Comments on: Enlightenment by Serendipity http://www.c4chaos.com/2004/09/enlightenment-by-serendipity/ (hyper)streaming with passion and compassion Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:25:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: The Science of Enlightenment: The Pathless Land < ~C4Chaos http://www.c4chaos.com/2004/09/enlightenment-by-serendipity/comment-page-1/#comment-3473 The Science of Enlightenment: The Pathless Land < ~C4Chaos Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:04:03 +0000 http://www.c4chaos.com/2004/09/enlightenment-by-serendipity/#comment-3473 [...] Anyone who has taken a serious study and practice of meditation inevitably encounters a lot of paradoxes along the way, especially when it comes to the concept of enlightenment. Different schools of spirituality put different emphasis on how to view enlightenment. Some schools (e.g. nondual traditions, like Mahayana, Advaita Vedanta, Dzogchen) view enlightenment as an abstraction — a non-goal in which the emphasis is on the non-doing. While some schools (e.g. Theravada) view enlightenment as a path — complete with stages and models of development with emphasis on different strategies and techniques on how to get “there.” Early on I was confused by these two seemingly paradoxical approaches to enlightenment. But over the years I’ve grown comfortable to embrace the two contradictory views. In short, I’ve gotten used to the paradox. I no longer agonize over it. It’s still a paradox to me. But I prefer to view it as enlightenment by serendipity. [...] [...] Anyone who has taken a serious study and practice of meditation inevitably encounters a lot of paradoxes along the way, especially when it comes to the concept of enlightenment. Different schools of spirituality put different emphasis on how to view enlightenment. Some schools (e.g. nondual traditions, like Mahayana, Advaita Vedanta, Dzogchen) view enlightenment as an abstraction — a non-goal in which the emphasis is on the non-doing. While some schools (e.g. Theravada) view enlightenment as a path — complete with stages and models of development with emphasis on different strategies and techniques on how to get “there.” Early on I was confused by these two seemingly paradoxical approaches to enlightenment. But over the years I’ve grown comfortable to embrace the two contradictory views. In short, I’ve gotten used to the paradox. I no longer agonize over it. It’s still a paradox to me. But I prefer to view it as enlightenment by serendipity. [...]

]]> By: Mark http://www.c4chaos.com/2004/09/enlightenment-by-serendipity/comment-page-1/#comment-1557 Mark Thu, 23 Sep 2004 01:54:07 +0000 http://www.c4chaos.com/2004/09/enlightenment-by-serendipity/#comment-1557 "It's serendipity all the way up, all the way down." Yeah, I think so. Now is that terrifying or comforting? If it's serendipity that I want to be enlightened at all... where's the meaning in that? What am I? ;) M “It’s serendipity all the way up, all the way down.”

Yeah, I think so. Now is that terrifying or comforting? If it’s serendipity that I want to be enlightened at all… where’s the meaning in that? What am I? ;)

M

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