Leo's Practical Guide To Enlightenment

[Leo Gura]

@Babybat Answer the following questions honesty:

• Did a major shift in awareness occur?
• Are you absolutely clear now of what you are?
• Are you the physical human body you've always thought you were?
• Do you feel infinite, without boundaries or location?
• Do you actually understand, or are you in a temporary meditative high?

If you answered: "YES! YES! NO! YES! I UNDERSTAND!"  then there's a pretty good chance you're enlightened.

Otherwise, no.

Sounds like you still aren't clear WHAT you are.

[Leo Gura]

@Babybat When you feel like that monkey on the stick, then you'll be enlightened.

You ain't there yet.

[Guest Annetta]

7 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@Babybat When you feel like that monkey on the stick, then you'll be enlightened.

You ain't there yet.

Hahah, Rafiki. Yeah.

I've been reading about Neo-Advaita and how it states that self inquiry is enough to have a Enlightenment experience, but I'm reading elsewhere that it's much better to use a chosen religion and stick to a practice to get there, what do you think?

[Leo Gura]

@Babybat Religion? No

That is not at all what I advocated.

[Aware]

6 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

• Did a major shift in awareness occur?
• Are you absolutely clear now of what you are?
• Are you the physical human body you've always thought you were?
• Do you feel infinite, without boundaries or location?
• Do you actually understand, or are you in a temporary meditative high?

 

Quote

 

If you answered: "YES! YES! NO! YES! I UNDERSTAND!"  then there's a pretty good chance you're enlightened.

Otherwise, no.

Sounds like you still aren't clear WHAT you are

 

 

 

Did a major shift in awareness occur.?
How can you say?

Are you absolutely clear now of what you are.?
How can you say?

Are you the physical human body you've always thought you were?
How can you say?

Do you feel infinite, without boundaries or location?
How can you say?

Do you actually understand, or are you in a temporary meditative high?

Merely speculation. Its almost christmas, millions upon millions will light candles. You think when those candles come to their end, you can say which direction they took? Rather they entered a shift, entered another body, is infinite or has boundaries? Can you say something about their location, or if it is a meditative state or not, what it is where they went?

Please readers, think.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Motus

[Azrael]

@Leo Gura Hey man, great post. Maybe you wanna look into Genpo Roshi's Bid Mind process if you haven't. I find it to be a good next step after one is through with his self-inquiry phase. I think you can get stuck with self-inquiry. For a lot of Westerns its a good way to really get it down that they don't know who they are but once you really had a few profound and permanent introducing enlightenment experiences, this tool will lose it's value over time. The Bid Mind process will directly induce an enlightenment experience through exploring every character you lay onto yourself and therefore separating it from your sense of self. I had a full blown temporary enlightenment experience when I watched this.

But anyways, thanks for the resource. Keep it up!

[Rimbaud]

Quote

Did a major shift in awareness occur?

Are you absolutely clear now of what you are?

Are you the physical human body you've always thought you were?

Do you feel infinite, without boundaries or location?

Do you actually understand, or are you in a temporary meditative high?

First time post.   As a long term meditator I wanted to say that I'm very impressed @Leo Gura  with your videos and posts.    The questions above remind me a lot of the questions asked on the website  "Liberation Unleashed" where there are guides that point the way to an understanding of the fictional nature of the self. 

  Personally I wouldn't use the "E" word  (enlightenment) for someone that can answer the questions "correctly"....   It would seem to point to an either/or situation where one  is or is not "enlightened" and I think it's a lot more nuanced.

On the Liberation Unleashed website  my guide likened  answering the questions correctly (similar to your questions In the quote above)  with  "high school graduation"   meaning that there is a lot of deepening and embodiment that can happen after an initial shift.

I can answer the questions correctly but I know I haven't gone as deep as Shinzen Young,   Nisargadatta  or  Ramana

At the same time I know that it's all here now.   All caps:  THIS IS IT

 

 

[Leo Gura]

@Rimbaud Of course that isn't complete enlightenment or mastery. As I keep on telling people, but people keep refusing to listen.

This here is kensho, or a first glimpse.

[Raquel]

@Leo Gura Most people are too in love with their lifes filling up as much as possible and you are asking them to empty it all? ?

That's all we have been told to do with our lifes: Give a meaning. That all we know we have to do.

Even us, seeking enlightenment,  what is the underneath desire?! Meaning

And why? What is desire of knowing this?

Before starting this process would be beneficial to get rid of intention to get enlightenment. That's another distraction

[Leo Gura]

2 minutes ago, Raquel said:

Before starting this process would be beneficial to get rid of intention to get enlightenment. That's another distraction

No, strong intention is very necessary.

Don't make the mistake of burning your ship before you cross the ocean.

Spiritual desire is great thing. Not all desire is egoic. If that was the case, we'd all be screwed.

[Raquel]

18 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Spiritual desire is great thing. Not all desire is egoic. If that was the case, we'd all be screwed.

According to to the exercise now I could think  "Is it? No, what you think it is is not that...!but desire is existancial, search is existencial? No that's a theory, I'm not  that" ?!

?

[kurt]

On 12/19/2016 at 11:10 PM, Motus said:

Now let me ruin your day...

Are you entangled in family traditions? Are you entangled in money profit making? Do you have much possessions? Stuck in religious dogmas that do not show the way? Are you not living secluded from worldly activities? Are you not secluded from unwholesome deeds? Do you have much security in life?

Good, now you can read the post of Leo over and over again everyday, and swim from shore to shore, without being able to dwell freely in the enlightened stage you've just had due to the discipline that doesn't support it, due to the sense indulgence and the worries that arise due to possessions, family traditions and worldly activities that swallow you straight back.

Those living simple, few possessions, live secluded from worldly activities, live secluded from unwholesome deeds and are always mindful, eat and drink not to much or to little, surely can remain free of mind.

This is why its so difficult.  We need to be able to recondition the mind to stay introverted, to the task of understanding what it's true nature is.  Good work

[kurt]

4 hours ago, Raquel said:

According to to the exercise now I could think  "Is it? No, what you think it is is not that...!but desire is existancial, search is existencial? No that's a theory, I'm not  that" ?!

?

The desire to experience enlightened states is a distraction.  It should be sublimated into the desire to understand what you already are.  We dont have an experience problem, we have a knowledge problem, the removal of ignorance solves the knowledge problem, no spiritual experience will suffice.

[kurt]

On 12/22/2016 at 2:50 AM, Babybat said:

Hahah, Rafiki. Yeah.

I've been reading about Neo-Advaita and how it states that self inquiry is enough to have a Enlightenment experience, but I'm reading elsewhere that it's much better to use a chosen religion and stick to a practice to get there, what do you think?

Yes.  If you understand what religion is actually FOR then you will be all over it like a rash.  Religion will get you enlightened, neo advaita wont.  But you need a science based religion because "religion" is just practices that prepare the mind to accept and hold the knowledge you had for a while.  If you continue to lead a non religious life you wont become enlightened.  Its as simple as that.

Meet Ganesh.  Ganesh is a religious symbol, most people dont know what Ganesh stands for, if you can see through the delusions we hold about religion, you can cut straight to the core of what it is, and you will understand how practicing religion (properly) is really the only way to realization.  Most direct paths leave us wanting because they just dismiss most of the goood stuff as religious or cultural dogma.

 

Edited December 24, 2016 by kurt

[kurt]

On 12/20/2016 at 11:51 AM, AxelK said:

@Leo Gura Ok, so would it be more correct to say that the brain is just a tool to experience consciousness?

The "brain" is just a part of the material world, its got nothing to do with consciousness.  The brain controls the physical body and the mind, but the mind and body is not conscious.  

You can understand this instantly if you want because you can see for yourself that the mind is an object appearing to you, you can SEE the mind, you can EXPERIENCE your mind, because the mind is just is dead, inert, its a programme, a mechanical product of the physical body and its conditioning.  Its not "sentient".  

The sentiency we are talking about, the SEER, the aspect that witnesses the mind, is consciousness, is you. Consciousness is what is illumining this life, this body, it is the "life force" that makes the material world possible.

When the mechanics of the body stop working consciousness does not leave the body, it remains because it is everywhere, it is all pervading.  The body and mind just dies because it has malfunctioned or come to the end of its programmed life span.  Its not a problem, because it is just a machine, it is not "self".  

Self does not die, self is the one consciousness that lights up the material world, the material world cannot exist without self, but self exists without matter.

The brain is real, it exists, it just does not exist IN OUR EXPERIENTIAL body (the subtle body), it can only exist as a thought there. But there is indeed a material universe.  

Understand?

Edited December 24, 2016 by kurt

[Guest Annetta]

@kurt

Cool cool!  I'll read up on this guy tomorrow.  I feel like the fact that my intuition, or awareness or whatever, showed itself to me and let me know that the best thing to do is follow those signs, that religion might be a good choice.
I've chosen this one: https://www.sakya.org/
And I might join a Christian church of some sort as well for some different perspectives.

My family was brought up Mormon, and a lot of their dysfunction has to do with how religion was managed in the household, so I feel like I have a good understanding of how it can turn out when used inappropriately. 

The community aspect appeals to me, along with having some guidance on how to develop and stick to my personal values and morals, which were never properly developed.  Do you have some advice on how to go into this in the right way?

Edited December 24, 2016 by Babybat

[kurt]

@Babybat If you resonate with a religion you should try it out.  You self is always giving you opportunities to realize freedom, putting you into situations that resonate with your inquiry vasanas.  If youre attracted to Tibetean Buddhism then you must try it out because even on a common sense level, if you just did what Leo told you to do, and followed his beliefs then you would be walking HIS path, and that is not going to work.  So it is common sense to follow your heart, its trying to open doors for you.

I looked at the website, it looks good, I didnt have time to research it, but as always look for how the teachers live their teachings. If they are not living their own teachings then investigate more.  Do some inquiry on yourself too.  In the first 4-5 months I had projections onto my teacher.  After looking into them along with checking the teacher out I resolved the issue, now things are fine and I'm absorbing the material well, and its working!

Joining  church is cool, now Im on my path Im open to other religions because I am firmly established in my practices my mind is strong enough to be able to have a healthy interest in other paths, but I dont mix the two, I stick to my path because mixing will confuse you, because not all paths speak about the same truth, they are different.  The thing is to be on a path, doing the practices (and trust me a proper path will give you practices this lot arent even aware of and they will blow your mind), then as a byproduct of having your values in place your mind will become curious to investigate others and see what they are doing.  Obviously you wil have your cult radar on, and a proper path will give you information about how to avoid those situations.

Your personal morals and values are fine, as long as they dont cause you suffering.  If they delude you and cause you suffering then you need to let them go and find the healthy version of the value that doesnt impose itself on others.  Usually adpoting a value of "accommodation" for all opinions sorts this out.  If you value peace of mind then accommodation will naturally be next on the list of values to assimilate.  If you have peace of mind at the top, then all your thoughts and behaviours should align themselves with that core value.  If your core value is destruction, then your thoughts and behaviours will reflect that value.  The mind is like a computer, if you programme it a certain way, it just churns out produce aligned with its programme.  All minds work the same way, they kick out thoughts which creates experience.  So just programme it to churn out what you want it to churn out and you will be fine.

No religion worth its salt will be asking you to ditch spiritual values.  However, if you value, say, making money at the cost of others then you probably will be discouraged to continue with that value, because its not going to create conditions in the mind for spiritual growth, even tho there is nothing inherently wrong with dog eat dog ways of making money, it will impact your mind in negative ways.  

Edited December 24, 2016 by kurt

[Guest Annetta]

@kurt
I’ve been wanting to check this place out since last year, but I never got around to it because I got sick.  I’m attracted to it because DBT is founded on some Buddhist beliefs, I feel like it would really help.  I see where you’re coming from, in fact projection is single handedly the biggest hurdle I’m facing right now.
Thanks for all the advice, I’m going to sit and think on it for a bit and decide what course of action I want to take.

@NTOgen
A little bit, but also not really.  It depends on what you think I'm being sly about.
Do you think I'm being sly because you don't believe my spiritual experience, or do you think I'm being sly because I Abramovic'd Mr. Meeseeks?

[kurt]

2 hours ago, Babybat said:

@kurt
I’ve been wanting to check this place out since last year, but I never got around to it because I got sick.  I’m attracted to it because DBT is founded on some Buddhist beliefs, I feel like it would really help.  I see where you’re coming from, in fact projection is single handedly the biggest hurdle I’m facing right now.
Thanks for all the advice, I’m going to sit and think on it for a bit and decide what course of action I want to take.

@NTOgen
A little bit, but also not really.  It depends on what you think I'm being sly about.
Do you think I'm being sly because you don't believe my spiritual experience, or do you think I'm being sly because I Abramovic'd Mr. Meeseeks?

I know projection is your biggest hurdle.  I've been watching your activity on here and I know a sick mind when I see one.  Get into a proper path, it will help remove the tamasic worldview you are holding onto, the sense of otherness you cling to, healthy minds attack ideas, not people. 

Edited December 24, 2016 by kurt

[WorthyBird]

There is an analogy from the field of psychology that may be useful in the investigation of no-self. We often think of ourselves like a spider with certain innate characteristics that spins a web of behaviors, thoughts, feelings, etc in accordance with our innate characteristics. Really, the web is a self-referential feedback loop that spins itself and creates the illusion of there being a spider. 

Perhaps a question we are left with is, "What is aware of the web when we realize there is no spider?"