check out thomas merton... merle
Towards completion of Heart Chakra age range, another other common age being
toward end of Crown. Realization being timeless, we are left with only stories,
and maybe only these sorts are moved to tell them. Awakening earlier, might not
seem anything but obvious. Later, less energy for sharing.
Just rambling nonesense...
The matter of lesser and greater satori - speaks to something
else. Glimpses/peak experiences may precede/accompany/follow, but
are not satori. With satori, all moments are realized to be of the
same nature as such glimpses. No need to maintain or reject any
form of experiencing. Seeing any as other than suchness is not
possible. Suffering thus ended, pleasure is pleasure, pain is
pain, and neither helps nor hinders this.
Shit need not become rainbow hued and floral scented to be passed.
K
On 7/2/2012 2:04 PM, Joe wrote:
>Kris,
>
>Your post about chronology of spiritual development, etc.,
reminds me of the approximate age that is sometimes
mentioned in connection with people's "enlightenment"
experiences. I think I recall that the age is about 27 or
28 (strange: this is the same age as when a lot of famous
rock musicians died, in the past 45 years or so).
>
>There are many wonderfully drawn accounts of such
experiences, usually in Christian terms, in Wm. James'
VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE (1902), especially in
his two chapters on "Conversion".
>
>These are given in the words of the experiencer himself or
herself.
>
>And Evelyn Underhill evidences and discusses such cases
and case- histories in her book MYSTICISM (1910), and
quotes some of the same authorities who collected the
case-histories (especially Professor Starbuck, of
Massachusetts).
>
>But someone did a wonderful study of the experiences of
many figures in history, ranging from Buddha, to Jesus, to
Wm. Blake, Walt Whitman, Socrates, Spinoza, and some 45
others. This is Richard M. Bucke, COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS
(1901). The book became popular in the 1960s, but had been
around for a long time before.
>
>All the cases discussed in the books above are probably
spontaneous instances of awakening, in which zazen was NOT
a factor. In some cases, "revival-meetings" spurred the
people to open to a different mentality for a time.
>
>The depths of the awakenings differ (as in the wu, mu,
kensho, or satori experience).
>
>I think that most of the experiences are of what a zen
teacher would refer to as One-mind, and not of no-mind
(not of emptiness, or wu, or mu).
>
>In most cases, the experience of the suddenly-changed
mind-state for these awakened people did not last long.
Zen practitioners know that the reason for this is that
the person did not have a regular practice of some sort,
like zazen, which both prepares the body for awakening,
and supports the awakening afterwards. Many of the people
had the practice of Bible-reading, and prayer, but these
do not function to affect the body as zazen does, and our
other zen practices such as kinhin, chanting, samu,
Precepts, dokusan, sesshin, oriyoki, etc., do.
>
>Also, in Christianity, practitioners are not asked or
encouraged to have the experience of the founder; while,
in Zen Buddhism, we are.
>
>--Joe
>
>> Kristopher Grey <kris@...> wrote:
>>
>> While generalizing on ages, I am reminded of the
rarely spoken of (very
>> roughly) seven year cycles of the seven chakras.*
>
>
