Guru Viking Podcast Ep141: Demystifying Awakening - Stephen Snyder
Mar 18, 2022
01:36:01
Glimpses vs. Grounded Realization
- Many dedicated practitioners already glimpse true nature through practice and retreats.
- The key shift is when identification re-centers in true nature rather than personality.
Self-Inquiry As A Simple Test
- Test your level of realization by asking 'Who am I?' and turning inward.
- If you encounter spaciousness and difficulty locating a self, that indicates deeper realization.
Watch For The Wisdom Eye
- Notice physical signs like a localized forehead pressure as the 'wisdom eye' begins to open.
- Stay with your practice and avoid forcing the experience when that pressure appears.
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Introduction
00:00 • 2min
Zen Zen Meditations - The Buddha's Heart
01:34 • 4min
Zen - The Potentiality of Ascension
05:13 • 4min
What's the Percentage of Teachers Who've Had First Awakenings?
08:52 • 2min
The Difference Between Kensho and Setori in Buddhism?
10:54 • 3min
Are There Any Tests That One Could Self Administrate?
13:53 • 2min
How Do You Assess and Confirm When Someone Calls You Onzom?
15:36 • 3min
The Wisdom Eyes Blinking and Opening Up
18:52 • 2min
The Conceptualization of a Ken Show Experience
21:14 • 3min
Awakening - The Three Components
23:54 • 3min
The Dove Tail Between the Teravadan Practices and the Zen Approach
26:40 • 3min
Reincarnation
30:10 • 3min
Working With the Super Ego
32:49 • 4min
Is the Superego Trying to Crowd the Space?
36:55 • 3min
The Four Elements Meditation
39:43 • 2min
The Four Elements Process
41:31 • 4min
The Crystal Body and the Kalapas
45:48 • 2min
The Jana Retreat - What You Did and How You Did It
48:07 • 6min
The Limits of Sleep and Dreams
54:05 • 3min
The Will to Live
56:46 • 4min
The Skilfulness of the Fence
01:00:18 • 2min
Is There a Concentration of All One's Resources Into Defiance?
01:02:10 • 3min
Zen Versus Teravada
01:04:42 • 5min
Kentshow - A Different Orientation Than the Terivadan Model
01:09:14 • 4min
The No Self Path Acclimatization
01:13:29 • 3min
Sonar
01:16:32 • 2min
Do You Have a Coan?
01:18:18 • 5min
Do Zen People Have a Certain Flavour?
01:22:59 • 4min
The Importance of a Spiritual Journal
01:27:23 • 5min
How Do We Change Our Karma?
01:32:38 • 3min
In this episode I am once again joined by Stephen Snyder, meditation teacher, author, and the first non-monastic Western man to master the virtuoso-level shamata meditation system of Pa Auk Sayadaw.
In this interview we discuss Stephen’s latest book ‘Demysifying Awakening: A Buddhist Path of Realization, Embodiment, and Freedom’.
Stephen gives detailed comparisons between the maps of Theravadan and Zen Buddhism, explains the difference between Kensho and Satori, and reveals why it is so easy to stall after an initial awakening experience.
Stephen also shares techniques to open the Wisdom Eye, loosen allegiance to the body, and transcend the superego; and reveals how he assesses others spiritual experiences and how an individual can self-assess their own level of awakening.
…
Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep141-demystifying-awakening-stephen-snyder
Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
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Topics include:
00:00 - Intro
00:51 - Why is Stephen writing so many books?
05:42 - What is the probability of awakening?
08:46 - Kensho vs Satori probabilities
11:06 - Languishing between Kensho and Satori
13:57 - Self-administered tests of awakening
15:37 - How Stephen assesses his students’ awakenings
17:39 - Opening the Wisdom Eye
20:27 - Energetic resonance of awakening
21:31 - Facsimiles of awakening
23:53 - Confusion around awakening
30:09 - Rebirth, reincarnation, and tulkus
33:00 - Superego and trauma
39:43 - Purifying the body via the four elements
45:44 - Stephen’s experience of the crystal body
48:06 - Loosening allegiance to the body
49:37 - Resistances to jhana and awakening
54:05 - Steve’s practice challenge
58:16 - How to work with intensity and blocks
01:02:09 - The will to live
01:05:17 - Boat meditation
01:06:15 - Comparing the maps of Theravada and Zen
01:13:29 - Fear of No-Self
01:16:32 - Integrating the No-Self
01:19:31 - Koan practice
01:23:16 - Flavours of enlightenment
01:27:24 - Keeping a spiritual journal
…
Check out my previous interviews with Stephen:
- https://www.guruviking.com/ep24-stephen-snyder-a-stroke-of-realisation-guru-viking-interviews/
- https://www.guruviking.com/ep33-stephen-snyder-pandemic-edition-guru-viking-podcast/
- https://www.guruviking.com/ep70-stephen-snyder-buddhas-heart/
Purchase ‘Demystifying Awakening’:
- https://awakeningdharma.org/book/demystifying-awakening/
To find out more about Stephen Snyder, visit:
- https://awakeningdharma.org/
For more interviews, videos, and more visit:
- https://www.guruviking.com/
Music 'Deva Dasi' by Steve James