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There is something formlessly created
Born before Heaven and Earth
So silent! So ethereal!
Independent and changeless
Circulating and ceaseless
It can be regarded as the mother of the world
I do not know its name
Identifying it, I call it “Tao”
Forced to describe it, I call it great
(Tao Te Ching, Ch. 25)
You may have noticed from the posts in the Practice Profiles series that I often write about what I refer to as the source. It’s difficult to write anything about the source aside from what has been written already. In fact, it’s difficult to saying anything at all about the source (hence the reason why I began this post with the selected passage of the Tao Te Ching).
The reason it’s difficult is because the source is not an object that can be grasped, nor is it an appearance that can be witnessed. Rather, the source is that which gives rise to every object or appearance, and also that which knows them. The cognizing quality of the source is what inspires some to refer to it as primordial awareness, or ground luminosity.
While the source is not an object, it is also not wholly other than any object that emerges from it. This “not-two-ness” is more eloquently articulated as nonduality (a term that anyone reading a blog about awakening may have heard once or twice before – maybe more).
The creative activity of the source is experienced as a spontaneous outflowing and inflowing; a flux of expansion and contraction. And the whole shebang happens in the space of awareness that exists prior to the assertion of will. In other words, it is completely and totally empty of self. (Buckle up, kids. There ain’t nobody in the driver’s seat.) Therefore, the source is none other than the ultimate emptiness.
In regards to liberation, the source is already free. It always has been, and always will be, free from any snares and entanglements. The implication here is that you (the real you) are already free, and always have been, and always will be. To recognize the source is to experience freedom. And when this recognition of the source is continuously abiding, the search is over. You have awakened out of the dream (i.e. nightmare) of separate, painful existence, and into the Truth.
I hope that I provided enough information to make clear what I mean by “the source” and what it has to do with awakening. For, while awakening has everything to do with the source, it really has nothing to do with you.
The state of Self-realisation, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are and which you always have been.
All that is needed is that you give up your realisation of the not-true as true.
-Sri Ramana Maharshi, Be As You Are
On the path of awakening, it is quite common for people to spend too much time on the non-essentials, and thus, not enough time on the essentials. This is why it’s so easy to get sidetracked.
One way of getting sidetracked, which I see all the time on awakening-focused sites and forums, is the perpetual debate over the superiority of one awakening tradition over another. Some examples are…
- True Self vs. No-self
- Hinayana vs. Mahayana
- Buddha Nature vs. No-nature
- Awareness as Ground of being vs. awareness as transient consciousness
- Already awake vs. not yet awakened
- Practice vs. no practice
- Sudden awakening vs. gradual awakening
- Buddhism vs. pick-your-favorite-religion
- etc. vs. etc.
People spend HOURS spinning round n’ round over this stuff. And where does it get them? Nowhere.
And then there are those meditation gearheads, who spend all their time talking shop. They endlessly describe their experience to others, in the most technically precise terms they can think of, down to the tiniest little flickering phenomenon. But this becomes a sort of “who can see it better?” contest. This, too, is a big fat waste of time, and therefore, another way to get majorly sidetracked.
Your preferred tradition doesn’t matter, nor do your superior perceptive abilities matter. It’s not that either are total roadblocks on the path of awakening, but they are superior time wasters. They are activities in which we engage to (albeit unconsciously) put off getting to the task at hand.
Get over your tradition. Get over your wicked skills. Practice as best you can, look reality square in the face, and forget about defending a tradition or showing off your knowledge and/or skills. In doing so, you’ll avoiding getting sidetracked, and will eventually awaken to what you’ve been avoiding for so long – the truth.
Vipassana, or “Insight” meditation is one of the more popular practices that may actually lead to awakening. Originating in the conservative Theravada Buddhist tradition, vipassana is way of paying attention to the phenomena appearing in one’s awareness in such a way as to notice aspects of the sensate world that are almost always overlooked. These universal aspects of phenomenal appearances are called the Three Characteristics. The Three Characteristics are impermanence (Pali: anicca), nonself (anatta), and suffering (dukkha). By noticing that phenomenal appearances are marked by these characteristics, one succeeds in eventually loosening their identification with them. Since the early Buddhist literature is all about achieving liberation, this dis-identification process is how it is supposed to be done.
The principle act of the vipassana meditator is noting (or noticing). One sits in meditation and notices how nothing lasts, how everything changes, how it all happens on its own, and how no phenomenal appearance is truly satisfying – vipassana in a nutshell. However, there was an innovation by the contemporary meditation teacher Shinzen Young, which I think makes this practice all the more valuable to anyone with awakening as their sole aim.
Looking back at the previous techniques in the Practice Profiles series, there’s an obvious common thread. The inevitable conclusion of both self-enquiry and tracing back the radiance is the same: the recognition of the source. These might be referred to as direct path teachings, whereas vipassana might be referred to as a gradual path due to its goal of eventual liberation via dis-identification. But vipassana practice may also be used as a means of recognizing the source. Here’s how…
When one first begins vipassana practice, their concentration probably isn’t all that high (unless they’ve spent considerable time working on concentration prior to starting vipassana practice). So their first aim is to begin recognizing the phenomena that they generally confuse to be their self. Shinzen Young breaks it down into three classifications of phenomena – feel, image, talk. By observing the transient nature of feel, image, and talk, one can come to recognize the “emptiness of self,” and thus experience a great measure of freedom.
As one’s concentration deepens, their perception gets more refined, and the phenomena that used to be easily classified into feel, image, and talk begin to be experienced as very subtle vibrations. One realizes not only the “emptiness of self,” but also that all phenomena is “empty of inherent existence.” There are no universal phenomenal appearances – no ultimate “dharmas” that come and go in-and-out of experience. In other words, the philosopher Heraclitus was right when he said that, “all is flux.” With nothing to grasp, we let go even deeper and experience even more freedom.
Now, here’s where the gradual and direct paths converge. If one pays attention to the subtle vibrations, they may notice exactly when and where the arise and vanish. If one is able to note the vanishings, they may be able to recognize the source – as the source is that from which things arise, and to which they return. It is the very same source which is left when the “I am” collapses due to self-enquiry practice. And, it is the very same source which may be recognized by tracing back the radiance. When recognition occurs, one may let go and rest effortlessly as the source. And that, my friends, is good practice.
Many hardcore vipassana types will notice that I left many details out of this post – very important details for the diehard types. I mentioned nothing about the progress of insight, or the Visuddhimagga, or the four paths of enlightenment, or bhanga (dissolution), etc. I’ve only outlined what I find important about vipassana in terms of awakening to the source. For me, nearly everything else is a distraction.
If you want to wake up, vipassana can get you there. Just don’t get caught in any dogmatic traps (like all of the fanatical SN Goenka followers), and try not to be too heady about it. If you’re an intellectual type, forget about the Three Characteristics and save yourself some time. Give your energy to noticing rather than thinking, and you’ll have a lot more success with the practice.
Sam
“To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections.”~ Eihei Dogen
Awakening is not the same as attaining personal perfection. This belief awakening implies perfection is peddled by mythic/dogmatic religious teachings, as well by New Age spiritual scenes (“Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better…” – gag me!). Whenever we think or behave in terms of perfection or imperfection, we are dealing solely with the content of experience. The content is not the point. It never was the point, and never will be the point. Identifying with content, and then trying to improve that content, is a quick and dirty way to ensure that you will continue to remain deluded, and thus, continue to suffer.
Awakening is beyond perfection and imperfection, as it is beyond all content. Constructing an ideal of perfection implies the simultaneous construction of its dualistic opposite – imperfection. Putting ‘perfection’ up against ‘imperfection’ is like putting ‘up’ against ‘down’, or ‘left’ against ‘right’, or ‘dark’ against ‘light’. If we’re going to define awakening in dualistic terms, why not say that the awakened person is always 100% ‘up’ and never ‘down’? Oh, right – because that would be ridiculous… (I think you get the point.)
‘Up’ and ‘down’ are merely useful designations, as are ‘perfection’ and ‘imperfection’. Useful designations are empty of any existence whatsoever. Awakening is about what is. It’s about what is true. It would be a far better use of time to discover truth than to try to perfect the contents of experience. The latter is a game that cannot be won. Awakening, on the other hand, is actually true.
Forget about perfection and imperfection. In fact, forget everything if you can. Allow your mind to rest in not-knowing, and allow the truth to shine forth unobstructed.
In my last post in the Practice Profiles series, I gave an brief overview of self-enquiry. Self-enquiry, in my view, is one of the most effective technologies of awakening available. Why is self-enquiry so effective? As Ramana Maharshi states, “By repeatedly practicing thus, the power of the mind to abide in its source increases.”
Now, if increasing the power of the mind to abide in its source is your aim, self-enquiry is not your only option. There is another practice that I find to be nearly, if not equally as effective as self-enquiry, and that is tracing back the radiance.
The phrase tracing back the radiance was used by the Korean Zen master, Chinul. In this practice, one learns to clarify the natural radiant quality of their awareness in the present moment, and than traces that radiance back to its source. This kind of practice is done especially well when this radiance is pointed out by a skilled teacher, in which the practice is referred to as being given pointing-out instructions. But it can be done on one’s own as well, so long as they know what to do.
In the quoted section below, from Tracing Back the Radiance, Chinul gives pointing-out instructions to a student:
Chinul: There are many points at which to enter the noumenon. I will indicate one approach which will allow you to return to the source.
Do you hear the sound of that crow cawing and that magpie calling?
Student: Yes.
Chinul: Trace them back and listen to your hearing-nature. Do you hear any sounds?
Student: At that place, sound and discrimination do not obtain.
Chinul: Marvelous! Marvelous! This is Avalokitesvara’s method for entering the noumenon. Let me ask you again. You said that sounds and discrimination do not obtain at that place. But since they do not obtain, isn’t the hearing-nature just empty space at such a time?
Student: Originally it is not empty. It is always bright and never obscured.
Chinul: What is this essence which is not empty?
Student: Words cannot describe it.
The use of sound to clarify the radiant nature of experience is one of the most effective, and it’s really quite simple. Sit quietly, preferably outdoors. Don’t make any special effort to listen to whatever sounds arise. Just sit there. Sounds will come. When they do, notice how hearing is effortless. You don’t have to try to hear. Even if you try not to hear, hearing occurs. Recognize that radiant knowing nature present in hearing and not-hearing. Stay with it when the sound vanishes. Recognize it, relax into it, and follow it home.
To re-cap… when practicing self-enquiry, one clarifies the sense of “I am” until it collapses into the source. When tracing back the radiance, one clarifies not the sense of “I am”, but rather the natural radiant quality – or intrinsic luminosity – of awareness, and traces it back to the source. In both cases, the separate-self sense may collapse. But since this site advocates freestyle awakening, which ever practice works better for you is the one you should do.
Sam
Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 percent
Of everything you think
And of everything you do,
Is for yourself -
And there isn’t one.
-Wei Wu Wei, Ask the Awakened
The fact that there are millions, if not billions, of people on earth who regularly engage in spiritual practices has inspired a great deal of spiritual seekers to ask a very down to earth question: Why haven’t more people awakened? The typical answers usually come in the form sanctimonious platitudes, and are quite unhelpful. Here are some common responses…
“Everyone is already awakened.”
“Desiring awakening is what keeps you from it.”
“You must be reborn in a pure land before you can awaken.”
“You must not desire awakening until all other beings have awakened.”
“There will be a day when the we will all awaken together.”
“Don’t ask questions. Just go back and sit/meditate some more.”
My all-time favorite of the generic responses is the oft-repeated question, “Who is the one who is asking?” Any teacher, guide, or spiritual friend who repeatedly answers every single one of your sincere questions with the disingenuous, “Who? Who? Who?” should be thrown out like a used tissue. If a student wanted to hear, “Who? Who? Who?” they would ask their questions to an owl in the woods.
Now, I don’t think there’s any set formula for determining whether or not someone will awaken in their lifetime. But, in working with various people over the course of my life, I have found some common senses answer to the question at hand.
First, I would guess that a huge percentage of spiritual seekers simply aren’t doing what they say they’re doing. They may attend long meditation retreats, or sit for hours at home every day. But are they really engaging in a practice that will wake them up? From what I can gather, no. Most of the time, people appear to be meditating when they’re really just thinking about something else. They may even be thinking about practicing a particular technology of awakening, but not ever actually doing it. And though there are a very small few who awaken without much practice, or any practice at all, 99.9% of people are going to have to practice – and practice well – if they wish to awaken.
Second, I know that there are a great deal of people who actually practice (or at least attempt to practice) a genuine technology of awakening, and may have practiced for years, but still have not awakened. My opinion is that these people are either slow learners or they are not doing the practice properly.
The slow learners of meditation are just like slow learners of other disciplines like dance, music, or athletics. Some people pick up a discipline quickly, and are able to excel to mastery in a relatively short period of time. Others work hard their whole lives, but only ever reach intermediate levels of performance. In essence, one’s natural capacity to learn a skill like meditation will vary from person to person. Just as there are a relatively small number of virtuoso pianists on earth at any given time, there are just as few virtuoso meditators.
Those who aren’t doing the practice properly are… well, simply not doing the practice properly (how tautological was that?). I come across a lot of people who can talk the talk, and even help guide others to relative levels of competency. But year after year, they continue to practice the way they have been, and no additional progress is made. Now, periods of stagnation or plateau are to be expected. Hardly anyone gets incrementally better every moment they practice. There are spurts of progress followed by periods of little improvement. But an extended plateau of many years is likely to be the result of poor practice. Such individuals would be wise to seek out an experienced teacher and do exactly as they say, but only until they really get the hang of it. They may even try switching practices altogether. Someone who sucks at vipassana may end up being actually quite good at tantric visualization or self-enquiry.
No one likes to hear that the reason they’re not making progress is due to their own mis-application of technique. It’s much more comforting to blame slow progress on things like karma, or God’s will, or because “everything happens for a reason.” It’s best to suck it up and discard such thinking, because it’s a big fat waste of time. Instead of wasting your energy on making yourself feel better, use some of that energy on getting the practices down for real. You’ll be glad you did.
Thirdly (and this answer may come as a surprise), it’s quite possible that there are more awakened people out there than you realize. I know that there are people who have had genuine awakening experiences, or perhaps even achieved a fully abiding awakening, but don’t believe they’ve gone the whole way. This is due to the propagation of mythic, dogmatic nonsense in spiritual communities. There are people who believe that have not awakened because they still feel angry, sad, or confused. Others believe that an awakened person cannot experience sexual feelings, or even get an erection or experience orgasm. This is complete and utter bullshit, to say the least. Awakening has nothing to do with becoming a sterilized, squeaky-clean, godlike person. Clinging to such views may (and does) cause truly awakened individuals to remain confused, and thus unable to relax into the truth. It’s sad, but true.
And those are just a few of the reasons why there are so few awakened people, as well as those who just don’t know that they are awakened. I invite anyone who reads this to submit additional reason why they think there are so few enlightened people. Take advantage of the comments section of this post and get your ideas out.
Sam
In my last post, Beware of Reason, I made it clear that one cannot reason their way to awakening. But I also mentioned that it is possible to use the mind against itself as a means of waking up. The means I was referring to is the practice of self-enquiry.
Self-enquiry is not the same as rational inquiry. Rather than coming up with ideas that nicely together to form a rational conclusion, self-enquiry looks directly into the nature of the one to whom a thought arises. There’s a huge difference between inquiring into how concepts fit together vs. inquiring into the nature of experience itself.
Self-enquiry is a common practice throughout many awakening traditions, including various forms of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, as well as the contemplative branches of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In my view, Sri Ramana Maharshi was perhaps the foremost teacher of self-enquiry in the last hundred years – if not the best who ever lived.
In the book Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ramana is asked the question, “How should a beginner start this practice?” He answered:
“The mind will subside only by means of the enquiry ‘Who am I?’ The thought ‘Who am I?’, destroying all other thoughts, will itself finally be destroyed like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre. If other thoughts rise one should, without attempting to complete them, enquire ‘To whom did they rise?’ What does it matter however many thoughts rise? At the very moment that each thought rises, if one vigilantly enquires ‘To whom did this rise?’, it will be known ‘To me’. If one then enquires ‘Who am I?’, the mind will turn back to its source [the Self] and the thought which had risen will also subside. By repeatedly practicing thus, the power of the mind to abide in its source increases.” (emphasis mine)
Ahh… that last sentence drops a big fat clue as to what this awakening business is all about. But I won’t go into that now, for the sake of not sending anyone down another intellectual rabbit hole.
So, that’s how it’s done. You ask, “Who am I?” and you clarify the sense of “I am-ness.” Simply clarify it, and then to stay with it while continuing to inquire, “Who am I? Who is this?” Don’t expect to arrive at answer by way of thought. The thought may arise, “I am nothing,” or, “I am everything,” etc. Dismiss such conceptual answers by asking, “Who has the thought, ‘I am nothing/everything’?” Clarify that sense of “I am” and stay with it. Keeping this sense of “I am” within your awareness will eventually result in its total collapse. And that, my friends, may be the first time you catch a glimpse of the Truth.
Sam
Awakening isn’t something you can just figure out. It isn’t born out of rational inquiry. For this reason, I think the number one thing that gets in the way of awakening is the over-identification with the rational mind.
Reason is all about consistency. If you have a set of ideas, and they fit together in a consistent way, one may describe this “fitting together” as a reasonable conclusion. This is the very basis of many of the classical arguments for the existence of God (the capital “G” is usually very important to supporters of such arguments). Take Aquinas’ Cosmological Argument, for example. He stated that (1) every finite thing has a cause, and that (2) a causal chain cannot be of infinite length. Therefore, (3) a first cause – or unmoved mover – must exist. This unmoved mover is, supposedly, God.
It makes sense, right? If everything is caused, what caused the first cause? Based on the information provided in the argument (*make note of this*), the rational conclusion is that there must have been an uncaused causer.
But there is one serious flaw in any sort of rational argument such as this one. There is a presupposition here in regards to nature of reason itself. In order for this kind of argument to be true, we not only have to decide whether enough information was provided to support the conclusion. But, if we are thorough and honest, we also have to admit the possibility that reasoning act itself may be flawed. In fact, we are so caught up in our thoughts most of the time that we don’t even notice the truth. The truth is glaringly obvious – that is, if you can but stop looking for it through the lens of reason.
Reason is very much like a genie in a bottle. It bends toward the will of its master, and the master is always flawed. How so? The master is flawed because there is no master. Reason is flawed because there is no stable, consistent, separate self who reasons.
Awakening is not about crafting a strong, cohesive argument for a non-dual worldview. It’s not the opposite of this, either. No – awakening is more about blasting out of the mind. If the mind is to be used for anything at all on the path of awakening, it will have to be used as a weapon against itself (most effectively through self-enquiry; a subject for another post).
On the path of awakening, it’s against your best interests to spend too much time toiling over whether the truth you’re discovering makes rational sense. Let go of the mind. See past it. See throught it. Let it collapse, and see – or rather, be – what remains.
Sam
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