085. Adyashanti - a podcast by Rick Archer

“Adyashanti” means primordial peace. Adyashanti dares all seekers of peace and freedom to take the possibility of liberation in this life seriously. He began teaching in 1996, at the request of his Zen teacher with whom he had been studying for 14 years. Since then many spiritual seekers have awakened to their true nature while spending time with Adyashanti.

Adyashanti offers spontaneous and direct nondual teachings that have been compared to those of the early Zen masters and Advaita Vedanta sages. However, Adya says, “If you filter my words through any tradition or ‘-ism’, you will miss altogether what I am saying. The liberating truth is not static; it is alive. It cannot be put into concepts and be understood by the mind. The truth lies beyond all forms of conceptual fundamentalism. What you are is the beyond—awake and present, here and now already. I am simply helping you to realize that.”A native of Northern California, Adyashanti lives with his wife, Mukti, and teaches extensively in the San Francisco Bay Area offering satsangs, weekend intensives, and silent retreats. He also travels to teach in other areas of the United States and Canada.

Books and other media:The 30-day Wake Up Challenge
Resurrecting Jesus - a self-guided video courseThe Direct Way
The End of Your World (book)The End of Your World (audio download)
Emptiness DancingTrue Meditation
Falling Into GraceSpontaneous Awakening
Realization UnfoldsAdyashanti's website

Other interviews with AdyashantiInterview on Conscious.tv covering a lot of biographical info.
Adyashanti and Francis Bennett on “Resurrecting Jesus”Adyashanti and Susanne Marie on the Falling Away of Self
Adyashanti and Francis Bennett on"The Embrace of Jesus and Buddha"Interview transcript

Interview recorded 8/30/2011Video and audio below. I’m sorry about the video quality. We had technical problems which we weren’t able to surmount. Audio also available as a Podcast.


YouTube Video Chapters:00:00:00 - Adyashanti's Teachings on Spiritual Awakening and Inquiry
00:04:11 - Intuition and the Spirit of Inquiry00:07:23 - Connecting through Fresh Inspiration
00:10:46 - Letting go of Attachments to Thoughts and Ideas00:14:11 - Different Strategies for Awakening
00:17:03 - The Thorn and the Boat Analogy00:19:50 - The Capacity for Infinite Truth
00:22:19 - The Beginning of Awakening00:25:41 - Understanding Awareness and Awakening
00:28:08 - The Complexity of Defining"Ego"and"Awakening"00:31:13 - The Complexity of Truth and Viewpoints
00:34:12 - The Resistance to What Is00:37:18 - The Concept of Self and its Functionality
00:40:06 - The Subtle Sense of Self00:43:40 - The Disappearance of Ego in Awakening
00:46:19 - The Absence of Seeking and Fear00:49:00 - Surrendering to Death for Truth
00:52:43 - Seeing the Hidden Secrets00:56:05 - The Process of Letting Go
00:59:00 - The Erosion of Personal Will and False Notions of Awakening01:02:04 - The Disappearance of Personal Will
01:05:22 - Letting Go of Personal Relationship to Existence01:08:17 - The Importance of Taking Action
01:10:41 - The Breaking of the Heart's Shell
01:14:15 - Awakenings in the Head, Heart, and Gut01:17:45 - The Nuanced Nature of Understanding and Awakening
01:20:52 - Insight and Action in Zen01:23:03 - Maturing in Spiritual Awakening
01:25:50 - The Fear of Aloneness and Loneliness01:29:04 - The Maturity of the Process
01:31:46 - A Conversation with AdyaSave

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