Oakville Zen Meditation
Being awakened: there is nothing special here..
It is not gaining magic powers, acquiring secret knowledge, or reaching a permanent state of extreme happiness, joy, even bliss. Nothing special.
In Zen, "being awakened" (Satori or Kensho) means being aware of the present moment that is experiencing reality exactly as it is, right now, without the filter of mental clutters. You realize it when you are waking up from the illusion, and delusion created by your
Therefore, awakening exists already in all of us.
Most of the time, we live inside a continuous day-dreaming ego-dominated mental self-talk: regrets about the past, worries about the future, judging and labeling everything as "good" or "bad." Awareness-based Awakening is stepping out of our fictional mental movie in which we are both actor and director, and directly experiencing the concrete reality of the present moment. Such a reality includes among others: nothing lasts, and that we do not control too much of anything, and that daily routine can be dull and boring.
In a few words: to bring our mind where our body is, and what it is doing.
First stage: Starting to control our thoughts/ feelings:
It is done - first- by learning to observe them in a non-judgmental mindful way.
Observing them is creating a gap between you and your mind.
Being separated, you are not the prey of your mind anymore. There is no other way.
Second stage: Experiencing our genuine self (True Self ) rather than the ego-generated self:
You realize that this rigid, so-called separate, unique identity you call "I, me, myself mine," is just a self-created eclectic collection of education, experiences, habits, judgments, bias, memories, expectations, social-professional profile, etc… all of them, if not all of them being not genuine. This is why we feel being an independant entity, separate from the rest of the world.
Awakening breaks down this mental boundary. In fact, you realize that " You" and the rest of existence are part of one seamless process.
We cannot survive without this interconnectiveness said Thich Nhat Hanh
Imagine the mirror often used in Zen as classic metaphor:
The mirror reflects dust, light, beauty, and ugliness.
Most people focus entirely on the reflections (their thoughts, emotions, and life events), getting caught up in whether they like or dislike what is appearing.
Awakening is realizing that you are the mirror itself—the clear, open awareness in which all thoughts, emotions, and experiences appear and disappear like clouds.
"Before awakening, chop wood, carry water. After awakening, chop wood, carry water.
Life will never change after awakening, ever —you will still eat, work, sleep, be happy, sad, successful or failing, healthy and sick. In fact, being awakened can be quite boring sometimes while facing perceived dull realities of our daily routines. Nothing to get too excited about!
Your take home:
What changes while Awakening is this ability to differentiate - using mindful-based awareness -
genuine realities of Life of the moment from our ongoing self- made fictional mental podcasts.
