Spontaneous Awakening

by Adyashanti

Enter the “Ordinary State” of Enlightenment

Many of us share the belief that enlightenment is rare—that true spiritual awakening only happens for extraordinary people. According to Adyashanti, this idea may actually be the most powerful impediment to our awakening. On Spontaneous Awakening, he invites you to inquire into the “ordinary nature” of enlightenment—and the profound truth of who you really are.

“Do not think that enlightenment is going to make you special—it’s not. If you feel special in any way, then enlightenment has not occurred,” teaches Adyashanti. So where do we start? With the desire to look fearlessly at and inquire passionately into truth, explains Adyashanti. “When you stop resisting experience, what remains is the bliss of sheer nothingness. And everything that is possible lives in that nothingness.”

With more than seven hours of teachings, two guided meditations, and an exclusive Sounds True interview, Spontaneous Awakening is an eye-opening program that explores topics including:

The self-authenticating nature of spiritual discovery
• The link between personal awareness and awareness itself
• How attachment can lead to complete freedom and unattachment
• Why genuine spiritual knowing requires mental subtraction—not addition.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Buddhism, Inspirational, Zen, Meditation

6 pages, Audio CD

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Adyashanti is an American spiritual teacher from the San Francisco Bay Area who gives regular satsangs in the United States and also teaches abroad. He is the author of several books, CDs and DVDs and is the founder of Open Gate Sangha, Inc. a nonprofit organization that supports, and makes available, his teachings.

Reviews

[Dharmamitra Jeff Stefani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the Title! It's So perfectly Apropos and Accurate! I've discovered some profound ways of relating the experience of Real Awakenings. One being there are no Enlightened being, only Enlightened Experiences. The Second being this title, the process comes to Fruition in a Spontaneous Awakening! _/\_

Bodhisattva Insight, and "My" Experience of No-Self: When you work so hard for something, only to discover that "you" don't actually exist, it's an area that my own Sangha hasn't done much to support, and to help "no-one" make sense of "nothing" is more than just the obvious paradox of words, but also a significant breakdown in the system, at least where the Mahasangha is concerned.
It's like, I don't know, imagine training for the Olympics, and you finally "make the team" that you've been encouraged to strive for, diligently, only to find out that once you're on the team, that the team doesn't exist, in fact the Olympics are an Illusion.
What then? This has been my own journey for over a year, and one that the Buddhist Mahasangha has fallen desperately short from fulfilling it's role as supportive in all directions.
One you make it, you're everything, you're nothing, and you're really on your own.
Although so much younger and not so eloquent as my other 2 favorite obvious and apparent Stream Winners (Eckhart Tolle and Jack Kornfield) I find peace and solace in hearing of others whom have experienced what the Buddha termed "True Insight into the Nature of Reality" as the entry point of "The Stream" and the "Point of No Return."

What seems like it should be the blatantly obvious best day of one's life, (which I am not saying it is not, only that it's not so obvious) it gives one direct insight into what the Buddha, himself, upon seeing that there is No Self, felt compelled to just sit and stay under the Bodhi Tree for a few weeks, and was VERY Hesitant, to put it lightly, about attempting to share the experience with the world.

This has been y experience for over a year, now, and it's both the greatest, and transcendental day...that loses relevance for things like "the best day, ever" etc.
A real game-changer, indeed.
What I would like is to be able to converse with Adyashanti...
But this book has been a priceless piece of process, for which I am beyond grateful.

[Nickole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book probably deserves more than three stars but I ran a handful of other ones around it which I just write better and that's being reflected in my grade. It's really actually more of a workshop than a book… He gives teachings for each chapter and then the book ends with an interview. There's also a meditation within the book which is OK. I think I agree with a lot of the stuff he hast to say but I also think he comes from years and years of Zen. And the thing about Zen is it is a little too focused on nothing. There's a lot I liked and agreed with and there was stuff that just feels a little Zen for this East Coast Italian/Irish lady!

[Omar Misdaq · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful series of talks, including a couple of guided meditations and an interview - not to mention a storytime session - from the incomparable Adyanshanti.

His teaching gives me a lot, and this is from earlier in his teaching career. I highly recommend.

[Linus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read, with many very practical pointers, delivered with real clarity, sanity and with a great sense of humor. Recommended to anyone interested in serious spiritual practice!

[Stephen · Rating 1 out of 5]

His Falling Into Grace is great but this one didn't make much difference for me and the meditations are not necessary for the book.

[Elana A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a crystal clear explanation of that which has been clouded by dogma and made inaccessible by ego when it is really the simplest thing. So much gratitude for this teacher.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to meditating about nothing and not manipulating meditation.

[Maj Johansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on a spiritual life.

[Teo · Rating 4 out of 5]

2016.08.18–2016.08.25

Contents

Adyashanti (2004) (07:27) Spontaneous Awakening

Disc 1

01. Introduction to session one
02. Our true nature is self-authenticating
03. Awakening is spontaneous, but not haphazard
04. How self-inquiry catalyzes awakening
05. The intimate experience of the mystery
06. The most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing
07. Introduction to session two
08. Direct path teachings are for those who are "spiritually ready"
09. Going to the root
10. Realization is remembrance not attainment
11. Find out "who"
12. When the seeking falls away
13. Turning attention upon itself

Disc 2

01. Introduction to session three
02. The hidden belief that the truth is an acquisition
03. Nothing can be known with absolute certainty
04. Pretend that your entire identity resides in your right eyeball
05. Coming upon the truth is a matter of subtraction not addition
06. Renouncing all beliefs and spiritual ideas
07. Everything is swimming in silence
08. Introduction to session four
09. Meditation can be overvalued or undervalued
10. True meditation is when we cease manipulating experience
11. The process of emptying ourselves of "our little place in the universe"
12. The undivided response to life

Disc 3

1. Introduction to session five
2. Allow everything to be as it is
3. Introduction to session six
4. Listening without manipulation

Disc 4

01. Introduction to session seven
02. A childhood experience of eternity
03. Seeing from the standpoint of immensity
04. Awakening is about a change of occupancy
05. The "me" is addicted to approval and the thinking mind
06. Seeing without judgment
07. Introduction to session eight
08. Is there a correct form for the teacher–student relationship?
09. Zen is a direct transmission beyond words and scriptures
10. Appreciation for the teacher
11. Paradoxical teachings are to help the mind relax
12. Shocked into the unknown

Disc 5

01. Introduction to session nine
02. Becoming lucid in the dream
03. Finding the link between personal awareness and awareness itself
04. Lucidity mixed with moving in and out of trance
05. Spiritual winter and the discovery of meaning
06. The pressure of evolution
07. A bedtime story
08. Introduction to session ten
09. The magnetic pull of true silence
10. Just be

Disc 6

01. Introduction to session 11
02. Awakening to a fundamental shift of identity
03. Adya's Zen background
04. Asking burning questions and writing what is true
05. The path is to unhinge the personal self through meditation and inquiry
06. The question of sincerity
07. The myth that enlightenment is rare
08. The unloading of repressed material
09. Spiritual bypassing
10. The process of the physical body coming into harmony with the awakened state
11. Adya's spontaneous awakening

[Bhakta Kishor]

My whole emphasis is that whatsoever is is right. There is no other right. There is nowhere else to go. This is the only life there is, the only dance there is. Only then can you be spontaneous, really spontaneous. Why have we lost spontaneity? By what trick? The trick is in dividing. You cannot be spontaneous today because you have to think about tomorrow. You cannot be spontaneous this moment because you have to think of the coming moment. You cannot be spontaneous in this life because you have to think about the afterlife. You cannot be spontaneous in your actions because you have to think about the consequences. It is always a division of now and then, of here and there. Hence spontaneity is lost. Who is spontaneous? One who lives in this moment as if it is all is spontaneous. And this is all. In the beginning it will be just “as if.” Slowly, slowly, as you get in tune with it, you will come to know that it is not as if, it is the only reality there is.

The second thing: spontaneity is dangerous. It will be better if we say spontaneity is danger. To say “dangerous” means that dangerousness is a quality, accidental. So I say that it is better to say, spontaneity is danger, then it is not a quality but the very intrinsic nature of spontaneity. There can never be spontaneity without danger: danger is spontaneity. Only by being truly spontaneous in this very moment, can you have spontaneous awakening.

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[Josh Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adya strips away most of the extras from spirituality bringing it down to its core: What am I really? As someone who has had a rocky relationship with the big questions and religion, I found Adya's work ideal. I am very grateful to him for that.

His style is both fun and tedious. He tends to make things kind of dramatic by saying, "It's really important that..." As I've gotten more into spirituality I can see that that's mostly just dramatics. Nothing particular is really important that you remember or that you do. As he often says (paraphrased), "If you want the truth more than anything else, you will get it, and if you don't you wont. Whether that takes 1 day or 3 decades isn't really up to you. It's not really important what you do or don't do." The nice thing about his dramatics are that it makes him very engaging and really wonderful to listen to.

Ultimately even though he is speaking about "truth", nothing he says is actually true because it cannot be described in words. (I use the word "truth" here loosely - replace with whatever word works for you.)

If you care about what is "really true" (nature of existents - dare i say god - kinda stuff) more than anything else, you will probably like this book, or anything else from Adayshanti. If not, it will probably bore you or annoy you.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very cutting insights into consciousness and self-hood. This series of lectures was interesting for the most part, however I found myself wondering at the usefulness of Adyashanti's message. I perceived more astonishment and almost bitterness in the gravity of his voice as he reveals that enlightenment is also a kind of emptiness. That the "big A-ha moment" of becoming enlightened is actually no "A-ha" moments. Reading criticisms of this sage proferred opinions that while Adyashanti claims to be enlightened, he is not really enlightened YET because he's not hinting at a higher consciousness than the one we have here on earth in these bodies.

I think Adyashanti is on to something and his core message resonated with me, but I think his teachings are so influenced by his own path to seek the turth that I found them a challenge to relate to. And that insight alone was worth the lectures. I listened to these on the heels of Alan Watts' "The Wisdom of Insecurity" and found Watts to be a more accessible and pleasant "philosophical entertainer". Worth checking out for sure, but not the Sage for me.

[St Fu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having had awakenings, spontaneous in the sense that I wasn't in some official path, I'd been confused as to what exactly happened to me. Was I now "enlightened?" And if so, why was I so often dealing with trivia, confused about life and the so-called "spiritual," a term I'd never liked?

Finally, someone had answers for me (and if I was enlightened, why did I need any?). This was the first book that gave me the perspective I didn't think I was supposed to need anymore.

Though it was at times repetitive, at other times it was completely original, bypassing the spiritual cliches that have dominated the field for so much of my lifetime (possibly because of the nature of publishing and how information flows through society.) I no longer feel so alone in my plight, even if, in another way, I feel more alone than ever.

"Those who know, do not say, and those who say, do not know," turns out to be untrue in the case of this book, while at the same time, it remains true that the tao that can be published is not the real tao.

[LemontreeLime · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting turn-about take on many of the concepts of meditiation. His humor is very refreshing!

[Daniel Willsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one I'll go back to many times. Adyashanti is an incredible teacher with amazing insight. I really like his take on meditation.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

2/12/14

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful and thought provoking. I listened to this; he's got a nice sense of humor.

[Jim Hussey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adya is a wonderful teacher, grounded and playful at the same time.