Alan's blog Ask Alan Teachings: depression emotions post enlightenment practice teaching unhappiness video
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Depression and Unhappiness
Thanks to Jeff Barton for this weeks question on how enlightenment alters our relationship to emotions.
Depression and Unhappiness from Alan Chapman on Vimeo.
Alan's blog Ask Alan Teachings: Ask Alan daoism magick post enlightenment practice teaching thelema video will
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Free Will and Enlightenment
A short discourse on the nature of Will. Alternative title: Get Out Of Your Own Way!
Thanks to Tom and Brynjar for the questions.
Free Will and Enlightenment from Alan Chapman on Vimeo.
Alan's blog Ask Alan Teachings: Ask Alan cultivated aspect expectations maps meditation natural aspect post enlightenment powers practice process stages states teaching video
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States, Stages, Powers
In this weeks video installment, I tackle the question, ‘What is the relationship between spiritual states, stages, powers and enlightenment?’ asked by OE reader/watcher, Pied Piper. Enjoy…
States, Stages, Powers from Alan Chapman on Vimeo.
Alan's blog Articles: activism Being Ordinary emptiness enlightened life ethics Martin Kovan Mike Kewley post enlightenment practice
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Satori in Paris: An inspirational interview with Martin Kovan
If you really want to know what enlightenment means for us in a very real human way, a profound expression of what the ‘enlightened life’ looks like can be found in the recent Being Ordinary podcast: Satori in Paris, where Mike Kewley interviews the Buddhist activist Martin Kovan. It’s the perfect antidote to the current vogue of spiritual blindness, paralysis [1] and navel-gazing confusion [2] endemic within the current enlightenment zeitgeist, and perhaps one of the clearest articulations of how the enlightened rubber meets the road that I’ve ever come across. I sincerely hope this podcast is circulated far and wide. It’s nothing short of inspirational.
[1] The comments to Rev. Danny Fisher’s article Top Seven Challenges of Western Socially Engaged Buddhism, show just how the popular Buddhist scene prefers political paralysis over actual compassionate action.
[2] Such as this recent tweet from Adyashanti: ‘there is no compassion, kindness and whatever else the ego is trying to pull here.. all motivation to “help” others can only be selfish.’ It’s nothing short of embarrassing.
Alan's blog Ask Alan Teachings: Advaita Vedanta development For-Benefit Enlightenment morality pathology post enlightenment practice teaching
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Alan's blog Events: Advaita Vedanta Being Ordinary enlightenment expectations false beliefs maps meditation non-duality Open Enlightenment philosophy Platonism post enlightenment satsang video
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Being Ordinary Interview: Life, the Universe and Everything
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Being Ordinary‘s Tom Buckley-Houston. Tom has done a wonderful job in editing down our very long discussion into a listenable interview. Although I talk about some of things I already touch on in this video, we end up discussing a diverse range of topics including astronauts, direct vs developmental paths and even the future of the human species. Check it out here!
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The End of Open Enlightenment?
It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?
My absence has been due to the bad customer service I’ve received from a certain broadband service provider, but as frustrating as this experience has been, it has given me time to take stock and reflect on the purpose and value of this blog.
I haven’t been lazy in my time away; I’ve written a rather lengthy two part article on morality and how it relates to wisdom, an article entitled ‘More Buddhist than Buddhist’ for the new Buddhist Geeks digital magazine, and a piece on the relationship between the Dharma and money, with an emphasis on how it relates to my future teaching plans.
But I doubt any of them will see the light of day.
You see, just as it took some time to fully understand the purpose of the Baptist’s Head project, so too has the purpose of Open Enlightenment slowly emerged. At first, I thought OE would facilitate what I felt was a necessary and beneficial conversation, and the aim was to try to explore the best way of understanding enlightenment and our relationship to it. This wasn’t always clear to many readers, and we spent a good deal of time arguing with detractors. As it became obvious that the conversation I hoped to have was never going to happen if we only ever repeated ourselves, I wrote the ebook to move the conversation along and act as a jumping off point.
But as time marched on it slowly began to dawn on me that this blog serves a rather different function. Both Duncan and I have posted our thoughts on enlightenment right from the word ‘go’, despite the fact the experience of awakening was still very fresh and we hadn’t enjoyed the benefit of allowing the dust settle. For some, this could be seen as a mistake that can easily lead to making embarrassing public gaffs; but if it wasn’t for this blog, which has acted as a focus for getting my thoughts down and sorting the wheat from the chaff, I would never have reached the understanding and view I know hold about enlightenment. If anything, blurting out what could have been premature and perhaps ill-informed comments about awakening (which, for the record, I don’t really believe we have done) as and when they arose has led to what I consider a much more mature view of the phenomenon than if we had remained quiet and careful. And for those with a genuine interest, there is perhaps more value to be found in witnessing what we have posted and how this has changed over time than perhaps in the actual content, something only an honest and regularly updated journal of post-awakening experience and thought can provide.
However, we’ve now reached a point with the blog where I feel we may start repeating ourselves (again), and I have to question the value of that. It doesn’t help that we still have to answer the same dull and ignorant comments we’ve endured since beginning this project, which sometimes feels like a constant uphill struggle. I still believe the conversation whose parameters I outline in the ebook is very important and worth having; I just don’t think many people are ready to have it yet.
Just as I felt it was necessary to write the ebook to answer the many common questions and objections we would frequently find ourselves dealing with, I now feel it is necessary to try and present a view of enlightenment that is both comprehensive and able to highlight and explain the common misgivings regarding the phenomenon that (I believe) frequently crop up during public discussion. As this view has emerged, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to discuss awakening, because what I wished to say would almost always require many more lengthy explanations before I could expect my comments to really make sense.
So I need to write another book, but this time it requires something more substantial than an ebook. But rather than write this blog off, shut up shop and spend the next year writing in seclusion, I’m going to utilise the wonderful power of maintaing a blog in focussing my efforts. Although there will no doubt still be regular postings here from me and Dunc (but probably mostly from Dunc), you can expect posted excerpts from the work in progress for your enjoyment and feedback.
My journey with Open Enlightenment has also led me to a particular conclusion regarding teaching and that rather thorny subject of mixing money with Dharma, and the material I am now working on will inform my future teaching in the form of course material. So this ‘new’ direction isn’t just about a book, but what I hope will eventually form the backbone of a new Western school of awakening.
I hope to have the first excerpt posted in the coming weeks.
(P.S. So the answer to the headline is, erm, ‘no’.)
Alan's blog Articles Teachings: enlightenment ethics evolution history joy Original Nature post enlightenment sorrow
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The Joy of Existence
‘Only Original Nature is’ does not mean that the manifest world is an illusion.
It means that all of existence is Original Nature, from the universe to the galaxies to the planets to single celled organisms to fish to plants to insects to birds to animals to humans.
However, Original Nature is not any of these things.
You are Original Nature.
But Original Nature is not you.
Ignorance is Original Nature; but Original Nature is not ignorance.
Sorrow is Original Nature; but Original Nature is not sorrow.
Change is Original Nature; but Original Nature is not change.
The self is Original Nature; but Original Nature is not self.
The opposite is also true:
Enlightenment, joy, peace and selflessness are all Original Nature; but Original Nature is not enlightenment, joy, peace and selflessness.
However, with the recognition of Original Nature, enlightenment, joy, peace and selflessness all arise spontaneously as expressions of that recognition, because Original Nature is, has and always will be free from ignorance, sorrow, change and self, all of which afflict the conscious human being.
(The first tastes of enlightenment are always the most blissful or awe-inspiring, but ultimately enlightenment has nothing to do with bliss or awe.)
It is ignorance that is the cause of the horrors of existence, being the root of all sorrow, loss and isolation.
It is awareness or wakefulness that is the cause of the bliss of existence, being the root of all joy, completion, and wholeness.
Evolution is the diminishing of ignorance and the growth of awareness; with this growth comes the recognition that change is rest, creation is peace, development is complete and life is meaning itself.
Evolution is Original Nature; but Original Nature is not evolution.
This is the joy of existence.
Alan's blog Articles Teachings: enlightenment expectations Original Nature post enlightenment teaching
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What is enlightenment?
Enlightenment is the recognition of original nature.
It is called original nature only because it has been forgotten. It was never lost, because it is the nature of even our forgetting.
Original nature is recognised as whole, complete, satisfied, peaceful, free, unbounded, unified, perfect, over-abundant, clear, divine, good, just, loving, compassionate, beautiful, untainted, unconditioned and true. Original nature – being Whole – is its own self-negation, manifest as the phenomenal world; and so only original nature is.
Enlightenment is the recognition that you are not this self, in a world of others, and never were. You were never born, and will never die; original nature is both birth and death, because only original nature is.
Enlightenment is the recognition of complete and absolute non-relation between any one thing and any other thing, because where there is no separation, no relationship can exist. How can original nature be reached, and by who, when only original nature is? Original nature is the subject that searches for original nature.
Enlightenment means there are no such things as ignorance and enlightenment, and the path and the purpose are one. Because there is no such thing as time, everything has always been this way and always will be. Only original nature is.
Enlightenment means all things have no beginning, no end, and are a non-issue. Enlightenment is not the beginning of anything or the end of anything, nor was ignorance ever a problem. Enlightenment is not an escape but an intimacy with all things, because only original nature is.
Enlightenment neither means life is not worth participating in, nor that life continues as it always has unchanged; recognition of original nature manifests as the expression of the good, and the actions of the person who has experienced enlightenment reflect this, because only original nature is. A person that has no beginning, no end and has no issues is a perfect expression of original nature: boundlessly compassionate and peaceful.
Enlightenment creates a better world for everyone through an open mind and an open heart, even though there is no world to improve, no one to improve it or anyone to help, because only original nature is.
However, none of this is recognised unless recognition has occurred.
Enlightenment is and always will be an event that happens to people, because only original nature is.
Alan's blog Articles: buddhism corruption enlightenment expectations faith false beliefs gurus Ignorant Bliss of Selflessness meditation morality post enlightenment practice shadow tradition
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The Dirty Little Secret of Awakening
There is something wrong with the Dharma.
A sickness is festering, unchecked, in the shadows of the great Saints, Sages and Prophets. Its symptoms include the countless examples of psychological, physical, and sexual abuses visited upon students and devotees by gurus, the financial exploitation, corruption, fraud, murder and drug abuse perpetrated by teachers from both the East and West, the political infighting evident in every major lineage and school, the outright failure of many traditions in producing awakened practitioners, the reluctance of genuinely awakened individuals in coming forward and openly discussing enlightenment, and the casual racism, sexism, fascism and homophobia still found in ‘spiritual culture’.
Ironically, all of this is the result of an endeavour to uphold the highest standards of morality.
Gestation
It’s been just over nine months since my final awakening, and I’ve recently become aware of how easily I became infected with the sickness, and since beginning to teach, the potential for just how severe the symptoms could become.
Since beginning this blog last year, we’ve been visited by a number of individuals who are so badly infected by the sickness that their only chance of recovery – if any – is a Dharma lobotomy. I expect that what I’m going to write here is probably going to attract more of this type, and probably with further accusations of my awakening being anything but genuine or full (see how many times you can spot something that can’t possibly mean I’m enlightened). But if the Dharma is ever going to recover, someone has to bite the bullet and expose the Dirty Little Secret no one wishes to address.
Early detection
Post-awakening is just as much a learning curve as pre-awakening. For a couple of months after my awakening, I felt like I had been emptied out. I was effortlessly present, blissed out, calm and contented. I had of course experienced something similar with my peak and partial awakenings, and so I knew that this state wouldn’t last forever.
So what had permanently changed?
Although many gurus speak about the eradication of the ego or the self, I already knew pre-awakening that many genuine teachers found this model inaccurate and misleading; and my experience confirmed this. I still had an ego, a self or personality; but it did seem as if the subject/object divide had disappeared for good, and had been replaced by wholeness or completion at a fundamental level. So that must be it: I was no longer a subject!
And the sickness had slipped in by simply changing its name.
Diagnosis
We can readily identify the sickness by considering perhaps the most essential (no pun intended) concept of Buddhism: No-Self.
According to Buddhism, No-Self is one of the three characteristics evident in all phenomena, including human beings. If we observe a sensation close enough, we can see that it has no ‘essence’, despite the fact we readily assume all subjects and objects to possess such a quality.
What this has come to mean, however, is the idea that if we believe or act as though we possess a self, say by performing any actions that can be considered ‘selfish’ or ‘egotistical’, then we are acting from a place of ignorance.
Ergo, the enlightened person must be completely selfless.
In my own case, if I am no longer a subject, that means I must act as if I no longer have the concerns that a subject possesses, no? Which, for all intents and purposes, is exactly the same thing as believing I am selfless.
Furthermore, as I am awakened, I cannot possibly act with selfish, egotistical or ‘ignorant’ intent. My motivations must always be pure then!
Now stick me in a room, surround me by devotees who also behave as if I am infallibly selfless and pure, and watch as I play out every whim unburdened by conscience (‘My devotees bitch and moan when I force them to practice for 48hrs straight/give me their inheritance for my Open Enlightenment centre/play out my sexual fantasies. Of course, they wouldn’t complain if they were awakened like me; I need to make them work harder/give me more money/perform more interesting sexual feats, more often!’).
The abusive guru and the gullible devotee is but one of the many symptoms of the Ignorant Bliss of Selflessness (IBS).
The Dirty Little Secret
The awful truth about awakening (and this has taken me a while to really understand with a degree of clarity) is that the self, ego, personality and even the subject don’t go anywhere, which means that selfish, egotistical, personal and subjective behaviour all remain. If you are greedy, angry and homophobic before awakening, chances are you’ll still be greedy, angry and homophobic afterwards.
If we define awakening as the recognition of our original nature, we can say that the awakened person is simply aware that all phenomenon is original nature; this includes all of the neuroses, issues, and prejudices that come with being a human being. This does not mean the self, ego, personality or subject are eradicated; they are simply seen as perfect, whole and complete. (Get over it.)
Or, to speak in Buddhist terms, No Self does not mean there is no self, but that the self is empty, along with everything else (including your ego, personality, issues, psychosis, facial ticks…and even emptiness itself!).
Perhaps if the concept of Empty Self replaced that of No Self we might go some way to inhibiting the spread of the Ignorant Bliss of Selflessness.
Further Symptoms
With selflessness as the yard stick for awakening, it should come as no surprise that:
- Many Dharma practitioners deny and suppress their angry, greedy, lustful, attached, ignorant, anxious, weird, disturbed, restless, unhappy, sad, mad, bad and selfish emotions, thoughts and behaviours, only to have these unwanted and unloved aspects of themselves play out while the practitioner remains oblivious and ignorant to the fact, and usually within a Sangha or group of similarly deluded hypocrites, where everyone pretends they’re the most ‘enlightened’ people on the planet!
- Many awakened practitioners mistakenly believe they are not awakened because they are evidently not selfless.
- Many schools and lineages of enlightenment will not tolerate discussion of awakening for fear of being accused of displaying pride or attachment, resulting in many genuinely awakened practitioners remaining silent about the phenomenon for fear of expulsion/exclusion.
- By denying their prejudices even exist, the racism, sexism, fascism and homophobia (and even heterophobia!) of many practitioners are left unchecked and unaddressed within the ‘spiritual’ community.
- By investing in a poor model of awakening based on the ideal of selflessness, the mainstay of the Dharma community is catastrophically failing in facilitating awakening in themselves and others. The vows of many traditions and lineages have become nothing but a joke.
Treatment
Thankfully, treatment is free and available to everyone, and recovery is fast and virtually guaranteed.
The treatment is three fold:
1). Be honest with yourself and everyone else, even if you’ve invested a lot of time and energy in a certain worldview, tradition or identity that encourages the Ignorant Bliss of Selflessness. If you really care about awakening, show some integrity.
2). Now that you can consciously accept the existence of your ego and issues, you should address them. Sociopath? Have some therapy! Full of hate? Explore the nature and possible root cause of your anger! Proud? Make your competitiveness work for the cause by becoming the best awakened teacher the world has ever seen!
3).Take a sitting session for a minimum of half an hour once a day. While it is true that just before and after awakening selflessness and compassion (amongst other wonderful attributes) spontaneously arise, which positively transform the world like nothing else can, this kind of ‘perfect meditation’ passes; it is therefore down to a daily practice to foster the natural expression of openness, compassion, freedom, wholeness, peace, generosity and selflessness that demonstrates our original nature. Whether awakened or not, enlightenment must be practiced in order that we transform the world; sitting is one such method.
It should be noted that despite everything I’ve said, enlightenment does have a profound effect on a person, and it can change his or her behaviour in a very profound sense; but exactly how and to what degree appears to vary with each individual. I like to think that enlightenment doesn’t produce the perfect human being, but it does produce a better one.
Right, let’s have it
Come on then: just how unenlightened am I?