Instant Enlightenment

Enlightenment happens when fully present in moment and awareness. But one will be aware in the Present. The Now is key for spirituality.

[Xan]

Originally Posted by not human

Whats that story about the 100th monkey? That 99 monkeys put in the work & the 100th monkey crosses over effortlessly...or something like that. Want a banana?

Here's the gist of the 100th monkey thing, not human.

Some animal behaviorists, or such like, were observing monkeys on an island and noticed a small group of them were washing their sweet potatoes before they ate them. They wondered, what if another group would learn that from the first bunch, and somehow arranged for them to see each other.

One monkey family after another learned the behavior through imitation... until at one point after "the 100th monkey" learned it, suddenly all the monkeys on the island began washing their sweet potatoes without ever seeing the ones who already did it. As I recall the monkeys on a nearby island with no chance of physical contact between them also began sweet potato washing.

When enough of us educated monkeys get into clearing our minds there may be that sort of leap I've envisioned before... a contagion of awakening awareness and love. Who knows?


Xan

Thanks Xan. Theres hope for us primates yet:)

Originally Posted by Sentientno1

i'm with you on this NH.

Enlightened, dunno really what that refers to... am favoring realisation simply because it sorta carries the meaning of some knowledge connection applying to life questions.

By last count i came up with 5 of them, and maybe those realisations are mistaken, each one, to be the only one, or the last or whatever. It would serve no purposful meaning to deliberatly claim any realisation, so am thinking there are prolly honestly mistaken people who think they've arrived.

Years ago under a guru's tutalage there were criteria for determining realisation.

I always thought "why did the chicken cross the road" good zen. Kids are very good at koans..."why mommy why, why mommy why"

Hi Sen. Reminds me of a story I heard once about a zen student who after attaining enlightenment visited her teacher. She grabbed his staff off him & threatened to strike him with it. The Roshe asked her what was up & she replied " for years I have studied under you following you always searching for my true nature & now I have found it" The roshe was surprised at her reaction. She said " after all the searching this .....this ordinary thing......this thing I have disregarded all this time .....this is it? They both smiled. The more I shed the more this story rings true :)

Originally Posted by moke64916

Enlightenment happens when fully present in moment and awareness. But one will be aware in the Present. The Now is key for spirituality.

Moke that reminds me that right now I am the oldest I've ever been.......& now I'm older. Thanks mate

Our budgies learnt to fly the cage and go in each night for food and sleep. They used to put themselves to bed. They learnt this from one of our older budgies who passed the routine onto them. Sadly the budgie (Billy) who founded this idea died of a broken heart three weeks after his mate died. He just willed himself to die and was a tragic scene to watch. Sorry for lowering the mood perhaps but the monkey story reminded me of what our Billy started in our house.

Originally Posted by cheeky_monkey

Our budgies learnt to fly the cage and go in each night for food and sleep. They used to put themselves to bed. They learnt this from one of our older budgies who passed the routine onto them. Sadly the budgie (Billy) who founded this idea died of a broken heart three weeks after his mate died. He just willed himself to die and was a tragic scene to watch. Sorry for lowering the mood perhaps but the monkey story reminded me of what our Billy started in our house.

I know what you're up to ......you're just trying to take the focus off the monkeys eh ??? ;)

There are no avenues for instant enlightenment. Some may claim to be able to bestow this or sell it to others, but this is truly laughable.

Enlightenment is the result of a growth process. Others can't do this learning for us any more than they can learnt to read for us.

Originally Posted by mattie

There are no avenues for instant enlightenment. Some may claim to be able to bestow this or sell it to others, but this is truly laughable.

Enlightenment is the result of a growth process. Others can't do this learning for us any more than they can learnt to read for us.

My feelings as well ma'am ....it's a jungle out there

[sound]

Originally Posted by Sentientno1

Enlightened, dunno really what that refers to... am favoring realisation simply because it sorta carries the meaning of some knowledge connection applying to life questions.

By last count i came up with 5 of them, and maybe those realisations are mistaken, each one, to be the only one, or the last or whatever. It would serve no purposful meaning to deliberately claim any realisation, so am thinking there are prolly honestly mistaken people who think they've arrived.

I agree wholeheartedly Sentient ...
I would add that it is foolhardy not to 'inwardly' acknowledge any realizations, however grand or insignificant they may appear ... experience has shown me that if i ignore my own realizations then, ultimately I am allowing myself to remain 'stuck' in that wheel rut and rendering myself unready for rounding the next bend ... how often do people hear themselves saying ' i keep making the same mistake over and over and over' ... we talk about infinite potential, which I get the feeling is far from limited in any respect lol ... maybe enlightenment comes in increments, which then begs the question, can it be decremented lol