I believe that degeneration can happen easily. my respected teacher once said, "If we are not progressing with our practice, then we are degenerating: there is no such thing as standing still in Dharma." I pondered this a lot, not wanting to believe it, but I am now proof that it is true.
I think that I am correct in saying that only a realisation that is supported by emptiness is free from potential degeneration. in past lives we have all attained tranquil abiding many times, but where is it now? Rebirth in the god realms requires tremendous merit, but we have died from that state and not even memories remain.
This is most interesting as it rings so true... we think that if we stand still we lose nothing and still have what we have. Do we? In actual fact we lose TIME and time is all we have. Each passing second, minute, hour, day, week and year is really the amount of time LESS we have to gain insight and realisations in this most opportune life. If this is not degeneration, I dont know what is.
Hence what Lam Chung has said above is very poignant and very true. We tend to sit on our laurels and think everything is fine the moment we think we achieve something! That is the sure road to failure. If one speaks to any successful person (on a secular level), that person has the same if not more tenacity than when they first started because their goals are bigger and higher and as they grow, they set these very posts even higher... Such is the true mark of a successful person.
And why can't we apply it to our spiritual growth? Of course we can... in fact we SHOULD! Hence do not sit back and relax and think "I have done so much already"... Just do more! Because if you think you have done so much already, chances are, you have not!
