hashappenedtothoseindividualstochangethem,asdifficultorimpossibleasitmay
betodescribetheeventortheprocessoftranscendence.Evenso,somequalitiesdo
seemcommontotheenlightenmentexperience:
INTERCONNECTEDNESS AND EGO TRANSCENDENCE. A fundamental shift in
consciousness from the individual to the whole appears to typify the enlightenment experience.Thisshiftmaybedescribedasthedissolutionoftheself,amergingofthe wave in the ocean, union with the infinite, abdication of the personal sense of doership,orthelossofaseparateidentity.Thereremainsnoidentificationwiththe
individualegoorisolated,differentiatedself.Theindividual,ego,andpersonalityall continuetoexist,buttheidentificationwiththemiseliminated.
TIMELESSNESS AND SPACIOUSNESS. No thing or concept remains fixed in time and space.Enlightenmentsetsintoplayamoment-to-momentexistence.Inthewordsof
the Buddha, the only thing that is constant is change. There is a realization of the presentmomentasallthereisandasenseoffluiditythatpervadesalloflife.
ACCEPTANCE. This is a relaxation or surrender, a revelation or insight that all is transpiring according to a plan or randomness that surpasses the individual will.
Struggle ends and gives way to acceptance of a reality free of bondage from and attachmenttopersonaldesires,thoughts,andfeelings.
BEYOND PLEASURE AND PAIN. Those who have experienced enlightenment describe rapture,ecstasy,love,orsimplyacontentmentthattranscendssuffering.Inthemidst
of transformation, however, fear, confusion, disorientation, pain, torment, and even madnessare not uncommon,sometimes lasting over extendedperiods of time.This
hasbeendescribedbysome,suchasSaintJohnoftheCross,asthe“darknightofthe
soul.”Diseaseandpaininevitablyariseandmanyenlightenedones,suchasRamana
Maharshi and Ramakrishna, have died of cancer. Suffering exists but the personal identificationwithitdoesnot.
CLARITY.Theenlightenedmindisspontaneous,immediate,andflexible.Thinkingis clearandunencumberedbyextraneousandlimitingthoughtsandemotions.Thoughts
arepurposeful,directandinthemoment,freeofextraneousmindchatter.
SHATTERINGOFPRECONCEIVEDNOTIONS.Rigidity,expectations,preconceivedideas
and personae give way to a vaster reality and even to a profound realization of emptiness,vastness,ornothingness.
14
TheEnlightenmentStories
The stories of enlightenment in this book are collected from a wide variety of sources,variousspiritualtraditions,andfromafewwhofollowednotradition.The
intent is to capture the experience of enlightenment as clearly and succinctly as possible. We have attempted to find the subject's core experience that produced the greatest transformation in consciousness from individual to transpersonal, although we recognize the process may extend over a longer period of time. For most of the stories, the subject's own words are used, usually from published autobiographical writings,ornewselectionscreatedforthiswork.Forafewselections,suchasSaint
Catherine of Siena, or Abulafia, the report of a close contemporary associate or disciplewasallthatwasavailabletoreflecttheexperienceofthesaintormaster.In somecases,suchaswithRumi,Kabir,SaintJohnoftheCross,andtheSecondDalai
Lama,theexperiencesarerecountedinverse.
15
WhatCanWeLearnfromTheseStories?
Each person's experience and process of the spiritual and transpersonal aspects of enlightenmentis,ofcourse,unique.Notwoexperiencesareeverthesame,yetstories
such as these may inspire us, give us clues to the process of awakening, or act as signposts for our own spiritual seeking and explorations of enlightenment. The diversity of experiences in this book attests to our individuality as human and spiritualbeings,whilethecommonalityinconsciousnessinthosewhohavecrossed
overfromindividualtocosmicisjustasmarked.Pathsaremanybutthegoalisone.
Wehopethereaderwillfindmodelsinourmystics,masters,saints,andsages,and
pointerstoattitudesandmethodsthatmaybeofbenefitintheirownspiritualprocess.
We all have much to learn from these spiritual adepts who continually manifest to graceuswiththeirpresenceandtranscendence.
16
WhoIsIncludedandWhoIsNot
No one religion, country, socioeconomic class, or gender has laid special claim to enlightenment. Men and women, bankers and renunciates, saints and sinners, the worldly and the otherworldly have all experienced enlightenment. Enlightenment is not dependent on lineage or on the number of scriptures one has read, and it is equallywithinreachoftheleastormosteducated.Ourmostdifficulttaskinwriting
thisbookhasbeendecidingwhomtoincludeandwhomtoexclude.
Manywonderfulbeingshavebeenleftoutforavarietyofreasons,includingspace
limitations, the need for diversity of traditions and gender, and a desire to include beingsfrompastandpresent,knownandrelativelyunknown.Wewereintriguedby
thosewhoachievedtheirtransformationsinordinaryplaces:acannery,aclassroom,
or in bed. It is these stories, perhaps more than the others, that illustrate how enlightenmentisavailabletoanyofus.
Ourcriteriahavebeentoincludethebestdescriptionsoftheactualenlightenment
experience that we could find. There are undoubtedly great beings unknown to us whom we might have included. We were unable to obtain permission for others. A number of our most powerful teachers, including Baba Hari Dass, Hazrat Inayat Khan,AnandamayiMa,ChagdudRinpoche,andtheDalaiLamadonottalkopenly
about their experiences of awakening. Hindu tradition is by far the most prolific source of writings on enlightenment, which explains its apparent overrepresentation inourbook.Wetriedtoincludeasmanywomenaspossible,andthereareanumber
of others we would have included had we found their stories of awakening. We recognize that it is possible for a person to undergo a transient experience of illumination without remaining in a permanent state of oneness and present these accountsofenlightenmentwithoutjudgingwhohasremainedpermanentlyinsucha
state.
We believe that these transcendent experiences are best presented at face value, without interpretation, and with the barest of introductions, serving mainly to place theirsubjectsinacontextofbirthplaceandyearsinwhichtheylived.Wehaveaimed
for diversity and balance, though the final list is skewed by our own biases, familiarity, and experience. We hope you find these stories to be as uplifting, inspiring,andfascinatingaswehave.
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THEBUDDHA
18
ONE
GAUTAMA,THEBUDDHA
624-544B.C.E.,NEPAL
ONEMIGHTSAYthattheBuddhaneedsnointroduction,asheisundoubtedlythemost
famous of all the enlightened ones included in this book. Yet his story remains an enduringclassicandmodelofthespiritualsearchanditssuccessfulcompletion.
The pampered prince, Siddhartha, had a beautiful wife and son, dancing girls, sumptuous food, and three palaces for his own use, and was completely sheltered fromtheworld.Onedayheleftthepalacesurreptitiouslyandwitnessed,forthefirst
timeinhislife,disease,suffering,oldage,and
death.Thisledtheprincetorenounce hisworldlytreasuresandfamilytofindTruthandareleasefromsufferingforhimself
and all sentient beings. For six years he pursued ascetic practices in the forest, reducing himself through meditation and fasting to a mere skeleton, at the point of death. At the last moment, he accepted rice milk from a cowherd girl and was revived. Abandoning the ascetic life of the forest for the middle path between indulgence and asceticism, he nevertheless vowed not to move from his meditation seat beneath the Bodhi tree until he reached enlightenment. Defeating Mara, the incarnationofignoranceandevil,allofhispastlivesappearedbeforehiseyes,and
he fell deeply into contemplation of the nature of life and suffering. He sought to transcend birth, suffering, and death. And he succeeded, ultimately attaining the perfectpeaceofNirvana.Hewasabsolutelyfree,liberatedwhilealive.
Bymeansofhisexaltedstate,theBuddhawentontoacquiredisciples,foundan
order of monks that persists today, and spread great wisdom and compassion
throughout Asia and beyond. Over the past 2,500 years, the Buddha's story and examplehaveinspiredcountlessotherstodedicatetheirentirelivesandrenounceall
theaspectsofworldlylifetoattainNirvanaforthebenefitofeveryone.Eventhose
who have not yet given up the world have been deeply affected by the Buddha's insights, compassion, and teachings. The Buddhist concepts of the middle path, the four noble truths, the eightfold path, the bodhisattva ideal, and the ultimate release from the sufferings of countless human lifetimes have captivated entire cultures.
ThroughoutAsia,Buddhismisdeeplyengrainedinthefabricofsocietyandformsa
primarybasisforreligiousexpression.Buddhiststhroughouttheworldformwhatis
knownastheSangha,orcommunityofthosefollowingtheBuddha'sexample.
The Dharma, as Buddhist teaching is called, has become increasingly popular in thepastfiftyyearsintheWestaswell,asthegreatdiasporaofBuddhistteachershas captivatednewgenerationsofspiritualseekerslookingbeyondtheirownculturesfor
Truth.TheBuddhadidnotsetouttofoundareligionanddidnotevenhaveaconcept
ofGodinhisteaching.Hisonlymissionwastosharethetruthofhisexperience,to
en-lighten others as he had been enlightened, and to save others from the fear and 19
sufferings of old age, sickness, and death. He wandered and taught for forty-five years, giving instruction even on his deathbed, to guide seekers to self-realization.
With his dying breath he instructed those by his bedside: “Decay is inherent in all component things, but the truth will remain forever. Work out your salvation with diligence!” His compassion was unbounded, his wisdom supreme. Now read the
culmination of the story in which Prince Siddhartha became Gautama, the Buddha, theAwakenedOne.
The Buddha's story was originally oral history told to his disciple Ananda,
approximately 2,500 years ago, and recorded in various sources including the Pali Canon, the Lalitavishtara Sutra, and the Buddha-charita. The material has been collected and presented here by Sherab Chodzin Kohn, a modern Western Tibetan Buddhistauthor.
20
FROMSUFFERINGTONIRVANA
TheBuddha'sLiberation
THEBODHISATTVA had triumphed over Mara. The air cleared and was still. The full moonroseintheskyandshonesoftly.Thebodhisattva,unmoving,enteredintothe
firstlevelofmeditation.Thenightwasutterlysilent;eveninsectsmadenomurmur.
Asthemooncontinuedtorise,thebodhisattva'scomposuredeepened,andonebyone
he mastered the levels of meditation until he reached the fourth. His concentration was bright and unblemished, full and balanced. Then through great confidence and trust, he relinquished the watcher, and his mind entered into a fathomless openness untroubled by content. Here the bodhisattva naturally rested until a profound
contentmentpervadedhim.Butasonewhoalreadyknewtheway,hedidnotbecome
caught up in this. Rather, with utter clarity and tenderness, he turned his mind to untyingtheknotofbirth,oldage,sickness,anddeath.
He saw that the condition for old age, sickness, and death is birth. Once birth happens, the rest follows inevitably. He saw that the condition for birth lay in processesofbecomingalreadysetinmotion;thattheconditionforthiswasgrasping
orcraving;thattheconditionforthiswasdesire;andtheconditionfordesire,feelings ofhappiness,suffering,orindifference;andtheconditionforthese,sensualcontact;
andtheconditionforsensualcontact,thefieldsofthesenses;theconditionforsense fields,thearisingofmind-body;theconditionformind-body,consciousness.Hesaw
thatmind-bodyandconsciousnessconditioneachothertomakearudimentarysense
of self. He saw that the condition for consciousness was volitional impulses, and finallythattheconditionforvolitionalimpulseswasignorance.
Thushesawthatthewholeprocessendinginoldageanddeathbeginswhenbasic
intelligence slips into unawareness of its own nature. In this way all-pervading intelligencestraysintothesenseofaself.
After the bodhisattva had penetrated the nature of the process of birth, old age, sickness,anddeath,theclarityandopennessofhismindincreasedyetfurther.Then
inthefirstwatchofthenight,hisinnervisionbecamecompletelyunobstructed.This
iscalledtheopeningofthedivineeye.Thenheturnedhisattentiontothepast,andhe sawhisandothers'countlesspastlivesstretchingbackovermanyeonsandagesof
the world. Even back through world ages separated from the present one by long intervalsofuniversaldestruction,heknewthatatacertaintimehehadbeenthusand
suchaperson.Hehadbeenthiskindofbeing,ofthissex,ofthisrace,hadeatenthis food,andhadlivedthislong.Thenhehadbeenbornagainthisorthatwayandonce
morelivedthroughcertaincircumstances,andthushadbeenbornandhaddiedand
beenrebornagainanincalculablenumberoftimes.Thishesawinrelationtohimself
andallotherbeings.
Then, in the second watch of the night, moved by compassion, he opened his
wisdomeyeyetfurtherandsawthespectacleofthewholeuniverseasinaspotless
mirror. He saw beings being born and passing away in accordance with karma, the laws of cause and effect. Just as, when one clears one's throat, one is next ready to speak,pastdeedscreateacertaininclination.Whenthebasicconditionofignorance
ispresent,theinclinationtakesshapeinacertainkindofvolitionalimpulses,which
21
engenderacertainconsciousness,andsoonuptooldageanddeath,andthenonce more into ignorance and volitional impulses. Seeing birth and death occurring in accordance with this chain of causality, the bodhisattva saw the cyclic paths of all beings. He saw the fortunate and the unfortunate, the exalted and the lowly going their various ways. He saw how, ignorant and suffering, they were tossed on the stormywavesofbirth,oldage,sickness,anddeath.
Inthethirdandlastwatchofthenight,heappliedhimselftothetaskofrootingout
this suffering once and for all. He had clearly understood the wheel of dependent arising in which each stage follows from a preceding cause, beginning with
ignorance.Andhesawhow
beingsweredrivenonitbythepowerfulmotiveforceof
karma.Nowhisdivineeyesoughtthemeansofliberation.Hesawthatthroughthe
cessation of birth, old age and death would not exist; through the cessation of becoming,therewouldbenobirth;throughthecessationofgrasping,nobecoming—
and so back through the sequence of causation to ignorance. He saw suffering, the causeofsuffering,thecessationofsuffering,andatlastalsothepathtocessation.
Attheendofthethirdwatch,atthefirstlightofdawnthebodhisattvasawthrough
the very last trace of ignorance in himself. Thus he attained complete and utter enlightenmentandbecametheBuddha.Thefirstwordsthatcametohimwerethese:
SeekingbutnotfindingtheHouseBuilder,
Itraveledthroughtheroundofcountlessbirths:
Opainfulisbirtheverandagain.
HouseBuilder,youhavenowbeenseen;
Youshallnotbuildthehouseagain.
Yourraftershavebeenbrokendown;
Yourridgepoleisdemolishedtoo.
Mymindhasnowattainedtheunformednirvana
Andreachedtheendofeverykindofcraving.
Thenhethought:“Ihaveattainedtheunborn.Myliberationisunassailable.Thisis
mylastbirth.Therewillnowbenorenewalofbecoming.”
Acompilationfromthe PaliCanon,the LalitavishtaraSutra,andthe
Buddhacharita.
22
HUI-NENG
23
TWO
HUI-NENG
638-713,CHINA
HUI-NENGisoneofthemostbelovedteachersinZenBuddhismandexemplifiesthat
neither wealth nor formal education is a prerequisite for enlightenment. He was the lastinalineoffoundingteachersintheZentraditionandservedasinspirationforthe SouthernSchoolofZen.Thetitleof sutra(scripture)giventothedocumentsofHui-Neng's life and teachings, traditionally reserved for the Buddha himself, give evidence to the high degree of respect accorded this woodcutter turned enlightened master.
Mystics, Masters, Saints, and Sages Page 2