a teacher in Goenkaji tradition. A few teachers before that were Ledi Sayadaw and Saya Thetgyi.

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text:
Can't meditate?
I wish to be brief in the matter, a friend recommended this website after a certain meditation struggle.
I just did a vipassana retreat, focusing on one's breath, which was done perfectly the first two days. Whenever the mind was distracted I got it back on track.
However, I had an odd and pleasant experience during that period, as if a bundle of negativity exploded, and since then not only my meditation became shallow but it were as if my focus wasn't directly on the breath, but on the eyes, as when you see different colors when seeing through the lids.
And getting simply back on the breath seems impossible because the mind is entirely focused on my vision, allowing me to perceive the breath but faintly and as if it were in the background of the focus.
If anyone had such a hindrance or a way out of it, I'd be most grateful, spending 8days of vipassana not managing to focus properly is a bit of a nightmare.
Thank you so much.

Deliberately directing or focusing the mind onto the breath is not the actual practise of Buddhist meditation, despite this wrong 'yogic' technique from the Visuddhimagga being taught so extensively. Instead, the genuine practise of Buddhist meditation is maintaining vigilance (mindfulness) over the mind to ensure the mind (mindfully) remains in a state free from craving, i.e., free from covetousness & distress, as defined in the suttas, as follows:

The monk remains...mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. Anapanasati Sutta

There is the case where a monk develops mindfulness as a factor for awakening dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent
  on cessation, resulting in relinquishment (vossagga). Anapanasati Sutta

And what is the faculty of concentration? There is the case where a monk, a disciple of the noble ones, making it his object to let
  go (vossagga), attains concentration, attains singleness of mind. SN 48.10

One is mindful to abandon wrong view & to enter & remain in right view: This is one's right mindfulness. MN 117

When mindfulness continuously remembers to keep the mind free from craving, due to having a clear mind that is not pre-occupied with any sense object via eyes, ears, nose, tongue or mind, the in & out breathing will automatically arise as the object of meditation or 'sign' (nimitta) because the breathing by default becomes the most gross or dominant sense object of the mind.

In your personal situation there are a number of matters to discuss:

Based on what I posted already, when a meditator deliberately focuses on the breathing (in the same way that is taught to sportspeople to control their breathing), that deliberate focusing is an act of intentional thought. That intentional thought will always remain in the mind. While that intentional thought is more subtle that an ordinary thought, it remains relatively coarse. This intentional focus on the breathing will cause the breath to calm. However, once the breath calms to a certain degree, because the coarseness of that intentional thought remains the same, the mind suddenly becomes too coarse to discern the breathing that has now become more subtle. Thus, the meditator can no longer discern the breathing clearly. An analogy is jogging vs meditating. The breathing is easy to discern when jogging because the breathing is coarse. But, generally, when meditating, the breathing is difficult to discern because the breathing is subtle when sitting. If the breathing is calmed by deliberate intentional focus on it, it will become even more subtle & difficult to discern. THEREFORE, the only way to continue to discern the breathing clearly is to make the mind more subtle. ULTIMATELY, the only way to progress fully on the path is to abandon the deliberate intention to watch the breathing, thus making the mind as subtle as possible.
When the bundle of negativity exploded in your meditation, this was the result of your previous concentration upon the breathing & the resultant calming of your breathing, body & mind. The explosion of negativity is a typical purification that will be experienced many times on the meditative path. As a result of this explosion of negativity, there arose some 'momentary rapture', which was the pleasant feeling. IMPORTANTLY, related to what I described in detail above, this explosion of negativity made your mind more pure and therefore more subtle. Further, the mental energy moved up into your brain as a temporary part of this purification process. Here, the energy must be allowed to balance & dissipate. You must give the energy the space & freedom to dissolve. This is done by simply giving up craving; by giving up your positive & negative judgments about the experience. If you can maintain the mind in this state of non-craving, non-judging, non-coveting, non-distress, it will connect again with the breathing on its own accord (and will periodically disconnect on its own accord when there is other purification work for it to do).
In summary, it sounds like your meditation retreat experience was very successful because your mind could concentrate and a strong purification (catharsis) occurred. This shows your mentality is pliant & can let go, which is a favourable quality for meditation.
I personally experienced these issues in my 1st five weeks of meditation (which was full-time retreat meditation). While my mind never had any hindrances or distracting thoughts and remained relatively calm due to my first two weeks of meditation, the ability to discern the breathing clearly kept disappearing. It was only after I changed my technique to giving up all positive & negative motivations & judgments, did the breathing become & continuously remain exceptionally clear to the mind. The Buddha's entire path can be summarised as the abandoning of craving.

Dhammadhatu, your words are as clear as they are pertinent, all of these specific instructions during the retreat hindered me from realizing this, I thank you very much for your answer.

You're welcome & best wishes with practise. Regards.

Dhammadhatu, would it be possible to discuss elsewhere practicewise ?

Hi. My email is dhammadhatu@bigpond.com Regards

Everything is not self hence even meditation does not go the way you want. If you either like the experience and present or do not like the experience as in this case you are creating cravings and aversion which goes against the purpose of meditation. In early stages of meditations sometimes you get ambiently coloured visions. This are just illusions hence give not importance to them. When they come up notice they are sprung up then see if you have reacted positively or negatively to it hence getting pleasant or unpleasant sensation and developing craving or aversion and then bring back you mind to the meditation object. Also your mind will stay with a distracting object if you are involved with it, i.e., you get attached to averse to it, which leads to Thought Proliferation about the object and related concepts.

I did realize the attachment to the aversion concerning the colors, but I perhaps wasn't clear on that matter as the colors weren't simply visions but actual light coming through the lids of my eyes on which the mind was fixated on. I thank you for your answer !

You are welcome!

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text:
Is there a benifit to "wishful thinking"?
Is there a benefit to "wishful thinking" ?
not like in a very deluded way    -
but like if i think about meditating a lot during the day -  or getting money to also give others and aid practice

Is there a benifit to “wishful thinking”?

I would not exactly call that wishful thinking but rather the results from practicing the path correctly (in this life or previous lives).
Wanting to meditate or wanting to aid other beings spring from wholesome intentions, i.e. right intentions of good-will. These are path factors.
Right intentions-> actions that are based in non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion, are bound to create wholesome future resultants.
So the benefit would be the fact that wholesome actions lead to wholesome results. Experiencing and undertanding that through the practice of insight meditation is a huge benefit. When the mind experiences this over and over it begins to understand causality and how suffering comes to be.
If you observe how craftsmen build a house you will see that they lay the bricks layer by layer. The first layer is the foundational layer. The layer everything else has to be based upon.
In the practice one of the foundational bricks is right intentions.

Can we stop adversities and yearnings by wishful thinking / wishful prayer, wherein one humbly or earnestly asks a higher power to provide something beyond oneself? – things such as Oh! Don’t let me go to decay and death - by such imploring can we stop it?  No. You cannot stop aging by reciting a thousand verses of blessings.  Can we prevent death? No.  Can you avoid sickness by offering a token offerings?  No.  Supreme Buddha’s Dhamma says “Understand, come and see the principle causing dukkha or pain”.  When this is, this will be.  Hence when this is born, this is born.  This is the noble principle; noble research method that will ennoble. Supreme Buddha says, a noble disciple makes inquiry wisely about dukkha or pain.

what about may i meditate more  ?

Yes. Do loving kindness meditation. You will get a wholesome complexion, replacing unwholesome bodily states that came up from unwholesome roots. Then illness & disease will purge out of the body. Start with oneself and gradually and mindfully purge  mind of hatred (dosa) and cultivate loving kindness (metta) in the Mind and then resolve that it spreads through the entire body. Also do good to others, to counteract the bad effects of the past kammic activity by  present positive and wholesome acts. Also try to do IMPERMANENCE Meditation.

sorry i wasnt clear  -     what about the wishful thinking : "may i meditate more" ?

In Vajrayana Buddhism, It talks about ishta devata / fairy angels. There are Devas in the heavenly world who sometimes help humans. It is not a deity but an enlightened being who takes an interest in a person, or a past relative who has gone on to a higher plain. In this sense, you can meditate on -  it can be translated as on “meditational Deva / Devas.”


text:
How did the Buddha define success?
I read somewhere that Buddha said "Those who fear death have not lived wisely". What did he meant by "Living Wisely" ?
I sometimes interpret this to mean that I should take a chance, quit my job, and become an entrepreneur.
What I want to ask is about mind, should I become hard work in a field according to the interest of my mind or should it does not matter, and keep on doing my work like robot (consciously).
Here's my problem: Some say that in order to achieve true success I should do something that interests my mind (so I will not be distracted or bored). If we are talking about spirituality, shouldn't what is interesting to me be less important?
That is, should I do things that I find fulfilling so as to achieve my success, or should i just keep working hard at what I am doing now, but with more focus?
The Buddhist goal is Nirvana, But I have a family and I want to give them a better life, Why earning money is seen as attachment ?

You need to get your thoughts straight. You want to be successful according to what the Buddha says but you don't even know what that is. How can you want something without knowing what it is?

@Hugh Try to understand the question again, what i want to ask is "Should I work as an iOS Developer for the rest of my life" or "Quit and become an entrepreneur".
"what did Buddha meant by living wisely ?"

It all depends on your goal. If though, you would like to follow the Buddha's teaching then he teaches only how to become free from suffering.
If you would like to become free from suffering, then the right method/medicine would be to practice the Noble Eightfold Path. Not just elements of it but its entirety.
Is your suffering (3 roots defilements; greed, hatred & delusion) in life increasing then you are moving away from the path.
Is your suffering in life diminishing then you are practicing correctly, thereby reducing distance to Nibbana.
Success on the Path would manifest itself in the reduction in mental and physical suffering, an increase in wisdom, happiness and mindfulness and ultimately the winning of Nibbana.
This is roughly speaking the success one who is practicing correctly would experience.

The Buddhist goal is Nirvana and on jet to reach it is called a Sekkha. Success comes then you have reached the goal and free from all stress is accomplished (Asekkha).
Even you are are not fully accomplished, the practice may help you manage your day to day stress, until one day you do not get stressed any more.
Also do not procrastinate doing the tasks as this is the last day or moment. This would help in your worldly aspirations also.

First thing, "Only those fears death, who have not lived wisely", not sure if Gautama Buddha said this. Anyway assuming that he did, what he means is, one day you are going to die, and at that moment you should not be surprised. This can also be rephrased as, Do everything with focus and involvement, as if it is the last thing you would do.
It is not about spirituality versus something else. It is a general life thing. Nowadays people are distracted with 200 things on their minds because they got too involved in thinking/creating ideas rather than doing/implementing. People are taking their life for granted so much that when it is over, they have lost the time to live life rather than think about life. That seems to be what you are busy with right now. Your mind is playing with you. And you are playing along unconsciously. If you were conscious, then you would know it and start living life rather than unnecessarily thinking.
Secondly, Gautama Buddha's goal is enlightenment and the end of suffering. This is single mindedly looking inward to find out what is the nature of suffering and how to end it. If he accomplishes that, that is success. What is your goal? You need to define that for yourself.
Ultimately, know that you will die one day and thus live life consciously. And of course thinking/mind is required for planning and executing an activity. It is not of much use otherwise.

The sutta that you should live by, if you want to achieve success in your lay life - The layman’s welfare - is Dighajanu (Vyagghapajja) Sutta: Conditions of Welfare. In this sutta Buddha instructs rich householders how to preserve and increase their prosperity and avoid loss of wealth. This is The Buddha's Teachings on Prosperity.
The four conditions conduce to a householder's wellbeing and happiness in this very life are the accomplishment of persistent effort (utthana-sampada), the accomplishment of watchfulness (arakkha-sampada), good friendship (kalyanamittata) and balanced livelihood (sama-jivikata).
Here, endeavour is that effort put forth in earning money and wealth for the advancement of your life. Whatever you do in earning your living, you have to be an expert in it. You have to be knowledgable of the field of business. You should not be lazy but be enthusiastic in doing your work. Deliberation and skillfulness are some of the necessary elements to attain success. When you organise businesses skillfully your economy will, no doubt, increase. It enables you and your family members to live at ease without difficulties, troubles and worries.
Then you should know the importance of protecting wealth earned through enthusiasm and righteously working hard. Having known how hard earned wealth is protected and how it gets destroyed, you should know to protect it so that the collected wealth is not lost.
Good friendship is to associate with good people, people who follow a spiritual path. Your life has to have a moral foundation to enjoy external achievements and success. Material success alone is not enough, there should be an association with good friends. Good friends will guide you in right and wrong. They recommend a spiritual path while practising it. If association with a particular person leads to our welfare then that person can be regarded as a Good Friend regardless of his or her age. If you find a person with many good qualities in his life, whether elder or young, either from your own village or suburb or township, it is then good to form an association with him or her.
Next is a balanced life. It is the life that you live in accordance to your means and station in life. You must know how to spend money and live an unburdened, debtless life per the state of your income. Especially expenditure should be balanced to your revenue. You should also know how to lead a life with nothing exceedingly luxurious nor extremely austere but should strive to live a peaceful harmonious life following the middle way. You must be especially mindful not to have a competitive attitude regarding lifestyles.
Now, the reasons for the welfare and happiness in the life after death are to be considered. There are four factors that bring happiness to the life after death. The accomplishment of faith (saddha-sampada), the accomplishment of virtue (sila-sampada), the accomplishment of charity (caga-sampada) and the accomplishment of wisdom (pañña-sampada).

Buddha never defined success because nobody is a success. Sooner or later what originates in dust goes to dust with his or her accomplishments. Every effort which originates in desire implies rebirth and pain of going through sufferings of another life. Billionaires and millionaires suffer just like ordinary folks. Buddha talked about getting out of misery not to be comfortably miserable which successful people are.
If your goal is to be inside a golden prison with all the comforts then Buddha is not for you. Infact you should stop even thinking about being spiritual. But if you become successful because you tried to do your best without desiring it then you are spiritual. That way you will not need Buddha or any other guru or religion because you are just following your nature. That path is also termed as Karma yoga in Hinduism. But very few succeed because success brings in ego of accomplishment. You can be spiritual by just being you. All real artists are spiritual by nature. I have talked to many and figured out that they do not need much help in spirituality. Self actualization I think is a better alternative to taking path of self realization as of now for you.

successful people are comfortably miserable, except from this idea, answer is good.
up vote from my side.

Taste success and you will even agree to being comfortably miserable. I know many including billionaires. They just cannot sit quietly for five minutes. Steve Jobs is a classic example. He died an untimely death due to work. He was worth $15b!!! You have to understand success is self inflicted wound by most because it is driven by desires and a massive ego.

i have been trying to understand meaning of steve jobs life aswell, sometimes it seems, positive and sometimes negative

Life has no meaning no purpose. Everything exists as part of a whole.Human existence is the most distorted because mind takes one away from his or her true nature which is Buddha hood. Steve Jobs was an unbalanced figure...too much aggression if you look at his life through books and movie. If you are lopsided you will die faster no matter how spiritual you are. West does not understand a simple thing which is called balance or madhyam nikay. Nobody remembers Rock Feller and nobody will remember Steve Jobs in next 50 years. In next two thousand year even Buddha will be forgotten.

What do you mean "Life has no purpose" ? Obviously it has purpose
people like rama, krishna and buddha will never be forgotten
Do you mean we should not dream of becoming better ?

Yes life is without purpose. Humans have to give it a purpose. But do not get stressed if you cannot find a purpose. Dreams are harmful. Dreams of becoming better is dangerous. Better is a very subjective terms and often exploited. One needs to discover oneself if that can be called better. Self actualization is a better term I believe. Ram and Krishna have been forgotten. How many people have you met who you can consider close to Ram and Krishna? How many Buddhas have you met?

All their teachings have been diluted and only memory remains. You are fooling yourself if you think word "Ram" stands for a person. "Ram" stands for a path to reach/know the ultimate. Same for Krishna and Buddha. Anyway continue your journey you will understand it soon.


text:
Does Ichinen Sanzen include "wishful thinking"?
Does Ichinen Sanzen include "wishful thinking," or am i getting it wrong?
Also, does Theravada buddhism include "wishful thinking?"
This is the text I read that made me have this question:
http://www.sokahumanism.com/nichiren-buddhism/Practical_Meaning_of_Ichinen_Sanzen.html

Ichinen Sanzen isn't really wishful thinking, because it's not just hoping for a situation to get better— it's actually working for a situation to become better.
Wishful thinking implies that the subject expects the situation to change, whereas Ichinen Sanzen (3000 realms) implies that your own outlook  needs to change. This means not viewing oneself as victim of one's environment and basically that the concept of goodness and badness only exist in out head.
Here is a quote that Nichiren (a buddhist monk who propagated the 3000 realms) wrote in one of his letters to a follower that I think gives the gist of the idea of Ichinen Sanzen:

"The Vimalakīrti Sutra states that, when one seeks the Buddhas’ emancipation in the minds of ordinary beings, one finds that ordinary beings are the entities of enlightenment, and that the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana. It also states that, if the minds of living beings are impure, their land is also impure, but if their minds are pure, so is their land. There are not two lands, pure or impure in themselves. The difference lies solely in the good or evil of our minds.
It is the same with a Buddha and an ordinary being. When deluded, one is called an ordinary being, but when enlightened, one is called a Buddha. This is similar to a tarnished mirror that will shine like a jewel when polished. A mind now clouded by the illusions of the innate darkness of life is like a tarnished mirror, but when polished, it is sure to become like a clear mirror, reflecting the essential nature of phenomena and the true aspect of reality" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin   vol. I 4).

You'll notice that he is referring to perception of events and not just wishing problems away. That's the difference between The 3000 Realms and wishful thinking.
If you want a more technical definition of Ichinen Sanzen where I break down each part and say how it works, I'm happy to do so. Just add a comment to my answer asking me.
Anyhow, I hope this helped!
Edit: I'm not really sure about the specifics of Theravada Buddhism, but I know that both wishful thinking and Ichinen Sanzen aren't part of Theravada Buddhism.
Wishful thinking isn't a real practice in Buddhism regardless of the sect, and The 3000 Realms was developed by T'ien-T'ai, a Chinese, Mahayana monk; so, it's not part of Theravada Buddhism either.


text:
Discomfort during vipassana meditation
I have only started meditating for only 2-3 weeks. But now I cannot seem to meditate properly. Whenever I sit for meditation, there are several problems, like increased salivation, feeling of being pressed in the chest and like not getting breath after a few minutes, which to go away I have to take a deep breath. The same just process repeats itself for the whole 20 minutes I sit for meditation. I sit in the burmese position with pillow under my butt, on the bed.
I would be glad if someone please helped me.

Whenever I sit for meditation, there are several problems, like increased salivation, feeling of being pressed in the chest and like not getting breath after a few minutes...

As a physiotherapist I would like to briefly explain the anatomy of poor posture related to meditation practice.
First of all, you want to sit on a firm surface, not a soft surface like a bed. Thats due to the anatomical structure of the spine. The spine has an "S"-curved shape meaning that biomechanically it allows to act like a spring when loaded.
When sitting on a soft surface your muscles need to work much harder in keeping your spine erect. Failing to do so results in slumping. Slumping here means that the posterior hip and spine muscles contract, thereby limiting the working space available for the diaphragm. You see the diaphragm needs to be able to move up and down in order for the lungs to expand. When one is slumped over one is actively putting restriction on the air passage by decreasing the thoracic cavity.
That is why you are feeling like the chest is being compressed and air moves slower and restricted. An analogy would be having a water hose and then bending the hose so that the water flow gets restricted.
When sitting in an upright posture with spine erect the diaphragm can move up and down unhindered thereby increasing ventilation and air passage.

My advice would be to change your sitting posture from a soft surface onto a firm surface.
When sitting you want to:

Keep the spine erect to increase working conditions for the diaphragm.
Keep pelvis in neutral position. Look at the nice and neutral position of the pelvis in the illustration with proper posture. Now look at the left illustration with the malalignment. See how the pelvis is posteriorly tilted. That is not a good posture since it causes many secondary problems to arise.

Regarding sitting options there are various options to try out. See illustration below.

The insight meditational way to deal with e.g. increased salivation, uncomfortable sensations in the body would be to take them as an object, note them and let them go.
If for example increased salivation is happening, take the feeling of the saliva touching the inner mouth parts and note that a couple of times and then let it go.
If an intention to swallow arises, note that intention. That is the "nama" part of reality. The saliva arising is the "rupa" part. Rupa arises and nama knows it. Nama knows rupa. Rupa does not know nama.
You will come to see the physical and mental aspect of reality. The two streams.
You will come to see the characteristics of conventional reality, i.e. impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and uncontrollability of conditioned phenomena.
If you need further help feel free to contact me. Email is on profile page.

Thanks a lot for your advice. But when I sit without the pillow my legs feel stretched from the pelvic joint and feels my back is being pulled down to a bent relaxed posture, which after some time becomes a little sore.

Your welcome. By all means, don't change your sitting arrangement. Keep your pillow as it will align your pelvis. Just move pillow onto a more firm surface.

If problem still persists, send me a photo of you taken from the side while you sit. I will take a look and give you some exercises, probably stretching exercises.

can you please suggest some now.

I'm at work right now. I will give you some exercises later. Send me an email and I will respond to you.

I arrived home now. Let me know your contact info or sent me an email. I have made an exercise program for you.

♦ Is this exercise  safe to do? https://youtu.be/Z8LOhZmuVaE

If you have any knee-related problems such as arthrosis, menicus tears, anterior/posterior or medial/lateral ligament sprains then I would advice against these exercises. With all flexibility exercises its important to take it slow and adapt to the current level of the joints. One should never be "rocking" in a pose but apply a gentle stretch while using diaphragmatic breathing. Keep in mind that its not necessary to be able to sit in half or full lotus position in order to be successful in meditation practice.

@ Lanka♦  How often and how much time should I do these excercises

When you sit, your back should be naturally straight, in the manner as when you are standing.
Your seat should be firm, i.e., not on a bed.

Thanks a lot for your advice. I will from now on meditate on the floor.

If you have a teacher best is to consult him / her.
Generally, numerous issues like these do pop up at the beginning, which you have to deal with objectively. Some times through meditation you notice problems which were there but you did not notice beforehand, because your awareness was weak. Whatever happens this should not make you worried or anxious in which case you will be creating negativity. You should try to be equanimous noting its impermanence and dependently arisen or causality arisen nature.
If partly this is due to issues with your posture the picture in the other answer might be of help.

Thanks a lot @Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena . I will try my best stay cool and face the problems in a positive way.

You are welcome!


text:
Which Buddhists say that there are no conventionally existent wholes, and for what reasons?
Which Buddhists say that there are no conventionally existent wholes, and what's the best reason for the claim?
My "whole" I mean something more than the sum of its parts, an object that does not reduce to its parts.

I do not understand your question. What do you mean with "wholes", to start with?

@TenzinDorje so e.g. if X is a whole with parts Y and Z then an analysis of X can fill in for an analysis of Y and Z. the rest of the question is just gumpf, so don't worry about it

Could you please elaborate on what is meant on these words: conventironally existent, wholes, inexistent practice, annihilationism -Thank you :) Metta :-)

@Uuu they are standard terms in the scholarship.

conventionally existent = good for empirical prediction. wholes = a means to make sense of parts that isn't the part itself. inexistent = without being or not to be found. practice = meditation. annihilationism = the idea that there is nothing left of the conventional self when we die [note: this last one means that there is, exists, no conventional self because any "self" must be said to be completely different each moment]. my apologies if any of those have unusual definitions @Uuu

Yes, but standard terms have standard variations, especially when your trying to explain something in Buddhism and  I'm not a scholar. Scholars are issued a standard library of terms at what point?

Still trying to figure out what is going on here but annihilationism? , we are as annihilated in death as we are in life aren't we?

Any sect of Buddhism which emphasises the emptiness of all things probably says that there are no existent wholes but some sects would say that there are conventionally existent wholes. In other words, we can only talk about their existence from a conventional perspective.
Here's a nice description which talks about a car's existence and its emptiness

You're walking through town and you get to a street where you see a car. Is there a car? Sure thing! That's why we look left and right before crossing the street, and it would be dangerous to say that "there is no car" (without further explanation).
But if we take one car aside and take a closer look, there's no such thing as a car. The windshield isn't it, the wheels aren't it, the chassis isn't it, neither is the engine. What we call a car is just a bundle, a construct not only physically but conceptually.

It's a point which can be difficult to convey. Something is there which will hit you when you cross the street, we call this a car. On the other hand, if we take that car and dismantle it into its pieces we can not find any piece which is the essential car-like-nature.
This is the same as when we look at the self. We can investigate all five aggregates (body, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness) and there is no inerrant soul or "me" to be found. However, we can still talk about the "me" existing by convention.

There are conventionally existent objects. Whether you call them wholes or parts does not make a difference, since a part is also a whole and a whole a part. For instance, the petals of a flower are a part of the flower, but a petal is a whole [as a petal].
Whatever is an object found by a conventional valid cognizer (such as the eye-consciousness, the ear-consciousness, and so forth) exists conventionally. Since I can see you, you are conventionally existent.
However, no object can withstands ultimate analysis. Another way of saying is that a cognizer analyzing the ultimate will find only emptiness of true existence. For instance, you will not be found by a cognizer validly analyzing "are you your body? are you your anger? are you your feelings? etc." but you are found by an eye-consciousness (since I see you). In the same way that sound is not apprehended by an eye-consciousness, no conventional truth is found by a mind of ultimate analysis.
That is the Madhyamika-Prasangika view. This being said, there is no Buddhist school that posits there is no conventionally existent objects.

do you have a reference for that last claim? sorry tio ask, i'm just skeptical, if by object you mean "whole". and maybe even if you mean "is" to be "exist". is there really no "school" which says e.g. that atoms don't conventionally exist, only appear in illusions? that wouldn't entail that all talk of atoms is likewise not conventionally true, i think

My main references on the topic belong to the textual genre of 'Presentations of Tenets'. For instance, Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen's Presentation of Tenets (a short one).

@user3293056 "Atoms don't conventionally exist" does not mean "wholes don't conventionally exist", so it is another question. Now, there are refutations of directionnally partless particles, but these are not atoms. There are also refutations of external establishment, but I do not think it answers your question.

"does not mean" i wasn't saying it did.

@user3293056 What were you saying then? You asked a questions about wholes. I take it a flower is a whole, but it is also a part of a field. A leaf is a whole, but it is also a part of a flower, and so forth. My answer was: no school posits that wholes (objects) do not exist conventionally. Positing so would be claiming they are utterly non-existent, and would be nihilist.

what was i saying where? when i asked about wholes i thought i had made it clear in the comments that i wasn't talking about objects but what has been translated as something more than the sum of its parts. denying these isn't nihilsim. nor is denying conventional existence, if by existence we mean something more that appearances. i'll edit the question

maybe i'm confused about how to define "whole", i think i am, but it is the case that some buddhists say that conventional existence is an illusion.

@user3293056 since an existent is an object of knowledge, if "a whole" exists, then it is an object. Furthermore, in general, in the Indo-Tibetan traditions at least, claiming that an existent does not exist is a form of nihilism. For instance, saying "I don't exist, you don't exist, my computer does not exist." It is not the case that some Buddhist schools say that conventional truths are illusions. They are "like an illusion" in that they do not appear the way they exist, however. Some schools also say they do not exist externally, but this does not mean they are an illusion.

"then it is an object" but it doesn't follow that they exist unless every object we can think of does. i'm not sure what the "indo-tibetan" tradition is, but it is the case that some buddhist schools say that conventional existence is an illusion.

The standard Buddhist picture is that

only momentary particulars are caused,

so given that

only causal things have any existence,

it follows that wholes have no existence. You can find arguments for these two claims pretty easy.

More than that, all existent, whether whole or part, to be worded conventionally must get the attributes of the 6 senses. Thus the Buddhist instead stops arguing whether there's existent independently existed outside of all the senses, which is the opposite of the scientist who is investigating the outside "objects", or the non-dividable "whole", in your word. Or the Trancendental, in Kant.

As @Tenzin Dorje used the flower analogy, to add is that, if you delete color and shape (eye vijnana 眼識), texture (body vijnana 身識), scent (nose vijnana 鼻識); taste (tongue vijnana 舌識), "flower is silent" (ear vijnana 耳識) and "it is a flower!" (cognition vijnana 意識), then the flower or the petal doesn't exist at all!


text:
Who were some people who attained Buddhahood after the historical Buddha?
I only have a passing knowledge of Buddhism. I keep coming across people (buddhaghoSha, shAntideva, nAgArjuna, vasubandhu, asanga, etc.) who wrote authoritative works on Buddhism. And yet, I don't see it mentioned that they themselves attained Buddhahood.
Hence my question: who were some people who definitely attained Buddhahood after the historical Buddha, Gautama? Or would I be correct in my suspicion that no one did (but many came "very close"), and the next Buddha would be Maitreya?
Many thanks in advance!

Are we getting trigger happy on the downvotes on this site?  This is a completely valid question that touches on a number of important scriptural points.  Please be sure to read the full question before clicking anything!

Isn't it compulsory to add reasoning for a downvote yet on this site?

Your presumption is more or less correct if we are talking about a Samyaksambuddha.  That's a Buddha who is completely enlightened without karmic remainder, a knower of worlds, an incomprapable tamer of persons to be tamed, and so on and so forth as the the suttas put it.  There is only one of those per world system per age.  Shakyamuni Buddha was the last and Maitreya will supposedly be the next.
There have been, however, plenty of people (and I'd include those you've listed) who have reached full enlightenment (e.g. arahat status or nth stage Bodhisattvas...depending on your flavor of Buddhism).  In fact, enlightenment itself isn't even all that rare.  Those who find it, however, just aren't endowed with the other attributes that are accumulated over an almost incalculable amount of meritorious lives and make a full Buddha an unsurpassed, well-gone, teacher of gods and men.

Buddhahood isn't the only source of authority in Buddhism. We have four stages of enlightenment, the final stage is an Arahant.
An arahant is like a Buddha in that both understand the nature of the mind and they no longer experience suffering of any kind. Because an arahant can experience dharma first-hand they are an authoritative source for Buddhism. Arahants aren't that uncommon or hard to find but we can't prove that someone is an arahant so we just get different lineages who claim that their teacher is an arahant and they treat their teacher as a source of authority. For example see Ajahn Jayasaro's book on page 6 where he claims that Ajahn chah (the teacher he trained under) was an aharant.
There are a few differences between an arahant and a Buddha. A Buddha is a type of arahant who has discovered the dharma by themselves without the guidence of another arahant. Since they discovered it themselves they have a superior ability in teaching the dharma.
I'm uncertain if the authors you mention are claimed to be arahants or even if they are at a lesser stage of enlightenment but we do have many sources of authority which appeared after the historical Buddha's death.

Thanks for your comment! Would I be right in then saying that "Buddha" is a  bit like "Newton" in that there was only one historical Newton (since he independently discovered the laws, mostly), but that there have been born several thousands of physicists who had as much - or even more - insight into Physics as Newton did? Also, why does it necessarily follow that Buddhas have a superior ability in teaching Dhamma? Isn't it possible that someone who "stands on the shoulders of giants" might be even better at teaching the Dhamma than the historical Buddha?

@Bharatendu the comparison to Newton isn't accurate, we believe that what the historical Buddha taught is everything there is to know about dukkha and the ending of dukkha. We don't believe that others can stand on his shoulder and discover a higher truth of dukkha.

@Bharatendu And for teaching the dhamma, we consider a Buddha who has taught himself everything to be the best at teaching because he experienced teaching somebody (himself) who had 0 insight. Of course you can question this reason and argue about it but Buddhism is a religion- some things we just treat as true based on a small reason and it's not really an important part of Buddhism.