02/15/2010
Althought not an email or letter in the classical sense, following this brief introduction are two paragraphs from a link to a webpage sent to me the other day via email by a reader of my works. How anything ever shows up in search engines related to me or anything else so someone can find it --- and then actually read it to such a point that they act on it --- is a mystery to me. To wit:
For years my page on the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi used to show up in the top five of a Google search. When I discovered the page went down awhile back and switched the page to a new server and URL, even though it was still the EXACT same page --- it has never moved higher up in a Google search than some three pages back. People who previously copied my Sri Ramana page verbatum and then put it on the net, which, continue to contain outdated links to this day, gleen higher up in search than my original. A Ramana related blog that has not been active since March of 2006 even shows up ahead of my Ramana site.
One of the most important Ramana pages on the net, SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: The Last American Darshan, documents down to the final nth the last American alive that actually had darshan under the Maharshi --- and attained Awakening at that --- and that page doesn't even show up in a search for Ramana no matter how many pages deep you search unless you specifically type in the title or the word "darshan" or "Wanderling" or both along with Sri Ramana. No casual search for Ramana will call it up.
In any case, "the reader of my works" sent me the following two paragraphs that show up on WIKISOCION The Free Encyclopedia of Socionics which offers of sorts, an interesting if not fairly accurate comparison between myself and Ramana adherent Ed Muzika:
USER: Thehotelambush/Religion
TOPIC: Some religious teachers
The Wanderling teaches the Dharma indirectly, presenting his varied personal experiences, and tends to avoid talking about the inner psychological aspects of practice; for example the description of his actual Enlightenment-event is brief and undetailed, whereas e.g. Muzika describes his realizations in detail, in the order they occurred. His style of teaching is to expose the seeker to a wide variety of texts and views, leaving one to interpret them and glean the aspects that one finds most pertinent. He also includes comments on the various texts, but does not pass judgement on their accuracy at any length if at all. The Wanderling, on his online course in the Dharma, Awakening 101: This course starts from a very simple double-premise, and that is that the phenomenon known as Enlightenment in the Zen tradition IS, and in so being...can be realized outside the doctrine, that is, beyond the scriptures and any ritualized formulas or patterns layed down therein.
Muzika's website Freedom starts off with a list of truths about reality, numbered Wittgenstein-style. Similar as Christopher Langan, Muzika gives it to the reader as straight as possible. He sometimes offers harsh criticism of others' methods and calls people out on their delusive ideas or incorrect practices. Although he acknowledges the inherently paradoxical nature of the stuff, he expounds fairly strong views about what constitutes correct or incorrect practice (or exposition). A funny contrast between the Wanderling and Muzika occurs: Muzika explicitly says to avoid comparing teachings by different people - "It will only make you nuts." On the other hand, the Wanderling's site is full of articles by various different authors, and his course Awakening 101 is just a long sequence of such articles, which continue until the reader has been so thoroughly bombarded with words that he realizes their ultimate futility. Both methods are acceptable in my opinion.
10/20/2009
Hi Wanderling,
I have been a seeker since 1966. (I) have always enjoyed reading your sites and wanted to study the Awakening 101 course you had on the web. Now I see that it has been removed. Why was it removed? Is there anything I can do to receive the information contained in the Awakening 101 course for a price. I have learned a lot from you and appreciate everything you have done for everyone. I know you are very busy but I joined myspace just to contact you. I would appreciate it very much if you would reply. If you request a financial donation, I will be glad to donate to you, your organization, or your favorite charity as long as the amount is reasonable.
Peace and Love,
TomW RESPONDS: The above email was received, as the date will attest, in October. It is now into December and during that time I have received countless numbers of emails expressing similar or like concerns. At first I was just going to let it go, Awakening 101, that is. Little did I fully realize that any of it meant anything to anybody.
For those who don't know, AWAKENING 101 is/was a FREE, self-paced online Dharma course arranged in such a way as to assist in easing the Dharma Gate for spiritual explorers, seekers along the path, wanderlings, the simply curious, and others who may be so interested. AWAKENING 101 was orginally thought up, assembled, put together, invented and maintained on a variety of websites by me, the Wanderling. Because of a number of mitigating circumstances I made it no longer available. HOWEVER, because of similar and like concerns as the above and similar emails, the the main aspects of the course are currently being revamped and updated with new pages being composed, links being reconnected, and lost pages being restored. It will just take awhile as there are hundreds of links and pages to sort through.
For those who may be interested in continuing along the path with assist from Awakening 101, and how Enlightenment may or may not come about, it is suggested you go to Google and type in any Buddhist name, word or term or Zen name, word, or term you can think of in any area of concern and type it in along with the word 'wanderling.' By doing so, as the new pages by me related to Awakening 101 are revamped, put under new URLs, or recaptured, you should be able to get the most recent or lost pages. You can also reach some of the new pages, and via them, reach additional new pages and links by going to:
ZEN BUDDHISM, ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT
AWAKENING 101
Friday, October 9, 2009 1:12 PM
From: Richard B
To: the Wanderling
What has become of the master-work of yours, Awakening 101?
All I seem to find are pages now stating, "AWAKENING 101 IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE".
Do you need assistance in maintaining, hosting the web presence?
Is there anything that could help restore this to the World?
This from Joseph Marcello, Seeker and Practioner:
Jun 8, 2009 3:24 PM
It would do you - even as advanced as you may privately deem yourself to be - and your readers much mercy if you would run all of your writings through a Clarifier, then a Truth-Teller, and finally a Simplifier so that, at the end of the their convoluted journey, they achieve that divinely rare fruit: Awakening.
Otherwise, those who have truly done their homework and pierced the tissue of their inherited and fabricated illusions, and seen the overwhelming simple truth that they've spent their lives avoiding -- will be tempted to consider the sometimes lofty, but too often self-fouled, writings of "the Wanderling" as the mere ravings of a spiritually hooked eccentric with too much learning under his septagenarian belt.
W RESPONDS: -- For those who may be so interested, although not the end all to end all, there is a Clarifier and Simplifier of sorts on the net that can be found half-way down a page called THE WANDERLING AND WIKIPEDIA. The content of that page addresses some of the issues and other issues so mentioned in the above email. On that page, again about half-way down, is a quasi cut-to-the-quick breakdown, of which is included the SIX MAIN PAGES everything points to one way or the other. Those six main pages are also listed stand-alone, in the order they are meant to be read, but WITHOUT the quasi cut-to-the-quick breakdown or explanation at DELICIOUS. The INTRODUCTION page to AWAKENING 101 offers a clarification as well for those who may chose to follow the more outlined structure of the course. See also my MySpace Blog on the same subject.
As to the comment by Marcello: "even as advanced as you may privately deem yourself to be," never mind, I suppose Inka Shomei, the Seal of Approval, at the Fourth Level, or ken-chu-shi as they may or may not apply to the Wanderling as deemed by others.
Sri Ramana Maharshi's opinion on the matter may count for something as found in The Last American Darshan.
May 31, 2009 5:26 PM
It has taken me at least a month to get through to folder three: I would love to know your real name, but that's not so important except that you set up the "my mentor" and "yourself" as a sort of treasure hunt --- like a carrot dangling, implicating that at the end of the story all will be revealed --- which I don't think it will, yet it still catches one's interest like a hook. Thankfully I have moved on from being interested in your life, though I guess you must have used opium and or heroin for more than a couple of days to get a physical habit.[1] So, from Doing Hard Time In A Zen Monastery to writing with all the spider web links, it in itself reminds me how our mind works --- and at the end you have the Koan of the monk chopping off his arm and asking Bodhidharma to pacify his mind: the exact same Koan I am presently on: so maybe master I beg you to pacify my mind. Thanks for your endeavours and the space to write. Gassho Tetto,
Karen
[1] W RESPONDS: It is not known the actual length of time that transpired between the time initially being abducted by the warlord's men and finding myself coming out of a near Nirodha state sitting in front of the monastery. It could have been merely days to being weeks or possibly months. It is my guesstimate any major use or subjectation under the auspices of the warlord's men was frontloaded toward the beginning, perhaps at the most the first half or so of any elasped time, eventually fading to zero (forever) somewhere past, near, or before the mid-point.
THROUGH TWITTER
Thursday, April 23, 2009 12:33 AM
From:Geocities shutting down. What will happen to the most brilliant web project ever? Awakening 101 http://bit.ly/1w9wxi
AWAKENING 101
Tuesday, July 8, 2008 7:37 AM
From: "Andrew B"To: the Wanderling
I have been reading through your course, Awakening 101, for the past few weeks and, having some pleasing results, thought I should drop you a line to say thanks.
A bit about me, I have been a spiritual seeker for about 17 years, begining meditation within Zen about a year into that, and having my first Kensho three or so months into that practice. I then became interested in Western Ceremonial magic and came to adopt that as my primary path, but I continued my interest in the mystical side of the coin too.
About three years after my Kensho, I performed a daily invocation of a god over about 6 weeks (Pan), the culmination of which was the basic dualities of the universe resolving themselves in me, then perceiving the fundamental emtpiness of everything, and then this sense of dissolution, dissolved itself. So there was notning, no me, no universe to work in and no path. The equivilant state as Satori.
I continued with my magical practice and a few years later I returned again to mediation, as part of that, mediating everyday for about a year within the Yoga tradition, until reaching Atmadarshana, and then Shivadarshana. My state of being improved greatly, after the basic duality state that follows Satori (between the emptiness you and everything is, and 'conditioned existance), but I knew this was not the ultimate state. These states are divorced from the normal flow of thought. I wanted to experience my awakening in every moment.
After 15 years of work I completed my magical path recently, as represented by the Qabalistic Tree of Life, but still felt a last piece missing. I started to feel drawn towards Zen again, as at the begining of my path, and soon found your web-site. I began to meditate using Zazen, while reading your site, pursuing the ultimate state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Well about 10 or so days ago I entered this state and it has been settling in me ever since. It is a joy to at last have that ultimate state of spirituality I have been working for for so long where everything is perfect and just works all by itself. The Nothing and the All are the same thing at last. (Interestingly, on reading the Susan Segal page, I worked out how long it had been since my Satori and it was 12 years and five months!, so the twleve year rule was the case with me also.)
So once again thanks for your site. It really cut to the core of the issue and I will tell anyone I meet in the future who is genuinely intersted in Awakening to check out your site.
Yours in thanks,
Andrew
the Wanderling
Aug 9, 2008 2:58 AM
From: One NothingnessSubject: I want to thank you.
Over the last 4 years I have been directed and visited your page over and over again. It guided me on my journey of awakening since the first satori experience I had in the summer of 2004.
It helped deepened my understanding of Buddhism and particularly Zen Buddhism, even though I come from Vietnam and was aquainted with Mahayana Buddhism at an early age.
I visit your site now and then, and everytime I visit your site, I learn something new and gain a deeper understanding. Thank you!
Namaste
AND NOW THIS:
It is often said that when you truly need a teacher, one will appear. This may due to some inexplicable serendipity. It may be due to the fact that the seeker has searched deeply within himself or herself and determined what sort of instruction seems to be required. It could be swept over him or her like the First Death Experience of the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, or the Bhagavan's little known Second Death Experience, or a spiritual desperation on the part of the seeker, or maybe no more than a successful sales pitch by a teacher (sincere or not). It may be a combination of the previous factors, or some intuitive awareness beyond expression. For whatever the reason, the saying often applies and the coming together of the results of inner and outside forces, some within one's control, some without, can be found most eloquently as they all come together in the following:
SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: THE LAST AMERICAN DARSHAN
RECOUNTING A YOUNG BOY'S NEARLY INSTANT TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ABSOLUTE DURING HIS ONLY DARSHAN WITH THE MAHARSHI
It should be noted that Adam Osborne, who, as a young boy grew up at the Ramana ashram and the son of one of the foremost Ramana biographers Arthur Osborne, played a prominent role in the Last American Darshan as linked above.
Long before there was an internet there was a man of great spiritual Attainment by the name of Alfred Pulyan. In lieu of the internet Pulyan had in those days what would be called a mail order following. People that came to hear about him and his level of Attinment would write hoping for insight into what one could do to Awaken to the Absolute, and Pulyan would respond, asking for no more than a stamped self-addressed envelope. Pulyan presented through his teaching what he called Transmission, somewhat extrapolated from a working mixture of his own experience combined with it is thought, the weight behind the meaning of the four lines of the stanza attributed to the First Patriarch of C'han Buddhism, Bodhidharma that starts with A special transmission outside the scriptures. Pulyan claimed to have a 70% success rate, more than ten times higher than the ancient Zen masters.
It was largely because of the purported success rate of Pulyan's mail order efforts that in the age of computers that the idea of the free online Dharma course exploring the Enlightening experience, AWAKENING 101 came about.
As for the present day and internet numbers of attemptees, there are no doubt countless numbers and successful results are, I am sure, quite low. The one major example of claimed Attainment fully through such an approach is A Child of the Cyber-Sangha.
A second very strong example, albeit sort of hybrid in nature, which is typical because the individual started out initially using various aspects of Awakening 101, which inturn led him to going to and doing study practice in an established Zen center. The results of his endeavors ended wherein, I have been so told, he attained a state of immortality.(see) Over the years I have received numerous letters and emails from a variety of individuals telling me how much Awakening 101 contributed toward their Awakening, albeit, like the above, almost always hybrid in nature --- that is, most of them have been pursing Enlightenment in one fashion or the other most of their lives and in the process of that pursuit, after coming across Awakening 101, something just clicked.
By the way, don't let the above letters sway you --- not everybody considers AWAKENING 101 as a valid vehicle. I mean, you ought to see the scathing attack presented in IN THE WAY OF ENLIGHTENMENT: The Ten Fetters of Buddhism. You would think the Wanderling was one of the Fetters! So too with what is found in THE WANDERLING AND WIKIPEDIA. Oh well, what can I say, in the end it's your call.
Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.
(PLEASE CLICK)
AWAKENED TEACHERS FORUM
ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT IN A NUTSHELL
GASSHO
(PLEASE CLICK)
CLICK
HERE FOR
ENLIGHTENMENT
ON THE RAZOR'S
EDGE
SEE ALSO:
THE BUDDHA AND THE QUALITIES OF A DHARMA TEACHER
REACHING THE WANDERLING:
As most of you know, if an email address can be readily scaned by search engines the next thing you know you can't even find the legitimate mail in your box. Below are two suggestions on how to reach me through e-mail --- either through the Wanderling link directly below and follow the steps OR the MySpace link below that. Be advised your message could be lost in the shuffle or forgotten to death using the first method as there are a number of SPAM FILTERS IN PLACE that block just about everything --- BUT, and this is the secret, if you type AWAKENING 101 --- in capital letters with a space between AWAKENING and 101 --- in the subject line of your email it has a much better chance of being sorted out of the tons of unsolicited material and actually be read rather than being blocked or deleted:
the Wanderling
THE WANDERLING
(please click)
