Methods and Techniques for Inducing Non-dual Awakening

[Tashi108]

Hi all,

I have a question regarding concrete methods to induce spiritual awakening, or seeing through the illusion of the "I" or "me".

In late 2015, I came across a method called The Two-Part Formula for Awakening*. I had been seeking such a method since I first came across the term "spiritual awakening" in Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now several years earlier. Thus, I contacted the teacher behind the technique and arranged for so-called guidance to awakening. During the guidance, I applied the method for a minimum of 30 minutes twice daily, while exchanging emails with the teacher. Finally, on the fifth day of the guidance, a shift happened in my mind that has stayed (and deepened significantly) ever since.

*Deleted

Here is a quote from a different text where I describe the awakening event itself:

"During the last formal session of the day, I could feel a very strong tingling sensation behind my eyes. It felt like a current of electricity confined to one particular spot. This sensation had gradually become more and more apparent throughout the guidance and as I focused on it, at one point it grew so strong that I became absorbed in the sensation. Eventually, I imploded into this one point behind the eyes. The one-pointedness lasted for about a minute or so, before, out of nowhere, I exploded outwards and was shattered to pieces."

"After this, I got up and went to the toilet where I noticed that the sound of the beam hitting the water in the toilet was somehow different. I could also hear the wind outside much more intimately than I usually did. I kept noticing small things like this until I realized that what was different was that there was no small me anymore. It was simply gone! And with it, the difference between the space inside my body and outside of it disappeared; awareness had no location."

Now, the initial level of clarity I experienced in the time following right after the awakening did diminish somewhat. However, the fact that there was no central me didn't change. Since then I've been working to deconstruct the remaining "psychic tensions" in order to realize the empty radiance of the entire mind, as well as the physical body.

I understand that claims regarding awakening are controversial, and especially so when it comes to actual methods to induce awakening. There seems to be a widely held belief in the spiritual community that awakening is something that either happens to a selected few spontaneously or after decades and decades of intense spiritual practice. Nevertheless, it is my experience that awakening is not as big of a deal as many spiritual teachers purport it to be, in the sense that it can quite easily be attained given that the practitioner is in the possession of high-quality and high-precision tools. It is, however, a big deal in the sense that it marks the first permanent shift of the insight path, in other words, it opens the non-dual path in the first place. Thus those who have not had the shift take place are simply cut off from the experiential understanding of spirituality.

Anyway, my question here is whether anyone else has had similar experiences using a specific method for awakening. If so, which method did you use? How long did it take? What changes did it bring along? What was your previous experience with meditation and spirituality?

I've been thinking for years that it would be good to get an overview of various methods used to induce awakening in different traditions. I've already heard about Liberation Unleashed*, as well as the Just One Look** method, which seems similar (at least in terms of goal) though I haven't had time yet to investigate properly.

*deleted


Thank you, and many blessings,

Tashi

[movingalways]

Hi Tashi, welcome! For me, awakening to the nondual nature of reality/awareness was a gradual process, I did not seek out a method. It was when I encountered two simple words of truth that I could verify for myself that my awakening was accelerated, two words I return to when I find myself falling prey to the ignorance of the dividing ego. These two words are 'not two', the core teaching of Advaita Vedanta.

In order to support my nondual awakening and just because I enjoy them so much, I read wisdom books by those who have gone before me on this final human adventure. My book shelf is a lot lighter now, but I still have my favorites that are like old friends and some new ones that inspire me to go deeper into the silence of 'just' being.

[Miss Hepburn]

Tashi, Broke my heart to delete your attempt at by-passing our Rule....under FAQ.
You will, indeed, need to post 25 posts before posting links...
it is a protection for our members from viruses in spams.

That being said...
I do have time to suggest a book in the same vein by Michael Landford.
Careful of the title, not his other book, but:
"The Direct Means To Eternal Bliss"---incorporating, referring to and explaining Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta's teachings.

Oh, took me 28 days of 365 doing the simple daily Lessons in ACIM for the sudden Mind Shift to happen. :)
Many often don't get what the heck a mind shift even is...Paul talks about 'renewing your mind', even.

*A Course In Miracles.

OH! And welcome here, you are a great addition!
................
On page 2 here iamthat posted the link, looks great, btw :)
https://www.amritamandala.com/2pf

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Tashi108

I understand that claims regarding awakening are controversial, and especially so when it comes to actual methods to induce awakening. There seems to be a widely held belief in the spiritual community that awakening is something that either happens to a selected few spontaneously or after decades and decades of intense spiritual practice.

An interesting subject. The difficulty is that awakening can mean different things to different people, and it can happen in so many different ways as you say.

For some it happens spontaneously with no obvious preparation - e.g. Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Tony Parsons. Although both Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie seemed to have reached a state of inner hopelessness where suddenly something within them surrendered.

Others spend years doing various practices (such as Adyashanti) and suddenly realisation happens. But there seems to be nothing about their practice to explain why awakening happens when it does.

For others (such as Arthur Osborne or Andrew Cohen or Sailor Bob) awakening happens through being in the presence of teachers such as Ramana Maharshi, H.W.L. Poonja or Nisargadatta.

After their awakening these people begin teaching, but they may teach very different things, which all adds to the confusion. Some say do nothing, even if they themselves did all sorts of practices before awakening. Others say practise Self-enquiry. Others say work to eliminate all identification with a separate ego.

No wonder people are confused and they go from one teacher to another trying to find the missing ingredient to spark their own awakening.

For myself, I went down the more traditional route of long hours of meditation (Shabd Yoga or Nada Yoga). This worked for me but I recognise that it is not for everyone.

Whatever we do, I think that the key is surrender. Something within us surrenders, we reach the point where we are willing to sacrifice all identification with a small separate self. The difficult part is reaching that point.

An afterthought. Some teachers claim that awakening can happen to anyone. I disagree. If we consider awakening as an initiation to a greater reality, then all those who experience such an awakening have done the necessary work and preparation for such an initiation, if not in this lifetime then in previous lifetimes.

Peace

[Maisy]

This will be confusing for sure lol. My goal is to get rid of the "I" so in my way of thinking, there is no one to be awakened. But I'm still around or would be after I have no I. I think I would call that awakening. But I don't become awakened. There is no I in my opinion, no ego after awakening. Just awareness and understanding. I seek it by not seeking it. The I is the seeker. So I'm not interested in any methods. The one that does methods or wants it is the I. It's pretty simple my method. Just stop being an I. Just be aware and present and understanding. Who can be awakened? Nobody! But anyone can be a nobody.

[inavalan]

Originally Posted by Tashi108

...
Thank you, and many blessings,
Tashi

I believe that a true awakening leaves you knowing what you have to do here and now. If you aren't in such a state, then you didn't really have a true / full awakening.

You can see that people call "awakening" and "realization" many different things. This means that all of them achieved something to some degree, but at some point they branched off because of their beliefs and expectations. This also means that their current belief (most of them emphatically call it "knowing") is a distortion to some unknowable degree. Unfortunately, you can't know for sure who went all the way.

In my opinion, the only path is to turn inwards and tap your inner-source of knowledge and guidance, while leaving aside all your beliefs and expectations. Then, use whatever method and technique appeals to you the most.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Maisy

...I seek it by not seeking it. The I is the seeker. So I'm not interested in any methods. The one that does methods or wants it is the I. It's pretty simple my method. Just stop being an I. Just be aware and present and understanding. ...

And yet it could be said that choosing to be aware and present and understanding is just as much a method as sitting in meditation or any other practice. The path of supposed non-seeking is still a practice of seeking. There is still an "I" choosing to be aware and present and understanding in the hope that this will lead to the realisation that there is no "I".

Again it seems to come down to surrender, and we find different ways to reach the point where we are ready to surrender. Whether we call our way seeking or non-seeking, we are still doing something.

Peace

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by iamthat

The path of supposed non-seeking is still a practice of seeking.

Not to me. To me it is literally not-seeking. There is not even an "I" to surrender or to be interested in such a thing.

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by iamthat

Whether we call our way seeking or non-seeking, we are still doing something.

not-doing does not equate to inactivity in my mind...

but anyway this is an assumption people make, that there is no path to not-doing...

it is like saying, not making sounds is not a matter of not having sound but a matter of making the sound no-sound...

like you can't leave a room and empty it out, somehow part of you must stay...

as if you can't completely have the absence of something, there is always a presence of something trying to be absent...

i agree that is what is seems like, but I'm not sure that is what it is. For example I think that this tit for tat mentality a lot of us have, where we make a goal and then try to line our life's energy up in such a way as to achieve it, gets in the way of ever seeing that you don't have to be doing this to begin with.

[inavalan]

I believe that even a pebble, and a sub-atomic particle are seeking to fulfill their potential. One can do that lucidly (at some level of evolvement), or without lucidity (as almost everything in this physical-reality). Man is in the position to become lucid.

It may feel comfortable to be a pebble, but that's not why we are here, in my opinion.

We may try to not-seek when awake, but learning and growing still happen in our sleep.