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A Child of the Cyber-Sangha

ENLIGHTENMENT FROM THE INTERNET?

NOTE: The following is by a young man closing in on age thirty or so


whose Awakening experience transpired, as described by him, almost
entirely through offerings of the internet. What he presents within the
contents of the paper offers interesting insights into the overall modern
Enlightenment experience, and thus then perhaps, will be of interest to
ALL seekers along the path, but especially so those whose computers are
a personal choice for garnering information on Zen, spirituality, and the
Awakening process. In that the author has since taken the page down
from general internet access, through courtesy to him, within what is
offered here, he will remain anonymous. All personal references have thus
been removed.
Although not widely known, Enlightenment through similar means as cited
above and presented in full below is not totally unheard of. Many, many
years before the advancement of computers and the invention of the
internet there was an American of great spiritual Attainment by the name
of Alfred Pulyan that reached a great number of people almost
exclusively through a mail order following. People that came to hear about
him would write hoping for insight into what one could do to Awaken to
the Absolute, and Pulyan would respond, asking for no more than a
stamped self-addressed envelope. He claimed to have a 70% success rate,
more than ten times higher than the ancient Zen masters --- and all done
through mail order.

the Wanderling

The Childhood Years


I was born in a small town in 1983. My parents divorced when I was two years
old, but thankfully, both my parents were sensible enough people who were
able to communicate at a civilized level and they agreed to share custody.
Since I never knew any alternative to this, it never really bothered me.

Although my family was not religious (though not atheist either), I had always
had a spiritual 'touch', in the sense that ever since I was a small child I had a
desire to look for 'that which was greater than me.' That 'looking' manifested
itself in a great love for nature, while also stirring up a nearly unquenchable
interest in the supernatural and mysterious. I always had the feeling that I was
different in the sense that I felt where others might think pursuing spiritual and
mystical matters with their heart and soul was an intriguing 'idea', this was
something that I considered a very real opportunity in my life.

Other than that continuing feeling that there somehow had to be more to life, I
had an ordinary happy childhood. I surely wasn't dissatisfied with my life in
any way, I just wanted to go deeper. I had always believed that there had to
be some ultimate reality that could be realized.
When I was 14 years old I discovered Buddhism for the very first time. The
appeal was instant. Here was someone, Shakyamuni Buddha, whom I felt
must have penetrated to true understanding and had found real inner peace.
And they, the Buddha's followers, had laid out a path for others to follow.
Buddhism seemed reasonable in every way regarding its approach to the
world, and yet deeply mystical, beyond the ordinary world so to speak.
Particularly the Tibetan Masters appealed to me, as I saw their supernatural
powers called Siddhis as an expression of having found true Enlightenment.
After a few weeks of intense study of Buddhism I was pouring through a book
about Buddhism in general when I came across a small section about a
Japanese branch of Buddhism called Zen, where monks had to face
inhumane hard labour every day, and when not working they would be
meditating at least six hours a day. Furthermore, there was no seeming logic
in the Zen philosophy. Zen masters were known to harass their students to
the extreme, hitting them completely unexpected and were generally not
above making their students' lives a living hell. This might not sound very
appealing, but I was intrigued. What little impression I had of Zen was as a
mysterious and arcane monk order (the name alone was incredibly alluring!).
Unlike the somewhat failed attempts among new-agers to resurrect arcane
and ancient traditions, this was a tradition that had actually stayed alive
throughout the millennia. Thus I concluded that this would not be possible if
there wasn't something to it. Zen, I felt, transcended all logic and thus they
had to have found something beyond. I felt assured that if someone had
somehow discovered ultimate truth, it had to be a Zen Master. I was
convinced that Zen was the right way for me.

The Spiritual Quest Begins


It was not until about a year-and-a-half later, at the age of sixteen, that I
actually did anything about it. My mother had recently got internet access at
home. One day, I decided to search for a Zen newsgroup and subsribed to
one. As I begun to explore Zen through interaction with other Zennists (I still
didn't understand Zen, nor do I think those I talked with did), after just four
days of posting to the newsgroup, I had my first insight experience. Although
the insight in itself was rather insignificant (I had simply realized that all things
are interdependedly connected - cause and effect) it proved to me that there
was indeed something to Zen. From that point on, I never had any doubt that I
would one day be Enlightened, which was unquestionably a factor that
contributed much to my eventual Awakening. This was the first major turning
point in my spiritual search.

I had many small insight experiences after that, none of which I can remember
now, and generally just tried to practise as openly and honestly as possible. I
was never much good at meditating. I tried at times, my posture was good and
rarely caused me problems, but I never managed to establish a regular habit
of sitting and thus never managed to make my mind one-pointed in meditation
either. The closest thing I ever came to establishing actual concentration was
when meditating upon metta (lovingkindness/compassion), which is
something I still have a fondness for.

One could very well say that I am a child of the Cyber-Sangha. I have never
actually met another Buddhist or spiritual seeker in my real life (at least not
that I am aware of), but fortunately I have met many on the internet. Some
were Enlightened, some were not, but all of them helped me in one way or
another. Looking back, I can see just how tremendously beneficial it was to
have friends on the path, to spur me onwards, and to help me look deeper into
myself and what I considered to be 'me'. The newsgroups I subscribed to
enabled me to engage in conversations about the path and to challenge my
own views, uprooting many attachments to my own ideas and beliefs. It was
not always beneficial (there were many times I was being misguided), but the
friends I have gained from posting to these newsgroups are all people who
have contributed much to my progress and whom I am deeply grateful for
meeting, as I have gained much from their experience. The internet was also
my prime source for reading, as my local library only had very few books on
Buddhism. Thus I was fortunate that so many Buddhist teachings existed on
the internet.

The Point of No Return


The second turning point came over a year later, around October 2000, when
I had a small insight into the nature of perception or (mental) images. This
insight gradually expanded over the next month until I saw the nature of
perception quite clearly. This insight was much clearer than anything else
before that, and moreover, it was something I could actually use in my daily
practise. Over the next couple of months I would be aware of my own
attachment to perception in almost any daily situation. Whether it was
regarding my own feelings towards things in my life, or something as simple
as drying myself with the towel, I found attachment to self, I was clinging to an
image, even if it were something as trivial as the habitual image of drying
myself with a towel. That particular, possibly Kensho level insight, had
become like a sword with which I would sever attachments of all kinds in my
life. It was this insight, and the cultivation born of it, that set me on a path
which could only go one way and would eventually trigger my awakening four
months later. Around December, I also discovered the Platform Sutra of Hui
Neng the Sixth Patriarch of Zen. The first time I read it, I was alarmed, as the
teachings it contained didn't accord with my own understanding at all. I chose
to disregard my own understanding though and read it again. During those
months, I read it very often and grew more and more fond of it. I did not try to
understand the scripture conceptually, but studying that scripture helped my
understanding grow immensely at the time.

After months of letting go of so many attachments to images of myself and


others, it finally triggered what I would say was the strongest insight
experience I had ever had, as it hit me with surprising impact and clarity,
which could be said to be my third turning point on the path. It happened just
before the new year. I was merely washing the dishes when I realized that
everything I experienced was mind. There was no 'out there' to be
experienced; only mind. It was all mind, and mind was vaster than the sky
itself. It felt as if I was walking around in an infinite bubble that expanded in all
directions. I still clung to the dualistic notions between 'me' and mind. It was
as if there was mind all around me, and me experiencing that mind.
Nonetheless, it was a good incentive to be more aware as I got a real kick out
of perceiving a mind vaster than the sky. I felt that Enlightenment could not be
far away. It wasn't.

Buddhist Enlightenment and the Internet

Just after the new year, I met my teacher via the internet. It did not have
much impact on my progress, as his instructions merely affirmed the way my
own practise had developed, primarily thanks to my studies of the Platform
Sutra.
Nonetheless, it was reassuring to know that there was someone there
whom I could rely on to point me in the right direction and alert me when
I was heading in the wrong direction.[1]

Sometime around mid-February I began to realize that true realization couldn't


be found in the world of cause and effect, that I had to somehow transcend
conditioned existence before I make progress. It was as if I was stuck in
between. Everything around me seemed absolutely futile. I wasn't really
depressed, but rather left with the impression of total futility of the world. It
didn't matter what I did or what I practised. It was all bound by conditioned
existence, yet I knew that I had to go beyond all conditioned existence. Yet
how do you make the transition between conditioned and unconditioned
existence? I felt out of tune with myself and everything around me. Yet I knew
that this true mind I was searching for could never be found apart from
conditioned existence; that this life was all there was. It couldn't be found in
conditioned existence, yet not apart from it either. I had realized completely
was Enlightenment was not, yet my mind was not yet ready to harvest the
fruits of true Enlightenment.

On February the 25th, I broke through the barrier.[2] I was walking home
alongside a lake as usually, when I discovered my true self, and that it had
always been with me. Because it had always been with me, it didn't really
change anything. In fact nothing changed. Because nothing changed, there
was no reason to respond to anything, and I walked on as if nothing had
happened, entirely undisturbed by what had just been revealed to me.

I cannot pinpoint anything concrete that could have triggered this event.
Rather, it was a sudden consequence of something that had happened
gradually over a long period of time, namely the falling away of my
attachments to 'me' and everything that comes along with that, such as views,
concepts, beliefs etc.

The Discovery
I will now try to describe as accurately as possible that which I discovered on
that day and which became much clearer to me in the months that followed.
Basically, what I discovered cannot be said to be anything. There is absolutely
nothing that can distinguish it any way, so trying to describe it is useless
really. It is forever indescribable.
Nonetheless, there is a conditioned existence which can be distinguished and
when one puts It in relation to this conditioned existence, it is possible to give
a description of what it is not. It is not possible to give a positive description of
it, yet the via negativia description is not true either. It should be understood
that it is not an actual description, but rather a negation in relation to
conditioned existence.

I discovered that nothing that can be distinguished as being anything is really


me. Everything that is conditioned, subjected to cause and effect and thus
impermanent, is not who I really am. That all the thoughts, feelings and views
that we harbour have nothing to do with me. Even my body is not really me.
There is no 'I'. No one to feel, no one to think or act. All of this happens
independently of me, yet not apart from me. The 'I' as such is nothing more
than a set of ideas, thoughts and views which are being continuously
sustained by dwelling on them and holding on to them as real. Once the false
'I' is seen through, the true self manifests.

My true self is awareness or consciousness, but not as you think of it. What I
discovered was that my awareness is not bound by anything at all. I call it the
Unconditioned or Essence of Mind. What I mean by Essence of Mind is that
when you take everything in the mind and strip away, then there is just this,
the essence, left.

It is not bound by space, so it could be called infinite, yet this is not really true
as it cannot really be said to have any spatial limits even if this limit is infinity.
Thus my true self expands everywhere in all directions, yet it is nowhere to be
found.

It is not bound by time, so it could be called eternal, yet this is not really true
either, as it is utterly beyond any time limits even if this limit is eternity. My true
self was never born, never ages and never dies. Yet to say that I will live for
eternity is not true either, as it is utterly beyond time. Perhaps the closest thing
would be to say that there is just this utterly unchanging moment, yet this also
fails to hit the mark as it could imply that it is static which it is not. It is beyond
static and moving. Thus before the world was, I AM. Not before the world,
I was, but before the world, I AM.

It is not bound by any conditioned phenomena (which constitutes all of


existence - the entire universe). Since all conditioned phenomena are in a
constant state of flux, the Unconditioned could be said to be unmoving, yet
this is not really true since it implies something static. Let it be understood that
it merely does not participate in the flux of conditioned existence, and this
absence of flux is called unmoving.

Since it is not bound by any phenomena, it is not bound by the senses either.
There are no sounds in the Unconditioned, so it could be said to be silent, yet
this isn't really true either. Rather, it is the absence of sound and silence. It
cannot be seen, heard, smelled, felt, tasted or cognised about in any way.
Rather, your true self is that which cognises, smells, tastes, feels, hears and
sees. Yet this is not entirely true either as this could imply that there is a self
experiencing this, and thus bound by the senses. Rather, there is just this
awareness of the senses.

It is not dual in any way. Thus it could be said to be non-dual, yet this isn't
really true either. Rather, it is neither dual nor non-dual. In actuality, the only
thing that creates dualistic notions such as good/bad, here/there and
subject/object is your thoughts. Thoughts is that which separates. Thus
whenever you are bound by thoughts, you are separated from that which is,
and true freedom cannot be found. Thus thoughts will never be able to
capture your true self. True freedom means that everything merely is as it is.
There is no trying to add or take anything, indulgence or rejection, or perhaps
more accurately: There is no 'should'. Only when you are capable of giving up
all ideas of anything that 'should' be in any way, including the tendency to
think 'should', only then can you truly be free. Even the thought that 'should'
should not be there means you are bound. True non-'shouldness' means
taking in both 'should' and the absence of 'should' and let everything, even
your 'shoulds', be as it is. As long as you are bound by any mental state
whatsoever, your true Unconditioned awareness cannot manifest. If your true
self can be said to be any mental state, it is the state of no state at all.

Since it is not bound by time or movement it any way, it is always present.


Even though you may not realise it, and you are constantly pulled around by
your thoughts and views, your true self remains utterly unmoving. Nothing can
affect it. Therefore, once you discover your true self, nothing changes at all. If
anything changes it is merely that you are now aware of the fact that
things are as they are, and that it has always been so. There is nothing to be
realised.

Since it is this true ground of reality and there is nothing further beyond this, it
could be said to be 'ultimate'. But since it is always present in all things (and
always has been), it would mean that everything is ultimate. Since there is
nothing for which the ultimate can stand in contradistinction against, what is
the point of labeling it such?
Some people may perceive all of this as something deeply mysterious beyond
the scope of their own capacities. It is not. It is simple and plain living, and
nothing mysterious about it. Do not imagine that this unconditioned awareness
is somehow apart from the world and daily life. On the contrary, it could be
said that one is even more closer to life than ever before, because there is no
separation between you and the world. When caught up in dualism, one
creates the illusion of someone being aware (subject) and something to be
aware of (object). Yet there is just this awareness, there is nothing to be
aware of. Conditioned phenomena are not apart from awareness in any way,
yet they not really awareness either.

Perhaps the best way to describe this is to use the analogy of a mirror, the
unconditioned awareness being the mirror and conditioned phenomena
beings images reflected in the mirror. The mirror doesn't change because
reflections arise. It does not dwell upon the reflections, yet the reflections
exists nowhere apart from the mirror. The are the mirror, yet the mirror isn't
the reflections.

This is as exact as I can possibly describe this discovery, yet it still misses the
mark. The only way to truly know is to experience it for yourself. I hope you do
someday.

What Happened Afterwards


In the first months just after the Awakening I struggled with a lot of my past
views and concepts as they conflicted with the reality of being, mainly my
concepts of what I had thought Enlightenment was previously. Especially for
the first few weeks, I kept thinking things like "I am Enlightened now. I should
know this!", whenever I came across ignorance or delusion. What was even
worse was that I had attached to my Awakening and turned it into an object,
when in fact it is a continual living experience. I looked only at the
understanding derived from this awakening and felt that this was it. Little did I
know that understanding truth is useless if you are not actually being truth,
being your understanding, rather than turning it into an object and thus
separating truth from yourself. I stopped practising for the first couple of
weeks and made no attempts to do anything spiritually at all. I had found 'It'
and in my pride I figured that this was all that was needed.
As time progressed, it became obvious to me that I wasn't omniscient and that
I still needed to practise, even though it had now become a 'non-practise' so
to speak. Realizing Enlightenment was one thing: Being Enlightenment is
another.

My daily spiritual practise basically changed from being aware to being


awareness. To be aware implies that there is something to be aware of
(object) and someone being aware (subject) Since there is intrinsically no 'I' to
be aware, what is the point of being aware? Rather it is about just being who
you really are, just being awareness. What I meant when I said 'non-practise'
means simply not doing anything at all, although it should be noted that this
does not mean abstaining from doing and just being a useless block.
Whenever one takes part actively with the conditioned, one creates volition
and sustains the mental baggage one is carrying around. Instead, it is to
simply be your unconditioned awareness, and let the process of conditioning
take care of itself. Thoughts arise and thoughts are liberated as they arise,
simply because one allows all things to be as they are, without any 'should'
involved; no giving or taking, no indulgence or rejection, nor abstaining from
giving/taking and indulgence/rejection. Everything is allowed to be as it is.
Since one does not abstain from the thought process, it is still functional living,
as one is more than capable of interacting with the world around you.
Probably even more functionally than before since one does not get caught up
in the thought process, nor the external circumstances to which the thoughts
responds. Both happen and arise, yet since there is no thinker, the thoughts
simply arise in response to external circumstances and fall away when there
is no longer anything externally to cause the reactionary thought.

Up to this point (and it still is), my practise has revolved mostly around settling
in the Enlightenment. Firstly, since that initial Awakening, the insight derived
from this has become a lot clearer and settled as past concepts and views has
simply fallen away, thus letting the insight penetrate into more and more
aspects of being so to speak. The other aspect, which cannot really be
separated from the first, is to integrate your awareness more and more into
life, growing accustomed to just being your true self. The reason that this
cannot be separated from the first is that this is also just letting your true self,
which is truth itself, integrate more and more into the various aspects of being.
When I say aspects of being, I am talking about division, which are divisions
created from my own mental formations, thus it simply means allowing the
divisions that we have created for ourselves to fall away so that truth itself can
penetrate and liberate.
It is exactly because we have created and nurtured such divisions over such a
long period of time, that Enlightenment does not instantly pervade your whole
being and all obstructions instantaneously fall away. Thus there are still many
delusions, defilements and sufferings left after Awakening. Once Enlightened,
I had seen what truth really is, yet I still have to integrate this into my whole
life and being and let those divisions fall away, before there can be true
unconditional unending freedom. It has always been there with me, it is just a
question of uncovering it.

In early June 2001, I decided to help a good friend of mine on the path of
truth, after not having spoken with him for many months. He needed guidance
on the path, and since I had discovered the way myself, I figured that I might
help him, by pointing him in the right direction. He accepts my guidance and I
talk with him often, giving him pointers on the path. I talked with my own
teacher and he told me that at my current stage, guiding others would be
highly beneficial. I can see what he means, but I am no teacher. At the
moment, I am still involved in the process of 'settling' and that is really all that I
would want to concern myself at the moment. It's not that I mind at all, I am
more than happy to help out a friend who needs it, but this is very much the
exception to the rule (not that I mind helping others on the path either. I just
have no interest in teaching them). Maybe one day I will begin teaching (some
ten or twenty years from now), but not now. The Awakening I had was only
simply an initial one, not total and complete insight into the nature of all
reality.[3] I still have much to learn, most importantly, learning to settle in just
being. And that is all I am really doing at the moment.

THE END
A Child of the Cyber-Sangha

DREW HEMPEL AND THE WANDERLING


AND NOW THIS:

Long before there was an internet there was a man of great spiritual
Attainment by the name of Alfred Pulyan. In lieu of the internet Pulyan had in
those days what would be called a mail order following. People that came to
hear about him and his level of Attinment would write hoping for insight into
what one could do to Awaken to the Absolute, and Pulyan would respond,
asking for no more than a stamped self-addressed envelope. Pulyan
presented through his teaching what he simply called Transmission, a
personalized version of Direct Transmission somewhat extrapolated from a
working mixture of his own experience combined with it is thought, the weight
behind the meaning of the four lines of the stanza attributed to the First
Patriarch of C'han Buddhism, Bodhidharma that starts with A special
transmission outside the scriptures. Pulyan claimed to have a 70% success
rate, more than ten times higher than the ancient Zen masters.[4]

It was largely because of the purported success rate of Pulyan's mail order
efforts that in the age of computers that the idea of AWAKENING 101 came
about. In regards to any potential possibility of Enlightenment via the auspices
of the internet the following question was asked on YAHOO: Answers:

Are there any online Buddhist teachers?

Arjuna Ranatunga, who goes by the screen name Goodfella and working on
his Master's Degree in Buddhist Studies in a traditional setting, and a YAHOO:
Answers respondent since April 17, 2006, replied:

The most famous site with perhaps the most integrity is "Awakening 101",
authored by "the Wanderling". I met an Enlightened person who'd used it in
His approach / initial studies / on His journey.

It has facilities to ask questions of the Wanderling, too.


 http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101
/index.html
 http://sped2work.tripod.com/web_ring_list.html

Best Wishes in your Quest, Friend,

Arjuna

In the realm of things, Arjuna Ranatunga is no small-potatoes guy either, by


the way. Google his full name and see what comes up.

ENLIGHTENED INDIVIDUALS I'VE MET

Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the


Zen master's. Where we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of
conceptual overlay onto that experience and then proceed to make an
emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.

(PLEASE CLICK)
AWAKENED TEACHERS FORUM

GASSHO

SEE ALSO:
THE AWAKENING EXPERIENCE IN THE MODERN ERA

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: THE LAST AMERICAN


DARSHAN
RECOUNTING A YOUNG BOY'S NEARLY INSTANT TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ABSOLUTE DURING HIS ONLY DARSHAN WITH
THE MAHARSHI

AS WELL AS:

SPIRITUAL GUIDES: PASS OR FAIL?

QUALITIES OF A DHARMA TEACHER

CLICK
HERE FOR
ENLIGHTENMENT

ON THE RAZOR'S
EDGE

E-MAIL
THE WANDERLING
(please click)

FOOTNOTE [3]
It should be mentioned NOT all Awakening experiences
ARE profound say like Kaivalya or at the level of the
Buddha with Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi. Sometimes,
as one finds over and over in Zen literature, the
experience can be more of a flash or short-term, and
depending on the person and the depth of the experience,
over a period of time the experience can "leak" if not
addressed. Sometimes too, the opposite occurs and the
experience "ripens," as recorded for example, with Tung
Shan, the founder of the Chinese Soto Zen lineage or the
Sixth Patriarch of Zen, Hui-neng. That is why there are
such things as the Five Degrees of Tozan, Five Varieties
of Zen, and Eight Jhana Stages. See
also Pratyekabuddha Versus Arahat.

The venerated Indian holy man the Bhagavan Sri


Ramana Maharshi was Awakened to the Absolute
following what has been called his First Death
Experience at age 17. Most people take it from there that
he was thus then a fully Enlightened being and that was it,
moving to the caves of the holy hill Arunachala then to his
ashram in later years, eventually becoming the sage he
came to be known by all.
However, what most people don't realize is that some
fifteen years following that initial death experience, in 1912
at age 32, Ramana had a little known and little talked
about Second Death Experience. That second death
experience, even though Ramana was known and
admired as a fully Enlightened being, did however, even
though fully Enlightened --- and this may seem an
oxymoron --- modifiy his long standing approach to
obscurity and life. Ramana's second death experience
seemingly opened the door for or an embracing of family
and outsiders that previously had not manifested itself in
Ramana's previous outward actions.

the Wanderling
FOOTNOTE [1]
In regards to the quote this Footnote is cited to, the
following is found on the very first page of Awakening
101, the free online college level Dharma course:

"Being neither teacher nor guru, and since from the


first not a thing is, the most one can do is to offer a
glimpse or help point the way. In the end it resides in
you"

If the above quote, which is mine, were the case, and it is,
then why would a Zen adept, that is, myself, bother to
indulge in something as mundane as all this and why
would YOU be interested? For one thing, always lurking
somewhere behind in the shadows of the mind, however
distant and however heralded or unheralded, is the seeker
and the adept's underlying, innate feeling toward the
precepts found in The Four Bodhisattva
Vows....precepts not thrust upon the seeker or the adept,
but that slowly unfold and blossom from a growing inner
light, delicately translated into deed and action rather than
ingested through or dispensed from words. As the ancient
Zen proverb alludes:

Those who have not attained Awakening should


penetrate into the meaning of Reality, while those who
have already Attained should practice giving verbal
expression to that Reality.(source)

the Wanderling
FOOTNOTE [4]
There are several classic records of Zen histories such
as Ching Te Ch'uan Teng Lu (Record of the
Transmission of the Lamp); Tsu T'ang Chi (Collection
from the Halls of Ancestors); Wu Teng Hui Yan(Five
Lamps Merged in the Source); and Ku Tsun Su Yu
Lu (Records of Sayings of Ancient Venerable Adepts) that
together compile information on well over 600 Zen
masters. Among those masters cited, for example,
are Kuei Shan (771-853) whose community numbered
1500 and produced 43 Enlightened disciples (2.8%).
Hsueh Feng (822-908) 1500 community followers, 56
Enlightened disciples (3.7%). Fa Yen Wen I (885-958)
never less than 1000 followers and 63 Enlightened
disciples (6.3%). Yun Chu (d. 908) led a community of
1500 and produced 28 Enlightened disciples
(1.8%). (source)
FOOTNOTE [2]
Although it has since been made no longer accessible on
the net, awhile back a web-based spiritual organization
that leans heavily toward the works of Richard Rose ---
and of whom I write, within reason, quite favorably on my
page about Alfred Pulyan --- placed a direct copy of this
page, A Child of the Cyber-Sangha, on the web basically
verbatium, albeit without citing the original source, all the
while placing it under a NEW title with NO reference to the
original title, simply calling it THE WANDERLING ---
stating the author as "unknown."
So said, you may find their reasons for placing the article
on the web of interest. An editor of the organization wrote
at the top of their copy:
"This article was posted and garnered responses from
several readers. The common theme among the
readers: they believed that the author of The
Wanderling experienced anIntellectual Satori but did
not have a maximum realization experience."

I am NOT in agreement with the decision reached by the


readers that the level of Attainment alluded to by the
young man so attested to in the article was just, only,
merely, or limited to so-called Intellectual Satori --- the
Experience being much more encompassing.
It could be the reason reached among the readers that
they themselves were coming from an intellectual bias. As
to my reasons for disagreement, although it has been
years since I had contact with the young man in question, I
did have numerous contacts with him both prior to and
following his claim as put forth in the article --- so how I
view the outcome may be somewhat enhanced away from
the Intellectual Satori view by information made privy to
me on a personal level that goes unknown to others.

Although the web-based spiritual organization used "The


Wanderling" as the title for my article A Child of the Cyber-
Sangha do NOT confuse the contents contained therein
as relating to the ME as being the person the article refers
to.
For one thing the young man so refered to was born in
1983 --- I was at the ashram of the Bhagavan Sri Ramana
Maharshi 40 years before the young man was even born
as outlined in SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: The Last
American Darshan --- my age being shown quite clearly
at the top of his MySpace page and noticeably coming
into the world well before the year 1983. So too, as for any
Attainment so related back to the Wanderling please
see Dark Luminosity. For level of Attainment please
see Inka Shomei --- a Zen or Buddhist related term from
the Japanese language that means or translates into "the
legitimate seal of clearly furnished proof," --- a
confirmation made by a master that his student has
completed his training with said master.
For those of you who may wish to know more about just
what Intellectual Satori means please click the link.
For more on Satori in all its forms, refer to the works of
D.T. Suzuki as presented in:
SATORI IN ZEN BUDDHISM

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