--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Mar 2, 2006, at 1:39 PM, Rick Archer wrote: > > > but I have a hard time > > believing that people like Eckhart Tolle and Bernadette Roberts are > > not > > enlightened merely because they couldn't be oblivious to having a nail > > driven through their foot or that they cast a shadow. I think he's > > raising > > the bar too high. Seems to me that enlightenment is a matter of seeing > > things clearly. It doesn't mean you're Superman. > > > > Well let's not take these two items out of context. The nail story of > Vimalananda refers to a person who claimed the ability to be in a > certain type of samadhi. The fact that he did experience pain in that > style of samadhi only means he was not really in that style of > samadhi. It really says little about enlightenment per se. >
But your expectation about what samadhi is or isn't colors your perception of the story. > The lack of casting of the shadow describes a certain aspect of > unity, but is only really relevant in a style of enlightenment where > the karmic supports for the physical body are transforming. And it's > extremely rare, let alone witnessed. Nonetheless it's an occurrence I > like to mention when britches get too many sizes too big. > How do you know its extremely rare? Who says that such a state, where one can be sure that one won't scream, exists? What tradition gives this as a test? Zen stories speak of the guys who can meditate under a waterfall. I've meditated in a dentist's chair with the dentist drilling out a tooth. People can meditate while in extreme pain from broken bones, waiting foran ambulance. What specifically is there about the nail that makes this story important to you? ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
