“kick ass dharma” = dharma free of dogma, cultural baggage, metaphysical hubris, institutionalized nonsense, and idiot compassion.

B. Alan Wallace at Upaya

I first heard of B. Alan Wallace years ago in an Integral Naked interview. I immediately liked him due to his intellectual sharpness and his deep knowledge in Buddhist scholarship and hardcore practice. It’s rare to see someone who has the passion and the proficiency on both Eastern introspective practice and Western scientific discipline. But more importantly, Wallace is not the stereotypical armchair philosopher and scholar. He is courageous in talking the talk and backing it up with action — a true hybrid dharma teacher.

There are many things I admire about Wallace. Let me count the ways…

1) He’s a hardcore dharma practitioner, well-versed in both Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist tradition. A prolific author, translator, and researcher whose primary interest is to integrate Buddhism with Western science and create a discipline called, Contemplative Science. (Also check out the audio of his lectures at Santa Barbara Institute.)

2) He’s the Co-principal investigator and Contemplative Director of the Shamatha Project, “a longitudinal, scientific study of the effects of three months-long training in attentional and emotional balance”, in collaboration with a team of cognitive scientists. Listen to his interviews on Buddhist Geeks wherein he discussed the overview of the Shamatha Project.

3) Another of his long-term visionary project is called, Phuket Mind Training Academy. See this video of B. Alan Wallace discussing the Phuket Mind Training Academy. (This reminds me of Professor Xavier’s School for the Gifted Youngsters.)

4) He blends humor, science, and dharma in retreat settings. Listen to his recent retreat at Upaya Dharma Podcast – “Science Meets Meditation”.

5) He is not intimidated by other intellectual heavyweights. See B. Allan Wallace debate/dialogue with John Searle on Consciousness.

For those who are not familiar with B. Alan Wallace, here’s a sample of his passionate, compassionate, and beautiful mind.

B. Alan Wallace @ Google Techtalks – Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences.

For me, B. Alan Wallace is an excellent example of an intellectual samurai. I consider myself fortunate to have encountered his teachings and apply it to my practice. He’s my kind of kick ass dharma teacher.

Today is day 90 of the Big Sit. I’m happy to report that I’ve completed the challenge, and then some. Geeky as I am, I even kept a log of it in my (hyper)stream. (See my #bigsit Twitter stream on Friendfeed.) As you can see in the stream I have two practice sessions daily. I practice in the morning and in the evening, 1.25 hours each session, for a total of 2.5 hours a day. Each practice session is a mix of sitting and lying down meditation. I’ve described the details of my meditation practice in my previous post, see Algorithmic Approach to Meditation.

For experienced and expert meditators 90 days of dedicated sitting practice may seem to be a piece of cake, but I’m neither experienced nor an expert. In fact, just five months ago I could barely sit for 20 minutes in one session. But now I could sit more than one hour each session without feeling like I’m having a root canal. I consider that a big accomplishment in my behavioral pattern. I give credit to Shinzen Young’s Five Ways strategy for dramatically improving my meditation practice. It fits me like a glove, and it makes practice practical and fun. Below is a video of Shinzen giving a quick summary of the Five Ways.

The Big Sit may be over, but I’m only warming up with Open Practice. Thanks to Tricycle Community for the challenge.

So I’m breaking my blog silence by posting a couple of fresh videos from my kick ass dharma teacher, Shinzen Young.

“Six Common Traps on the Path to Enlightenment”

“What are your specialties as a teacher?”

There are more videos coming. I’m still waiting for the videos wherein Shinzen answered some of the questions I submitted.

In the meantime, I hope you find these videos useful, inspiring, informative, and enlightening.

P.S. For more of Shinzen Young videos check out http://www.youtube.com/user/expandcontract

I projected the image on my mental screen. The image kept fading, popping in, popping out. It would then shapeshift into grotesque images–a monster, a vampire, a ghoul, a temptress, an axe murderer. The scary images gave me the chills but I persisted visualizing the radiance of the Sacred Heart while noting the rising and falling of the breath. But still the image was quick to fade in and fade out. Then all of a sudden the image of the Matrix code dominated my mental screen.

Matrix Code Visualization

I spontaneously visualized the Matrix code moving through my body and all around me, as if I were the character Seraph in the movie. I thought to myself, Now, this is cool! It was more stable than the Sacred Heart, yet more dynamic. So I stayed and grooved with it. I visualized the room and my body being made up of character codes each of them expanding and contracting as they move and shift directions. As I was meditating I realized that I just discovered a visualization technique that works for me. I’ll call it Matrix Code Visualization.

Soon as I finished my meditation I analyzed why the Matrix Code Visualization suits me. Here are a couple of reasons:

1) The Matrix has many meanings. Although the Matrix storyline is a mashup of different religious and mystical symbolisms, the Matrix code is secular. It also appeals to my geeky nature.

2) The dynamic movement of the Matrix code is an excellent metaphor for the micro scale level of impermanence. It’s easier for me to be aware of the waves, vibrations, expansion, contraction, flow sensations while visualizing it. It’s a good complement to the Focus on Change technique.

So I’ll continue to use the Matrix Code Visualization technique and see how far it would lead me down the rabbit hole. If you feel like it, give it a try and let me know if it works for you too.

What do I mean by algorithmic? Algorithmic simply means having a characteristic of a step-by-step logical process–i.e., do this; then do this; if this is true then do this, else do this; repeat until done. In short, it’s like a recipe or a computer program.

I first learned the algorithmic approach to meditation from Shinzen Young (whom I consider to be my primary kick ass dharma teacher). For more details on this approach check out Shinzen’s interview on Buddhist Geeks.

I’m really grooving with Shinzen’s approach to vipassana meditation practice. I find it to be very practical, clear, concise, secular, and uber-scientific. That’s why I’m using it as foundation for my “open practice.” For this reason it is essential for me to cover the basics of Shinzen’s methodology and technical lingo.

The 5 Ways

Shinzen Young is an ordained monk in the Shingon (Japanese Vajrayana) tradition. He also trained under Zen Master Sasaki Roshi.  However, Shinzen presents himself as a Vipassana (or mindfulness/insight) meditation teacher. In short, Shinzen has a background in the three main Buddhist traditions (Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana). One of his main goals is to integrate various meditation techniques, not only in the Buddhist traditions but also across the board of different traditions. He calls his integrated techniques, “5 Ways.”

watching Shinzen Young Youtube video on the iPhone

The 5 Ways is comprised of five core practices: focus in, focus out, focus on rest, focus on change, and focus on positive. Each core practice represents a meditation tradition. Each is a technique in itself. They can be mixed and matched depending on the preference and temperament of the practitioner. In addition, Shinzen has a unique approach to noting meditation. See How to Note and Label. For more details on the 5 ways listen to this interview with Shinzen Young by Stephanie Nash.

At first it seems that Shinzen’s methodology is very complicated and technical. And yes, it is technical and it requires a small learning curve to get familiar with Shinzen’s lingo. However, once you’ve learned the terminology and method, you’ll appreciate the simplicity, clarity, and conciseness of Shinzen’s teachings. In fact, he’s the most clear and articulate dharma teacher I’ve ever encountered. But don’t just take my word for it. You can find it out for yourself by giving it a try.

Now that I got that out of the way, I’ll now describe my algorithmic implementation of the 5 ways.

Algorithmic Meditation

Below is the general algorithm I follow when doing meditation. Note that instead of picking just one practice I make use of three core practices every session. I’ve discovered that these three techniques are very effective for my temperament and personality.

Here’s the sequence. I basically go through Step 1 to Step 3 and repeat the sequence until meditation session is over.

Step 1: Focus Out – I focus on the sensations of the breath. I note the sensation of the “rising” and “falling” of the abdomen. When attention wanders I note it and then gently go back to noting the sensation of the rising and falling. Sooner or later awareness shifts or deepens.

If I feel a sense of deep relaxation, I proceed to Step 2.

If I feel a sense of vibrations or waves, I proceed to Step 3.

Step 2: Focus on Rest – I focus on the restful sensations of the body and note it as “relaxed.” I then place some attention on the darkness/brightness in front of my closed eyes and note it as “blank.” I alternate between noting “relaxed” and “blank.” Then I let go… Sooner or later awareness shifts or deepens.

If concentration is poor and keeps wavering, I go back to Step 1.

If I feel a sense of vibrations or waves, I proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Focus on Change – I focus on the vibratory/wave sensations. I note it as “flow”, “expansion”, “contraction”, and “gone.” From here I just let go, ride out and surrender to the vibratory sensations while noting it as best as I can.  Sooner or later awareness shifts and the vibratory sensations disappear.

If concentration is poor and keeps wavering, I go back to Step 1.

If I feel a sense of deep relaxation, I proceed to Step 2.

That’s it. Simple as pie

Implementation: Sitting and Lying Down Meditation

I reserve 2.5 hours a day for meditation practice–one in the morning and one in the evening. Each session takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. I use the algorithmic meditation for both sitting and lying down meditation. I use my iPhone as meditation timer.

Generally, my practice sessions go like this:

Morning practice: (around 7 am in the morning before going to work)

45 minutes of sitting, eyes closed, open lotus posture (using the algorithmic meditation)

30 minutes of lying down, eyes closed, corpse posture  (using the algorithmic meditation)

Evening practice: (around 10pm at night before going to sleep)

45 minutes of sitting, eyes closed, open lotus posture (using the algorithmic meditation)

30 minutes of lying down, eyes closed, corpse posture (using the algorithmic meditation)

Note, however, that I’m not that strict with the timing. For example, I can do 30 minutes of sitting and 45 minutes lying down. I let my mood, my body, and the quality of my awareness during practice dictate the flow of practice. The important thing is that I stick to the practice and make each session at least 1 hour and 15 minutes in duration. There’s nothing special with the timing. I just find this to be the optimal schedule based on my available time and life condition. I’ve decided to do extended daily practice since I don’t have the opportunity to go into long extensive retreats.

I then conclude every practice session by putting my hands together, bowing, and saying “Thank You” to the Divine to express my deep gratitude for the opportunity to practice, to be alive, and to be able to share this “open practice” to all the serendipitous visitors on this site.

I hope you find this information useful. Thank you for your attention.

The following was originally posted on Dharma Overground. It was a serendipitous learning on my part while doing Vipassana practice. So I’m posting it here and filing it under Open Practice. Give it a try and let me know what happens.

For those who are new to lucid dreaming, read Lucidity Institute’s very informative Lucid Dreaming FAQ.

Discussion: vipassana induced lucid dream (VILD)

i’ve been doing lucid dream practices on and off for a number of years now. i won’t go into details with my experiences, since i already shared some of them on different threads. see:

> head being ripped while meditating
> flowing like a sine wave
> series of lucid dreams and false awakenings
> merging with the light in a lucid dream

i recently learned that lucid dreams can be easily induced by vipassana techniques. i’d like to share what i learned for those who are interested to develop their lucid dreaming skill.

i understand that some of the hardcore Theravada practitioners may have objection to this. what does lucid dreaming have to do with “enlightenment”? isn’t it just another distraction along the path? another phenomena to cling to? in general, i agree. however, the practice i’m about to describe is a complement to vipassana, not a replacement. my main intention is not to develop lucid dreaming skill as an end in itself, but as a means for extending awareness in the dream state. think of it as concentration (or samatha) practice. mastering it is not required, but enough proficiency with it could lead to insight. from this perspective, lucid dreaming is just another doorway into the nature of things.

for lack of a better term, i’ll call this technique VILD (vipassana induced/initiated lucid dream). it has similarities with MILD (mnemonic induced lucid dream) and WILD (wake induced lucid dream). see http://bit.ly/Q7lS for a description of these techniques. however, VILD is slightly different since it is specifically initiated via vipassana meditation, as opposed to altering sleeping cycles (i.e. WILD).

it’s a work in progress. but in my experience, i’m able to have lucid dreams 80% of the time. (need more data points to be more conclusive though).

here’s how i do it. i do my meditation practice for 1.25 hours every sitting (one in the morning and one in the evening). in the morning i divide my “sitting” practice. the first half is regular vipassana sitting (Shinzen Young style, see http://bit.ly/sxsPN ). then i do lying down meditation for the second half. below is the algorithmic sequence.

1. 30-45 minutes of sitting vipassana. after this session the body and mind should be peaceful and relaxed.

2. continue with lying down meditation. focus on breathing (rising, falling), relaxation, impermanence.

3. sooner or later you will sense big waves/vibrations (maybe even high pitched ringing in your ears). notice them. label them as “flow”, “expansion”, “contraction”. stay with it. surrender to it. until…

4. WHAM! you’re in a dream state. (note: you might see a flash of light, prior to the change in scenery). initially you might be disoriented or get lost in the dream. but hopefully, the clarity of awareness from the vipassana meditation (step 1), would spill over the dream state and make you lucid.

5. once you’re lucid, you can either continue to explore the dream world. have fun in it (i always fly), OR you can continue with vipassana practice (i.e., noticing the phenomena in the dream state).

in my experience, there’s an initial disorientation when i shift to the dream state (step 4). but most of the time, as soon as awareness shifts, i still have some awareness that i’m dreaming and lying down in meditation at the same time. at times, i can even hear myself snoring. then i just note it

i understand that Tibetans have highly developed dream yoga techniques. but since i choose to practice vipassana, this is my own way of incorporating my practice into the dream world. again, VILD is *not* a replacement for vipassana, it’s my own approach for extending awareness in the dream state and continue with my chosen practice.

if you decide to give this a try, let me know how it works for you. we could use more data points. but never let the dream state be a distraction to our waking practice.

thanks!

~C

See hashtag – #openpractice

Serendipitously, I also joined Tricycle’s 90-day Big Sit Challenge, even if my meditation practice is not Zen.

See hashtag – #bigsit

As for my main support group when it comes to practice, I ride with hardcore (and geeky) Buddhist practitioners at Dharma Overground.

See hashtag – #DhO

That said, I’ll be posting more detailed accounts of my practice soon. So stay tuned. In the meantime, if you have a Twitter account and want to participate with open practice, feel free to use the #openpractice hashtag anytime.

Using hashtags is a low-tech way of aggregating our momentary awareness, but it serves its purpose.

Here’s the result. I can’t think of a good title. So I’ll just call it, “One Sweet Fable”.

#1 Lost and Seeking wandering away despair, confusion, searching however which way	#2 Following the Trail smelling its fragrance following a trail of hope with sense of delight	#3 Perceiving catching a glimpse of the source on top of a hill its visible side
#4 Tasting touching and smelling feeling, listening, tasting, still unsatisfied	#5 Dragging dragging and towing wanting to claim the bounty pushing and pulling	#6 Moving as it starts to move ride or get out of its way? down the hill it goes
#7 Movement riding the bounty only the sense of movement rolling down, down, down	#8 ?! … … …	#9 The Return awareness returns someone else is out there too what just happened here?
#10 The Company a small group appears followed the scent of the first to help lift the gift	#11 Returning to the Collective and they all hike back with their bounty to share its one taste of sweetness

Commentary

“One Sweet Fable” is a variation of the classic Ten Ox Herding Pictures. They’re essentially similar frame by frame except for a little twist near the end and the addition of an 11th frame. The classic Ten Ox Herding Pictures is a hero journey that one takes on the path to awakening. The myth of the hero is universal across cultures. It has been the predominant paradigm: a lone person going out on a quest and returning back to the world with the good news. This has been the model for most spiritual traditions, like Moses, the Buddha, Christ, and other founders of great religions and spiritual movements.

However, I think that, when it comes to the story of enlightenment, the hero paradigm is at best only partially true. The myth of the hero is useful when viewed from the perspective of the individual (e.g. our own subjective point of view ), but when viewed from the perspective of a collective, we see that the hero is in actuality a small spark in the turning of the wheel of awakening.

In the classic Ten Ox Herding Pictures, the story ended when the hero returned to the marketplace to spread the good news to all those who would care to listen. In “One Sweet Fable”, there’s a twist to the story. Those who are familiar with spiritual literature understand that the spiritual hero (e.g. enlightened sages, founders of great religions) almost always started teaching within a small group. The Buddha taught to a small group of monks, Christ had his disciples, and modern sages were reluctant teachers who were sought out by a small group of devoted people to come out in the open. Shinzen Young captured this concept beautifully when he said, “When the teacher is ready, the students appear.” And that’s what frames #9 and #10 are all about.

The myth of the hero will always be part of our collective psyche. But in our hyper-connected world where all spiritual teachings are always-already available and accessible to a large number of people, the myth of the hero takes a backseat to the myth of the small collective. And it’s through these small collectives, not the second coming of a solitary mythological figure, that the expression of the Divine will foster many awakenings.

Michael Bauwens put it succinctly: “The next Buddha will be a collective.” What is Enlightenment? magazine called this, “Collective Intelligence: The Next Step in Human Evolution.” What better way to represent this collective intelligence than the most eusocial creatures here on this planet: ants.

Here’s to our collective awakening, however which way, no matter how long it takes.

clouds passing by

I am sitting in front of my computer staring at a blank page. A faint recollection of a dream I had last night bubbles up in my awareness. I dreamt of a black expanse where everyday reality is projected. It was like watching a movie in a very dark theater where the only thing you can see is the movie screen. But the movie screen was not the typical rectangular wide screen. The screen filled my entire field of vision but I was somehow still aware of the background. I was disoriented. I was not in the movie but the movie is inside me, and I couldn’t even remember what was playing. Then I attempted to analyze—“is this the nondual?” There was no answer. My awareness dissolved in the abyss of slumber, and all that was left was the impression of the experience.

Just like web pages, our awareness comes and goes within the vast expanse of cyberspace.

I wrote the above account during my early days of blogging. It was from a lucid dream I had a few years back. It serves as a reminder why I continue to blog my heart out.

A lot has happened since I started blogging five years ago, in my personal sphere and in the global stage. In the technological domain of cyberspace, the explosion of social media–social networks, photo-sharing, video-sharing, lifestreaming applications–is happening so fast that it’s virtually impossible to catch up with all of them. To adapt to these changes I decided to take the opposite route. I slowed down with my blogging and shifted to what I call (hyper)streaming.

Like blogging, I consider (hyper)streaming as part of my “spiritual” practice. I do my best to infuse it with passion and compassion. However, regular and long-time readers would have noticed by now that I rarely post about my actual practice. This is simply because I didn’t have any consistent practice, in the traditional sense of the word. It would’ve been hypocritical of me to talk about meditation without actually doing it. That’s why, for the most part, I just link to helpful information and reliable sources. But, obviously, linking to information about practice is not the same as actually doing the practice. Information is helpful to understand concepts, develop intelligence, and inform my philosophy, but by itself it won’t get me “there.”

What do I mean by “there”? In my very first blog post, I wrote this:

the past and the future are amorphous, the present is an illusion, to “awaken” is the goal, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun in the process. this blog site is all about that… awakening while having fun.

So what I mean by “there” is none other than the ultimate prize: satori, moksha, arahatship, liberation, awakening, enlightenment.

Now that I got that out of the way…

I’ve been a student of “spirituality” for more than two decades now. I still remember picking up my first esoteric booklet, Easy Journey to Other Planets, when I was in high school. Yes, I was that gullible That was my first time to read about meditation, chanting, mantra, and other esoteric teachings. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time (and money) reading books, listening to different teachers, trying out different practices, while keeping a healthy dose of skepticism. It felt good to know a lot of information regarding the concepts and process of awakening. However, one very important thing I lacked was the discipline to pick and stick with a practice. For years I would just dabble with different practices. My practice was on and off, but for the most part it was off. I’ve been chasing too many rabbits and I still haven’t caught one.

The bottom line is: Intellect is no substitute for actual experience. That’s why I made this affirmation a month ago:

Change begins with me. I commit to investigate and understand the true nature of the sensations that make up reality, so clearly, that I become awake and compelled to take action with passion and compassion.

Since then I’ve been consistent with my meditation practice. Previously I could only endure sitting meditation for no more than thirty minutes, but for the past month I’ve been sitting in meditation for more than one hour per sitting and more than two hours a day. This positive feedback rekindled my passion for sitting practice. I realized that all I needed was proper technique, excellent teachers, and good motivation to pick and stick with a practice. It took me years of intellectual pursuit to really understand this. I’ve been a slow learner. Then again, I’m also a believer in the old Zen saying, “When the student is ready, the Master appears.” I’ve never felt more ready. I now understand that my path is Theravada, and my practice is Vipassana.

I credit Daniel Ingram for reminding me the importance of correct practice (see my review of Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha), Shinzen Young for secularizing the dharma and developing user-friendly and uber-scientific techniques (see my review of The Science of Enlightenment), Ken Wilber for his lucid articulation and development of Integral Philosophy, and my fellow dharma geeks over at Buddhist Geeks and Dharma Overground for their encouragement and open-sharing of knowledge.

This leads me to the main topic of this post. Starting today I’m introducing a new category which I call, Open Practice.

What is Open Practice?

Open Practice is a journal of my “spiritual” practice, or simply, practice. In the spirit of Open source and active learning, I will attempt to share as best as I can, my approach, techniques, information, and subjective experiences, in a matter-of-factness way, as I undergo the process of awakening. My goal is not only to awaken, but also to demystify and secularize the path to enlightenment. This sounds like a lofty and arrogant goal. It is. But it’s better to shoot for the moon than to get lost in its reflection.

Open Practice is a work in progress. I’ll flesh it out as I go along. But for starters here are some of its concepts.

What Open Practice is:

• A matter-of-fact reporting of empirical subjective experiences. From this perspective Open Practice is an experiment. I’ll be playing the role of the”subject” of study. Readers play the role of science researchers who are gathering data points of subjective experiences. These data points can then be compared with religious, spiritual, psychological, and medical literature and used for further research on the “science of enlightenment.”
• Active learning. A good way of learning and embodying a practice is to talk about it and be proficient with its language and terminology. Creating a journal of my practice is one way of active learning.
• Open-sharing of techniques. I believe that there’s no one-size-fits-all awakening technology. We groove with what tickles our fancy. Meditation techniques that work for other people don’t work for others. I’ll do my best to document the techniques that work for me and share it with others.
• Increasing serendipitous understanding and meetings. One thing I learned in my years of blogging is that open-sharing leads to targeted serendipity–attracting other people who are openly sharing knowledge and information. This is a beneficial feedback loop that results in adding to our understanding of concepts through healthy dharma discussions and meeting other people online and offline, which then could lead to other serendipitous discoveries. Trust me on this. It’s the law of karma
• Inspiring others to pick up a practice. Hopefully, this would inspire people to question religious dogma and explore the deeper dimensions of the mystical core of their religious traditions. “The kingdom of God is within.” The doorway is practice and the fruition is Grace.

What Open Practice is Not:

• Bragging about attainments. This is not about showing off and proclaiming how good we are in our practice. There’s no place for our delusions of grandeur here.
• My teacher and method is better than yours. See open-sharing of techniques. But if you really think and believe that your method is the best, don’t tell. Show and prove it.
• Useless lemon-eating debates based on parroting and hearsay rather than experiential knowledge. If you’ve read this far, then this should be self-explanatory

Who are invited?

Everyone. If you have a blog (or lifestream), you’re a dedicated spiritual practitioner, and you don’t mind openly sharing your practice to everyone, then I encourage you to participate and start your own Open Practice. Let’s all step out in the open as we tread the path of awakening. And if along the way people raise their eyebrows and ask us what the heck are we doing and what this path is all about, here’s something we can tell them:

If anybody asks you what the Path is about,
It’s about generosity.
It’s about morality.
It’s about concentration.
It’s about gaining insight through
focused self-observation.
It’s about the cultivation of subjective states
of compassion and love based on insight.
And it’s about translating that compassion
and love into actions in the real world.

~Shinzen Young

Godspeed to all of us. Now let’s get it on!

I just finished listening to Shinzen Young’s The Science of Enlightenment audio CDs. I ripped all 14 CDs into MP3s, synced them to my iPhone and  listened at home, on the road, at the gym, and even at work. I have high expectations, and I was not disappointed.

(Tip: If you don’t care about the CDs and nifty packaging, you can download the Science of Enlightenment on iTunes for less than half of its original price).

Aside from being a Buddhist monk, scholar, meditation teacher, mathematician, and science geek, Shinzen is also a linguist, so he’s very particular and precise with his use of words, pronunciation, and diction (especially with foreign languages). He likes to define and clarify any ambiguity in the terms he uses in his discourses. He doesn’t go into too much philosophical conjecture and speaks in a friendly matter-of-factness tone. The more I listen to him the more I become certain that Shinzen Young is my kind of kick ass dharma teacher.

The Science of Enlightenment was originally published in audio cassette tapes in 1998. Sounds True published the unabridged audio CDs in 2005. So keep in mind that the recorded talks are more than ten years old (that’s ancient time in cyberspace). However, that’s one of the reasons why I find this series so compelling to listen to. Even though Shinzen delivered the dharma in his own contemporary style and science-based lingo, with the advancement in science, his style of teaching apply more today than when he made the recordings ten years ago.

Here is my review and summary of the breadth and depth of The Science of Enlightenment.

some equations on the Science of Enlightenment

Disc 1 – Extraordinary States Of Focus And Presence / Cultivating Concentration Power / Expanding The Scale Of Your Life / Meditation As Part Of All Activities / What Is A Meditative State? / The Physiological Effects Of Meditation / Meditating For Your Health / Common Misconceptions About Meditation / Happiness Independent Of Conditions / A Complete Experience / How Your Meditation Benefits Others / Developing True Friendliness And Compassion

Shinzen starts out by explaining what meditation is and the importance of developing high concentration. He discusses the psychological and physiological effects of meditation practice. For those who already have a regular meditation practice, specifically Buddhist Vipassana practice, there’s not much new information on this CD. However, this is an excellent introduction for those who are new to meditation. It’s also a good refresher course for those who have slacked in their meditation practice.

Disc 2 – The Meditative Core Of World Religions / Three Aspects Of Religious Experience / What Is Enlightenment? / A Link Among The Mystics / Hinduism And The Technology Of Concentration / The Perennial Philosophy / Focusing The Mind With Relaxation / The Lessons Of Effort And Equanimity / Your Wave-Like Nature / The Unified Vibration Of All Life / Changing Your Understanding Of Self / Happiness In The Midst Of Suffering

Here is where listeners will get a sense of the depth of Shinzen’s experiential and encyclopedic knowledge of the common threads of mystical traditions. He elaborates on the terminologies used in different traditions when describing states of consciousness, concentration, and spiritual experiences. He uses the words “waves” and “vibrations” in describing the Buddhist concept of “impermanence.” On my part, I find this description of impermanence as key to understanding its “tangible” and experiential aspects. More on this below…

Disc 3 – The Six Senses / Modes Of Thinking / Dimensions Of Emotions / Being Mindful Of Body Sensations / Noting The Quality Of Your Feelings / Insight And Purification / Acquiring Skill At Feeling / How Thoughts And Feelings Intertwine / The Self As An Interactive Wave / Meditation Teachers As Living Models / The Activity Of Personality / Untangling Your Negative Emotions / Wave/Particle Complementarity / The Moment Of True Peace

This CD is where Shinzen goes into detail in discussing the Vipassana technique, specifically “noting” meditation. Vipassana (or Mindfulness) meditation is a technique of teasing apart the strands of our sensory experience. Using clear science metaphors and with his proclivity for mathematics, Shinzen explains how the tangling of sensory components causes overwhelm, suffering, and produce a sense of self. He then elaborates on the Wave/Particle paradigm of describing our awareness and Buddhist concepts such as impermanence and nothingness. For example here’s how he describes “nothingness” or the activity of the “Source” using the wave metaphor.

“…when we have this unblocked experience of the six senses and they produce their wave, this actually is not the complete experience of the Source. There’s one final step in the reduction. And that takes place when the waves cancel out. And there is a moment of true peace. Not peace in the sense that the mind has stopped thinking. But peace in the sense that all of the expansive and contractive forces that can create this or any universe have come together. And in their coming together they have drawn the richness of this and all conceivable universes, drawn them back into a state that is a cancellation of positive and negative. So it is a kind of nothing, but contains all the positive and negative. So it is at the same time, an everything.”

Very geeky, no?

Disc 4 – Global Relaxation Meditation / Free-floating Awareness Meditation

This is a guided meditation focusing on relaxation and free-floating awareness. Very refreshing and relaxing.

Disc 5 – Meditation As Inner Catalyst  / Paradigms Of Purification / Relieving Friction Among The Senses / The Paradox Of Complete Experience / The Technique Of No Technique / Strategies For Increasing Awareness / Classic Objects Of Meditation / Focusing On Feeling And Thoughts / Fixation And Driveness / Observing Your Thoughts / True Peace Of Mind / Contacting Your Fundamental Confusion / Samadhi Through The Senses

Here the discussion continues with the different objects of meditation, and meditation as a scientific paradigm. Shinzen expounds on thought (or thinking) as one of the six senses and introduced the concept of insight and purification. Those who are familiar with Theravada practice will recognize this as a generalized contemporary discourse on Visuddhimaga (Path of Purification).

Disc 6 – Thinking Process Meditation / Clarifying Meditation

I haven’t tried this meditation, yet. But it’s good to know that this option is available whenever I feel like it

Disc 7 – The Pathless land / Three Layers of Consciousness / The Creative Nature of Impermanence / Relating to Your Intermediate Realms / Relating to Your Intermediate Realms / The Ascent of St. John of the Cross / The Oblique Path of Shamanism / The Body of the Absolute / Fundamentals for Your Practice / Impetus to Follow the Path / Momentum and Maintenance / Liberation vs. Entertainment Meditation

This CD is one of my favorites in this series. This is the part where Shinzen talks about his “three-layered cake” metaphor of consciousness and how different people traverse the spiritual path in an infinite number of vectors. This is a contemporary discourse on the Buddhist teaching of Trikaya (or three bodies)–nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya, and dharmakaya.

In this talk Shinzen criticizes the spiritual materialism which is rampant in New Age circles and religious faiths. A good portion of the discourse is on the dangers and pitfalls of the Intermediate Realm of Power–the layer of the subconscious, unconscious, and archetypes–where the weird stuff (ie, apparitions, psychic powers, demons, gods) arises. Unlike other meditation teachers who avoid talking about their inner experiences, Shinzen openly shares his own visionary encounters. However, he makes no claims on the objective nature of his experiences. He’s humble enough to label his visionary experiences as “hallucinations” no matter how realistic and insightful they were from his subjective point of view. Shinzen also shares some interesting stories of paranormal phenomena he witnessed, but cautions the listeners on exploring the horizonal dimensions of the archetypes. He highly recommends to get enlightened first before mastering the Intermediate Realms of Power.

Shinzen makes it clear that what he’s teaching is a “liberation-oriented” meditation as opposed to “spiritual entertainment.” So he emphasized practice with enlightenment as the ultimate goal; to use illusion to be free from illusion.

Disc 8 – Impermanence As A Facet Of Insight / Suffering And No-Self / Are The Mountains Moving? / The Guises Of Impermanence / Sensing The Vibrations Of Your Body / The Ultimate Inner Massage / The Taste Of Purification / The Marathon Monks Of Mt. Hiye / Digesting Karma / Merging Spirit And Matter / Impermanence As A Unifier / The Activity Called “You”

I just love listening to Shinzen’s discourse on impermanence. It’s different from other discourses I’ve heard before. Maybe because Shinzen uses contemporary and scientific metaphors which appeal to me. Just by hearing him describe impermanence as vibrations, waves, expansion, and contraction enabled me to improve on my meditation practice. Since then I’ve learned to ride the waves of subtle vibrations like a newbie surfer.

Disc 9 – The Formless Womb / Pondering The Obvious / The Pairs Of Fundamental Forces / Daidic Models In Western Philosophy / Mystical Judaism / Rising And Passing In Buddhism / Participating In The Activity Of The Source / The Polarization Of The Whole Universe / The Zero That Is Everything / Cessation Of Thought And Feeling / What Will You Do When The Earthquake Comes? / Being The Master Of Every Situation

More excellent discourse on impermanence, Nirvana, and why Joshu Sasaki Roshi’s (Shinzen Young’s teacher) metaphor of expansion and contraction is an important breakthrough.  Shinzen also discusses the Dyadic Models (e.g. Ying and Yang) as opposed to Dualistic Models (e.g. Good vs. Evil) of spirituality. Very conceptually handy.

Disc 10 – Breath Meditation / Sensory Field Meditation

In this CD Shinzen guides the listeners to develop the sensitivity to recognize the vibratory, expansive, contractive, and undulatory sensations of impermanence. For me, focusing on these sensations is like being massaged by a vibrating chair from Sharper Image.

Disc 11 – The Science Of Enlightenment / Three “Vehicles” Of Buddhism / Three Geographical Regions Of Buddhism / The Buddha And Asceticism / The Middle Way / Liberation And Responsibility

Although the title of the series is The Science of Enlightenment Shinzen makes it clear that the Buddhist methodology  is only “a science of enlightenment”, meaning that it’s only one of the methods among other mystical practices in the core of other religious traditions, not to mention that enlightenment can also happen in the secular domain, serendipitously, due to some statistical probability. However, according to Shinzen, Buddhist meditation (as originally developed in India) is the most refined and systematic of the liberation-oriented technology. I couldn’t agree more.

In this CD Shinzen wears a hat of a Buddhist scholar lecturing on the history of the three pillars of Buddhism (Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana). He cautions the listeners that he’s only giving a generalized account of the history of the different schools of Buddhism. For those who don’t know the distinctions of the different Buddhist traditions, this is an excellent rundown of the evolution of Buddhism up to the present period.

Depending on where your bias is among the different schools of Buddhism, you might get a bit rattled by Shinzen’s critique of Mahayana and Vajrayana. Remember that Shinzen is an ordained monk in the Vajrayana school–Shingon, Japanese tradition–so I think he knows what he’s talking about. In any case, I will leave this debate to Buddhist scholars. I’m just here to learn a liberation-oriented technology and practice with diligence

Disc 12 – The Complexities Of Zen / Soto Zen And The Relevance Of Sitting Practice / The Practice Of Rinzai Zen / Vajrayana Buddhism / Sexuality And Spiritual Growth / The Relevance Of Ritual / Three Styles Of Buddhism

This is the continuation of Shinzen’s lecture on the different schools of Buddhism. Very juicy.

Disc 13 – Universal Mystical Experience / Different Expressions Of Enlightenment / Origins Of Meditative Experience / The Power Of Ceremony / Internal And External Technologies / The Intersection Of Science And Spirituality

In this CD Shinzen gives his due respect to Shamanism and the spiritual experiences of early humans but he makes it clear that he doesn’t subscribe to the notion of the Noble Savage. No pre-trans fallacy here. He also starts his discourse on the integration of Science and Spirituality.

Disc 14 – The Enlightened Scientist / The Human Significance Of The Impersonal / How Science Illuminates Meditation / A New Model For Enlightenment / New Perspectives On The One Reality / The Spiritual Themes Of Modern Physics / The Next Mode Of Human Awareness

This is the gist of the series: the cross-fertilization of the best of what the East and West have to offer to humanity. Shinzen offers a new model for Eastern enlightenment that is supported by the Western scientific paradigm. He calls for a cultivation of enlightened scientists. Take note that he’s not only asking for scientists who meditate. He wants a group of people who have PhDs and research experience who at the same time had experienced classical enlightenment and attain all the levels of samadhi. Here’s how he put it:

What we really need are individuals who understand both worlds really deeply…. I’m talking about people who could attain all levels of samadhi, have had deep enlightenment experiences, probably meditated for thirty, fourty, fifty years in a very disciplined way, on one hand, and have PhDs and research experience in the sciences on the other hand. And a third characteristic, are iconoclastic, are willing to see beyond the preconceptions of both traditional meditative practices and standard Western science.

What I think is needed, what I would like to see happen is, a generation of individuals like this appearing on this planet. Because ultimately, it has to be inside one person. The disciplines are too deep, they’re too subtle, for specialist in one to try communicate with specialist in the other using words. It’s very difficult. So I think what we need is a few dozen people that are really enlightened masters, number one, top notch scientists, number two, and willing to, as I say, willing to let go of preconceptions of both of those disciplines and look at something in a radically different way. And I think if we had several dozen human beings like that on this planet they could come up with some extraordinary new breakthroughs.

How cool is that?

According to Shinzen, his dream is to teach meditation at MIT. I hope that since he made these recordings he already had a chance to teach meditation at Ivy League schools. Shinzen should be invited to give a presentation on TED Talks. I share his passion for secularizing the dharma and making it more palatable to the scientific community.

Conclusion and Some Observations

Those who are familiar with Ken Wilber’s Integral Psychological Model will probably not find anything radically new on the Science of Enlightenment as far as broad integration is concerned. Wilber has been hashing out the integration of Western Science and Eastern contemplative disciplines for almost four decades now. However, I see Shinzen Young as one of those who are actually fleshing out the integration that Wilber has been calling for. He complements Wilber’s integration using his own style of integration. If Wilber is doing integration at the 10,000 feet level, Shinzen is doing it at the 1,000 feet level. Shinzen’s approach to secularizing the dharma and teaching Vipassana meditation–reworking the vocabulary, applying mathematical concepts, and using scientific metaphors–is, in my opinion, the best way of making it palatable for the scientific community and the academia.

Shinzen Young is one the most sane voices who are paving the way for the enlightenment of science. Since the publication of the Science of Enlightenment ten years ago, there already are promising signs that the cross-fertilization of Western science and Eastern meditative technology have been gathering momentum . One of the leading voices in the field is B. Alan Wallace (a Buddhist practitioner and scientist). See Wallace’s talk at Google: “Towards the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences“. On the more mainstream end, Sam Harris (a neuroscience researcher) is making noises about such integration. See Harris’s essays on the Huffington Post: “A Contemplative Science” and Shambhala Sun: “Killing the Buddha“.

As for Shinzen Young, he’s more active than ever and continues to refine his methodology . The most recent version of his secularized and science-based teaching can be found on his website, Basic Mindfulness.

However, one thing I noticed about Shinzen’s style of teaching Vipassana is that he doesn’t put emphasis on the Jhanas (as originally thought in the Theravada tradition), possibly because he doesn’t want to dwell on them or that he has not specialized in them. I assume that Shinzen’s goal is to make Vipassana meditation more compatible with Western Science, that’s why he prefers to focus on those teachings which could be easily translated into user-friendly scientific terms rather than teaching the jhanas as described in the original suttras of the Buddha. For those who are into more hardcore Theravada, I highly recommend checking out Daniel Ingram’s Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha.

The bottom line: Shinzen Young demystified the concept classical enlightenment, making “happiness independent of conditions” a realistic and tangible goal for people who choose to tread the path of liberation.

Thanks to Shinzen Young I now realize that my kind of practice is Vipassana, my proclivity is towards Theravada, and that, when I grow up, I want to become a hard-nosed rationalist Buddha.