When I had first awakened to the present moment that is felt on a biological level and went through direct Nirvana, heaven & bliss I wanted to go much deeper on what had actually occurred.

So I decided to research the topic of spiritual awakening, Nirvana and how I could turn that awakening experience into a regular everyday practice.

So that’s just what I did, and today after practicing the research that I had found I’m able to go directly into several minor glimpses of bliss, medium glimpses and even going all the way consistently now.

There are 5 different paths that lead me to this same pathless path that I am in right now. The teachings of Eckhart Tolle, Advaita Vedanta, Zen, Dzogchen & Taoism.

All the teachings were important because they were able to hit the thinking-mind from all different kinds of angles.

Let’s go through each of them and break them down:

Awakening with Eckhart Tolle:

In his books The Power of Now, Stillness Speaks and A New Earth it’s all centered one thing.

To awaken to the Present moment.

By awakening to this present moment, we come to see how the present moment is the only moment that there truly is, and because it is the only moment that there truly is, it is our salvation, our freedom and completion.

We come to see that all experiences that the mind projecting is moving in and out of this present moment. And that because of the fleeting nature of all experience, not a one single experience can set us free.

Thus we come to know that because we are here already REGARDLESS of our experiences that we are already free.

Advaita Vedanta:

To know who I am?

As compared to Eckhart Tolle’s teachings the focal point is not awakening up to “where” you are but awakening up to “who” you are.

We born into a world with the unconscious assumption that who I am is my name and the experiences I go through.

Waking up from the i-thought and waking up to the true I is the essence of Advaita Vedanta.

By waking up to this true I we come to see that our home is by knowing our true nature.

And that our true nature was never born, and it will never die.

And thus our freedom cannot be born, thus our freedom cannot die.

Waking up to this true I you wake up to true nature of everything, or thus oneness.

Zen

Just as in Advaita Vedanta having unconscious assumptions of whom we are, we also have unconscious assumptions about how life is or about how we think it’s supposed to be.

In Zen reaching enlightenment or rather to “See reality as it is.”

By seeing reality as it is, we can drop our expectations of how we think it should be which will always lead to suffering.

Seeing reality as it is has nothing to do with a new perspective, viewpoint or opinion.

But stilling and silencing the mind deeply enough where you enter a state called Samadhi.

Samadhi is the complete merging of subject/object where rather than thought version of you seeing reality as it is, you come to see that REALITY is seeing reality as it is.

But then there is only ONE reality?

So then who is seeing what?

Dzogchen

The “Great Perfection” or the “Great Completeness”

As Candice O’Denver explains is that awareness is the one basic fundamental experience that there is.

That awareness is without the concept of a “Where” or “Who”

And this makes perfect good sense according to all of the traditions above because Eckhart Tolle will say that the present moment is non conceptual.

Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, Papaji and Mooji would all confirm that your true nature or the true I is also non conceptual.

Non conceptual as in the mind or your thoughts being able to understand, grasp or interpret WHAT awareness actually is.

So both the “who” or “I” assumes that there is a such thing as an identity and the “where” or “Now” assumes that there is a such thing as time.

The Great Perfection or Great Completion essentially means that like in Zen when you see reality as it is, you will see that awareness because it’s all there is, it completely perfect and complete beyond the scope of our imagination.

Taoism:

“We are not sure whether we know, or we don’t know.” – Lei Tzu

Just like not actually knowing what awareness, we cannot know what the Tao is, but we can know what it is.

Excuse me what I meant was. We can know what The Tao is, it’s just that we cannot know what the Tao is.

What this means is that your true nature, the nature of emptiness, empty of anything that remains is that you cannot know what the Tao is conceptually, but because you are that you have no choice but to know.

This means that following Tao means your body is now operating purely out of consciousness of the state of thoughtless emptiness as compared to not following the Tao or following your life purely from your thoughts, the programming and the conditioning.

You’re already that I am, but are you aware of that I am?

Again…

“We are not sure whether we know, or we don’t know.” – Lei Tzu

When you’re not worried about whether you know or you do not, whether you are awake or not, then you are free as vast space consciousness.

Imagine roaming around, dancing around on a playground/recess that was infinite in distance with no starting point?

With no starting point, you would roam with no idea what a destination means or what an ending means.

Because in this vast infinite space consciousness has NO starting point, no location, no time and thus it cannot have an end.

So what is the point of all this?

Well if we are looking at it from a logical, practical and rationale standpoint then we can look no further than The Buddha.

The Buddha’s goal was to end human suffering. But not just moving away from pain though, but also at the same time moving towards your natural joy too, also known as Satchitananda or Joy-Consciousness-Bliss.

When the Buddha had experienced Nirvana which is the end suffering, he also experienced the MOST ABSOLUTLE, UNIMAGINABLE, INCONCEIVABLE JOY, BLISS AND HEAVEN.

Consider that your joy can be as expansive as the space that surrounds you.

Scientists have yet to find how far space goes, because they have yet to find a starting point.

It means that your joy that you are is already totally infinite.

So how do all of these all wrap up into leading to the end of suffering and the realization of bliss?

Because words cannot pinpoint this realization directly, my worry less about words and their meanings and about lighting a spark somewhere in that being of yours.

Commonalities

Stilling the Mind.

Emptying the mind.

Silencing the mind.

Seeing directly through the mind.

The root cause of all suffering is false identification with the mind, because if you take yourself to be the mind then your mind won’t be able to stop.

And without the mind being able to stop right now, will you be able to wake up to the now.

And without waking up to what is constant will you suffer because you will always be at the mercy of things going your way for your completion.

It is said that you cannot stop the mind totally because that implies that in the future you won’t be able to live properly.

However, because as Eckhart Tolle says there is only now, you don’t even have to worry about stopping for good, you stop thinking just for now & only for now.

And as you silence mind, at the same timeless moment present moment awareness arises.

In Zen which is a big proponent of Zazen or meditation, it’s about stilling the mind long enough for you go into the deepest silence that there is also known as Nirvikalp Samadhi.

“Burn yourself up like a good bonfire. Leaving no trace.” – Shunryu Susuki, Zen Master

Upon reaching this total and complete silence enlightenment hits you and thus you (reality) see reality as it is… which is one.

In Advaita Vedanta knowing this true your true nature or the true “I” mean instantaneously brings you into the most complete and natural silent state.

The reason that this state is stateless though is because it’s not a state that comes in goes as your thoughts do. Each thought is creating its own experience and because

“Beyond the mind there is no such thing as experience.” – Nisaragadatta Maharaj

I would even say, beyond the mind there is no such thing as the mind.

This is why because the minds nature is fleetingness you don’t actually have quiet the mind, you can just see through it prior to one more second passes, even prior to the smallest measurement of time.

This is another way of saying in Buddhist terms

“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” 

Meaning that the true nature of the mind is that it’s already empty.

Empty of what?

Empty of something constant or something that remains.

And as Ramana Maharshi would say…

Trace your thoughts back to their original nature, and you will come know your true self by doing so…

You will come directly into an infinite vast spaciousness which is where all thoughts arise out of and vanish back into.

Stillness

Sailor Bob says that all thought is energy. And when thinking happens it is the movement of that energy. That energy is pulsating.

And stillness is when the movement of that energy comes to a stop, when it stills.

It’s like when you throw a rock into the ocean and it creates ripples, each ripple creating its movement and flowing into the movement of others ripples, but eventually when those ripples vanish back into the ocean, the ocean comes back to its natural stillness & nonmoving state.

Where the Dzogchen “The great perfection” and the “Great Completion” come into play is that because awareness is already all there is, all human suffering is part of the natural harmony of the universe.

And it is the mind that will “wish” away all human suffering going against the way that reality is.

The Great Perfection because you cannot actually know what awareness is and by defining it you superimpose your conditioning and programming on it.

Awareness is that when you’re silent, you don’t know the concept of silence.

Awareness is that when you’re empty & still right now you don’t know the concepts of emptiness or stillness.

Awareness is that although you are not the mind, you truly don’t know who you are, otherwise that knowing is a thought.

Awareness is that only when you (mind) don’t know who you are without a thought is when you know who you are.

“I know that I know nothing and I’m not even sure of that.” – Unknown

Only when you do know what it means to be aware can you truly be aware – and thus it gives INFINITE VAST SPACE for everything to be just as it is.

Taoism wraps all this up really nicely and would have to say that it’s the most distinct out of all the rest in that…

“Being and non-being create each other” – Lao Tzu

And

“If you want to shrink something you must first allow it to expand.” – Lao Tzu

This means that paradoxically speaking that if you remain identified as the mind and suffer as a result of too much thought then the Great Perfection remains perfect.

That because Taoism is the most natural, effortless flowing perfection that it ALLOWS for every last thought to be just as it is. It is ALLOWS when you feel the need to control, to get angry, to get pissed TF off!

It is only when we allow ourselves to be totally imperfect that we can come to know truly what IS perfect.

Offend someone? Magnificent!!!

Say the wrong thing at the wrong time?

B-E-AUTIFUL!!

Get Fired from your job for waking up late? AMAZING!!!

You’re in a panic because you don’t know if you will have enough money for bills? SWAWEET!

All of this is still moving in and out of the Great Perfection and is the perfect time to be still.

Is space affected from Volcanoes that erupt?

Is space affected from Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Earthquakes and from Global Warming?

The obvious answer is no, space remains unaffected.

In fact, it’s our moving away from the Tao that’s really harming the planet.

You are not in space, you ARE SPACE.

So what do Zen, Presence, Advaita, Dzogchen and Taoism all have in common?

They all lead back to no-thing, to space which is infinite with no beginning & no ending.

The all lead back to one reality…As you sit as one space and your thoughts project outwardly they are also creating a distance or separation.

So by coming to know your true nature with silence you’re coming to know because you are not a thing, that you are one.

And that because this oneness is silent of all concepts that there is inner freedom from suffering.

That because you are unborn awareness that this is not something you achieve or that you gain.

Awareness does not come into being, being is already here and thus being does not die.

When do you know this? Now.

Where do you know this? Here.

Who knows this? I  

What are you? No-thing.

Where is the here and the now? No-Where. You cannot locate it because awareness has no starting point.

You are Consciousness which just simply is.