1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

Conversations on the Convergence of Buddhism, Technology, and Global Cultur

COMMUNITY LOGIN

Buddhist Geeks Discover the Emerging Faces of Buddhism Home About Podcast The Lab Conference Community Audio Video Subscribe

by Kenneth Folk

Podcast: Download

Episode Description:
You can perform neurosurgery on yourself. Kenneth Folk
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/ 1/8

1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

This weeks episode comes from the recent Buddhist Geeks Conference, where meditation teacher Kenneth Folk spoke about his three pillars of pragmatic dharma: 1) awakening is possible, 2) I know because it happened to me, and 3) heres how. Kenneth cycles through each of these pillars, going deeper each time, first exploring what enlightenment ishighlighting the difference between a moment of awakening and enlightenment as human development. He also speaks about why he claims that it happened to him, challenging a taboo in Buddhist culture to not speak about ones personal experience of enlightenment. He then speaks about attention as the common denominator of all the technologies for awakening, exploring his particular approach to training attention, what he calls the 3-speed transmission.

Episode Links:
Kenneth Folk Dharma The #bgeeks11 Round-Up

Transcript:
Kenneth Folk: There was a time in the early 90s when I was doing a lot of long meditation retreats. And I think my mother felt it was necessary to explain to her friends what I was doing with my life. And she told her friends that Buddhism is not a religion but rather a philosophy, because in our household religion was frowned upon but philosophy was okay. And so my mother asked me is that right? Is Buddhism a philosophy? And I thought about that and replied, Well Buddhism certainly is a religion. There are people who take Buddhism very seriously as a religion, and it is a philosophy, and it is a psychology, and it can be scholarly pursuit. But for me, the nugget the thing that is really special about Buddhism is that its a set of technologies for awakening. And I would say that everything else is designed to support that. After all the word Buddha means awake. So were talking about awakening, enlightenment. I would like to normalize enlightenment. Theres an opportunity here as Buddhism moves into the West to shake things up a little bit, to change some attitudes. And one of the
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/ 2/8

1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

attitudes that I think is very pervasive is that enlightenment is for other people. Its for people who wear traditional clothing and/or live in caves primarily. But it isnt true. Enlightenment its an old word, maybe an outdated word for human development. And human development is available to humans. Id like to talk about this using a kind of a formula that I only half jokingly think of as the three pillars of pragmatic dharma. It goes like this. Enlightenment is possible, thats No. 1. No. 2, I know because it happened to me. And No. 3, heres how. So Im going to cycle through those three points over the next 20 minutes in a kind of iterative fashion going a little bit more deeply with each iteration to make the case that enlightenment is for all of us. So this is going to require explaining what do I mean when I say enlightenment. And also, by the way, when I say it happened to me. It happened to whom. If the essential insight is that there isnt anybody here, why would I say such a preposterous thing? Well theres a reason why Im saying it and Ill explain. Let me talk a little bit about the technologies that Im referring to. So what is enlightenment? Lets start with awakening, momentary awakening. This is where it starts. We are in an auditorium at the University of the West in Rosemead, California which is part of the Los Angeles Megalopolis. And Los Angeles is one of the greatest port cities in the world. Theres a port here at San Pedro. If you listen very carefully, maybe you can hear, maybe we can hear the ships in the harbor at San Pedro. [pauses] But on the other hand, no theres no chance. San Pedro is probably, I dont know, 40 miles from here. Los Angeles is big. We cant hear these ships. And yet the very effort or the very inclination of the mind to listen for something that is so subtle and in this case undefined does something to the mind. Try it again. Listen for the ships in San Pedro. Never mind that you dont know what its going to sound like. [pauses] Theres a possibility for a kind of openness and a kind of quiet in the mind where the mind stops yammering at you for a moment. So lets called this a moment of awakeness.
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/ 3/8

1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

Enlightenment, Im using it in a slightly different way, Im talking about something developmental. So to understand enlightenment as a development or a developmental process, lets establish two poles. Lets say over here on your left is not enlightened, totally clueless, the uninstructed yogi, the uninstructed wordling. And over here on your right is no room for improvement. This is the Buddha. And you can imagine a line between these two points. A continuum from not very enlightened to a little bit of enlightenment and more and more. So we have a developmental process. And at each of point along the way as you move this way to your right, you have more of these moments of awakeness in relation to your moments of unawakeness. But does it have to be binary? Is it either totally clueless or completely enlightened to the point where theres no room for improvement? No, certainly not. And in fact, not only is there an infinite continuum, there is a tipping point. Somebody whos been doing this practice and has gotten to this tipping point, this is what Im calling enlightenment, the official enlightenment point. Now notice this person isnt yet a Buddha. And it seems like theres a lot to go here. And yet something very significant has happened. At the tipping point its as though youve been riding your bicycle uphill for some period of years usually, decades and sometimes the wind is in your face and sometimes its at your back but youre generally riding uphill. At the tipping point, youve crest to the hill and youre riding downhill. So here again sometimes the wind is in your face and sometimes its at your back but you know youve got this. People often say at this point it may be that even if I didnt practice this would continue to unfold. It so happens that people do continue to practice at that point because the momentum is so strong. So thats what Im talking about as enlightenment, as a continuum and as a tipping point. So Ill go to the second point: It happened to me. This is why Im confident telling you about it and why would I say that? Why would I say that in the face of the taboo against saying it? I dont think the taboo is helpful. It may have served at one time but I think now I think transparency is good. So if I think Im enlightened I should say so. Now I may be wrong, and if Im wrong then the rest of you will point it out and hopefully something good will come of that because I will get more enlightened through the interaction. I think the more we talk about this the better we get at teaching it and the better we get at
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/ 4/8

1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

learning it. What about this question of to whom does it happen? I dont know to whom it happens. So Ill move on to the third point heres how. [Laughter] There is a Zen koan that I think is kind of cute. When I think of Zen koans I often, when you hear the exchange between the student and the master, I hear the voice of little Kwai Chang Caine from the kung fu television show talking to Master Po, the blind master. So in this one the student says, Master what is the most important thing? And the master says, The most important thing is attention. Yes, master but what is the second most important thing.? The second most important thing is attention. Yes, master but what is the third most important thing? The third most important thing is attention. What is the common denominator among all of these technologies for awakening? Tt is attention. And there are lots of ways to apply attention; lots of things to apply attention to. Something Shinzen Young said in an offhand remark years ago got me thinking about a way to categorize all of these different practices from different traditions. Shinzen said, when things are difficult, he will downshift to mindfulness of the body as kind of first gear. So I took that ball and ran with it. I think of this as being divided into three gears, a kind of three-speed transmission. First gear is looking at the objects of awareness, the changing phenomena of mind and body, so vipassana is first gear. Second gear is to turn the attention around and ask the question to whom is this happening. So that would be Advaita Vedanta or certain kind of Zen, Hwadu. And third gear is to recognize, as Tibetan Buddhists might say, the essential nature of mind. To recognize what is always already done. This moment is perfect as it is and you need only recognize that. So thats the three speed transmission. And one way to approach it is to go to third gear first. If you can see that this moment is perfect as it is, well I would just look at that. If thats difficult, if youre not able to get traction then you can downshift to second or first gear. Lets go back to the beginning. What is enlightenment? Theres a 2007 University of Toronto Study that used fMRI scans to look at the brains of meditators. They posited two modes of attention, which I dont think they made up. I think this goes back to William James at least. Two modes of
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/ 5/8

1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

attention: experiential focus and narrative focus. Experiential focus would be paying attention to something thats going on. Youre engaged in whats going on. Vipassana would be a good way to do that or even just listening now to the sound of the air-conditioner will move your mind into experiential focus. And narrative focus is when were telling ourselves a story about our experience. These are two very different ways that the mind works. Your essential job in order to get enlightened is to change the mode from the narrative, which is the default focus, to the experience. If you do this consistently, you will change the wiring of your brain. This is what the study in question found, that the brain structure and functioning change and this is what these fMRI studies continue to find. You can perform neurosurgery on yourself by again and again shifting the mode from the narrative to the experience. This is not easy because the default is the narrative. This is how human beings are set up. Enlightenment is possible. Its a realistic goal for everyone in this room. Its a realistic goal for everyone. I know because it happened to me at least to the tipping point. I havent yet gotten to no room for improvement. And heres how: Attention. And by the way, this room is filled with people who know how to do this, know how to teach this. Thank you.

Author

KENNETH FOLK
Kenneth Folk teaches Buddhist meditation and nondual awakening, and hosts an online dharma forum at kennethfolk.com. Kenneth began practicing Theravada Buddhist meditation while working as a professional musician in 1980, and later completed extensive long term meditation retreats in Asia and the U.S. under the tutelage of Burmese masters Sayadaw U Kundala and Sayadaw U Pandita, and American meditation master Bill Hamilton, among others. Kenneth Folk is one of the
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/ 6/8

1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

few spiritual teachers willing and able to speak openly about enlightenment from both the gradual and suddenpoints of view. His "3 Speed Transmission" method of teaching combines the most pragmatic aspects of Theravada Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta in a way that is easy for modern practitioners to understand and apply. Kenneth's goal is to help others find the happiness that is not dependent upon conditions. Website: Kenneth Folk Dharma

Search...

SIGN UP FOR THE BUDDHIST GEEKS NEWSLETTER

Stay connected with the emerging face of Buddhist Geeks and receive a curated collection of our favorite interviews.

email:

http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/

7/8

1/28/2014

BG 229: Enlightenment for the Rest of Us Buddhist Geeks

Get Social

Facebook Twitter GooglePlus YouTube RSS Buddhist Geeks Created by PowerUp Productions

http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/bg-229-enlightenment-for-the-rest-of-us/

8/8