Welcome To Happiness While Alive, My Serialized Spiritual Memoir, about an ordinary, unhappy guy who went looking for enlightenment and found it.
A necessary digression:
Because we associate the word ‘spiritual’ with visions, miracles, premonitions and religious ecstasies, I’ll use ‘Spiritual’ when I refer to the work of Spiritual Transmission Masters—those Rare Birds who actually enlightened other people. Men like Lao Tzu, Krishna, Gautama, and Marpa transmitted their Realization directly to their devotees (who, in some cases, transmitted it to their devotees). Capitalized ‘Enlightened’ refers to their extraordinary Realization, and lower-case ‘enlightened’ for ordinary devotees’ realization.
About me
By the time I turned fifteen I was so unhappy with incarnate life that my parents encouraged me to investigate unhappiness myself. They sat me down with theologians, bought me expensive, imported books in hopes I might discover at least some wisdom. Then, just at the right moment, cheap paperbacks of Zen classics became available. Even to a callow youth like myself, it was obvious that the Zen Patriarchs were a cut above anyone I’d ever met and, so I flew to Japan and started looking.
Part One is about my twenty-year search It was a blast and I think you will find it instructive and maybe save some time. Part Two is a blow-by-blow account of a reluctant devotee whose Spiritual Master refused to give up on him. For thirty years.
Suggested Reading
Tibet’s Great Yogi, Milarepa. By W.Y. Evans-Wentz. Spiritual life has never been easy and rollicking tale of a Great Spiritual Master and the ex-murderer he enlightened makes that point abundantly clear.
The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra. Huineng, the Sixth Chan (Zen) Patriarch’s students compiled his lectures and one-on-one exchanges, together with his backstory. Real guys, hanging out with a Great Master. Zen has great bon mots.
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