The worst ways to get "enlightened"

I did my yoga, and I'm starting to see not-self and that I am One. What's for lunch?

Rites and rituals for samadhi in India

(dakota of earth) India's worst way to reach "enlightenment," usually defined in Hinduism as mere samadhi, which is a stage to understanding not the final goal itself in Buddhism.

I think I'm starting to lose my grip on reality.

When one becomes a "saint" (a NOBLE ONE) in Buddhism, having entered at least the first stage of enlightenment (of seven stages usually condensed and described as four main stages), one is immediately rid of four things.

Of these is the wrong view that clinging to rites and rituals could ever lead to enlightenment (bodhi, awakening to the ultimate truth).

• 

  Dhutanga of living under a tree

  Attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāso) is one of the subtle fetters binding beings (who are constantly becoming and never actually being) to samsara, the Wheel of Life and Death. Śīla refers to "virtue" or "moral conduct" + vata (bata) to "religious duty, observance, rite, practice, custom" [25] + parāmāsa to "being attached to" or "a contagion" (clinging, upādāna) and has the connotation of "mishandling" the Dhamma [26], Buddha's Teachings. Together sīlabbata-parāmāso translates as "the contagion of [adhering to] mere rule and ritual, the infatuation of good works, the delusion that they suffice" [27] or, more simply, "fall[ing] back on attachment [clinging] to precepts and rules" [28]. Whereas the fetter of "doubt" (vicikiccha) can be seen as pertaining to the dharmas of competing wandering ascetics (samanas) during the time of the Buddha, the fetter regarding clinging to rites and rituals likely refers to some practices of contemporary Brahmanical authorities [29]. More

• 

  I punished the body (Erika Tanith)

  The former prince Siddhartha Gautama (the future historical Buddha), as a wandering ascetic on a quest for enlightenment, practiced these futile things -- particularly extreme fasting -- for years until he finally stopped blaming the body for the mind's defilements and accepted the blissful meditative absorptions (jhanas) as the real path of purification and path of freedom to seeing things as they really are and thereby finally being able to let go of lust, clinging, attachment, and all that binds us to interminable rebirth and suffering in samsara.
• The 13 Sane Ascetic Practices (dhutangas)

Then I realized I was that One God incarnate

Until then, a person might do any useless thing -- particularly engaging in the extremes of severe austerities and bodily mortifications (tapas, penances, extreme austerities, attempts at purification) to purify oneself or hedonism, debauchery, and excess with the excuse that "anything can be used in the service of liberation, including the very poisons -- alcohol, drugs ("Crazy Wisdom"), sanctified or twisted sexuality (tantric sex), meat eating and cannibalism (as in Aghori holyman practices), fasting and self-starvation (inedia), self-mummification (sokushinbutsu)...

First stage of enlightenment: Heart Sutra

(Alan Watts Essential Membership)

(Swapnaloka) The biggest illusion is ME? (Maya, Lila) the Divine Illusion (Advaita Vedanta)

What must Bodhidharma have thought?

I was trying to read the Heart Sutra to chant it in Sanskrit. But it doesn't make any sense translated into English. At least it didn't until Wisdom Quarterly's Dharma editor explained it.* Now it's clear. Now I know why "enlightenment" eludes me. Now I know what to study and put into practice to know-and-see. Thanks, WQ!

• *The Heart Sutra: Buddha's Mother: Perfect Wisdom
• The Heart Sutra over the years (Wisdom Quarterly)

Do "I" even exist, Bhante?

(Buddhism) Do "I" really exist? Concept of anatta (not-self) in Buddhism

Stream-Enterer Sutra

The Scythian Sage: The Buddha

[At Savatthi the Buddha said:] "Meditators, there are these Five Groups clung to as self. What five groups?

1. The body-group clung to as self,
2. the feeling-group,
3. the perception-group,
4. the mental-formation-group,
5. the consciousness-group clung to as self.

"And when, meditators, the noble (Aryan = "enlightened," "awakened") disciple understands as they truly are:

• the arising and the passing away,
• the attractiveness and the danger, and
• the deliverance from the five groups clung to as self,

The Devi (Goddess) Pallas Athena (Klimt)

one is called a noble disciple who is a stream-winner, no longer liable to ever fall into subhuman states of woe [1], assured of full and final enlightenment."

• NOTE: 1. The "stream-winner" (sotapanna) is sure to become fully enlightened (an arahant) within seven rebirths and will not be reborn more than seven more times, and such a person will never again be reborn in any state lower than the human plane.

The beginning of wisdom

(Buddhism in English) Put ego away and humbly ask questions

1. the one "with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama) ["one with only seven further rebirths at the utmost," is one of the three kinds of stream-winners (sotāpannas).
2. the one "passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola),
3. the one "germinating only once more" (eka-bījī, lit. "one seed" or perhaps "at most once more seeded").]

Watts on Hindu/Mahayana 'enlightenment'

Alan Watts reveals the big secret, reality, and LSD (alanwatts.org)

As it is said (e.g., Pug.37-39; A.III.87):

What is the greatest bliss? Seeing release.

(1) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three lower fetters (personality-belief, skeptical doubt, attachment to rites and rituals), see samyojana), has entered the stream [that leads inevitably to nirvana], that person is no longer subject to any rebirth in the lower worlds [anywhere below the human plane], is firmly established, destined to reach full enlightenment. After having passed among celestial beings (deva) and human beings (manussya) only at most seven times more through the Round of Rebirths, one puts an end to all suffering. Such a person is called "one with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama).

I continued to practice to make an end of all ill.

(2) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters.... is destined to reach full enlightenment, that person, after having passed among noble families two or three times through the round of rebirths, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola).

(3) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters...is destined to full enlightenment, one, after having only once more returned to the human plane, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one germinating only once more" (eka-bījī).

• See Sotāpatti-Samyutta (S.55)
• See also SN 55.24, Note 7:
• 7. This is an encouraging message for many! Compare it to the end of MN 22 and also the charming image of the newborn calf in MN 34. The Commentary (MA) to MN 22 says such people are termed "lesser stream-winners" (cula-sota-panna). This term is discussed in The Path of Purification (VM XIX, 27). [This term is more fully explained in The Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga).] The stress laid here on the importance of faith (actually saddha, "confidence," "conviction," the trust sufficient to investigate that precedes personal verification) is interesting in view of later developments such as the Pure Land schools (e.g., Jodo-Shinshu or "Shin-Buddhism" in Japan).
• (SN 22.109 PTS: S iii 160 CDB i 9650)
• Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Sotapanno Sutta: The Sotapanna, "The Stream-Winner" Pali title based on PTS (Feer) edition; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

All is mind, mind is all: Yogachara

(SEEKER TO SEEKER) How the mind creates reality | Buddhism

Nagarjuna advocates "Middle Way"

Yogachara (Sanskrit Yogācāra) is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation and philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā) [1, 2].

Yogachara was one of the two most influential traditions in Mahayana Buddhism in India, along with Madhyamaka [3].

The compound Yogā-cāra literally means "practice of yoga" or "one whose practice is yoga." Hence, the name of the school is literally "the School of the Yogins" [4, 3].

Shanta Rakshita (Khenchen Bodisatva)

Yogācāra was also variously termed Vijñānavāda (the Consciousness Doctrine), Vijñaptivāda (the Ideas or Perceptions Doctrine), or Vijñaptimātratā-vāda (the "Mere Representation" Doctrine), which is also the name given to its major theory of mind that seeks to deconstruct how we perceive the world.

There are several interpretations of this main theory, which include various forms of idealism as well as phenomenology or representationalism.

Aside from this, Yogācāra also developed an elaborate analysis of consciousness (vijñāna) and mental phenomena (dharmas, "things"), as well as an extensive system of Buddhist spiritual practice, namely, yoga [1],

Tibetan thangka of Dolpopa

The movement has been traced to the first centuries of the common era and seems to have evolved as some yogis of the Sarvāstivāda and Sautrāntika traditions in North India adopted Mahayana Buddhism [5, 6].

The brothers Asaṅga and Vasubandhu (circa 4-5th century) are considered the classic philosophers and systematizers of this school, while it is also traditionally attributed by Buddhist believers to the figure of Maitreya-nātha [7].

Yogācāra was later imported to Tibet and East Asia by figures like Shantaraksita (8th century) and Xuanzang (7th century).

Today, Yogācāra ideas and texts continue to be influential subjects of study for Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism. More

Do all Teachers realize the same thing?

(Finding Meaning Project) They all discovered the same thing?

1st book by a woman: Juliana of Norwich

Uncovering Face of Feminine in Revelations of Love

God as the Substance of All Being - Julian of Norwich: Anchorite (Anchoress) mystic and first female author in English Mother Juliana

• Julian of Norwich wrote Revelations of Divine Love

God as the Substance of All Being - Julian of Norwich

1st English book by female

(Spiritual Quest) Premiered Aug. 7, 2025: Discover the profound vision of Julian(a) of Norwich, a 14th-century mystic who redefined the Christian understanding of "God" during times of plague and despair.

This video explores her revolutionary insight that "God" is not a distant judge but the very essence of being—present in every breath, every tree, and even the smallest hazelnut.

Journey through Juliana’s mystical revelations that unveil divine love as the foundation of reality, embracing suffering as transformation and highlighting God’s maternal nature.

• 00:00:00 The Vision in the Stillness
• 00:01:06 A Mystic in a Time of Collapse
• 00:02:19 The Ground of Being
• 00:03:22 The Divine in All Things
• 00:04:32 Sin, Suffering, and Divine Love
• 00:05:34 Feminine Mysticism and the Motherhood of God
• 00:06:35 The Mirror of Consciousness
• 00:07:37 The Whole Story is Love

Perfect for spiritual seekers, this contemplative narrative blends medieval wisdom with modern philosophy, inviting us to experience unity, non-duality, and radical love (metta).

Let's immerse ourselves in this timeless story with serene cosmic visuals and a calming Northern English narration. Like and share if this message of hope and divine presence resonates. 

#JulianOfNorwich #Mysticism #DivineLove #Spirituality #NonDuality #Panentheism #Consciousness #DivinePresence

Mother Juliana

Mother Juliana, Julian of Norwich (wiki)

Julian of Norwich (circa 1343 [note 1]–after 1416)—also known as Juliana of Norwich, the Lady Julian, Dame Julian [4], and Mother Julian—was an English anchoress of the Middle Ages.

Her writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving English-language works attributed to a woman. (One might surmise that the poems of Sappho from the Island of Sappho in ancient Greece wrote works earlier and was credited for doing so before Mother Juliana).

They are also the only surviving English-language works by an anchoress. Julian(a) lived in the English city of Norwich, an important center for commerce which also had a vibrant religious life.

During her lifetime, the city suffered the devastating effects of the Black Death (plague) of 1348–1350, the Peasants' Revolt (which affected large parts of England in 1381), and the suppression of the Lollards.

In 1373, aged 30 and so seriously ill that she thought she was on her deathbed, she received a series of visions or "shewings" (showings) of the Passion (Suffering) of Christ.

She recovered from her illness and wrote two versions of her experiences, the earlier one being completed soon after her recovery. A much longer version, today known as the Long Text, was written many years later. More

Eckhart Tolle: How to let go

Why our inner state matters more than our goals | Eckhart Tolle

(Eckhart Tolle) Oct. 17, 2024: Ever wonder why achieving your goals doesn't always bring the happiness you expected? Eckhart Tolle dives into the difference between external success and inner fulfillment in this video. He reveals how a deeper understanding of faith can transform your daily life and explains why feeling whole now is the key to effortless manifestation. If you're tired of the endless pursuit of more, Eckhart's wisdom offers a refreshing alternative. Discover more insights from Eckhart Tolle: Subscribe to his channel today!

How to stop pretending and start living | Eckhart Tolle

(Eckhart Tolle) Oct. 22, 2024: Eckhart Tolle shares practical wisdom on how to be your authentic self in every situation. He explains why playing roles can hold us back and offers simple tips for staying present, even in high-pressure moments. Whether we're dealing with work stress or social anxiety, Eckhart's insights can help us find more ease and authenticity in our daily interactions.

ABOUT: Eckhart Tolle is widely recognized as one of the most inspiring and visionary spiritual teachers in the world today. With his international bestsellers, The Power of Now and A New Earth —translated into more than 50 languages — he has introduced millions to the joy and freedom of living life in the present moment. The New York Times has described him as “the most popular spiritual author in the United States,” and in 2011, Watkins Review (now Watkins Mind Body Spirit) named him “the most spiritually influential person in the world.” Eckhart’s profound yet simple teachings have helped countless people around the globe experience a state of vibrantly alive inner peace in their daily lives. His teachings focus on the significance and power of Presence, the awakened state of consciousness, which transcends ego and discursive thinking. Eckhart sees this awakening as the essential next step in human evolution.

Find this video helpful? Want more peace of mind or to bring more Presence into days, work, and other areas of life? Join Eckhart Tolle Now, Eckhart’s online community, and get access to his new in-depth teachings every month, practical Q&A sessions with Eckhart, and member-only discounts on Eckhart’s online programs. Enroll in The School of Awakening - A 5-Month Online Advanced Training Program to teach, lead, and live your highest purpose: https://bit.ly/School-of-Awakening-YT... Get FREE access Eckhart Tolle’s new miniseries - The world needs you as a teacher of Presence: https://bit.ly/become-a-teacher-2024 Enjoy a FREE 10-DAY TRIAL to Eckhart Tolle Now: https://members.eckharttolle.com/10-d...