Enlightenment

[Michael119]

Leo had mentioned something about different levels of enlightenment in one of his videos, what levels are these?

[jjer94]

I think you may be referring to the Clare Graves Spiral Dynamics thing, which you can look up in Leo's video library.

If not, then I think you may be referring to the natural progression we take towards enlightenment. Yes, there can be certain stages, certain milestones, you hit on the pathless path, but I wouldn't take them too seriously if I were you. If you're interested in learning more about that, check out the book No Boundary by Ken Wilber. He goes into depth about all of the arbitrary stages.

[Emerald]

Well, I think you may be referring to the ox riding metaphor. Some spiritual teachers, like Shinzen Young, describe full-blown enlightenment as 'riding an ox backwards.' It is referred to in this way because an enlightened person has totally relinquished the idea that they have control over anything. This allows them to flow with life, completely in tune with the source. However, there are levels of progress toward this state. So, someone may experience a glimpse of enlightenment and an expansion of consciousness, but not live it as a permanent state of being. I recommend looking into Shinzen Young's two Youtbe channels titled 'expand contract' and ''Shinzen Young.' He has more info on this metaphor.

[James]

Here is a wiki link to the metaphor about the ox:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Bulls

Perhaps there are higher realizations than enlightenment, which could also account for "different levels".

Edited February 7, 2016 by James

[goodguy]

21 minutes ago, Emerald @ The Diamond Net said:

Well, I think you may be referring to the ox riding metaphor. Some spiritual teachers, like Shinzen Young, describe full-blown enlightenment as 'riding an ox backwards.' It is referred to in this way because an enlightened person has totally relinquished the idea that they have control over anything. This allows them to flow with life, completely in tune with the source. However, there are levels of progress toward this state. So, someone may experience a glimpse of enlightenment and an expansion of consciousness, but not live it as a permanent state of being. I recommend looking into Shinzen Young's two Youtbe channels titled 'expand contract' and ''Shinzen Young.' He has more info on this metaphor.

What does one have to do to make it a permanent state?

[Emerald]

11 minutes ago, goodguy said:

What does one have to do to make it a permanent state?

Continue practicing meditation, contemplation, and self-inquiry. You must question all of your most cherished and taken for granted beliefs and assumptions about reality, and especially the ones about yourself. Enlightenment is a subtractive process. You have to empty your cup, so that wisdom may flow into it. It is about getting a firsthand experience of what is true without thoughts or concepts getting in the way.