Is enlightenment over-rated?

Is enlightenment over-rated?

Find-out from Puppetji!

Let Go!

Do not let the mind dwell in thought

of what is good or what is bad

- just relax and forget that you are meditating.

Do not desire to become enlightened 

- if you do you it will never come.

-Unknown

Source: www.deeshan.com

What is your style of Waking Up?

Aah! The tribulations of life!

Every ONE is struggling...the students, daily-wage earners, entrepreneurs, terrorists, politicians and even the beloved monks - for example, the Tibet movement for liberation.

Is THIS all (simply) a nightmare, with each individual as the AUTHOR of all his/her troubles?

Does THIS world need healing? All sages are trying (with thousands praying with them), but that still seems to be a lot of effort.

Anyway, the enlightened ones say that "nothing needs to be done"? Nothing to avoid, endure or transcend...not even a "waiting" is necessary.

Lisa Hepner says nothing needs to be "healed," only "revealed."

She quotes Joel Goldsmith (The Art of Spiritual Healing):

"Just for a moment imagine that you are experiencing an unpleasant night dream: You are in the ocean, swimming; you have gone out too far; you look back toward the shore and see that there is very little hope of rescue. Even though you shout your lungs out, no one can hear you. And so you are seized with fear. You struggle and strive to reach the shore, and, of course, the harder you fight, the harder the ocean fights you. There is only one thing left for you to do - drown. Yes, drown - but wait! In your fight, you shouted and someone heard you, came over and shook you, woke you up, and behold the miracle! The drowning self disappeared; the ocean disappeared; the struggle disappeared. You awakened and found that you had never left your comfortable home. All that was necessary in order to be released from the struggle was to AWAKEN."

Now, go back to moment when you woke up today!

What was it like to wake up?

I know someone who simply wakes up --- moves out of his bed as if he has just finished a cup of coffee.

Most of us, wake up gradually - slowly, we "come to senses" after an initial disturbance from an alarm clock or some sound or distraction.

What is your style? It could give a critical clue about your spiritual life and help you remove some barriers.

De-mystifying Enlightenment!

Enlightenment is Overrated: Jonathan is not afraid to admit that he has “reached” Enlightenment. He is passionate about bringing "clarity", especially to enlightenment.

Read it all here.

In his opinion:

The great Enlightened masters
(Christ, Buddha, Moses, Lao Tzu, and many others),
did not become Enlightened and retreat into a cave.
They did not merely transcend their egos.
They became great big egos.
They engaged life completely and fearlessly
and shook the earth from its very foundation.
They did not seek Enlightenment
as an escape from life,
but as a means to live more completely.

Then:

In reality, enlightenment brings you into a deeper,
more intimate relationship with life.
Rather, Enlightenment means
dropping into your body more completely.
It means living life more fully, passionately and fearlessly.

So, are you enlightened? If yes, do you agree?

The Greatest Virtues!

How to move from precepts to wisdom? From medicine to magic? From action to meditation? From quality to worth? from achievement & effort to patience & generosity?

More than a thousand years ago, renowned Buddhist sage - Master Atisha, Dipamkara Srijnana set it very clearly:

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
~Atisha

Which one did you like?

Are you forgetful & lazy?

A verse in Ashtavakra Gita says:

My son, you may recite or listen to countless scriptures,
but you will not be established within until you can forget everything.

Another one:

If even Shiva, Vishnu, or the lotus-born Brahma were your instructor,
until you have forgotten everything you cannot be established within.

Thus, in Complete Silence, you have access to EVERYTHING!

Yet another one:

Happiness belongs to no one but that supremely lazy man
for whom even opening and closing his eyes is a bother.

Thus, in Complete Stillness, you can accomplish ANYTHING!

Can you DROP all striving and move into effortless zone?

CHECK! Are you coming from THE SOURCE or through ENCYCLOPEDIC MEMORY?

Are you a Student or a Master?

What differentiates a master from a student?

Skill? Knowledge?

Here is a story:

After winning several archery contests, the young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen Master who was renowned for his skill as an archer.

The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot. "There," he said to the old man, "see if you can match that!"

Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed him high into the mountain until they reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly perilous bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit.

"Now it is your turn," he said as he gracefully stepped back onto the safe ground. Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss, the young man could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target. "You have much skill with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament, "but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."

So, what differentiates a master from a student? Degree of Awareness!