Satori porn

So these tales of satori, like for example from Kapleau's "Three Pillars of Zen", are those path moments? Those seem pretty far out in comparison to what is often reported here, i.e. "what was that?" or "was that it?" I guess they come in all flavors, like A&Ps.

It seems that the term satori, popularized in the West by Jack Kerouac's novel 'Satori in Paris', can mean almost anything these days. But in reality satori is the Japanese transliteration of the Sanskrit 'sambodhi', i.e., enlightenment. When this shattering event is triggered by an intense absorbtion in a koan, a bright light, a sudden sharp sound or a turning word from a skilled master, it is likely to feel like waking up suddenly from a long amnesia to realize that we where never born and will never die, have always been free, while there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. The event leads to a permanent adaptation that we call technical 4th path on this forum.

In the Zen tradition, 'sudden enlightenment' (satori) is followed by 'gradual cutivation' to remove the fetters and remaining habits that drag us back into identification even after awakening. The process of embodiment [of awakening] takes about 15 years and seems to match what very advanced yogis have been reporting on this forum, notably the permanent vanishing of a sense of self (called 'dying thoroughly' in Zen).

Kapleau's mission was to promote and popularize the actual experience of Zen practice in North America decades ago, which explains why he included so many reports (with deep and shallow expeirences) to show to the public that average Americans could benefit from Zen, even if they do not live cloistered in a monastery.