Adyashanti on Buddhist Geeks

Since he has come up a couple of times recently on threads, you might be interested in part one of a two-part interview Vince did with Adyashanti. For my part, I know nothing about the guy and found it interesting. Looking forward to part two...

www.buddhistgeeks.com/2010/03/bg-164-now-thats-zen/

I spent the weekend at an Adyashanti Intensive in Seattle. Saturday's program ran from noon till 6 p.m. and Sunday's from noon till 5 p.m. (actually 11 a.m. till 4 p.m. by our body clocks, since we had just switched to Daylight Saving Time). Each day's schedule consisted of half-hour group meditations, talks by Adyashanti, and question-and-answer periods.

Perhaps 250 people were present. The demographic was biased toward baby-boomers, veterans of spiritual circles, but there were also some people in their 20s and 30s.

No meditation instructions were given. Perhaps twenty years ago some kind of instruction would have been necessary, but nowadays everyone just does their usual thing.

Adyashanti spontaneously spoke to some things that I had either thought, or experienced, in the weeks leading up to the weekend. He must be very tuned in to be able to speak to where people are without explicitly being told. I also got some new pointers from him which I found useful.

One of the first things he began by saying was that, of people who awaken, almost all -- perhaps even 100% -- will eventually slide back into ego-consciousness. It is as if the ego stealthily regroups and reforms in a new way.

The questioners tended to ramble. I watched Adyashanti as he listened. He would valildate the questioner every 3-8 seconds (I counted!). That's probably what made them feel invited to ask questions that included such lengthy personal disclosure. When they finally finished, I often felt that what they were really looking for was psychotherapy. Sometimes I could see how their mindset reflected birth issues. One woman almost started primaling there and then. I wondered whether Adyashanti was aware of what was happening.

I'm reading his book "The End of Your World" and I really like it. He points out in the book (in much more polite language) that he essentially sorts out students into two groups, those who are looking to feel good and have ego support, and those who are looking for the real thing, and that he sorts them out pretty quickly. He can then work with them where they are. I totally get this approach, though I must admit, it has to take tremendous patience to work with the great majority of people out there. This guy is doing good work, I think.

I had never heard of this guy until today but I really like his style, very down-to-earth and BS-free. I'm away to listen to some of his stuff!

Thanks for introducing me to this!

Edit: Listened to both parts. Outstanding.

I've really been soaking up Adya's teachings recently. Having been well-confused by the maps and paths of the pragmatic dharma movement, I really like the simplicity and directness of how Adya lays it all out.

I was searching for Adya talks the other day, and I stumbled upon this archive: www.tiny.pl/5253 Some of the files seem legal some definitely not. Conscience guide you.
-John