La danza del vacío

by Adyashanti, María del Mar Cañas Luque (Translator)

¿Quién eres tú cuando no estás pensando que existes? ¿Qué hay detrás de los ojos que están leyendo estas palabras? En La danza del vacío Adyashanti te invita a despertar a la esencia de lo que eres a través de la apertura espontánea y natural de la mente, el corazón y el cuerpo, dicha esencia guarda el secreto de la felicid

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Buddhism, Philosophy, Meditation, Zen, Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 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

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. I've read this book at least 4 times. Very easy and clear to understand. Doesn't have a lot of difficult terminology or lingo that some spirituality books use. I've given this book about 10 times as a gift because I think it's that important.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book, and very often go back to it.

On a practical side, it's organised into different, stand alone chapters, that address topics such as Fear, Love, Dharmic Relationship, and Enlightenment. You can read it from the beginning to the end, or dip in and out depending on which chapters catch your eye.

I found the book to be really well written, and discuss each topic with great depth and clarity, and to be accessible to people at all stages of their spiritual evolution. For me, it's the kind of the book where you can read the same part again and again and take something different away from it each time.

Adyashanti has a wonderful down-to-earth approach, and I feel like he does everything he can to make his writing as simple, and unpretentious as possible.

If you're looking for a teacher who cuts straight through all the crap and new age-isms, and goes to the heart of Enlightenment and what it is to wake up then Adyashanti's your guy.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The unfathomable world of zen broken down by a realized master. Adayshanti was born and raised in the SF Bay Area in California, which for me made his style more accessible than many teachers from the East. The book is free of Zen jargon and traditional Zen koans, however it is not lacking in ability to disarm the mind from concepts. Adyashanti describes his awakening and what it means to live an awakened life. What it is to find that deep peace and radiance. This is the essential non-dual guide to disarming the mind to what actually is.

[Magdelanye]

his approach to awakening is not based on spiritual practices, but rather on the disarming and deconstruction of the personal identity. from the introduction pxv
Whatever you may think or feel about yourself has nothing to do with you whatsoever. p60

Whoa! Doesn't this go against everything we are striving for? Whether we have disciplined ourselves for a structured life or if we are just stumbling through our days; doing our best to keep up or to excel;or not: our identity is something we spend our lives cultivating in accordance with our values. Generally, it's the last thing we are prepared to relinquish.

We do not want to see that our viewpoint is wrong and that there is no right viewpoint....We don't want to see what the Buddha meant when he said there is no self....We do not want to see that there is a gaping void at the centre of existence. p139

Of course not. But once we have grown disenchanted with materialistic values and embarked on a more spiritual quest, we are required to face our essential truths.

Truth is not an abstraction, it is not out there at a distance from you, and it is not something to learn tomorrow....Truth is who you are without your story or script, right now. p9

But that would be nothing, you might be thinking.
Bingo! And its a good thing, apparently. There is nothing to prove and it's now easy to delight in the freedom of being just who you are.

When it clicks, some people get happy and some people get scared because it gets more powerful. p28
You become afraid when you realize you have no control but haven't yet given up the desire for control. p105

In fact, despite his reassuring mantra that the only rule is that there aren't any rules about how how one unfolds. p110 the ultimate freedom that this bestows can be overwhelmingly disorientating.

a teacher/guide can point the cluttered mind towards the exit door and open the heart directly into the love and radiant emptiness that underlies existence. from intro pxv

Now that sounds appealing!

In a real sense, self-inquiry is a spiritually induced form of winter-time. It's not about looking for a right answer so much as a stripping away and letting you see what is not necessary, what you can do without, what you are without your leaves. p39
When you are very still and quiet, falling away happens naturally. If you are not trying to control anything....Of course, humans have abilities trees don't. If trees were like humans, you would see them reaching down with their branches and raking up all the leaves to hold them for security. p40

Student: Wouldn't it be the best thing to just sit in bed for two years?
Adyshanti: Is that going to solve your problems? Absolutely not. You've got to get up and get out. And you're going to have to let go of control to do it. p 108

This is not a new book, containing material from dharma talks given between 1996 and 2002, but its message is still both radical and timeless. Obviously, if you are still clinging to your illusions of superiority or whatever, you will probably not want to read this book. If you are ready to grapple with some of the issues that might puzzle you about your life, you might find the struggle with the material to be very worthwhile.

When the realization is deep, you're whole being is dancing. p102

[Szeee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Valójában már most az vagy, akit keresel. Istent pásztázod - a saját szemével."

Személyes dolgok miatt egyszerre volt megrázó és eksztatikus élmény ez az olvasmány. Bővebben nem tudok, nem is nagyon lehet és nem is szükséges beszélni róla.

[Dona · Rating 4 out of 5]

A student recommended this book to me before Spring Break, and I really enjoyed reading it very slowly. I don't know much about the author--if he really practices what he preaches--but I definitely thought there was wisdom to be obtained from his writing and his outlook on life, which are very positive.

[Earl II · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvelous book by author who has lived through the very thing is trying to help others lived through. The writing style is easily readable and devilishly complex at the same time. I found myself rereading sections and discovering things that I had missed during prior readings. I also found myself realizing what the author was trying to say only after I had finished the book and started through it again. This is a book where indigestion is insufficient. Digestion is the key and it takes multiple passes in order to have it occur. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is on a spiritual journey.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't resonate with me, but it could've just been my judgemental mind.
Seeing a white guy from North Cal with a fancy/shiny robe and a nice watch didn't set a good impression. The author saying he was visited by a ball of white light as a kid probably didn't help either. I will probably need to read Cutting through Spiritual Materialism a few times before I can read the author without being so judgmental.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I'll continue to read over and over to remind me of how from less comes peace and love.

Adyashanti writes simply of our need to empty ourselves of all we believe we are, using the teachings of Buddha. His conversations with students are helpful in answering the readers questions along the path to acknowledged englightment.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal collection of talks. There is something so pure and simple about Adyashanti's words. He reveals, ironically, an astounding fullness that can be found in emptiness. I can see myself returning to this if I need a pick-me-up. Highly recommended if you're looking to deepen your spiritual practice – Buddhist or not!

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me a long time to read, maybe due to reading many similar books over the decades and feeling like this was a repetition. Since I am a practitioner of Buddhism, I felt that he made life more difficult than the Buddha did, but it reminds me of Buddhism. I understand that his words work for many folks and I respect that.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adya is so clear, precise and present. Even more so in person. If I could spend more time at his retreats, I would be a different person. Nonetheless, he is one of the most inspirational people I have encountered and feel lucky to have him lecture in the Bay.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the clearest book on Enlightenment I’ve read, orienting wisdom found in other great books e.g., I Am That, for a western reader. If you could only read one book on the topic, this would be my recommendation.

Highly recommend.

[Dawn Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It made me smile.

[Fi's Journey · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Go to the unknown, experience the unknown, be the unknown."

"None of your identities exist until you think them into existence."

This book has many great things to tell, but also I believe Adyashanti seems too nice sometimes, as there were passages that I disagree with. But overall I enjoyed it. I've tried reading everyday 2 chapters and sometimes random one's as he suggested in the preface.

This is definitely for people who are truth-seekers and want to be inspired.

"When you really love, you know that love transcends all experiences."

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

EXCERPTS FROM TALKS, AND AN INTERVIEW

Adyashanti (born ‘Stephen Gray’ in 1962) is a former spiritual teacher, who, in his twenties, began studying Zen with several different teachers; he claims to have had spiritual awakenings starting at age 25, and began teaching on his own at age 34, giving talks and writing books. (He retired from teaching in 2023 after experiencing a long period of physical pain.)

Editor Bonnie Greenwell wrote in the Introduction to this 2004 book (revised edition 2006), “This collection of Adya’s teachings is culled from hundreds of dharma talks he gave between 1996 and 2002 during satsang meetings, weekend intensives, and retreats. It is being made available so that the pointers, the love, and the transmission he offers can be a continual reminder for this students and also reach many people who are unable to be with him in person. These talks were chosen because they encompass the initial issues and themes that arise when individuals explore the nature of awakening, liberation, and embodiment with an enlightened teacher. They also describe some of the direct experiences of Adyashanti’s awakening and show the world of experience that opens for one who is self-realized: qualities such as innocence, openness, love, impermanence, harmony, peace, depth, and freedom. His words… are truth speaking to truth, source revealing its mystery to source.” (Pg. xv-xvi)

He wrote in the Preface, “I welcome the mysterious essence of you. This book is for you and about you. It is about your awakening and your remembering what you truly are…. This book begins with a chapter on spiritual awakening and concludes with a final chapter on fidelity to eternal truth. If you’re still interested to read more, an upcoming book will be devoted to life after awakening.” (Pg. ixx-xx)

He explains in the first chapter, “The aim of my teaching is enlightenment---awakening from the dream state of separateness to the reality of the One. In short, my teaching is focused on realizing what you are. You may find other elements in my teaching that simply arise as a response to people’s particular needs of the moment. I’m only interested in you waking up. Enlightenment means waking up to what you truly are and then being that. Realize and be… Realization alone is not enough. The completion of self-realization is to be, which means to act, do, and express what you realize. This is… a whole new way of life---living in and as reality instead of living out the programmed ideas, beliefs, and impulses of your dreaming minds. The truth is that you already are what you are seeking. You are looking for God with his eyes… My speaking is meant to shake you awake, not to tell you how to dream better.” (Pg. 1)

He continues, “Now don’t think that awakening is the end. Awakening is the end of seeking, the end of the seeker, but it is the beginning of a life lived from your true nature… All my talks are about awakening or life lived after awakening. No matter what I seem to be talking about, I’m really talking about one of these two things.” (Pg. 2)

He states, “To welcome the mystery of your own being is satsang. This is in contrast to what spirituality often is---pushing your own being away, or defining the mystery… so it looks like a powerful mystery. Satsang is a welcoming… until the identification snaps and the mystery realizes, ‘Oh, this is what I am! … I thought I was the actor of roles. I thought I WAS the roles.’ None of that is true. When the role called ‘I’m a human being’ ends, we call that death. It’s a lot easier if you let that role die before the body dies, and let it be put to rest now.” (Pg. 13)

He says, “In Zen, one of the definitions of enlightenment is the harmonization of body and mind. This also means the harmonization of spirit and matter. When spirit and matter are in harmony, it’s as if a third entity is born---that’s really the Buddhist ‘Middle Way’… The Middle Way is when spirit and matter are in harmony---when the inherent oneness is realized.” (Pg. 27)

He outlines, “Spirituality may be approached in two ways. The first way is the most common, which is through a horizontal movement of the mind… the mind goes back and forth collecting information… most people make this horizontal movement of collecting information, ideas, beliefs, etc., in hopes that it will help them spiritually. But Truth isn’t a matter of knowledge, it’s a matter of waking up.” (Pg. 65)

He observes, “True love is synonymous with Truth. It’s not different than Truth… The deepest essence of love doesn’t fall in and out. Love is, period, it loves even people your personality might not like… This love is a deep and simple recognition, something intuitively knowing and meeting itself in each experience, in each being, in each pair of eyes. It meets itself in everything that happens… It is a great surprise the first time we recognize it---when we find that this live, right love, right here, coming directly from ourselves, is in love with whatever it meets.” (Pg. 83)

He cautions, “A spiritual person can become addicted to spiritual highs and miss the experience of Truth. Spiritual addiction occurs when something great happens and it feels as if you have received a hit of a great drug. As soon as you have it, you want more. There is no drug more potent than spiritual experience… You get a [hint] of it in the hospital because you break your arm, and you think, ‘If I had a little drip going all the time, life would be relatively pleasant no matter what happens.’ Spiritual experiences often become like this, and the mind puts them into its familiar pattern, thinking, ‘If I had this experience all the time, that would be freedom.’ (Pg. 87)

He suggests, “There is a very simple secret to being happy. Just let go of your demand on this moment. Any time you have a demand on the moment to give you something or remove something, there is suffering. Your demands keep you chained to the dream state of the conditioned mind. The problem is that when there is a demand, you completely miss what is now.” (Pg. 115)

He recalls, “For some reason… while I sat and faced the wall for 15 years as a Zen student, various experiences occurred. These events included mind-blasting kundalini experiences, mystical union, bliss, and being flooded with divine light and love. Like most people who sit facing a wall, I found these experiences don’t happen nearly as often or last nearly as long as I would have wanted them to. At particular points along the journey, there was a tendency to think, ‘This is it! This experience is so overwhelmingly pleasurable that this HAS to be it!’ … If you want these experiences, there is a prescription for getting them---just sit and face a wall for endless hours a day. But I received what I found out later was an incredible grace, which was that right in the midst of these most amazing, beautiful experiences, that didn’t happen nearly often enough, an annoying little voice would come in every single time and say, ‘Keep going; this isn’t it!’” (Pg. 137)

In an interview with Tami Simon (of Sounds True), he recalls, “I knew I was a little different form other kids… I was a bit of a loner, in a certain sense. But I… always has a few friends… I did feel that there was something about me that was kind of different… from the very beginning… I never interpreted that as a deficiency, I think in large part because of my parents. When I was in grade school, they found out I had dyslexia… I saw numbers and letters backward… Looking back, it’s amazing that I didn’t feel alienated or isolated or less than the kids around me…. Even though I had various experiences and opportunities to feel like I was less than other people … I never interpreted it that way. I just thought it was part of who I was.” (Pg. 175)

Later, he adds, “When I was in my early twenties, it was a different environment from what it is today. I didn’t really have any peers. I didn’t have anybody my age who was into this stuff. I rarely even talked about it to anybody. Most of the people who were into the practice were much older than I was, so it was very much a solitary thing for me.” (Pg. 181)

He recounts, “The awakening that was totally clear came on the heels of these tearing-out experiences. Actually, it came a few months later, soon after Annie and I got married and I had gotten a real job. I’d started to be an apprentice with my father in his business, and so I was getting a real career. I was also getting out of … having my life focus specifically on an inward form of spirituality… I’d put everything in my life on hold for a long time. And then at about 33 years old, I realized… I better get on with my life. So I ended up getting married and getting a real job. I see this willingness to engage with life as being a very important part of my personal spiritual progress. And a couple of months after Annie and I got married… that’s when the second awakening happened… It was very simple and it actually started before it started… this thought ran through my mind that said: ‘I’m ready’… It was just this innocent, simple moment, like a gift.” (Pg. 185-186)

This book will appeal to fans of Adyashanti.

[Bhakta Kishor]

There is the mania in society of collecting things. What is the reason for this? Why does man want to accumulate? Really, there is a big emptiness inside which has to be filled, and it has to be filled up with anything, otherwise you feel very empty. If you possess nothing, then you feel very empty inside. Just think: if you have nothing to possess, you will be free and empty inside.

This emptiness within you hurts, so it has to be filled up. Therefore you fill this emptiness with money, position and fame. By accumulating things and sitting among them, one feels that one has something. Those who don’t have anything have the desire of accumulating. But those who have something don’t accumulate, they are sufficient unto themselves. Just “being” is so fulfilling that there is no need to collect anything.

That is why we worship Buddha, we worship Mahavira, we worship Shankara – because we notice that their wealth is within them. There is something in them, and because of this the emptiness has disappeared. There is some light within them, and because of this the inner emptiness has become a fulfillment, the inner emptiness has become truth.

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a real lesson in mastering my ego.
I would recommend it to anyone who struggles with the concept.

[Sajan Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up as a follow-up to Loch Kelly's Shift Into Freedom, making it my first introduction to Adyashanti. He is an incredibly articulate writer who brings a modern, accessible lens to Zen and Vedanta philosophies—concepts I find myself resonating with deeply.

This book is beautifully profound. It shifted my spiritual practice from isolated meditation sessions to a continuous, lived presence in every passing moment, masterfully deconstructing the concept of the self along the way. The writing is abstract and mysterious, yet entirely beautiful. Highly recommended for anyone, no matter where they are in their journey.

[Peter Forster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this book comes from edited transcriptions of talks given by Adyashanti at retreats and similar. There are nice insights here but I feel that it could have been said much more concisely. Apart from the last chapter, which is an interview in which he talks about his life, you could go to an AI-based search engine and ask something like, "What is the essence of advaita vedanta?" You'd then have most of this book in just a few paragraphs.

[Zeynep Esin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found parts of the book infinitely wise. It might be a book to come back to and read from time to time, rather than read in one go. The book was recommended to me by a mindfulness teacher as a first book on the natural state. It fulfilled that purpose beautifully and gave me many beautiful moments of reflection.

[John Fredrickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to review and rate. The text somewhat reminds me of Krishnamurti. It is very free of the lingo/jargon of Zen, but addresses many of the same themes. Adyashanti continually focuses on our notion of self and how we continually construct our world, and that this should STOP, immediately. This is not an easy read.

[Gerald Jerome · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give it four because it was solid and an easy read. I just feel like it didn't quite hit with me like others have. I'm also a little put off by Adyashanti for different reasons. Maybe one day my mind will change, a lot of people seem to get something out of him. His name always reminds me of Ashanti. Give it a read and find out for yourself.

[Peter Marendeak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nekem nagyon bejön Adyashanti stílusa. Olvastam már más advaita tanítótól is, de az ő szavai állnak hozzám a legközelebb. Világos, letisztult, sallangoktól mentes.
Akit érdekel a téma, szerintem érdemes ezzel kezdenie, mert szépen van felépítve.

[Silvio · Rating 5 out of 5]

i so so love the title of this book. i so so love this book. thank you adyashanti for this gem, thank you so so much. i believe that this one little book can be all that's needed for the whole way. simple, profound truth.

[Mark Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cut through Everton by and discover the.truth

Adyhashanti breaks down awakening into simple language. Straight to the point. No BS. Hard and Fast. Highly recommended for all sincere seekers.

[Saimon Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fantastic, one of the closest to definition books on awakening and enlightenment, i read half of it because i feel it's of not much use for me now, when the awakening process starts to unfold, i may need it or find it useful.

[Masi Dawoud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep insights of Adyashanti put into clear, concise, and compact writings that unfold into infinite wisdom when they touch you.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Adyashanti has a knack for explaining things simply and clearly.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really makes you questions everything which is the whole point of the book. An amazing read, beautiful to consider and contemplate. Nothing is as it seems and that’s the beauty of it.