Thank you Groundless. I go along with your comment on Nisargadatta Maharaj, whose I AM THAT I read avidly, followed by Ramesh Balsekar's (disciple of Nisargadatta) many books. Incidentally, Ramesh pays great tribute to Wei Wu Wei and accepts that his 'knowing' came from his guru and his 'understanding' of what he knows came from Wei Wu Wei.
Awakening 101 looks great as a path and good luck to anyone who wants to take a path and get to somewhere he isn't. Basically this seems to be traditional Zen and could well be an excellent introduction but I sense more and more that young people (and even the not so young) are impatient and not inclined to undertake the interminable path to enlightenment that the traditions prescribe. Enlightenment is instant and unpredictable and it's doubtful whether more people have become enlightened as a result of treading paths than those who have never heard of Zen or Buddhism. The traditions tend to teach that there is somewhere you have to get to , a belief in which is precisely what is likely to prevent it happening.
Wei Wu We sets out the understanding of what the sages in their knowing have tried to convey. Yes, it's an intellectual exercise and his books are mind-stretching but the insights that arise from reading his books are flashes of intuition that, after all, are moments of knowing, any of which can be the trigger that is enlightenment.
It is interesting to note that, in much of the literature by and about the enlightened, they refer to the knowing as overwhelming and blissful but often confess to not knowing what it is they know. Many, after several years and awakening curiosity, start to search for the understanding of what it is they know. It can be a frustrating experience for the seeker to always be presented with the words of the enlightened (who keep on repeating that words are useless to describe what has happened to them) that nothing they do can be of the slightest use in attaining enlightenment. Wei Wu Wei explains why this is the case.
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