Ep290: Answering Critics & Kriya Yoga - Delson Armstrong

In this episode I am once again joined by Delson Armstrong, spiritual teacher, meditation virtuoso, and author of ‘A Mind Without Craving’.

In this interview, Delson responds to criticism and answers questions about his recent renunciation of attainments and revision of the Buddhist 4 path enlightenment model. Delson reflects on the pros and cons of questioning established religious doctrines and on the role of direct experience in challenging fixed views.

Delson comments on a recently leaked interview, shares his current position on Bhante Vimalaramsi and his TWIM meditation method, and compares Buddhism to traditional yoga.

Delson also recalls his own training in Kriya yoga, details the features of the particular lineage which he has begun to teach, and reveals methods of working with karma, chakras, and forgiveness.

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Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.

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Topics include:

00:00 - Intro
01:00 - Responses to Delson renouncing his spiritual attainments
02:56 - Criticism of Delson
04:08 - Has Delson abandoned the 10 fetter model and the 4 attainments?
05:18 - Delson’s leaked interview
07:58 - Breach of trust and betrayal of friendship
09:32 - Why redefine the Buddhist doctrines rather than reassess oneself?
12:46 - Delson’s experience vs cultural consensus
13:50 - Is Buddhist doctrine beyond cultural?
16:25 - Going beyond maps and Integral Theory
17:35 - Challenging fundamentalism and fixed views
18:43 - The jīvanmukta and other mystical traditions
20:22 - Transcending doctrinal chains of imprisonment
21:37 - Daniel Ingram’s revisions
23:07 - Delsonism vs Buddhism
24:44 - Should Delson leave the traditions alone?
26:09 - The role of tradition and Delson’s contribution
27:31 - Comments on TWIM
28:32 - Drawing on different traditions
30:03 - Current view
32:05 - Delson’s current opinion on TWIM and Bhante Vimalaramsi
36:26 - Delson’s training in Kriya yoga
40:16 - Which Kriya yoga lineage does Delson teach?
42:17 - Anyone can do Kriya yoga
44:09 - Short learning curve to samadhi
45:03 - Relaxing into awakening
46:39 - What is the point of the jhanas?
48:13 - Chakras and siddhi powers
51:37 - Deities and chakras
53:26 - The Yoga Sutras on siddhi power
55:07 - Karmic acceleration and misconceptions about chakra work
58:00 - How to release karma
01:00:03 - Kriya yoga approach to work with chakras
01:00:34 - The power of forgiveness
01:01:51 - TWIM vs Kriya, Yoga vs Buddhism
01:07:37 - Delson’s recent experience teaching Kriya yoga
01:11:35 - Initiation in Kriya yoga and tantra
01:15:51 - Secrecy as a marketing tool
01:17:17 - Delson reflects on his teaching career
01:19:23 - Scientific tests on Delson, can he still meditate?

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Watch previous episodes with Delson Armstrong:

Find out more about Delson Armstrong:

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For more interviews, videos, and more visit:

Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James

[not-one-not-two]

It raises serious questions when Delson charges $300 AUD for a 30-minute session. Even psychiatrists, who undergo a decade of rigorous training and carry substantial student debt, don't charge this much. This highlights the importance of ethical practices in spirituality. Certain lineages, like Sanbo Zen, stand out by prioritizing accessibility—many of their sanghas don't charge for consultations or Koan practice. It's a refreshing contrast and a reminder of what authentic teaching should prioritize.

I also never got a refund from a TWIM retreat when I let them know 3 weeks in advance. The page said they would 'consider' refunds. I told the TWIM organisation that I have had financial problems, and couldn't make it as I had to work away. They didn't give it to me. Not short of money though! As an ex monk gave them over 100k US as a donation recently.

Money hunger is always a red flag that is easy to spot.

[gideonsalbato]

i have learned a lot from some of your more genuine guests who aren't so caught up in their own personalities, but there has to be more discernment when it comes to people coming on the podcast. the genre of "enlightenment" comes with a lot of delusional, big egos who are so excited to be picked up by a channel so that they can sound enlightened for a couple hours and boost their reputation. maybe i'm being cynical here, but when i listen to those mystics who don't talk about "enlightenment" or their prophetic experiences, i get a much better vibe from them... i used to listen to your channel more often but i've become frustrated by the amount of discernment i have to do with these guests who are caught in their own line...

[wolfk]

TWIM and Delson have really blown themselves up in the last year.

Some people in previous years may have thought Delson an Arahat and TWIM a rapid quick way to enlightenment.

Now Delson is a polyamorous Arahat who kinda sorta denounced his own attainment on last Guru Viking and TWIM seems a real rogue's gallery of manipulation and abuse.

[williamjohansson]

What a lovely time to be alive!
So many advanced dhamma experts gathered in the comment sections.

What a privilege! 🙏

[lexweb]

This guy has been comprehensively forensically discredited in my opinion. Having him on for a third time undermines your brand Steve.

[GigiAzmy]

“Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.”

- Shunryu Suzuki

[ruipedroparada]

what's next, an interview with Mooji?

[andyfoofoo]

The method and view one explores leads to a depth of feeling through awareness. It is creatively complex and elaborate in its practice and philosophy. For westerners the eastern terms around liberation can at first be puzzling, as well as offer a semantic banquet. Furthermore new insights, angles and orientations occur utilizing conceptual development . Fundamentally, the simple truth we can say is, here I am. And that means what i wake up with and to. Meaning the bed I wake up in, the ground I walk on and not just the cloud. Whatever else it is, It's the body I touch, the food I eat, the family I raise and the path I take.

[anandaji]

Ep290: Answering Critics & Kriya Yoga - Delson Armstrong

I found some additional critiques in text and audio format.

On Suttavada
by Oleg Pavlov, Pavel Katagorin
An analysis of the Suttavada/TWIM doctrine promoted by Bhante Vimalaramsi, Delson Armstrong, David Johnson and their disciples. 87 pages.
~Internet Archive

"What's Wrong With Suttavada's TWIM" on You Tube
~Oleg Pavlov

[LambertPasquale]

1:07:16 "it's a god damn head ache. All I want is peace". Thank you. That's where it's at!

[TheTTrickz]

I recommend everyone to watch the interview with a former twim monk. I am truly dissapointed at these softball questions for this cult leader. They basically scammed a property and 60k out of an aspiring monk then kicked him out. I'm gonna give Steve the benefit of the doubt of not having seen that.

[dailyfrench]

Great interview! Delson has been incredibly helpful in my meditation practice so far, and I haven’t come across anything that contradicts my own experience. However, I’m shocked by the negativity in the comments—even entire channels dedicated to clickbait with negative thumbnails. I didn’t realize there were people claiming to follow the Buddhist path while harboring so much hatred.

[TheForeignersNetwork]

Now that I'm watching this episode it's pretty clear to me what's going on. Delson made a mistake; he doesn't want to fully own that mistake or lose money because of that mistake. So instead, he claims to be "recontextualizing the traditions within a broader framework" and "syncretizing methodologies" in order to make it appear as though he was right, even when he was just wrong.

[SeeRightThruU]

Good interview!
No critic is needed when good ol' Mr Armstrong the Arhat has the opportunity to present his "system".
It is a thing of wonder to behold a TWIM follower, claiming to be a Buddhist, demonstrate how deeply their wings have been clipped. The Buddha taught how to attain not only Liberation but also all clairvoyances, siddhis, etc. but also the proper attitude to have towards these "powers". The poor followers of TWIM are shuffling in a darkness of their own making, having to try to reinvent some path, any path, that might accord with their false view, the rebuking of which is the job of any Buddhist worth their Refuge Vow.
All the nine yanas of Buddhism lay out a clear path - that path having been tested by countless practitioners - so there is no need for a "syncretism", which is only a nice euphemism for muddled remix of incompatible practices and systems, thus wasting the rare opportunity of this human life.

If one follows any of the nine yanas of Buddhism in earnest, it becomes clear that the "magical" events described by the Buddha and his followers weren't just some fairytale, primitive explanation of a scientific process in the brain, but an actual map and more like research & development than myth. May we all attain the second jhana, and see what the Buddha was talking about when talking about Mt. Meru etc., and not make the vulgar mistake of dragging the Dharma down to the mud of our confusion and wishful thinking.

[anandaji]

"These three things, monks, are conducted in secret, not openly. What three? Affairs with women, the mantras of the brahmins. and wrong view.
"But these three things, monks, shine openly, not in secret. What three? The moon, the sun, and the Dhamma and Discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata."
(AN 3:129; I 282-83)

"I still had some little comfort in the thought that the Blessed One would not come to his final passing away until he had given some last instructions respecting the community of bhikkhus."

32. Thus spoke the Venerable Ananda, but the Blessed One answered him, saying: "What more does the community of bhikkhus expect from me, Ananda? I have set forth the Dhamma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine; there is nothing, Ananda, with regard to the teachings that the Tathagata holds to the last with the closed fist of a teacher who keeps some things back"
DN 16

[gerhard]

Kriya Yoga teaching Ex-Arhant! Wonderful what is possible in our times… Maybe the next interview will have the title: „I renounce my Kriya Yoga attainments!“

[helpfulinfo]

So Delson achieved the prescribed attainments (renounced then not renounced?) In TWIM By practicing Bhante V's method but now he is saying he thinks that TWIM is just so so and need to be amended and mixed by his Yoga techniques and ideology? Ppl can fogive the young and ignorant, but Are you sure you have grown enough to teach? I am worried about TWIM community to be derailed by this approach or would that disqualify you as a TWIM teacher. Please do not teach TWIM with twists.

[wolfk]

I'm a critic of Delson & TWIM but a great interview by Steve and Delson does come across better than I've seen him before, especially the first half

I still think Delson has a long way to go. (But then so do most of us.)The wisdom
simply isn't there. He needs to pump the brakes and maybe he is to some extent.

Delson comes across as naive in his belief that monks are always exemplars for moral behaviour. One can find examples from the suttas to present day scandals that this is far from the case. In this interview, Delson talks about taking great teachings from various wisdom traditions but removing the religiosity aspects -- this is kinda old hat. Nothing new here. Delson needs to read more.

Delson mentioned Jhana practice and Ramana self-inquiry as self-pacification or keep busy practices to occupy the mind until Grace is bestowed. This is ... Simply baffling to hear. I practice jhana meditation with Metta, Mindfulness of Breathing, Equanimity, and Sattipathana. I think of them as Buddha's Greatest Hits. The Buddha said the Satipathana is a direct path to realization. If Delson thinks jhana is do nothing meditation, I would advise for him to reflect on this and ponder why the Buddha recommended it.

Self-Inquiry isn't to annhiliate the mind. It's to annhiliate the small egoistic self. Again, to categorise it as do nothing or self-pacification is a misuse. It too is a direct path to awakening as Ramana said. We have here with Delson who has a little bit of knowledge of myriad traditions but gets important details wrong.

What I see too with Delson with his yoga background bringing in Yoga's definition of Samadhi -- ceasation of thoughts, a trance like state he claims he can maintain for six days atraight ! This isn't Buddhism. Grace and Forgiveness too aren't really in Buddhism. They're certainly not emphasized to any extent. It's part of Delsonism. Who delivers the Grace to the Buddhist?

Samadhi in the Pali canon means more "stability of mind". Look it up. Many Buddhist traditions are very critical of high trance like states. If you're indistinguishable from being dead, even if its for six days -- where is the insight from being akin to a corpse? No one watches a zombie movie and wishes they were like a zombie. Buddhists shouldn't be impressed here -- it's a circus sideshow act here.

So fair enough Delson has reinvented himself as a Kriya yoga guy. It fits him and his conceptual framework.

[helpfulinfo]

Just did a compassion meditation guided by Buddhism in English channel feeling loving you all.

[GigiAzmy]

Another spiritual teacher that is finally telling the truth is Adyashanti:

“I do not believe in over-romanticizing enlightenment. There is already plenty of that nonsense going on in spirituality, and it doesn’t serve anyone. I would say that something on the order of 95 percent of suffering can be overcome with deep spiritual realization. But in the end, freedom is not measured by the amount of suffering that we are immune from, as much as it is measured by the amount of freedom, love, and courage that we can embody. Enlightenment doesn’t save one from every bit of the unpleasantness of life; it reveals our essential unity and wholeness.”

~ Adyashanti

“A Revolution of Being: Embracing the Challenge of Awakened Living” 2018 Online Retreat