Shinzen Young & Har-Prakash Khalsa, Jan. 2009, Santa Barbara
Har-Prakash Khalsa – Given that, in your own words, “enlightenment is a multi-faceted jewel”, is there a description of enlightenment that you like?
Shinzen Young – In this regard I tend to go towards my Buddhist background. Scholastic Theravada Buddhism says that three things go away at the initial experience of enlightenment. It’s very significant that it’s put in terms of an elimination process; something goes away, rather than an attainment, a “getting” of something. So enlightenment is not yet another thing that you have to get. And meditation as a path to enlightenment could be described as merely setting the stage for Nature/Grace to eliminate from you what needs to be eliminated.
The technical terms in Pali for the three things that go away are “sakkaya-ditthi”, “vicikiccha”, and “silabbata-paramasa”. Sakkaya-ditthi is the most important. Sakkaya-ditthi is the perception that there is an entity, a thing inside us called a self. That goes away.
HPK,
thanks for finally posting your awesome interview with Shinzen! been waiting to link to this article
enjoy your blogging adventure. and thanks for spreading the dharma Shinzen-style 
fellow Shinhead,
~C
Your welcome Rommel. May any merit from this interview and the videos be of benefit to all. And thanks for all of your support, your blog writings, and all of the great hyper-linking. I know Shinzen also appreciates it. With blessings and gratitude, Har-Prakash.
that was fabulous. i came here by accident and it’s funny/nice that as i was reading the interview, i kept thinking about how grateful i was that c4chaos had introduced me to shinzen young. and here he is in the comment section!
this article is something i will refer people to when i have conversations about the “no self” question, which happens a few times a month. very nicely explained (as far as it CAN be explained).
out of theological curiosity, i’d be interested in how shinzen young (or you, if applicable) view enlightenment from the muslim and sikh point of view.
[...] to OE reader C4Chaos for the link to this wonderfully frank and in-depth discussion of Shinzen’s approach to teaching enlightenment. Shinzen is the real deal: a bone fide spiritual [...]
Hello Har-Prakash Khalsa,
I just discovered your blog while at work, so I haven’t read the entire article yet. But I wanted to thank you for all your work sharing the Shinzen Young video’s on YouTube, and now sharing even more on this blog.
While I’m at it, I’d like to thank C4Chaos once again for introducing me to the work of Shinzen Young.
Greetings from Belgium.
many thx for posting this!
love the clarity.
so nice to read stuff that makes sense of my experiences and reflects some of the conclusions I’ve come to
a.
Thank you for this enlightening article. It makes some events in my life so clear now.
When my older son was taken to hospital for eating too many “mushrooms” along with two other friends, the other parents were upset because I was not upset. They said, “how can you be so calm, aren’t you angry?” But I was not angry or upset. That wouldn’t have changed anything.
When my younger son was deployed twice with the Marines, I had no anxiety or fear. Again, friends would say, “How do you cope with the stress, you must be so worried all the time.” But once again, I just had no worry or anxiety. I just was.
Now I realize that it was progress and a little enlightenment at a time.
Thank you so much for your article.
Namaste
Thank you for this!
[...] Working Dharma « development in religion interview with Shinzen Young November 4, 2009 Har-Prakash Khalsa interviews Shinzen Young. [...]
Hi Eulah,
I do not know how to remove you from that auto-notification. You might try contacting wordpress and asking them. All the best, Har-Prakash.