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

Conversations on the Convergence of Buddhism, Technology, and Global

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by Kenneth Folk

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Episode DescriptionYou can perform neurosurgery on yourself. Kenneth Folk

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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 amoment 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 LinksKenneth Folk Dharma

The #bgeeks11 Round-Up

TranscriptKenneth Folk There was a time in the early 90s when I was doing a lot of longmeditation 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/the-bgeeks11-round-up/http://kennethfolkdharma.com/


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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 thinkof 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. Ithappened 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.


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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 crestto 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 confidenttelling 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


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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, Masterwhat 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


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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 FOLKKenneth 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


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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

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