How does he know when he's arrived?

Look for the end of the rainbow.



Hang a left, and there you'll be. You'll find Nirvana at:

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2007/01/seeking_nirvana.php

Nirvana.
3. a place or state characterized by freedom from or oblivion to pain, worry, and the external world.

Maybe you're right dadpad. But one should thing that there'd be signs...

butrflynet

I remember this one time when I was a kid. My brother and me were in the back seat of our car. We'd been on a family holiday and were crossing a mountain on our way home.

Suddenly we saw a rainbow, and when we followed it with our eyes we were thrilled to discover that it ended on the slope just above where the road was.

We told our parents to stop the car, and the sheer enthusiasm in our voices made them do it right away. They knew what we were up to.

So we got out and ran towards the end of the rainbow, remembering the fairytales about the treasure that would be located there.

I remember it well. We got to the place where we'd seen the rainbow, and then it wasn't there anymore. We looked around, and found it somewhere else on the slope, and immediately ran to that spot. We did this a few times.

I couldn't have been more than nine or ten years old, but I remember my father telling us, with a smile on his face, that some things weren't always what they appeared to be.

So no matter how beautiful that picture is, I know for a fact that it's not the place.

Nice house though. :wink:

If you spent time worring about wheather you were there or not you wouldnt be.

That much I've figured out, dadpad. So it's a useless question perhaps. I think I have experienced moments of enlightenment, as I think most people have, but never the lasting sense of joy that true enlightenment is said to be.

I don't know the answer to that question.

But, I really liked that story Cyracuz.

There you have it, grasshopper.

It isn't the destination, it is the journey.

May your quest for nirvana be enough.

If you believe nothing else that I say, belive this: You will know without a shadow of a doubt when the Enlightenment experience happens to you.

The experience will be sudden, and probably unexpected. You will feel your ego dwindling into nothingness. Time and Space cease to have meaning, but are replaced by an overwhelming joy of merging into the totality of that from which the universe itself is but a meager expression. This will be perhaps the peak experience of your entire life, and YOU won't even be.

There is a natural anxiety that people feel, and that can easily become fear and panic as the loss of Self becomes evident. That fear and panic can snap shut the experience instantly. In some cases, the unprepared may suffer some lasting emotional problems. Be prepared, and if at all possible have a Master to help prepare you.

"Within" the experience time is both instantaneous and infinite; it is meaningless. One might never return to the Perceptual World, though the corporeal body may end up in a catatonic ward. Far more likely, the newly awakened will return to the Perceptual World and find that only a very short time has elapsed. Having the experience will change you forever. It will not make you a Saint, or even permanently make you invulnerable to suffering. On the other hand, you will begin to see the world differently. What might earlier have caused you a lot of anguish, will become a temporary upset that you can pretty easily recover from. You will find yourself less wedded to Black and White propositions, and will better appreciate acceptance of whatever circumstances you find yourself in. You will be less hungry for possessions and ego building, but they will always be lurking just beyond your consciousness. You will thereafter find meditation everywhere and lapses into day dreaming will be replaced by greater powers of focusing your mind.

Don't chase the experience, for it can flee faster than you can follow. Take each moment as it is. Focus on that moment, and no other. Think, speak and act in ways that you deem least likely to set off another chain of causality and suffering. Forgive yourself for failing, but never give up.

It isn't uncommon for folks to have intimations of the Enlightenment experience, but these intimations don't result in the loss of Self with the merging into the Great Ineffable. The little flashes we experience are like seeing the most beautiful thing imaginable briefly out of the corner of your eye. That can be a wonderful experience, and lead one to create what we call Art. The full experience is much greater ... thousands of orders of magnitude greater. You will know and there will be no question about it once you really Awaken.

Asherman

To say that I believe everything you say would be an exaggeration. But I do try to take it all into consideration, since it seems to me that I have a lot to learn from you.

But I do believe what you say about the Awakening, that one knows beyond a shadow of a doubt.