Is Enlightenment Possible?

Will mindfulness meditation lead to enlightenment?

In this talk, I respond to an email from a follower on Insight Timer who has found some contradictory advice relating to their meditation practice and the goal of enlightenment.

I go deep into the different interpretations of awakening presented by different practices/instructors and offer some guidance for everyone moving forward.

Transcript

So today I'm going to be reading to you an email that I received from a follower that I've got on Insight Timer.

This person reached out to me because they wanted some advice and I responded to them but then I realized that it would be good to go in depth for everyone's benefit.

So I'm going to read to you the email and then I'm going to share with you,

You know,

Sort of my response basically to this and where my thoughts go down this path.

So let's just jump into it,

Shall we?

Hi Zach,

I listened to your talk on Insight Timer called How to Know if You're Meditating Correctly and found it extremely helpful.

So thank you.

I often wondered exactly what you said when you said,

Am I just sitting here with my thoughts?

You know,

Am I thinking with my eyes closed?

I've been meditating every day for 30 minutes for around six years now and have been doing a second evening guided meditation for about a year.

The method has been made up a version of the Mindfulness of Loving-Kindness meditation.

I enjoy it immensely and until recently thought I was doing it quote right.

However,

I've now listened to a number of speakers from different places and have read that this type of meditation is brain training or concentration training and will never lead to enlightenment.

That for enlightenment or insight to take place we should not use a mantra or any type of mindfulness and instead only sit still and listen.

I found this so disturbing as I now doubt my practice is effective in leading to enlightenment as apparently only a practice that allows transcendence will lead to enlightenment.

The ability to transcend is key.

Quote,

The specific practice of transcending should not be confused with the generalized idea of meditational mindfulness.

Whilst these practices calm the mind and relaxes the body,

The effects of mindfulness are shown by latest neuroscience and EEG brain mapping are completely different from the effects of transcending of enlightenment.

So my question to you is this,

Will my mindfulness practice not lead to enlightenment?

Your response would be greatly appreciated as I found your talk simple,

Clear,

Insightful and I'm hoping that you could clear up the confusion I now feel.

Warm regards.

I've got quite a few different responses to this email.

The first one being is that if someone,

Any instructor,

Is claiming that their technique,

Their specific way,

Is the only way to attain enlightenment,

That suggests some red flags to me.

I just feel a bit icky.

It feels a little bit like there's that dodgy guru vibe.

That's just what I feel.

Now I don't know if this person that you are talking about is like that.

I haven't met them,

I haven't spoken to them,

I haven't engaged with their content,

Anyway.

But I'll just be wary of anyone making claims that they know.

They know it.

Because really,

The state of enlightenment is an internal personal state.

So how can anyone externally validate enlightenment?

I could say to you that I'm enlightened and you can choose to believe me or not.

But anyone could say those same words and you could choose to believe anyone.

If someone was in their car in the mists of road rage or if they were found to be acting immorally or insert any other number of human responses to the world and then they said in a book or in a YouTube video or up on a stage or whatever that they're enlightened,

Would you believe them?

Probably not.

In my view,

I would look towards people and are they closer to where you want to get to than where you are?

Take the word enlightenment out of this.

Are they calmer,

More focused,

More insightful,

More wise,

More insert positive quality that you want to get?

If so,

Listen to them.

If not,

They probably don't have much to teach you.

I also want to suggest down a few different other paths here.

Namely,

The first one being what is enlightenment?

Okay,

So there's a debate whether enlightenment even exists.

Is it a continual state?

Is it something that you can see and glimpse and then it falls away?

And even if it is a true state that exists,

What is the definition of enlightenment that you want to hit?

If you look at a bunch of different traditions,

A bunch of different readings,

What one teacher or reading or tradition will say as this is enlightenment,

Another will sort of suggest differences.

What is the symptomology?

What represents mindfulness?

Is it an empty mind?

Sorry,

Enlightenment.

Is it an empty mind?

Is it a feeling of utter peace?

Is it the ability to single pointedly focus?

Is it the ability to not lose ourselves in thought?

What is enlightenment?

Because if you can't define that state or if different people define it differently,

Then we're sort of hitting different goals here,

Aren't we?

The next thing I want to suggest down the enlightenment path is that a lot of at least the books I've read,

The teachers that I've listened to suggest that the single pointed or the hunting of or the focusing on or the goal driven behavior of I'm going to attain enlightenment is likely not to get you to attain enlightenment.

And the reason being is that it's sort of like you've imparted this goal directed behavior over the top of what you're actually doing.

Is your goal to attain enlightenment or is it to be able to say I've attained enlightenment or is it to just be and sit with the changes that enlightenment brings?

Because they're similar,

But they're different things.

And if you are hunting the goal,

Then you've sort of put an abstraction over the top of what we're doing here.

Now,

Yes,

What this person is saying,

This idea of sitting still in stillness can certainly lead to insights and revelations and all of these things,

But so can a mindfulness practice,

So can a loving kindness practice.

And if the traditional texts are to be believed,

So can observing the cloud parting,

The moon through the parting clouds or listening to a bird call or insert any other number of mundane life experiences.

There's a quote or like an idea of going slow progression,

Sudden enlightenment.

Some traditions go down that path.

It's like you practice,

Practice,

Practice,

Then bam,

You've attained it.

Other places talk about the gradual whittling away of the ego to a state of nothingness.

Some people talk about this idea of connecting fully and wholly with a energy or a God-based figure.

Once again,

What are we talking about here?

I would suggest that if you're sitting and practicing and you're getting better,

Your life is improving,

You are trending upwards,

Your functionality is increasing,

Then you're on the right path.

Now,

I can't guarantee enlightenment,

But I don't think anyone else can.

There was,

If you look to stories of the Buddha,

Of great spiritual teachers in all traditions,

Jesus,

Any of the saints from Christianity,

Any of the holy figures from Buddhism or Hinduism or any religion,

Any practice,

Any spirituality,

Any modern practice,

People that are alive and teaching now,

Even if you're in their presence 100% of the time doing everything they say,

Enlightenment isn't guaranteed.

Not every one of their students attains.

So,

There is no true path and even following someone else's path isn't going to guarantee you anything.

A lot of the time they talk about this idea of a finger pointing to the moon.

It's like,

Hey,

It's over there.

The instruction,

The practice,

The meditation,

Everything we're doing and talking about here is the finger pointing to the moon.

It's a guide,

It's a direction,

But it's a lived experiential experience that only you can step across because ultimately,

It's a whittling away of layers of mire,

Delusion and confusion and ego and the caveats and hang ups of the past and processing all those traumas.

It's like shadow work.

There's all of these different approaches you can take to go down this path,

But it seems highly personalized.

Beyond all of this,

Your mindfulness practice,

Your loving kindness practice,

Your guided meditations,

All of that will help you to sit in silence should you choose to do that.

Either way,

You're still building up.

If you have to go through the mindfulness process to be able to sit in silence at some later stage to do this practice that this person is recommending,

Well,

You're developing the skills to be able to sit in silence and not go insane,

Not get up off the mat and give up on the practice because you can't rush enlightenment.

If it happens now or happens in 80 years or depending on your philosophical or religious beliefs in another life,

It's going to happen when it's going to happen.

My advice to you is this,

Practice what you want to practice,

Continue what you're doing,

And observe your desire to attain enlightenment.

Investigate that.

Dig deep.

Why do you want to attain something?

What do you think that will give you?

Or alternatively,

What is wrong with your current existence,

Your state of mind?

Investigate that.

That's something that I would look into.

Turn the lens of attention onto that.

Can you mindfully use those feelings themselves as the focus of your mindful attention and just ask yourself gently and inquire,

What is this giving me?

What's happening here?

Alternatively or in additionally,

These feelings that you've got arising of doubting your own practice based on what other people are saying,

Based on different instructions.

Once again,

Those feelings that are arising,

That doubt,

Turn your lens of attention there.

Use the skills you've developed over these years to look at that practice and go,

Huh,

Okay,

I see you.

What do you have to tell me?

I guess,

Are you worried that you're wasting your time?

You've been practicing for six years,

Well done.

I guarantee you that whether or not enlightenment is real,

Whether or not the approach you're doing will get you there,

You're definitely going to be receiving benefits of.

And if enlightenment is a state that can be attained,

Then developing the ability to sit in stillness and mindfully focus,

Developing loving kindness seems to be in the right direction of where you want to go.

But once again,

Turning to the texts,

The books,

The talks,

It doesn't seem like there is necessarily a direct correlation between time on the mat and enlightenment,

Or the style of meditation and enlightenment,

Or pretty much much of anything.

It's,

I guess,

It seems to be an acceptance of the present moment.

And mindfulness,

Done well,

Done properly,

Will give you that.

And I guess the other thing is,

If you're searching or hunting for a particular state that you think enlightenment is,

And you get it,

You haven't gotten enlightenment,

You've gotten that state.

So,

You've just labeled this feeling like a volation,

Or emptiness,

Or whatever it is.

Oh,

That's enlightenment.

Oh,

You've got it.

I'm enlightened.

Are you?

Or did you try and put words and a box around a undefinable expansive feeling?

If we turn to the traditional monotheistic views of heaven,

And they talk about it,

It's this,

It's that.

Can heaven truly be defined in words that humans can speak and write down and read,

And then understand?

Is that even possible?

Is it even possible?

I don't think so.

Because a place that was created by an infinitely wise,

Powerful divinity seems to be beyond human conception.

What I would be describing would be like a crayon drawing compared to a Mona Lisa,

Right?

It's an approximation to it,

But it's not in the same ballpark at all.

So,

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you've got a conception of what enlightenment is,

And you attain that,

Have you attained enlightenment?

Or have you just attained that conception of enlightenment?

They're not necessarily the same things.

They might be on the same path,

But just keep practicing.

If this talk has inspired you,

You've got more questions,

To the person who wrote this or to anyone listening,

Please reach out,

Please connect,

Shoot me an email,

And I will do my best to follow up on this.

And I'm sharing this as both a talk on Insight Timer as well as a track on the Reality Check podcast.

So,

I encourage you to check out more of what I've got in those different areas.

But yeah,

Keep practicing and investigate the feelings that arise.

Have a great day.