nintheye:
terry:
Jim Smith:
nintheye:
Pell:
https://albigen.com/uarelove/most_rapid/chapter06.htm
What you speak of reminds of this guy's experience. There are also blogs like Sifting to the Truth and Awakening to Reality that speak of the use of self-inquiry to wake up without much meditation. Of course that doesn't mean it's easy. Just simple and direct like you said. I'm curious what you were doing for 20 years before settling with your current modality.
Ha, I'm the Sifting to the Truth guy

. I started out with more traditional Vedanta, tried to "implement it," ran into lots of psychological knots, came to Ramana Maharshi, didn't understand him, had to untangle those psychological knots, came back to Maharshi, understood him, and then practiced...
How can you tell what is the active ingredient - untangling the knots or the self-inquiry?
I'm not exactly sure about what you mean by untangling knots but it seems like it might be understanding your own mind, understanding the source of dukkha and the cessation of dukkha. This is what Buddha talked about in his first sermon.
In my opinion, any system will work easily if you have already untangled your knots because
untangling your knots is what produces awakening.
So when you say it's simple, all you have to do is self-inquiry - that is somewhat misleading to the average person.
I think that is a huge problem in the buddhist community - the bait and switch. I see it in many forms: The end of suffering except it isn't. It's easy except it isn't. You shouldn't have attachments - but you should practice every waking moment. And the biggest con of all: awakening is sudden and unmistakeable -
except it isnt. It's why I am very suspicious of posts like the one you made at the beginning of this thread - it looks to me like bait to get people to buy books from your amazon affiliate account - or by other teachers to get people to go on retreats etc.
Real teachers are approached by students and required by them to teach. Their reputation is not gained by putting themselves forward and making claims.
Nah, there are no blanket generalizations like this. The Buddha went around and made claims, and so did Christ.
That's two. Call them exceptional.
The buddha; the christ, think about it. Not gotama and jesus, not individuals. Not two.
The buddha submitted his claims to reason. The buddha was a real historical figure. He has some credibility. We all want to be like him.
There may be a christ, but whether there was actually any incarnation I seriously doubt. The christ story appears to have been made up of whole cloth by the flavians to help them defeat the jews in the so-called jewish war. They were aces at inventing religions. Like the sorceror's apprentice, it got away from them.
terry
tao te ching, trans mitchell
22.
If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.
The Master, by residing in the Tao,
sets an example for all beings.
Because he doesn't display himself,
people can see his light.
Because he has nothing to prove,
people can trust his words.
Because he doesn't know who he is,
people recognize themselves in him.
Because he has no goal in mind,
everything he does succeeds.
When the ancient Masters said,
"If you want to be given everything, give everything up,"
they weren't using empty phrases.
Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.
tran feng
seventy-four
If men are not afraid to die,
It is no avail to threaten them with death.
If men live in constant fear of dying,
And if breaking the law means that a man will be killed,
Who will dare to break the law?
There is always an official executioner.
If you try to take his place,
It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood.
If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.