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My friend Takuin Minamoto mentioned today a blog post he did 2 years ago that generated a lot of discussion, including some (long) comments by yours truly. I just now re-read the discussion, and I have to say, it was quite good. I invite you to have a look and profit from the many questions, comments and responses.
Takuin.com: A Question for My Peers →.
Enjoy!
Tagged with: enlightenment
“The you that you think of as you (and that thinks of you as you, and so on) is not you, it’s just the character that the underlying truth of you is dreaming into brief existence. Enlightenment isn’t in the character, it’s in the underlying truth. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a dream character, of course, unless it’s your goal to wake up, in which case the dream character must be ruthlessly annihilated. If your desire is to experience transcendental bliss or supreme love or altered states of consciousness or awakened kundalini, or to quality for heaven, or to liberate all sentient beings, or simply to become the best dang person you can be, then rejoice!, you’re in the right place: the dream state, the dualistic universe. However, if… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, Jed McKenna
My friend Takuin Minamoto recently answered this question on his blog, and I was thrilled by his response. Takuin defined enlightenment as follows:
Enlightenment is limitless expansion within a limited field.
I love this definition because Takuin masterfully dropped all the centuries of spiritual baggage attached to this one simple word and took it directly to the heart of the matter. As he further explained, the limited field he is referring to is the world we find ourselves living in, the experiences that pass through our awareness moment to moment. It is a limited field, isn’t it? While it arises… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment
A reader sent me the following email:
What I’m wondering is in the phrase, “…after enlightment, chop wood, carry water”. The thing is, I’ve lost my zest for my career which I must recapture in order to find work (was laid-off) and to pay my mortgage. In the absolute, I understand there’s no one here. In the relative, I need to find the energy, but I’m no longer interested in the Game–the whole illusion thing. What to do?
I love this question and the entire subject it represents. It gets right to the heart of the seeming paradox between awakening/enlightenment and the world we find ourselves in. What to do about this paradox?
Awakening to the truth of what we are, that there is no separate self,… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, half-awake, Nisargadatta Maharaj
I strongly urge all of you to read Who Hears This Sound? Adyashanti On Waking Up From The Dream Of “Me” published a few years ago in The Sun magazine. Someone sent me a link to the article, and I found it to be one of the best and clearest presentations of Adyashanti’s teachings I’ve ever read. It is often hard to find succinct versions of a teacher’s ideas and thoughts, but the interviewer did a nice job of bringing greater clarity to an already fairly clear teaching. That’s one of the reasons I like Adya so much: he is extraordinarily clear for an awake guy.
Here are a few excerpts to read now… Read the rest →
Tagged with: Adyashanti, enlightenment, spiritual awakening
- Is it just me or do most spiritual teachers and writers seem to be lacking a sense of humor? Good God, lighten up! #
- “Tom, what’s the purpose of having friends and family?” That one is easy: entertainment! #
- One thought believed separates Heaven and Hell. And any thought will do. — Adyashanti.
And that one thought can be “I’m enlightened.” # - Or “I’m NOT enlightened.” #
- Some books are much better when listened to as opposed to being read. A New Earth is one of them. Eckhart is beautiful to hear. #
- No matter what I write down, it isn’t true. No matter what I think, it isn’t true. Or feel. Nothing!!! Woohoo!!! #
- Now I know why the Buddha said:
Tagged with: enlightenment
My good friend Takuin Minamoto has asked a question over at Takuin.com that I felt deserved an answer. First, let me re-print Takuin’s question, and below I will give the answer I left in his comments. I encourage you to read the other fabulous comments at his site. I think he has started a theme that I will be coming back to increasingly over the next few weeks. First, Takuin’s question:
This is a question for fellow writers of spiritual matters, but anyone is free to comment below.I have noticed a trend – and it is nothing earth shattering – in this world of spiritual teaching:
A man or woman may come to
Tagged with: enlightenment, teaching
A reader sent me an email letting me know that a statement of mine in my last post I Want to Be Like Jed sounded like I was claiming that I’m enlightened. The line in question was a bit misleading, so I’ve changed it. However, the line in question did cause me to think of something that I want to share with all of you before heading to bed.
So, how would you know if “I” am enlightened? How would you know if anyone is enlightened? What’s great about these questions is that (1) they are questions that most spiritual people ask about various teachers and gurus and (2) they are so misguided as to be a bit comical.
First of all, you have absolutely no way of knowing… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment
I haven’t recommended anything in a long time, so here are three books to read, all by the same person, Jed McKenna:
- Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing
- Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment
- Spiritual Warfare
These 3 books are fantastic. They are a very clear and detailed explanation of spiritual awakening. Jed does a nice job of showing some of the ins and outs. I don’t necessarily agree with every last word of his, but for the most part, Jed has written books that capture my experience quite well.
One curious thing, however: who is Jed McKenna? If you google him, you will come up very short. He seems to hardly exist. There is even some speculation that the house and ashram he describes in the first book may in fact… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, Jed McKenna
A reader passed along the following from Anthony deMello:
“Is Enlightenment easy or difficult?”
“It is as easy and as difficult as seeing what is right before your eyes.”
“How can seeing what is right before one’s eyes be difficult?”
To that the Master responded with the following anecdote:
A girl greeted her boyfriend. “Notice anything different about me?”
“New dress?”
“No.”
“New shoes?”
“No. Something else.”
“I give up.”
“I’m wearing a gas mask.”
Tagged with: De Mello, enlightenment
I have a good friend with whom I often disagree on spiritual issues. I think on some level we enjoy our disagreement, even though on another level we often react to each other as if to say, “Are you nuts?” Recently we exchanged a few emails, and I sent him a message today that I’m quite certain he won’t like. Afterwards, I thought, “Hey, if my friend won’t like it, I’m sure it will irritate others, too.” Of course, that means I need to publish it here. 
Truth is a not a state of being or consciousness or anything. The truth is what is. When you awaken, you simply drop… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment
A while back, my friend Jonathan Mead over at Illuminated Mind wrote an article on enlightenment in which he said:
“Your realization that everything is non-dual will not break all of the previous self-limiting and fear-based beliefs you have with yourself. Breaking those agreements will require hard work and perspiration to change.”
I’ve intended for a while to write a brief article on this comment of Jonathan’s to offer a different perspective. So, here goes:
To be honest, his statement runs counter to my experience and that of others. When the realization of no-self dawns, not merely an intellectual understand, but a true realization, beliefs disappear. As Ramana Maharshi pointed out, the belief… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, Ramana Maharshi
To encounter the absolute is not yet enlightenment.
I have commented before upon this one line from the Sandokai, but today I want to take a different look at it. As the years have gone by, and my experience with teachings and teachers and the whole world of spirituality has increased, I’m beginning to see this one simple line as probably the greatest bit of wisdom that every spiritual teacher should know by heart. For so many doing the spiritual gig have encountered the absolute but not yet seen that fully flower into enlightenment.
What does it mean “to encounter the absolute?”
The Absolute. How to explain what is beyond explanation? Many people have had spiritual experiences. You meditate and experience bliss. You walk in the… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, Sandokai
The other day I wrote a little article commenting on Eckhart Tolle and Oprah. A reader left some comments concerning Eckhart and the general issue of enlightenment, and rather than reply in the comments, I thought I would do a short article in response.
I think it is safe to say that my reader and I may not see eye to eye on the subject of enlightenment. I won’t try to summarize his point of view, but I encourage you to read the comments on that post.
Let me being by saying that I’m not really into the term enlightenment, so I will use the word awake or awakening. Just a matter of preference. Less… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ramana Maharshi
If you would only rid yourselves of the concepts of ordinary and Enlightened, you would find that there is no other Buddha than the Buddha in your own Mind.
The arising and the elimination of illusion are both illusory. Illusion is not something rooted in Reality; it exists because of your dualistic thinking.
If you will only cease to indulge in opposed concepts such as ‘ordinary’ and ‘Enlightened’, illusion will cease of itself.
Tagged with: Buddha, duality, enlightenment, Zen
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