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Awakening Levels?

To: alt.magick.tyagi,talk.religion.newage,alt.consciousness.mysticism,alt.religion.buddhism,alt.zen,talk.religion.buddhism,alt.magick.tantra
From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nagasiva yronwode)
Subject: Awakening Levels? (was 'Enlightenment'...)
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 06:21:09 GMT

50000414 IVom 

sienna555@aol.com (Sienna555):
>I have found in my other magickal studies that there are "veils" that fall as
>one reaches the goal of enlightenment.  

a popular teaching in sufism (the '1000 Veils of Allah' falling away gradually).

>I have also been told (mostly by non-corporeals) that TRUE enlightenment 
>cannot be attained in this physical body.

why do you think these non-corporeals asserted this?

>So, from my own experience and what I gather from other sources, there are
>levels of enlightenment, rather than one particular "goal" of becomming an
>"enlightened one" in this physical realm.  Am I missing anything?  

only that you do not explain what you think this "enlightenment" is,
like most who speak about it, and why different techniques might lead
to the same event/effect/state.

>If it is so that there are "levels" of enlightenment, what are the 
>names of these levels in the Tantric system?  

this presumes that all approach spiritual maturation from the same exact
trajectory. compare the 'Sudden Enlightenment' and 'Gradual Enlightenment'
schools of Zen Buddhism as examples which seem to refute this idea. I'll
use these categories below to extrapolate on my own observations, using
an intentionally objectional role-playing model.

speaking, as usual, from a position far outside any kind of tradition,
my impression is that the taxonomy on this breaks down to something like:

LVL	GRADUAL APPROACH

0	Dedicated (those who have merely taken the vows of perfection)
1	Serious (a mystic, often part of some larger body and/or tradition)
2	Potentate (e.g. recognized as having great potential prior to success)
3	Master/Mistress (regarded as having attained some degree of success)
4	Demi-Hero (often a forger of new trajectories, e.g. Bodhidharma)
5	Companion (usually someone close to a Hero, like Ananda, Mary, and Ali)
6	Hero/Heroine (originators of entire platforms of achievement,
		e.g. Siddhartha Gautama, Padmasambhava/Yeshes Tsogyal)

many suggest that there are 7 chakras, so perhaps this would correlate
as you have inquired. :>

LVL	SUDDEN APPROACH

1	Serious (as above)	
2	Master/Mistress (regarded as having attained the main objective)
3	Hero/Heroine (as above)

this may reflect masonic and/or quasi-masonic notions. some HAVE suggested
that there are only truly three main energy centers in the body, but there
are countless bodily diagrammatics around the world.

	UNCHARTED VARIABLES

	Wild (of unknown sometimes fabulous success, e.g. buji zen monks)
	Wayward (finding new, controversial means of achievement, like boboroshi)
	Eclectic (combining and walking between social systems, at times syncretic)

too often these categories are ignored because the socially-integrated
mystics are considered all who are capable of attainment or worthy of
historical record. 

>Do they correspond with the chakras, and whether or not certain 
>chakras are clear?

I suspect that this is a rather reductionist and oversimplistic
assessment, the chakras functioning as a system rather than as
plumbing segments, but have no idea what traditional Tantrics
think about it.

namaste

nagasiva
-- 
mailto:nagasiva@luckymojo.com ; http://www.luckymojo.com/nagasiva.html
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