Sudden Enlightenment
By Justin Pomeroy

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This pure Mind, the source of everything, shines forever and on all with the brilliance of its own perfection. But the people of the world do not awake to it, regarding only that which sees, hears, feels and knows as mind. If they would only eliminate all conceptual thought, in a flash that source-substance would manifest itself like the sun ascending through the void and illuminating the whole universe without hindrance or bounds.

— Huang Po on his Zen doctrine of Sudden Enlightenment, 800 CE

Have you ever thought about how rare and wonderful it would be to get away from the distractions and concerns of everyday busy reality—even for only a few days—to spend some intensive, quality time working with one’s deepest potential for growth—enlightenment? To finally get away from the usual cares and concerns of your life, especially at this “interesting time” in history when we vicariously share and are ever more bombarded with so many of the world’s problems and stresses? Have you yearned for a spiritual retreat structure that is designed to maximize your highest hopes and possibilities for a profound and lasting spiritual and psychological transformation? Sudden enlightenment is a direct experiencing.

     What might be just what the “inner shaman” or guru ordered is being with like-minded, sincere spiritual explorers intent on devoting and directing all of their collective bodymind energies toward deep self-examination, introspection, contemplation, and purification in hope of a potential sudden breakthrough into enlightenment. This brings the potential to arrive at a place of freedom and be ever more effective in your life and work with others. This could be the golden opportunity you have been hoping and striving for: a chance to complete the long-overdue inner work that leads ultimately to a steady state of enlightened living. If you have been looking for this kind of a retreat-potential for intense, quick awakening and feel you are ready for it, or, if you’ve felt “stuck” in your life recently and in need of a profound change, you are not alone.

     One such opportunity is the Enlightenment Intensive, a three-day residential workshop which enhances the opportunity for you to awaken to your deepest, truest self. The method is dyadic, meaning that it’s a contemplation-communication technique done with various partners. And it’s open-ended: you start from where you are at and the “sky’s the limit.” Ultimately, it aids in expanding one’s skills for navigating through life from a more conscious, enlightened state of mind. There are many pathways to the truth, and to the ultimate visions, empowerments and realizations along the way. What I have found interesting about the Enlightenment Intensive is the very ancient-Eastern/modern-Western synthesis of reflective contemplation and verbal communication in a structured and nondistractive environment. This combination triggers and enhances the chances for sudden enlightenment.

     The format for the Enlightenment Intensive was developed in 1968 by Charles Berner, who had spent years researching methods that help people accelerate their process of self-discovery. Berner combined contemplation of the questions: Who am I? What am I? What is life? and What is another? with one-to-one communication. Using this process, he discovered that within periods of a few days his students were having enlightenment experiences identical in kind to those described by people who had practiced silent meditation for many years. Since that time, thousands of participants have accelerated their awakening, increased their communication skills and personal happiness, and improved the quality of their lives through this dynamic and powerful technique.

     No belief system or particular view of life or religion is taught during an Enlightenment Intensive. No one tells you what the truth is. And you leave all other techniques, pathways and beliefs at the door while committing to doing one thing-one technique: contemplating the question (sometimes called a koan), Who am I? for three days and nights. The dyad format (sitting face-to-face with a partner) brings up the kind of powerful energy that is needed to transcend mental constructs and pre-conceived ideas while bringing your full consciousness into direct contact with the truth. The goal of the Enlightenment Intensive is for you to have a breakthrough-a direct experience of the truth of yourself.

     In Zen Buddhism, this experience is called kensho or satori—a non-dual, “non-experience” because suddenly there is no difference between, nor separation of, “experiencer” and “experience.” In Hinduism, the Sanskrit term for this instantaneous shift from ordinary, sense-dominated perception to an awakening to clarity and inner wisdom is anubhava. Anubhava is directly experiencing who we really are. In ancient Greek and also to the earliest Christians, the term was gnosis: realizing direct knowledge. Direct means no “by-way-of.” Realizations come not through the ordinary mind, not through the intellect nor the senses, not even through the emotions and intuition. The mysterious opening is indescribable in words.

     The Enlightenment Intensive has a strong jnana yoga or self-inquiry aspect to it. It can “trick” you out of your head and into enlightenment if you are ripe. This is the knowledge (or gnosis) facet of the Intensive. (You may find out that you had been overly analytical in your life as an unconscious, automatic defensive strategy, holding back the onslaught of unresolved childhood conflicts. The Intensive could potentially free you from the limitations of that kind of maladaptation.)

     Alternatively, if you’re a person who feels guilty about something and lives with a lot of self-abnegating thoughts, the Intensive can be a streamlined way of purification, purgation and redemption. This is because the process also works as karma yoga works—you find out that you are there to help other people in an ultimate way. One three-day Intensive has the potential to yield a lot of “karma-burning” of old habits and years of defensive conditioning.

     If you are a lonely person who has adapted to a lower energy level of living life and has re-occurring bouts with depression, the Intensive can sometimes be spectacularly transformative in what could be called its tantra yoga aspect—sitting chakra-to-chakra in close proximity to another triggers higher energy in each other that can be directed toward the single goal of supporting each other’s awakening. The “side-benefits” of sustained, close contact with another in the context of truth-telling are improved communication skills and deeper, more honest contact with others in life.

     If you are a feeling-intuitive, idealistic kind of person yearning for a devotional, bhakti yoga numinous experience of unity, love and interconnectedness, the Intensive can provide some of the deepest, most profound insights, visions and breakthroughs.

     The Enlightenment Intensive is found especially useful by those who want to increase their capacity to become more effective in their service work with other people. This could be called the bodhisattva facet of the Intensive. It is reported in the gnostic Gospel of Thomas that Jesus said, “Bring forth all that is within you and you’ll be saved [reach eternal life]. Whatever you don’t bring forth will destroy you.” At an Enlightenment Intensive, each participant has the opportunity to communicate himself or herself fully and be received by each other at a very high, non-judgmental level. This enhances the possibility of a sudden, unequivocal breakthrough into enlightenment. This communication-contemplation factor is what makes this process so unique and effective.

Info on Pomeroy’s thing.

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