Awakening's Characteristics

Over the last few years I've been lucky enough to have contact, whether face to face, on the phone or online, with quite few people who I believe are what we might agree to call "awake." In the process of comparing notes with folks who practice in many different traditions it became clear (not just to me but to many of us) that there are some attributes of this awakening thing that are shared. Not all of these attributes present for everyone, and the mere fact that we're creating a "schema" of some of the attributes of awakening is fraught with the potential to mislead. That said, I believe there is a similarity of experience among these people that cannot be easily denied or dismissed.

One thing to notice, and the reason I'm posting this, is that some of these attributes are based in a non-dual orientation. I believe non-dual awareness, the recognition that emptiness and form are one and the same, experienced simultaneously, is an important part of awakening. Practices that foster non-dual awareness (I don't know that any practice "causes" it) are not typically "doing" practices. They are "being" practices, where we're not so much investigating phenomena actively but "just sitting." Kenneth's Mahmudra-based "listening for the ships in the harbor" can be one such practice. Zen Shikantaza is another.

So, on another message boards some of us took up the challenge to try to define these attributes we came up with the list presented in the next comment. This list is presented at a high level. It does not pretend to get down into the weeds of this or that tradition's version of awakening, but rather is meant to be a basis for comparison across the wide spectrum of human contemplative practice.

The list:

1. The ability to examine one's own "sh*t" objectively, to in essence be very self-aware of one's behavior, thoughts, emotions and actions and to do so generally with moment to moment, real time awareness.

2. The realization, whether momentary or permanent, of non-dual awareness. This is essentially the recognition of the weird either/or/both (relative/absolute) nature of experience as we perceive it accompanied the recognition that how we choose to perceive it is part of the equation.

3. The recognition of what humans usually perceive to be the permanent self as impermanent, non-continuous and "generated" moment by moment by causes and conditions.

4. The recognition of the playing out of co-dependent origination as the source of consciousness and the accompanying recognition of the nature of subject/object as a mental construct, a process that plays out over and over and over in rapid succession.

5. The recognition of emptiness as the underlying fabric of "things"

6. The recognition of a sense of "nothing to do, nowhere to go" There is only just this, right now.

7. The recognition that "everything is perfect just as it is" with nothing to add or to remove as everything were experience is innately whole and complete


Not complete, not final, subject to change.... and awaiting your input.

"They are "being" practices, where we're not so much investigating phenomena actively but "just sitting." Kenneth's Mahmudra-based "listening for the ships in the harbor" can be one such practice. Zen Shikantaza is another.
"

Don't know if that s true but it definitely makes sense. (probably for the shikantazafans we are all doers and manipulators) I like the distinction between doing- and beeing-practices, cause thats really the point.

Yes, that's the point.

Excellent list, Chris. Thanks for sharing this.

Just a few minutes ago, on another discussion thread here on KFDh, I wrote about all practices as constituting gestures aimed at relieving suffering. In terms of what you posted here in your first two messages on this thread, I was referring to "doing" practices, as distinct from what you called "being" practices [" Practices that foster non-dual awareness (I don't know that any practice "causes" it) are not typically "doing" practices. They are "being" practices.] As you said, though, not even "being" practices actually cause awakening to happen. Awakening to the uncaused state of Being cannot possibly be a causal event; rather, I would say, awakening occurs when we cease to identify with everything that arises due to causality. This is what the Buddha referred to when he spoke of the "unborn, uncreated, unmade" which necessarily exists, and without which release from suffering would not be possible. What was not mentioned here, but which I did talk about in the other post, was how suffering is inherent in the self-contraction (or the idea of the permanent self) and how love (or movement beyond the limited self-notion) is what ends suffering.

I would daresay that the "compassionate Buddha" was actually the great Lover of All.

How does one become better at loving? Not a moot question. Right now I am feeling contraction, isolation, self-pity, and an investment in a storyline about poor me. It's getting old, and so am I.

Hello JLaurelC:

I clicked on your pictured and learned that you are in Northfield, MN. I live just 20 minutes away. We should meet sometime, if we haven't already. Do you sit at NBMC? If you're open to practicing with others, I'd be elated to have someone local to talk with about practice. Like you, I hang around the pragmatic dharma scene. But, to answer your question about getting better at loving, I've found tonglen to be life altering. I practice vipassana mostly, but tonglen freed me from hatred of anyone or anything. I'm not enlightened, but I must be on my way because I see other people's anger and "stuff" as empty. I've seen the darker side of the human condition, and it is remarkable how my perception had been transformed from fearful or distrusting to having no doubt that everyone is worthy of love and I'm the one to offer it, especially to those who are in pain. I had a strong storyline too. I've been through some unthinkable situations, but I have let go of those notions and it is well worth the practice time it takes to release "all of it". I'll send you a private message with my phone number. If you want to talk, I'd be thrilled.

This topic was exactly what I was hoping to find when I logged on tonight. I have a ton of time to kill tomorrow, and am required to sit up all night. I decided if the schedule calls for 24-hours of time to sit and do nothing but wait for the cows to come home, I may as well try to get to the next level. Thanks for the food for thought! I'll print the list and use it to set my intentions.

"4. The recognition of the playing out of co-dependent origination as the source of consciousness and the accompanying recognition of the nature of subject/object as a mental construct, a process that plays out over and over and over in rapid succession."

Hey Chris, can you dumb #4 down a shade? I'm not following you on that one.

"This topic was exactly what I was hoping to find when I logged on tonight. I have a ton of time to kill tomorrow, and am required to sit up all night. I decided if the schedule calls for 24-hours of time to sit and do nothing but wait for the cows to come home, I may as well try to get to the next level. Thanks for the food for thought! I'll print the list and use it to set my intentions. "

Dear JLaurelC and CulGodfrey:
The love and compassion which has already appeared in this discussion -- and the synchronicity -- speak of that "something" that transcends the world.

Metta,
Gozen

Sounds like a good list, Chris. I can agree with that, even if I may come up with other things or other ways to describe the same thing later on.

For those who have been practicing just sitting zazen, we know that something clicked for good when we realize that zazen becomes our natural default state, regardless of the posture. In this sense we realize that Dogen wasn't such an idiot and that the first zazen was already the actualization of enlightenment.

I think that the simplest way to learn zazen is to follow Adhyashanti's advice and see what happens when we "allow everything to be as it is". When the grasping tendencies of the mind dry out, "spirit wakes up to itself" (as Kenneth put it once poetically in a Mexican restaurant), actualizing enlightenment.

But I must say that I just hated zazen when I first got into Soto Zen. I found it so boring and couldn't stand waiting there stupidly instead of doing something that would bring tangible results. Fact is that the simplest is not the easiest. Dogen himself practiced vipassana (Tendai Shikan) and koan investigation (Kanazen) for years before his introduction to silent illumination sitting practice.

"Hey Chris, can you dumb #4 down a shade? I'm not following you on that one."

I'll try, Mark. How's this -- the seeing of the components of the rapid process of perception such that the direct contact with the sense organ (sight, hearing, touch, etc.) comes first, followed by the mapping of the object in relation to subject (subject created by mind, btw), followed by the naming of the object, followed by a judgment about the object (aversion neutral, etc.), and so on. There is a clear recognition of the object (and the subject) as creations of the mind caused by the initial conditions that "surround" it.

Someone recently described this realization to me as it affected them for the first time. We were comparing notes. My first clear recognition involved sound. The other person's involved sight. In both cases there was a perception of the slowing of time and the observation of the process playing out in steps. For me, and for this other person, the realization was extremely powerful and seemed to spur the process of awakening. The recognition of this process seems to stay with the experiencer ever after and seems to contribute greatly to the recognition of the non-dual nature of objects because the process of mind creating objects has become observable.

I'm sure others will be able to help clarify this, too.

Helpful?

Yes, Chris, what you describe is something we might call the "deconstruction of experience." One's relationship to experience is transformed after one has done this in real-time (i.e., the steps you described: "direct contact with the sense organ (sight, hearing, touch, etc.) comes first, followed by the mapping of the object in relation to subject (subject created by mind, btw), followed by the naming of the object, followed by a judgment about the object...").

This goes a long way toward disembedding. Fundamental Awakening is then close at hand. After which, the "work" of Awakening practice continues at a new level.

"Dear JLaurelC and CulGodfrey:
The love and compassion which has already appeared in this discussion -- and the synchronicity -- speak of that "something" that transcends the world."

I just watched the "Quantum Activist" on Netflix last night. It posits an explanation for why this might be true.

"Helpful?

"

Yes thanks. Experiencially I have no idea what you are talking about, but what you are saying is clear in a discriptive sense.

Hi Chris,

I wonder if #6 conflicts with #2 somewhat. "Nothing to do, nowhere to go" sounds like an absolute realization to me. At the same time, there is the relative truth that we still do have stuff to do and a life to live, right?

Yes, Cliff. That's right. A lot of statements coming from the absolute POV will sound contradictory when considered from a relative POV. That's the limitation of language kicking in. We live in both, all the time.

"
Yes, Cliff. That's right. A lot of statements coming from the absolute POV will sound contradictory when considered from a relative POV. That's the limitation of language kicking in. We live in both, all the time.

"

I like how simply you put this, Chris. The path of awakening seems to unveil quite a number of perspectives, and the verbal/conceptual descriptions arising out of each may seem either consonant or dissonant with one or more of the others. When this is taken into account - especially when so many perspectives are experienced directly - the limited nature of language becomes quite apparent.

Thanks, Jackson.

Perhaps something could be said about seeing through concepts. Ideals, positions, and perfection are seen through as being fiction and loosen their grip.

Point of view / perspective is the crux of the problem of language, in my opinion. We can only speak from one particular point of view at a time. Yet no single point of view can express everything that is "true enough to be said" (as Adi Da put it). So, over time, we shift from one POV to another, seeming to contradict ourselves as we attempt to say something that makes the most sense at a given moment, for a particular audience. This isn't like mathematical logic. This is using "expedient means" (upaya) to compassionately assist all sentient beings to Awaken.

Chris: Yes, Cliff. That's right. A lot of statements coming from the absolute POV will sound contradictory when considered from a relative POV. That's the limitation of language kicking in. We live in both, all the time.

awouldbehipster: I like how simply you put this, Chris. The path of awakening seems to unveil quite a number of perspectives, and the verbal/conceptual descriptions arising out of each may seem either consonant or dissonant with one or more of the others. When this is taken into account - especially when so many perspectives are experienced directly - the limited nature of language becomes quite apparent.

"
The list:

1. The ability to examine one's own "sh*t" objectively, to in essence be very self-aware of one's behavior, thoughts, emotions and actions and to do so generally with moment to moment, real time awareness.

2. The realization, whether momentary or permanent, of non-dual awareness. This is essentially the recognition of the weird either/or/both (relative/absolute) nature of experience as we perceive it accompanied the recognition that how we choose to perceive it is part of the equation.

3. The recognition of what humans usually perceive to be the permanent self as impermanent, non-continuous and "generated" moment by moment by causes and conditions.

4. The recognition of the playing out of co-dependent origination as the source of consciousness and the accompanying recognition of the nature of subject/object as a mental construct, a process that plays out over and over and over in rapid succession.

5. The recognition of emptiness as the underlying fabric of "things"

6. The recognition of a sense of "nothing to do, nowhere to go" There is only just this, right now.

7. The recognition that "everything is perfect just as it is" with nothing to add or to remove as everything were experience is innately whole and complete


Not complete, not final, subject to change.... and awaiting your input.

"

I would add to the list:

8. The experiential (not conceptual) recognition of the apparent qualities of emptiness (genuine compassion, respectfulness, patience, love, etc.).

I think this might relate to #2 and #6 too.

"How does one become better at loving? "

Disembedding from the desire to benefit yourself. This desire could dwell in any of the six sense bases. Then, after letting self-benefit go, it will liberate itself (arise, endure and cease). What remains is genuine empty/pure/primodial love that expands everywhere, to anyone.

Letting self-benefit go feels like one is ceasing to exist, hence, resistance will appear.