I have probably heard only two hours or so in total of his teachings (the aforementioned video included). It is nice to know that he is a regular guy.

Albert has a great site, and recently he has been on a roll with great content. He’ll break the 100,000 on Alexa before too long. (I keep rooting for him!)

You have a nice looking site by the way. It makes me want to redesign mine.

I look forward to seeing you again.

Takuin

I was recently introduced to your blog by Albert the UrbanMonk. And I couldn’t help but smile when I saw you had post the same video of Adyashanti that I had posted on my blog. How cool is that?

I’ve been to one of Adya’s retreats and listened to many hours of his talks. Adya makes no claims about himself. He tells his story, as you tell yours, of “awakening” or “realizations” but he never does the “enlightened guy” thing. I can tell you from my personal experience that he is one of the clearest, cleanest people I have run across.

He is getting much better, and he will resume his teaching in April. Thought I would add to your discussion. Now to read some more of your blog! Blessings….

Hopefully, my reply didn’t sound negative, but that is a potential problem with the written word. It is sometimes easy to mis-interpret the intention of the writer. I didn’t really take the comment as negative, in the sense of an attack. I just didn’t really understand it. But now I see clearly what you meant. I am a bit thick sometimes.

I have not kept up with Adyashanti these days, and I can only assume that he is getting better. I am not really knowledgeable on his writings and I am not sure if he has actually come out and said, “Yes, I am enlightened.” But my advice would be, if someone says that they are enlightened, they are fooling themselves. Not only themselves, but any potential followers. (I am not sure why someone would want “followers” anyway.)

As for me, I cannot recall ever saying that. If I have, I should be institutionalized, as it is an impossibility. If someone says, “I am enlightened,” what do they mean? Specifically, what do they mean by the word, “I”? How can the “I”, be free? It can only expand within its own small domain. Expand might not be the right word, but it can only exist within what is already known. I am not saying it is wrong or anything, but that is not freedom or liberation.

Some people might say I have uttered that phrase implicitly based on the kind of articles I write. All I can say is that is certainly not my intention to say I am this, or I am that. I just write things as they occur. (And I don’t think writing about it is going to improve my Alexa rating or get Dugg, or anything else. I would be silly to think so.)

And there is the difficulty in trying to relate these things through writing (or any other medium). Words just cannot fully represent what is happening. It can certainly be talked about, pointed to, or whatever, but it is never the real thing.

So why write about it at all? I have no answer for that. I suppose it is just something that happens from time to time.

If anything happened to Takuin, it has nothing to do with a self or an “I” being enlightened. There may have been a realization, but it was an ending and not the gaining of enlightenment or anything else. If anything, it is the inability to identify; a possible defect to what is considered “normal functioning.”

I may be a broken device.

Thanks, Mark. I really appreciate your reply. (And that IS NOT sarcasm!)

I’m sorry Takuin. You’re right, it was off topic. In fact, the article itself was quite excellent. Concerning “attention” that is. I just tend to be skeptical of people who claim to be enlightened. Please don’t let it get under your skin

I completely understand if one wishes to post a comment that creates or continues the conversation. There is nothing wrong disputing or holding a contrary position, either. But in most cases, they just want to argue for the sake of arguing, and many times it isn’t even on topic.

For example (and you and I have talked about this before), I have received negative comments, as have you. Now, I don’t mind at all if someone disagrees, takes a contrary position, or whatever. But when they are just insulting, it makes no sense.

Here are a few of my own negative comments, received over the last few months:

Your [sic] an asshole!
(That was the entire comment.)

You think your [sic] great? You dont know shit, and no [sic] nothing about enlightenment.
(Why is it negative people cannot spell properly?)

Takuin, in your case Attention Whore might be more accurate. Maybe you can add that to your list just so naive people know the difference between a real guru and someone who pretends to be one
(To be honest, I almost let this one post to the blog. But it was irrelevant and completely off topic. First, this obviously refers to the A to Z of Being, but the comment was posted on a Question of the Week. Second, it has nothing to do with the article it was posted on. And I guess you could say it is just an attempt to get under the writer’s skin. Sorry…didn’t work. At least this guy could spell.)

I don’t really have a comments policy, but I will say this: If a “comment” is just an attempt to insult the writer, it will not be posted. So save your time.

If a comment disagrees with the content of the article, by all means go ahead; nothing wrong with that. But if your disagreement is off topic, send it through the contact form, and not through comments.

And that is that.

It’s like saying Michael Jordan isn’t a good baller because he likes blue cars.