Going Buddha
By Leo Gura - April 30, 2018 | 34 Comments
My 30-day meditation challenge
anne says: Just wait until you realize that you don’t have to ‘do’ anything at all, where being requires no effort. The Earth feels static, without time, like you are walking around a fixed snow-globe, no 30 day meditation necessary, it’s just reality.
I think you will find that there will be topics after the fact as well, for people who have just realized.
Maybe navigating the lack of motivation of doing anything in the type of society we live in, exchanging illusion-encouraging work for food/shelter.
Interacting with humans in illusion, instead of staring at them in a state of shock.
Getting used to walking among ghosts as if it were the apocalypse.
Distinguishing ‘me waking up’ vs ‘waking up from me’.
Being the only human experiencing paradise, while witnesses the rest of the world blow each other up or distract from it.
Ego creeping back in when you attempt to play a person at work so you can keep your job.
Just general transitioning really, the letting go of everything.
I took the same method you did, documented my ego self-destructing itself by deconstructing each source of conditioning. I am curious to know where you’ll end up at the end of this. The last video ‘I’ ever made, I looked at the camera for 20 minutes, and couldn’t even speak anything, I just stared at myself, nothing, there was nothing more to be said, and that was the end of me and any action after that.
Who knows what will happen. It has been such a privilege to watch your journey. It validated a lot of what I experienced after the fact, and toward the end helped settle the insanity I was experiencing on a path that was walked alone.
Wishing ‘you’ the best, but not really..
Hope to really ‘see’ you on the other side some day.
Natalia says: Hi Anne! Wow! I would love to hear more about your experience, sounds real.
Anne says: Keep Questioning
Tangy says: Hi Anne,
I read your comment and it resonated with me immensely. Your comment validated things that I’ve experienced on this path. At times, I thought I was going insane. But, as you stated, when you watch others on their journey, it confirms that it’s all part of the process. The process of seeing through the illusion of the mind/reality into who you really are. Being able to live in this world, but not be of this world. To live in this world through awareness and only use mind for practical purposes.
Anne says: Glad it was helpful!
Yvonne says: Hi Leo, surely what you are hoping to achieve by 30 days of meditation is self-transcendence. Given what you have achieved over the last 4 years with your own self-development you are surely a self-actualising person. Next step – self-transcendence. Perhaps self-transcendence is also a return to the primal state of joy human beings are born in. We gradually spend less time in joy as we grow up and experience the other human emotions, getting stuck in some of them like fear or sadness or sliding down into unconsciousness, until we have forgotten what it feels like to be joyful. Look forward to hearing what you have to say about your meditation experience.
Michelle says: I will miss you. See you soon and good luck.
Marwan says: Leo, I am 24 years old, started self actualizing since 5 month and learning dating game cause I am horrible at it, while having a 9 to 5 job, should I buy the life purpose course now or wait until I become good at what I am doing now and then go for your course ? thanks
barbara says: buddhahood, well i hope you would achieve that, for the sake of the rest of us. even though it’s said the next one will not come for a while.
so it would be more: going to the next level of being bodhisattva, because, well that seems to be your path. i doubt there could even be a buddha who achieves buddhahood without being a bodhisattva first.
the fact that you have a very modern approach to it makes me hope that you will not stop with your teaching afterwards and not go into full seclusion. because enlightenment doesn’t mean there would be nothing left after understanding everything is nothing and nothing is everything – it would mean, because that is a fact, everything is now and exactly as it is. there is no time there is only different dimensions of now.
the world processing through now. and now is just a place btw. space.
and you are just one dimension of it.
but without that body of yours or any body you can hardly change anything, even a buddha has a body when he/she/them/it reaches enlightenment.
even your mind is part of your body.
please be good to that body – and live and feel a little bit more of the nature, a little bit more of the beauty of life – directly. because even enlightenment is not fleeing nor separation but getting more involved being more part of it, being everything, now.
non atachement doesn’t mean less emotion, less compassion but being able to feel everything sourounding you.
and nower days, you don’t even have to live the life of a monk anymore – even the dalailama wants to split free from that in his next life.
so maybe the part of not getting involved might also change, into getting involved as much as possible for the better of everyone, of everything now and forever.
so i hope you will continue your path, because you already got involved – and i’m sure that’s speeding the process up, for all of us, especially for yourself.
barbara says: by the way – buddha can only arise from own power.
so that would mean it is impossible for someone who takes substances to get there.
just read that, again on german wikipedia – its different to the english site…
don’t know if it’s a common belief (in theravada certainly) but germans are usually quite accurate in defining.
Brett says: I trust this comment was meant somehow sincerely, but maybe not too serious…
I wonder if I can joke:
Paradox much? Must achieve Sambudassa via “own power” whatever that means. So now we have learned that “substances” have separate power, wha?? I bet the Leo carbon based unit ate food to derive some of that “power”…oh well, I’ll never understand this stuff.
barbara says: hahaha
had a good laugh brett, wrote that indeed because i don’t know how serious leo is about that stuff – last videos where very contradictory to older videos. so i got a little anxious. wanted to leave some comments – what doesn’t make sens, because he doesn’t read them, at least at the moment.
what do you mean with carbon based unit? from enterprise or because the human being is carbon based?
Jimmy Feiling says: Leo? Drop me a text if you fell into a volcano. Hope your alright dude.
Max Gron says: Wow I didn’t know Leo was such a holy man, sent by God, and a good prophet until now, having no drugs is precisely what’s right for my life, this is the climax of spiritual awakening, and I will be awake as long as I feel sluggish with heavy eyes and unhealthy habits, drinking a coffee with no natural bodily functions because the pharmaceutical company messed up my natural, nocturnal body clock!!
shane says: How I became enlightened watching actualized.org videos and fallowing Leo’s Advice.
(READ WITH CAUTION! This is my personal experience and may not reflect the past or present experiences of other people fallowing Actualized.org)
I started watching his videos three years ago when I was living in a small village in China; broke and unemployed. I had been living in China 4 years by then and had been fired multiple times, failed out of college 7 times, and had my small businesses fail one after another. I became a depressed alcoholic drug addict with nowhere or no one to turn to. I had tried religion and personal development before, stuff like Tony Robbins and Jim Rohn, but still nothing would last and I would end up worse than before. I became suicidal.
But than I found a video called “How to stop being a victim” by a man named Leo Gura from Actualized.org and I really connected with what Leo had to say and the the way he said it. And for the first time in a long time, I felt hope again.
I continued to watch his more practical videos and tried my best to fallow his advice. I started questioning my beliefs, sobering up, walking and eating healthier. The change was slow, and I still had many relapses back into old habits. It seemed with all the great practical advice Leo was giving, something was missing.
Then I had my First enlightenment experience while watching the video “Enlightenment guided inquiry – The Neti Neti method.” The experience was so powerful it completely shifted the focus of my personal development from a practical nature to something more mystical.
Entering the world of the mystical uncharted waters of personal development was taking it’s toll on my psyche. Leo’s videos became difficult to watch. The even seeming small realizations I was was having were huge painful blows to my ego. I was now going through rapid changes without implementing any specific techniques or methods and felt as though I was losing control of the whole process. I would have massive mood swings going from a blissful peace and contentment to backlashes of depression and anger. And as I tumbled down the rabbit hole, I felt as though I was losing my mind.
Things continued like this for months, all the while still watching Leo’s videos for any advice I could get.
But then one afternoon, things radically shifted. After suffering for days in a state of rage, deep sadness and hopelessness, I discovered something. At the time it felt like a metaphorical small whole or crack in my mind or being and it seemed like a spring of light. Immediately the weight of sadness was replaced with light tranquility. Curiosity consumed me! What was this little thing I had discovered? I was expecting to relapse at any minute back into my irritable, angry self. But every train of thought, good or bad, kept getting interrupted by a pulling feeling leading my focus back to my new discovery. Observing it just felt so good, and like a moth to the flame, I couldn’t help myself.
In the beginning, I thought I was enlightened because I felt peaceful all the time and even had frequent moments of intense bliss. I quit drinking and smoking pot instantly and with ease. My diet changed radically and I lost 30 pounds in two months. Negative emotions would quickly dissipate and the pain of my past failures didn’t exist anymore. I lost all interest in entertainment and social interaction. Everything was perfect… at least for a while.
I became like a cat chasing a laser pointer, never able to grasp the object of my focus. I gave up spending time on my current business affairs, relationships, hobbies, and dreams and I just sat on my couch… watching this seemingly small entity ruin my life.
Criticism flooded in from everywhere, including from my own thoughts! , “You should be working. You can’t just sit around staring off into space! Don’t you have any ambitions or dreams? Your just a lazy bum! Your wasting your life!” I started to worry again, if I keep going like this, I’ll lose everything and everyone in my life. With great frustration I tried to reinstate myself into society… every attempt was futile, like hammering nails into water.
so I sought professional help from counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. They listened to my life story and my current situation and I was diagnosed with bipolar with a possibility of schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, paranoia and Post traumatic stress syndrome from child abuse and my experience in China. I was given medication and took them as directed. but unlike many other patients with similar symptoms, the medication made me feel terrible.
Most professionals thought my detachment was dissociation. In psychology, dissociation is any of a wide array of experiences from mild detachment from immediate surroundings to more severe detachment from physical and emotional experiences.
Some thought I was experiencing a psychotic breakdown.
And right after I moved to Saint George, Utah, I was hospitalized.
I received the same diagnosis and was put on medications again. No matter what medications they gave me, I felt worse on the medications than off them. I was an unusual patient, I was convinced there was nothing wrong with me other than the fact I was wasting my life away. And even the idea of wasting my life or become homeless didn’t inspire me to action. The counselors thought that because I didn’t function in society, and I didn’t share conventional values, there must be something wrong with me. I was conflicted because I thought we were both right.
Despite every counselor and psychiatrist telling me I needed to be on medications, I started to reject the idea that there was anything wrong with me more and more. By chance I started seeing a new psychiatrist who had a different point of view. She heard about my unusual situation and started to meet with me. She started counseling me and after a while meeting her for a couple weeks she made a diagnosis: “I don’t think you need to be on medication.” she started. “What’s happening is that you’re dis-identifying from thought…” She had a look of amazement on her face “How did you get there, I mean, what did you do to get there?”
I told my doctor about Leo’s videos, my experiences, radical behavior changes and my insentient sitting around.
She said I would be fine if I would stop fighting against it. And if I would just let go and run with it, the faster new behaviors would blossom.
No medications were prescribed that day, only more youtube videos that she thought might help. “Stick to what you know is true and listen to yourself” she advised. I told her that somehow I knew I was right all along, but my thoughts kept seducing me not to let go.
The session ended early, there was nothing left to say. And as I walk out, I told her I would not be returning to the clinic, my doctor bowed her head in reverence and said “thank you for your blessed example.” And we parted ways.
I took the Doctors advice and sat around as much as I wanted. I wiggled out of my cocoon and three weeks later; I became Enlightened.
Much has changed since then. I’m back in society now and still watch Leo’s videos now and again for old times’ sake.
I have never commented on Leo’s videos until now.
I wanted to make this post in dedication to all Leo’s work with Actualized.org.
Thank you so much Leo!
Xain says: Sorry to be the bearer of ill tidings but you are not enlightened.
shane says: You are right actually, when I wrote that I was not very Enlightened.
Peter 
Simon says: Hehe, Leo… Finally conceptual understanding is put off and the real practice starts. For example in korean zen tradition there is traditional form of doing 90 days solo meditation retreat and people are doing it even few times during lifetime. If it is not enough, zen monks are doing 3 months group retreats twice a year… year after year… I am wondering how was your time there and waiting for next video with your thoughts Cheers for everyone and lets meditate, 5 minutes spent on cushion with self-enquiry is more valuable than reading whole book on spirituality!
Xain says: Actually by making such videos he’s not even close. But it makes little difference since people will believe what they want.
I have seen his videos, a good deal are inaccurate or just flat out wrong. The Quantum physics one for example is wrong (it does not disprove materialism). He seems to question everything except what he preaches. The same goes for others who follow.
Ultimately saying one is Enlightened or has been shows that one has or is not. There is a reason you don’t know someone is enlightened.
Marcin says: It’s quite curious that almost all Zen schools do retreats indoors. Yet Buddah became enlighted under the Bodhi tree! I asked about it on my local Polish Zen forum (where Zen community is quite strong here) and got the answer that is because of weather condition. Well, I think unless weather is not dangerous for our lives, the meditation in summer rain will not melt down the body, but maybe will melt down the mind Go to the woods with a tent for seven days with no cell phone, laptop etc! This will much more valuable than 30 days indoor and less exposed to fail
Max Gron says: The one who parrots the Buddha and tries to have a correct interpretation will never be enlightened. The enlightened ones are more than petty lives with no mention of concentration or being a results maker. It’s not all fun and games and this bullshit with people, their idea of letting go isn’t letting go, and they’re fools who take drugs and believe everything Leo says. It’s all profound and no one here is ever smart enough to question or to even find belief suspicious.
Xain says: There isn’t such a thing as enlightenment though, just what changes in the brain from a repetition of certain actions and beliefs.
Also I have to say you’re pretty brainwashed if you think there is such a thing as god consciousness or that people don’t live in reality. You aren’t above americanism, patriotism, or any of that stuff you’re just like every religion/cult/spiritual movement/ conspiracy theorist who thinks X is reality and everyone else is in denial.
It’s also not possible to live without judgment, even “enlightened” folks still do it.
Michelle says: I dont think Leo ever said he was enlightened.
Joe Yisher says: The word doubt sometimes means the potential to be internally motivated a great deal it could mean that though the word comes with a connotation
Joe Yisher says: Second thought it’s (self)trust that is inspiration for massive action doubt which obstructs? Which is different than trusting others in a psychological sense
Max Gron says: He’s at the pinnacle of not having fun now, and I will stick the no fun up his arse. Since no one else is at any challenge, I have an all-round solution to everything: be content that you get little money, do the meditations, be funny, don’t take this spiritual stuff too seriously, and enjoy your success if it’s not sucked out of you. I already made the mistake of listening to some of the videos to which doing the work freaks me out, I watched most of the videos. I should be having fun but there is no fun, there’s day-to-day lives of pure selfishness, and no self or other I should swing my boot from one position down on the floor to another position on the arse crack.
Xain says: Pretty sure there is such a thing as fun. It’s also worth not watching any of Leo’s stuff since he doesn’t know anything about anything, dude is pretty much a cult leader who doesn’t tolerate questioning him.
Max Gron says: I’m not mentioning that none of his videos are worth watching, I’m responding with the videos I’m educated with. It’s the videos of individuality I take issue with, and I take issue when his followers are sheep and are parroting the teachings without ever thinking for themselves. In any case my life got better with the millions of videos, it’s all relative to distance and time, the problem is most people in this community are believers and they have no scepticism, they want success and money and not anything more than a petty life. Stupid shit Leo talks about when he doesn’t think you should do stupid shit. Further down the line the science relative to knowledge is very simple, to just know what he’s talking about. Interpretation shouldn’t be one or two ways but should be everyone else’s perspective including one’s own interpretation, which is relative. High on the hierarchy is simply to meditate, healthy eating, exercise, etc, infinite imagination and God consciousness. And I should be above materialism, good and evil, and mindless stadiums, Americanness and patriotism, I should play no roles like everyone here. People should wake up and do no judgment, and not live outside of reality.
Xain says: For the record Max, no one is above anything. To think they are is the height of folly. And we all live in reality regardless of what you might think.
Max Gron says: The people who get it are taking action, that’s how simple the truth is, and as for Leo’s teachings, they apply to you like they apply to the rest of us, you’re no different to anyone else who reacts to the spiritual elite, but I’m no elite, I’m currently at the green stage and I rose above blue. A sense of humility without spiritual arrogance will do me good.
Xain says: Actually his teachings don’t apply to me. Because I fact checked them and it’s surprising how much he doesn’t know about anything.
If you’re referring to spiral dynamics, that’s not actually a thing recognized in psychology.
The “people who get it” aren’t doing anything. They’re just stuck in ignorance like you are.