Adyashanti...

Quotes from “The Impact of Awakening”


Inherent in the impulse to be free, is insecurity. The impulse to be free comes from outside of the mind, and because of this, it makes the mind feel very insecure. Most spiritual seekers move away from this insecurity by seeking and striving for a distant spiritual goal. That’s how they avoid feeling insecure.
P 15

The problem is that most people are paying attention to objects, to what they perceive – rather than to the ultimate perceiver, the background. Either way, awareness is happening 100% of the time... Me is only a thought. You are before this me thought.
P49

The human being is what links consciousness to its own infinite expressions in form. Through the form of an awake human being, consciousness becomes conscious of itself as both formlessness and as all forms.
P 71

There is only the perceiving, there’s no body that perceives.
P 73

The only real block is believing in a me who has blocks. The me is always going to perceive itself as having blocks.
P 82

In Liberation you are in that state which is prior to any causation. Therefore, actions happen without any motivation for doing them. You are not doing for yourself or for the love of others... Actions simply happen.
P 91

I am the unknowingness
of an unknown mystery.
If you want to know something,
go elsewhere.
If you wan to un-know everything,
then sit and listen.

The silence inside of you
is the sound of your knowledge collapsing.
Remember, it is you who said,
“I want to be free.”
P 111

Everything depends upon your readiness and willingness to let go into the Unknown, and live from that mysterious and precious condition.
P 116

... fundamentally, most people want to remain separate and in control. Simply put, most people want to keep dreaming that they are special, unique, and separate... more than they want to wake up to the perfect unity of an Unknown which leaves no room for any separation from the whole.
P 118

In order to fully awaken to the fact that you are nothing but Awakeness itself, you must want to know the truth more than you want to feel secure.
P 129


Quotes from “Emptiness Dancing”


The truth is that you already are what you are seeking. You are looking for God with his eyes.
P 1

I suggest you ask, “What’s ultimately behind this set of eyes?” Turn around to see what is looking.
P 34

Contemplate this: there is no such thing as a true belief.
P 37

Thoughts are just moving through consciousness. They have no power. Nothing has reality until you reach it, grab it, and somehow impregnate it with the power of belief.
P 51

When someone says, “I love you,” he is telling you about himself, not you. When someone says, “I hate you,” she is telling you about herself, not you.
P 97

What if you let go of every bit of control and every urge that you have, right down to the most infinitesimal urge to control anything, anywhere, including anything that may be happening with you at this moment? Imagine that you were able to completely and absolutely give up control on every level. If you were able to give up control absolutely, totally, and completely, then you would be a spiritually free being.
P 105

This that you look at and call teacher is your own creation, it is your dream, and you are creating it at this moment.
P 149

Here is the Promised Land. The eternal is here. Have you ever noticed that you have never left here, except in your mind? When you remember the past, you are not actually in the past. Your remembering is happening here. When you think about the future, that future projection is completely here.
P 161


Notes paraphrased from various audio clips on web site:


“[It is a] myth that [when I’m truly enlightened] I can rest in some assuredness that I will never again feel insecure, or feel fear, or feel doubt, or feel those emotions that we don’t want to feel. Forget it. That’s not it. That’s the pipe dream. That’s the opium that’s sold to the masses. And they eat it up and they never get there, and they end up disillusioned. That’s not how it works. Freedom is never freedom “from.” If it’s freedom “from” anything, it’s not freedom at all. It’s freedom “to.” Are you free enough to be afraid? Are you free enough to feel insecure? Are you free enough not to know? Are you free enough to know that you can’t know? Are you free enough to be totally comfortable, to know that you can’t know what’s around the next corner? How you will feel about it? How you will respond to it? That you literally can’t know? Are you free enough to be totally at ease and comfort with the way things actually are? That’s freedom. The other thing is the ego’s idea of freedom.”
- What freedom really is

Direct method on how to wake up - Set aside ideas of who you are. What is really here? What is actually here looking and experiencing. Not a thought. What am I really?

What do thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. happen to? The mind says it all happens to me. What is this “me” that all of this happens to or occurs to. Some silent space is experiencing it all and that space is what we are. Experiencing that space first hand is the only way to understand.

This awake silence is available to anyone in this moment. All you have to do is stop using your mind to look for it. It doesn’t know where to find it.

There is a mysterious force inside that animates you. It is covered up by thoughts and the mind’s ideas about who and what you are. But all true spiritual teachings point away from a fascination with the little “me” and toward a fascination with that mystery under the thoughts. This is the fertile ground for awakening. Once the mystery wakes up to itself it realizes that this is what it truly is and has always been, but it can not be described.

Everything exists within you. Relax. No one has to seek for what they already are. No one can become what you already are. It’s only possible to stop deluding yourself into this smallness. We can only stop convincing ourselves what we already are.

When it comes to our activism, we have to ask ourselves if we are divided. Do we see an enemy? If so, then we are not seeing things in their true light and are part of the problem we are trying to solve.

There is nothing wrong with thought and it can be used whenever necessary. But in every moment you can choose to follow your thoughts or you can recognize that which is not thinking. Don’t try to stop thinking, let it happen. Just recognize that which is not thinking.


Quotes from writings on web site:


As the master said, “Do not seek the truth.” But you can’t stop seeking just because some ancient Zen master said to. Seeking is an energy, a movement toward something. Spiritual seekers are moving toward God, nirvana, enlightenment, ultimate truth, whatever. To seek something, you must have at least some vague idea or image of what it is you are seeking. But ultimate truth is not an idea or an image or something attained anew. So, to seek truth as something objective is a waste of time and energy. Truth can’t be found by seeking it, simply because truth is what you are. Seeking what you are is as silly as your shoes looking for their soles by walking in circles. What is the path that will lead your shoes to their soles? That’s why the Zen master said, “Do not seek the truth.” Instead, cease cherishing illusions.
http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=writings_inner&writingid=30

In true meditation all objects are left to their natural functioning. This means that no effort should be made to manipulate or suppress any object of awareness. In true meditation the emphasis is on being awareness; not on being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. Primordial awareness (consciousness) is the source in which all objects arise and subside.
http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=writings_inner&writingid=12

You must want to know the truth more than you want to feel secure in order to fully awaken to the fact that you are nothing but Awakeness itself.
http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=writings_inner&writingid=16

www.adyashanti.org




Quotes from “The Impact of Awakening”


Inherent in the impulse to be free, is insecurity. The impulse to be free comes from outside of the mind, and because of this, it makes the mind feel very insecure. Most spiritual seekers move away from this insecurity by seeking and striving for a distant spiritual goal. That’s how they avoid feeling insecure.
P 15

The problem is that most people are paying attention to objects, to what they perceive – rather than to the ultimate perceiver, the background. Either way, awareness is happening 100% of the time... Me is only a thought. You are before this me thought.
P49

The human being is what links consciousness to its own infinite expressions in form. Through the form of an awake human being, consciousness becomes conscious of itself as both formlessness and as all forms.
P 71

There is only the perceiving, there’s no body that perceives.
P 73

The only real block is believing in a me who has blocks. The me is always going to perceive itself as having blocks.
P 82

In Liberation you are in that state which is prior to any causation. Therefore, actions happen without any motivation for doing them. You are not doing for yourself or for the love of others... Actions simply happen.
P 91

I am the unknowingness
of an unknown mystery.
If you want to know something,
go elsewhere.
If you wan to un-know everything,
then sit and listen.

The silence inside of you
is the sound of your knowledge collapsing.
Remember, it is you who said,
“I want to be free.”
P 111

Everything depends upon your readiness and willingness to let go into the Unknown, and live from that mysterious and precious condition.
P 116

... fundamentally, most people want to remain separate and in control. Simply put, most people want to keep dreaming that they are special, unique, and separate... more than they want to wake up to the perfect unity of an Unknown which leaves no room for any separation from the whole.
P 118

In order to fully awaken to the fact that you are nothing but Awakeness itself, you must want to know the truth more than you want to feel secure.
P 129


Quotes from “Emptiness Dancing”


The truth is that you already are what you are seeking. You are looking for God with his eyes.
P 1

I suggest you ask, “What’s ultimately behind this set of eyes?” Turn around to see what is looking.
P 34

Contemplate this: there is no such thing as a true belief.
P 37

Thoughts are just moving through consciousness. They have no power. Nothing has reality until you reach it, grab it, and somehow impregnate it with the power of belief.
P 51

When someone says, “I love you,” he is telling you about himself, not you. When someone says, “I hate you,” she is telling you about herself, not you.
P 97

What if you let go of every bit of control and every urge that you have, right down to the most infinitesimal urge to control anything, anywhere, including anything that may be happening with you at this moment? Imagine that you were able to completely and absolutely give up control on every level. If you were able to give up control absolutely, totally, and completely, then you would be a spiritually free being.
P 105

This that you look at and call teacher is your own creation, it is your dream, and you are creating it at this moment.
P 149

Here is the Promised Land. The eternal is here. Have you ever noticed that you have never left here, except in your mind? When you remember the past, you are not actually in the past. Your remembering is happening here. When you think about the future, that future projection is completely here.
P 161


Notes paraphrased from various audio clips on web site:


“[It is a] myth that [when I’m truly enlightened] I can rest in some assuredness that I will never again feel insecure, or feel fear, or feel doubt, or feel those emotions that we don’t want to feel. Forget it. That’s not it. That’s the pipe dream. That’s the opium that’s sold to the masses. And they eat it up and they never get there, and they end up disillusioned. That’s not how it works. Freedom is never freedom “from.” If it’s freedom “from” anything, it’s not freedom at all. It’s freedom “to.” Are you free enough to be afraid? Are you free enough to feel insecure? Are you free enough not to know? Are you free enough to know that you can’t know? Are you free enough to be totally comfortable, to know that you can’t know what’s around the next corner? How you will feel about it? How you will respond to it? That you literally can’t know? Are you free enough to be totally at ease and comfort with the way things actually are? That’s freedom. The other thing is the ego’s idea of freedom.”
- What freedom really is

Direct method on how to wake up - Set aside ideas of who you are. What is really here? What is actually here looking and experiencing. Not a thought. What am I really?

What do thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. happen to? The mind says it all happens to me. What is this “me” that all of this happens to or occurs to. Some silent space is experiencing it all and that space is what we are. Experiencing that space first hand is the only way to understand.

This awake silence is available to anyone in this moment. All you have to do is stop using your mind to look for it. It doesn’t know where to find it.

There is a mysterious force inside that animates you. It is covered up by thoughts and the mind’s ideas about who and what you are. But all true spiritual teachings point away from a fascination with the little “me” and toward a fascination with that mystery under the thoughts. This is the fertile ground for awakening. Once the mystery wakes up to itself it realizes that this is what it truly is and has always been, but it can not be described.

Everything exists within you. Relax. No one has to seek for what they already are. No one can become what you already are. It’s only possible to stop deluding yourself into this smallness. We can only stop convincing ourselves what we already are.

When it comes to our activism, we have to ask ourselves if we are divided. Do we see an enemy? If so, then we are not seeing things in their true light and are part of the problem we are trying to solve.

There is nothing wrong with thought and it can be used whenever necessary. But in every moment you can choose to follow your thoughts or you can recognize that which is not thinking. Don’t try to stop thinking, let it happen. Just recognize that which is not thinking.


Quotes from writings on web site:


As the master said, “Do not seek the truth.” But you can’t stop seeking just because some ancient Zen master said to. Seeking is an energy, a movement toward something. Spiritual seekers are moving toward God, nirvana, enlightenment, ultimate truth, whatever. To seek something, you must have at least some vague idea or image of what it is you are seeking. But ultimate truth is not an idea or an image or something attained anew. So, to seek truth as something objective is a waste of time and energy. Truth can’t be found by seeking it, simply because truth is what you are. Seeking what you are is as silly as your shoes looking for their soles by walking in circles. What is the path that will lead your shoes to their soles? That’s why the Zen master said, “Do not seek the truth.” Instead, cease cherishing illusions.
http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=writings_inner&writingid=30

In true meditation all objects are left to their natural functioning. This means that no effort should be made to manipulate or suppress any object of awareness. In true meditation the emphasis is on being awareness; not on being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. Primordial awareness (consciousness) is the source in which all objects arise and subside.
http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=writings_inner&writingid=12

You must want to know the truth more than you want to feel secure in order to fully awaken to the fact that you are nothing but Awakeness itself.
http://www.adyashanti.org