Having discussed Citta, this post discusses the enlightenment experience of a contemporary American known as Adyashanti as a verification of Citta.
Adyashanti, “meaning ‘primordial peace,” “born Stephen Gray on October 26, 1962, is an American former spiritual teacher and author from the San Francisco Bay Area who offered talks, online study courses, and retreats in the United States and abroad.”
“At age 25, Gray began experiencing a series of transformative spiritual awakenings. While sitting alone on his cushion, Gray describes how he had a classic kensho, or awakening experience, in which he “penetrated to the emptiness of all things and realized that the Buddha I had been chasing was what I was.” [2] “Besides his meditations and prayer, he also studied books about Christian mystics and the Gospels.” “For the next few years, he continued his meditation practice while also working at his father’s machine shop. In addition to sitting, he spent many hours in coffee shops writing answers to questions that spontaneously came to him. Finally, at 31, Gray had an experience of awakening that put to rest all his questions and doubts. In 1996, Adyashanti began teaching with the approval of his teacher, Arvis Joen Justi.” Today, “he is the author of numerous books, CDs, and DVDs and, together with his wife Mukti, is the founder of Open Gate Sangha, Inc., a nonprofit organization established in 1996 which supports and makes available his teachings.”
In this guided meditation, “What is the Nature of Self?” Adyashanti clarified his goal: “In this meditation, we are looking at the nature of self, or what we call ourselves. The nature of this thing called me. In this meditation, we are looking for ourselves. We are looking inside, so the attention gets directed inside. Where is this thing called self, me? Surely, it’s not simply a thought, a feeling. Surely, one is not simply a body, for there is always something more primary. There is what is seeing the thought. That which is feeling the feeling. That is that which is aware of the body.” “So, the attention gets directed inward. What is that that notices the thought? What is that that is feeling the feeling? What is it that is aware of the body?” “What is this thing called me, called I?“
Yet, “as we direct our attentions inward, we find something unexpected. The more we look for the essential nature of ourselves, the more we look for ourselves, the less we find.” “This elusive self never seems to appear. The more we look for ourselves, the less we find of it. Instead, we seem to bump into an ineffable mystery, a silence, a void.” “And yet, what is it that notices that void, that silence? What is it that is aware?” “Can we find a someone? Can we find a something?” “As we look from our own experience, we keep not locating this owner of awareness, this owner of consciousness, this me. And in looking at our whole definition of ourselves, it’s wordlessly called into question. This whole definition of ourselves, however we define it, must be called into question because when we look for it, we don’t find it.” “We have assumed that we are a something and a somebody.”
Finally, Adyashanti acknowledged, “You are presented with a mystery. You can’t find yourself, and yet, whatever you are, it’s obviously here, obviously aware. Whatever you may be, whatever you are, obviously is here.” “This confuses the mind because the mind only thinks in terms of you being a thing, being a someone.” “As we look in this way, our whole notion of the self can begin to transform because you begin to see for your own self that what you are isn’t a somebody, isn’t a something, it cannot be found.” “So what is there in the absence of somebody? What is there in the absence of something? This that notices the absence of the self, this awareness that notices the complete lack of entity is an opportunity to open to what you are beyond a thought. Maybe you are not a thing at all, a somebody at all. It cannot be found. So, maybe, just maybe, you never were a something or a somebody. Maybe it couldn’t be found because it doesn’t exist.” “What can this thing called I be?”
Ultimately, Adyashanti’s search for “What is the Nature of Self” ends in “the absence of somebodies,” “the absence of things,” and “the complete absence of definitions.”
Nowadays, Adyashahti teaches that “You Are Awareness.” In addition to this statement, Adyashanti also teaches that “you and awareness are not two different things” and that “resting in awareness is not a state of doing, it is a state of being.”
Let’s itemize Adyashanti’s sayings and compare them to what Buddha teaches.
A) Citta’s role as the “Experienced Object” in Enlightenment.
As discussed earlier, Samadhi (Chinese=三昧/三摩地), according to The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, is “a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing “subject” becomes one with the experienced “object” – thus is only experiential content. This state of consciousness is often referred to as “one-pointedness of mind;” this expression, however, is misleading because it calls up the image of “concentration” on one point on which the mind is “directed.” However, Samadhi is neither a straining concentration on one point nor is the mind directed from here (subject) to there (object), which would be a dualistic mode of experience.”
In the dualistic pair of the consciousness of the “experiencing subject” and the “experienced object,” “experiencing subject” refers to the enlightenment seeker. In contrast, “experienced object” refers to Citta, the quiescent mentality of the Ultimate Reality permeating the cosmos.
Because Citta is quiescent, it is, by definition, awareness. On the contrary, when mentality fluctuates, it is consciousness.
Given that Citta is spread throughout the cosmos, it is the cosmic awareness that serves as the “experienced object” of enlightenment. It means that enlightenment can happen anytime and anywhere globally for anyone who meditates until his mind becomes “no thought.”
As this List of Enlightened People shows, enlightened people have come from all over the world over thousands of years since Buddha. Adyashanti is alphabetically the first on the list. So is Dharma Master Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, whose enlightenment experience we shall discuss later.
B) Void
The “void” Adyashanti experienced is the “void” of Emptiness.
As discussed previously, Emptiness, according to The Dictionary Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, also known as “void,” is a “central notion of Buddhism….Shunyata is often equated with the absolute in the Mahayana since it is without duality and empirical forms.” is “also known as “void,” is a central notion of Buddhism” and “is often equated with the absolute in the Mahayana since it is without duality and empirical forms.”
Adyashanti experienced a “void” because when his consciousness became one with Citta, there was nothing to experience except the quiescence of the merged mentality. Since mentality is “without an empirical form,” there is nothing to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch.” Therefore, the “void” and the”silence” Adyashanti experienced are due to mentality’s lack of empirical forms.
C) Two Types of Nonselves
The “void” can also be explained as the result of Buddha’s Two Types of Nonselves doctrine discussed earlier. In the Two Types of Nonselves doctrine, Buddha teaches that the physical self and phenomena lack their intrinsic nature of existence. All physical realities lack intrinsic nature because they are “mere projections of consciousness,” discussed earlier. However, when mentality is quiescent, there can be no projections of consciousness. Consequently, all physical realities disappeared. However, even as his physical self and all other physical realities disappeared, Adyashanti’s awareness remained together with that of Citta. Indeed, as Adyashanti said, he was aware that there was “the absence of something” and that the “elusive self never seems to appear.”
D) Buddha Nature
Adyashanti’s statement, “The Buddha I Had Been Chasing Was What I Was,” verifies Buddha’s teaching that all sentient beings have the inherent potential to achieve Buddhahood, discussed earlier.
Known as Buddhadhutu (Chinese=佛性) or Buddha Nature, the potential that allows all sentient beings to be enlightened is their consciousness. When an enlightenment seeker can sufficiently calm their conscious minds to be quiescent and “no thought” through meditation, they become enlightened. Since everyone has consciousness, everyone has the potential to become a Buddha.
However, while the potential is there, sufficiently calming the mind to be quiescent is much easier to understand than to realize. Furthermore, as discussed in the previous post, realizing that the expansion of the cosmos occurs in the realm of enlightenment requires the ultimate wisdom of a Tathaga, such as our historical Shakyamuni Buddha.
This is why Buddha’s teachings are so precious. Without Buddha teaching us direct perception, humanity may never understand that all realities are Nothing but Mentality and the existence of a three-body cosmos.
However, faith in Buddhism does not need to be blind. As the verification of Citta shows, Buddha’s teachings are verifiable.
E) “Ineffable Mystery” and “Complete Absence of Definition”
“Ineffable Mystery” and “Complete Absence of Definition” are why Buddha calls Citta inconceivable, as discussed earlier.
Acintya (Chinese=不可思議), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “inconceivable, ” a term used to describe the ultimate reality that is beyond conceptualization.”
Since Citta is “beyond conceptualization,” inferentially connected words cannot be created to describe it. This is why Adyashanti experienced an “ineffable mystery” and a “complete absence of definition” when surrounded by nothing but mentality.
F) The Nature of All Beings
By recognizing that “you are awareness, “you and awareness are not two different things,” and “resting in awareness is not a state of doing, it is a state of being,” Adyashanti indeed has understood the mental nature of his being. However, mental nature applies not only to human beings but also to all phenomena in the world because they are also “mere projections of consciousness.”
Indeed, as Buddha teaches in Mohe Zhiguan, “Mentality is the nature of existence of everything in the phenomenal universe.”
Or, as Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara understood, “all phenomena are Empty.”
G) Mind-Body Problem
By stating that “you and awareness are not two different things,” Adyashanti confirmed that the Mind-Body Problem is an artificial concept resulting from misunderstanding the nature of reality. Therefore, his statement means that Adyashanti’s delusional misunderstanding is eliminated.
(If you like this post, please consider liking it and subscribing on Facebook so you will be notified when a new post comes out. Please also share to promote Buddha’s education.)
