Enlightenment

Kwan Chinese Calligraphy

Some say:

Seeing the internal world as well as the external world leads to enlightment.

Know The Truth Now

This artwork (the first Rumi picture displaying to the left) was created by Lisa Dietrich. You can visit her website here.


















When people contemplate enlightenment they often think of The Buddha. Jesus, Rumi, or Muhammad among many others may also come to mind. What specific aspect of character did these personalities possess that makes their greatness so obvious? I imagine that each of them experienced a fundamental shift in consciousness that allowed them to directly experience the truth. In other words, they were enlightened beings.

Regardless of your cultural and spiritual influences there is only one kind of enlightenment. There is not one enlightenment for the students of Zen, another that one aspires for through practicing yoga, one that is attainable by chanting Hindu japa and yet another that is arrived at through meditation and prayer. Enlightenment is enlightenment. The truth is the truth.

Some consider enlightenment as a rare reward, only attainable by a few individuals who are willing to give away all of their earthly possessions, separate themselves from family and friends and spend their lives meditating in a cave or monastery. But enlightenment is available to anyone who chooses to pursue it and such sacrifices are not necessary or appropriate for everyone. The paths to enlightenment are varied, each suitable in different ways depending on a person’s walk in life.

“O God, My God What Shall I Do? And if everyway is closed before you, the secret one will show a secret path no other eyes have seen.”--Rumi

One path to enlightenment is the Enlightenment Intensive, which was developed in 1968 by Charles Berner (1929-2007), also known as Yogeshwar Muni. Yogeshwar had studied humanistic psychology for years, working extensively with individuals helping them to improve their relationships through communication. As his interest in accelerating the process of self-discovery grew, he developed the idea of combining western style dyad communication work along with a Rinzai Zen style of contemplation using various Zen koans such as Who Am I? or What Am I? The results were that his students started describing personal experiences that were identical to the enlightenment experiences described by people who have sat in silent meditation for years and years.

The 3-day Enlightenment Intensive is a residential workshop that combines the age-old practice of reflective contemplation with verbal communication. During the retreat, all of your basic needs are provided for in an environment that is free from the distractions of your daily life. There is no belief system for you to follow and no one attempts to tell you what the truth is. The combined contemplation and dyad communication technique allows you to move past mental constructs, memories, ideas, insights, traumas, and false identifications in an accelerated fashion. This process empties the mind, making it possible for you to breakthrough into enlightenment and directly experience the truth.

A direct experience is different than the usual indirect methods we normally use to understand something via our senses, thinking, reasoning, feelings, believing etc. A direct experience is self-evident and beyond doubt. The truth is that which actually exists apart from and not dependent on what we sense, think, reason, feel or believe.

The enlightenment that many participants experience on an Enlightenment Intensive is the same enlightenment that Buddha experienced. No doubt, Buddha’s enlightenment was extraordinarily deep, but the direct experiences of truth are the same. So although the extent of Buddha’s enlightenment may have been greater, there is only one type of enlightenment, which is conscious, direct knowing of oneself.

People with direct experience of the truth have a deeper understanding of self and others. Their relationships, along with the overall quality of their lives improve. They tend to communicate more skillfully and to create more personal happiness in their lives.
Although we can’t force enlightenment to happen, an Enlightenment Intensive is a powerful and easily accessible opportunity where the perfect environment is created for a direct experience of the truth to arrive, through grace, for those intending to know it.

“Separate from yourself that which separates you from others.”—Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

Enlightenment Intensives are not part of any structured organization or belief system. They are a tried and true technique, made available by trained individuals throughout the world. There are some books that have been written that describe the process in detail and also many websites dedicated to this practice. One of my favorites is Edrid's site, which also provides a list of Enlightenment Intensives scheduled throughout the United States. You can also simply google Enlightenment Intensive and/or Dyad Communication to pull up lots of information.

Wisdom Quotes

Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying.
~Baba Ram Dass

When the student is ready, the master appears.
~Buddhist Proverb

Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water.
~Zen Buddhist Proverb

By daily dying I have come to be.
~Theodore Roethke

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.
~Navajo Proverb

The map is not the territory.
~Alfred Korzybski

The obstacle is the path.
~Zen Proverb

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.
~Zen Proverb

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.
~Matsuo Basho

The Truth Is The Truth

There are not different kinds of enlightenment. There is not one kind of enlightenment experience that you get on Enlightenment Intensives, another kind that you get in Zen, another that you get from Yoga, another kind that Buddha had, and another kind that Jesus had. There is only one kind of enlightenment. The enlightenment that people have on an Enlightenment Intensive is the same kind of enlightenment that Buddha had. Perhaps Buddha was more deeply enlightened but that is the only difference. There are different magnitudes of enlightenment, but there is only one kind of enlightenment and that is conscious, direct knowledge of oneself If you have had it, you have had it; that is all there is to it. You might use different words than someone else to try to describe it, although ultimately, enlightenment is actually indescribable. However, even if you cannot describe it, you can still do a good job of communicating it.
By Charles Berner and Mono Sosna

During a master’s training course we were discussing whether or not there were different kinds of enlightenment. An analogy in the form of this story came to mind that helped me.

A person books a one week trip to Japan with a tour company. All of their accommodations and site seeing destinations are planned for them. When their flight arrives in Japan a driver greets them at the airport and drives them to their 5 star hotel. That evening they dine in the hotel restaurant for dinner. The next morning, after breakfast in the hotel, a tour bus picks them up for their first outing with a tour guide who speaks their native language. Each day they are taken out for several half day excursions to visit historic Japanese sites. They view the famous Great Buddha, the majestic Mt. Fuji along with various other sites. They also dine out at several Japanese style restaurants. The rest of their time is spent relaxing at the hotel.

After a week they return home. They have visited Japan. Their passport is stamped and they have photos that document their trip. But although their visit to Japan was certainly real and quite lovely, their experiences there did not go very deep.

Once home, their memories of Japan fill them with a yearning to go back, but this time for several months. On this trip, they immerse themselves in the culture and start learning the language. They live with a Japanese family and help in their pottery shop. They also work in the kitchen helping to prepare the families meals. They visit several bustling cities, the coastline and mountains. They soak in hot springs, visit Japanese gardens, and shrines.
This second visit to Japan, provides experiences that penetrate much deeper.

This is not to stay that someone will not have have an incredibly deep enlightenment the first time they break through into a direct experience of the truth. It's just an example of different possibilities, the different magnitudes of enlightenment. But enlightenment is enlightenment. The truth is the truth.

Free Choice and Acceptance of Self and Others

The way that free choice shows up in our human world is in the choices that people appear to be making all the time—to do what they want, not do what you want, love whom they love, not love you if they choose not to. Problems in life arise when we don’t accept the choices that others make. If we don’t accept their choices, that is the same as not accepting them because the ability to choose is the individual (keeping in mind that an individual is a unity and its attributes are not separate from itself) and the ability is not separate from the individual’s actual choices or acts. So accepting others means not only having direct knowledge of their true nature, it also means accepting their actual choices. This is also true of accepting oneself. When you directly know yourself, you accept all of your choices; in other words, you are completely okay; there is not a single thing wrong with you.
By Charles Berner and Mona Sosna

Who versus What

All that actually exists are a certain number of nonphysical individuals, each of which is exactly the same as every other individual, except that who each individual is, is different (each individual is a different one from every other individual). What is there to directly know? Since all that exists are these nonphysical individuals, one can only directly know non-physical individuals. You are one of these nonphysical individuals, and so are all others ... Non-physical individuals making choices to directly know or not know themselves and each other are the Reality behind the apparency of a complex, interacting physical universe.
By Charles Berner and Mona Sosna.

Who Who Who Who Who Who
Who Who Who Who Who
Who Who Who Who
Who Who Who
Who Who
Who
Who Who Who What Who Who Who
Who
Who Who
Who Who Who
Who Who Who Who
Who Who Who Who Who
Who Who Who Who Who Who

One of my visual interpretations of all us different individual Whos along with the sameness of What we all are.

Where else?

If you cannot find the truth right where you are where else do you expect to find it?
Dogen Zenji