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Integral World: Exploring Theories of Everything
An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber
Barclay PowersBarclay Powers is an author and futurist filmmaker. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies from Columbia University and has an extensive background as an independent scholar. He has studied Chinese, Tibetan and Indian meditation, yoga and martial arts traditions for more than 30 years. Powers is currently releasing multiple media projects worldwide in film and print, related to the evolution of consciousness based on his studies with numerous masters of ancient wisdom traditions. His most recent film, The Lost Secret of Immortality, based on his book, won best spiritual/religious/Christian film at the Great Lakes International Film Festival, 2012, the Silver Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival, 2012 and best spiritual documentary at the New York International Film Festival, 2011. See his website at www.lostsecretofimmortality.com for information on the book, graphic novel and film.

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Tantra, Dzogchen and the Worldview of the Inconceivable

Barclay Powers

One of the most interesting aspects of examining Integral Theory, through the lens of postmodern philosophy, is that the analysis of the flaws is often accurate, but simultaneously negates the position of the original postmodern viewpoint itself. Unfortunately, the postmodern perspective results in an absence of meaning or purpose based on the negation of absolutes. Assuming that the absolute cannot be experienced, understood, or described because of contextual relativism and the limitations of language, also completely negates the meditation paradigm of knowledge acquisition, which is heavily emphasized by Integral Theory.

This Western cultural bias is why there is no concept of spiritual enlightenment, or ultimate consciousness evolution in modern and postmodern philosophical theories of reality, truth and knowledge acquisition. The given which is criticized is based on a given that doesn't have the capacity to discuss the completion stage of meditation, so the given assumption is that it doesn't exist. The scientific narrative in particular is based on denying the reality of post rational perception, and the Asian terminology that describes fully evolved stages of consciousness evolution doesn't exist in Western languages as descriptions of ultimate truth.

The Blind Monks and the Elephant

The Indian story of the blind monks and the elephant, who each touch a different body part of an elephant and describe it totally differently, according to their own perspective, without realizing they're all talking about one elephant, is a solid metaphor for the problem. The other elephant metaphor that is useful is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. Let us assume that the elephant is the highest stage of consciousness evolution, which can only be relatively accurately described from a post-Buddhahood perspective that is as different from normal awareness as lucid dreaming is to dreaming, or dreaming is to waking. If no one can describe this perspective, not only can it not be discussed, it cannot even be considered because the current scientific paradigm doesn't include it as a possibility.

Now let us add in a key Asian scientific fact that has been omitted from the Western concept of genius. There is a subtle body that lies dormant within the human reproductive system that can relatively easily transform any person into a living Buddha with deathless consciousness as a permanent result of the meditation experiment when successfully completed. Buddha called deathless consciousness Amata. This means that the human subtle body has been transformed from yin to yang by the complete inner alchemical meditation process, which unites pre-birth and post-birth consciousness at the time of enlightenment. Your prebirth yang consciousness transcends time by virtue of existing prior to the origin of time itself. The enlightened point of origin is the secret of deathless consciousness. It does not mean that the physical body does not die. Although this idea seems completely implausible from a postmodern philosophical, or scientific perspective, it has been the basis of Chinese medicine and internal alchemy for thousands of years.

Additionally, there is a secret method of using sexual yoga to complete this process, which permanently changes the human subtle body structure when completed. Thousands of individuals have achieved deathless consciousness, complete enlightenment, using this model of inner yoga to achieve the complete evolution of consciousness beyond time, space and causality.

This process of subtle body union was known in Western alchemy as the Coniunctio, the union of subtle bodies that restores the original illuminated consciousness, which has been lost in modern times. The meditation paradigm of knowledge acquisition, suggests that human beings that have not achieved inner illumination are unconsciously suffering from severe amnesia, and it is this memory loss, which the Bodhisattva worldview seeks to rectify. Both Western civilization and Integral Theory do not understand the reality of the golden, priceless treasure, which is within all human beings, lying dormant as the Uttara Tantra describes. This is your Buddha nature, the embryo of enlightenment, which is also called the reality body of ultimate truth – the Dharmakaya. This subtle body has the power to transform you into a living Buddha when it is fully activated. The complete process unites the physical body, the subtle body and the super subtle body into a single whole – the Trikaya. The super subtle body is your original face, the embryo of enlightenment.

Science, postmodern philosophy and Integral Theory have all missed this invisible elephant completely, and unknowingly, because the mechanism of enlightenment within the human body has not been understood in the West in modern times. The state, stage and perspective of the observer and the observed have to be beyond the completion stage of meditation, the Trikaya, for the whole elephant to be perceived. The elephant can be considered to be immortality/Buddhahood. Although contextual relativism is an effective way of analyzing world views to look beyond the dominant metanarrative it can only define the elephant as impossible to fully describe, and question its existence altogether. Nor is the elephant God as Integral Theory would tell you, based on the psychological descriptions of theistic oneness which dominate the flawed Western interpretation of mysticism. The elephant is the highest stage of consciousness evolution and the essence of the nondual absolute – immortality. The fact that modern and postmodern philosophy and science, as well as Integral Theory, cannot explain Amata, or deathless consciousness, is evidence that the elephant has been totally unrecognized and rejected as pre-rational myth. Any thorough examination of modern qi gong enlightenment theory should change this perspective, which is the result of cultural bias. This problem is consistent with the cognitive dissonance of Western science and transpersonal psychology.

Even though acupuncture is scientifically proven, and is based on correcting the flow of chi within the body, Western science and philosophy cannot acknowledge that chi exists. This chi refinement is the basis of enlightenment/immortality - the goal of meditation, and the metanarrative of Chinese civilization, which has never been disproven.

The idea that this is pre-rational fantasy is just another example of the Western cultural bias that characterizes science and philosophy in modern times. There is a given assumption that if people have been achieving immortality in China for thousands of years we would know about it. They have been achieving enlightenment in China for thousands of years and Western intellectuals cannot acknowledge this because if they do it negates their entire worldview. Additionally, Chinese energetic inner science has been much more difficult to translate than Indian contemplative texts. On top of this the actual mechanism of enlightenment has always been extremely secret and concealed by metaphor for fellow initiates alone.

If we analyze the psychological basis of this belief that the elephant of enlightenment/immortality doesn't exist as the basis of Chinese or Indo-Tibetan Tantric theory and practice, we find extreme racial bias, which characterizes the Western academic viewpoint. Because Tantric consciousness evolution hasn't been understood, it flies under the radar of the current understanding of meditation and enlightenment, which are described in the West in psychological terms. The whole subject of mysticism has been misunderstood and distorted by incomplete perennial philosophical perspectives, and cultural bias based on monotheism. The monotheistic metanarrative is like a cloak of darkness which obscures the super conscious golden genius which lies dormant within all human beings from a post-Trikaya worldview. The shadow of modern and postmodern descriptions of the human condition, as well as Integral Theory, is a misunderstanding of ultimate human potential. When this potential is redefined as deathless consciousness, the end result of mastering meditation and opening the third eye, the scientific, philosophical, and religious narratives will theoretically evolve beyond current comprehension.

A real Integral Theory will have to create a scientific explanation of Buddhahood that goes beyond 20th century definitions of the direct experience of the nondual absolute. This transition to a realized worldview is necessary from a post-metaphysical perspective in which becoming a living Buddha without Buddhism is the true meaning of the goal of meditation, returning the Dharmakaya to void – embracing singularity. The real Bodhisattva nondual view is a necessary prerequisite.

The end result is the complete union of the three bodies, physical, subtle, and super subtle – the Trikaya.

Postmodern Philosophy

The postmodern worldview is one in which the validity of the metanarrative is questioned. Since the concept of ultimate truth is a construct of language, culture and individual and collective perspective, it is assumed that there is no historical truth, which is independent of its social context or description. The oppressors define progress and cultural evolution, and truth and justice have been determined by power dynamics, which civilizations have wielded for personal gain. Religion, governments and science have colluded historically to describe their own given perspective of truth, meaning, and purpose, to successfully control the behavior of the individual. Freedom, justice and equality are slogans wielded by the power structure to maintain their authority.

Evolutionary science takes this dismal view of human potential to even greater lows. Human beings are merely animals seeking to reproduce. There is no higher knowledge or meaning, religions have been created to cope with the knowledge of death which other animals are not aware of. Natural selection, sexual selection and mutation have determined the human condition. Science also sees consciousness as a physical result of the brain, which does not exist independently of the body. Shamans do not actually communicate with non-physical beings, “spirits”, which live in the upper world, middle world and lower world. The pre-modern tribal perspective is one in which reality and myth are still interconnected by archaic magical superstition. Any description of higher truth has been disproven by science according to the metanarrative.

There is no evidence of any form of nondual absolute. Any type of enlightenment or spiritual illumination is a misinterpretation, which confuses an internal brain state with an external reality. There is no true identity, which is revealed by the completion stage of meditation, when the Dharmakaya, the super subtle body, is returned to void. There are no subtle bodies. There have never been Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. These are just myths, because there is no ultimate purpose or meaning on either an individual or collective level. Science, religion and philosophy have all claimed to have searched for truth, the ever-elusive absolute, which can never be realized because of the limitations of language and information communication.

The narrative format itself negates the possibility of any accurate truth from being described without extreme cultural bias. These limitations cause any perceived truths to be relative and only partially correct, according to a given cultural perspective in a particular given historical time period. If the perspective claims any form of universal truth it cannot be accurate, nor can any form of idealism result in the progression of justice, unless it benefits the oppressed, which is never the motivation of the social power structure. The established paradigm of the human metanarrative of science, religion and culture cannot escape the inherent restraints and limitations of its own distorted worldview. At its core this postmodern perspective defines the direct experience of the nondual absolute as a manmade illusion, which is outdated and disproven.

Nagarjuna

What the Western establishment has not understood is that the meditation paradigm of the contemplative traditions represents a clear scientific explanation of higher truth in the form of a nontheistic universal absolute when meditation is mastered. The radical experience of ultimate illumination, which unites inner and outer, and higher and lower dimensions of time, space and information, into a synchronized whole beyond causality is the lost secret of immortality. Buddhahood means that your mental and physical point of origin is both enlightenment and void, absolute truth. Nagarjuna might have said neither enlightenment nor void nor both nor neither to refute all conceptual frameworks.

Integral Dzogchen

Integral Theory and evolutionary enlightenment attempt to explain spiritual awakening from a nondual perspective. However, integrating postmodern philosophy, evolution, and meditation into a working inner science of liberation has not been successful for a number of reasons.

Enlightenment is based on harnessing the chi/prana of the human reproductive system, and opening the energy meridians of the body to awaken the third eye. This is a physiological process of inner energy cultivation and refinement. The complete union of the three bodies, physical, subtle, and super subtle is the goal of meditation, the Trikaya.

Subtle body union has not been understood as a virtually universal experience of illumination represented by the Coniunctio, the conjunction of subtle and super subtle bodies, and the real meaning of nonduality.

Integral Theory has completely misunderstood the super subtle body, the Dharmakaya or embryo of enlightenment. None of the Integral experts have the capacity to discuss inner alchemy/yoga in any form and have unknowingly excluded nontheistic nondual systems of consciousness evolution. This is caused by both a lack of direct experience, as well as the absence of authentic lineage transmission. The pseudo-satori of modern Zen, and Advaita Vedanta, combined with helping God evolve just doesn't hold up from a post-Trikaya perspective. Leaving the embryo of enlightenment out of the meditation paradigm of knowledge acquisition is proof that the Integral experts have not understood true spiritual enlightenment.

Dzogchen, Neidan inner alchemy, and Mahamudra sexual yoga theory represent living, working models of the inner mechanism of Tantric Buddhahood/immortality. Buddhahood can be defined as the complete evolution of human potential on both an individual and cosmic level. The deepest and highest dimensions of enlightened perspective, the nondual absolute, are based on the activation of the dormant super subtle body, the embryo of Buddhahood or Buddha nature within the reproductive system of the physical body. Historically what a Buddha does is tell the sangha about this treasure that lies dormant within their body, and gives them a methodology to activate it. The sexual method has always been secret.

The three bodies, corpus, anima and spiritus, Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Dharmakaya, physical, subtle and super subtle represent stages of inner alchemical refinement in their complete integrated form. The original chi/prana of the reproductive system is the means of uniting these three bodies. This process represents an ancient perennial tradition of inner science resulting in spiritual awakening, the opening of the third eye. Although the kundalini is acknowledged, Integral Theory has not understood the complete process, which results in Buddhahood. Science says there is no chi/prana associated with human consciousness and evolutionary development. Dzogchen describes itself as a primordial lineage of self-liberation independent of culture, Tantra and Buddhism, based on direct experience of the nondual absolute, the union of subtle and super subtle bodies, which results in complete liberation.

The concept that the development of language in early humans may have been connected with a kundalini activation of some kind, which led to rapid brain development, has never been considered by science.

The goal of meditation is well described by the metaphor of blowing out a candle. The golden nondual absolute, your original face, is dissolved into emptiness. This is returning the Dharmakaya super subtle body to void – the completion stage of meditation that permanently unites micro and macro fields of space, time and probability on a cosmic level. This is ultimate evolution beyond causality that results in a Bodhisattva vision of meaning, purpose and authentic identity, the true promise of enlightenment.

The Union of the Microcosm and the Macrocosm

The inner perennial science of awakening represents the postmodern rediscovery of the Dharmakaya body of truth, the super subtle reality body dormant within all human beings. Western culture is theoretically in the process of a Tantric renaissance as inner yoga and alchemical energy refinement accelerates the understanding of consciousness evolution and higher developmental stages collectively.

Although never mentioned by Integral Theory, this paradigm of enlightenment is well described by Charles Luk, Eva Wong and Thomas Cleary in their books explaining Neidan inner alchemical meditation practices. Integral experts never mention the embryo of enlightenment because none of them have reached the completion stage of meditation and enlightenment. Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming does an excellent job explaining the actual theory and practice in his book, Qi Gong Meditation: Embryonic Breathing.

The body of truth or Dharmakaya super subtle body, the real golden original face, is a universal truth within all human beings that cannot be deconstructed. When this reality body is understood as the primary body, or originator, by science the nondual absolute within will theoretically change the definition of what it is to be human. It means that enlightenment is the authentic origin and identity of the human race.

The true perennial inner science of the future is the experience of the union of the three bodies – the Trikaya. The eternal vision of the nondual absolute will shape the evolution of both culture and consciousness in the 21st century. From the Dzogchen perspective this is the true nature of the individual.

The Dzogchen Vision

The Dzogchen vision of nonduality poses a significant problem for Integral Theory and its generalizations, which are often unsuccessful in reconciling postmodern philosophy, science and meditation theory.

Because Integral Theory is based on reconciling science and the contemplative traditions with a progressive evolutionary narrative, many of the most serious problems are ignored. The reality is that science and modern and postmodern philosophy are not able to accept the paradigm destroying truth of the complete union of the three bodies – Buddhahood.

If meditation adepts have been achieving deathless consciousness in Asia for thousands of years successfully, and this is clearly described in Neidan, Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions, both science and Integral Theory with its confused version of nonduality have not been able to comprehend ultimate consciousness evolution.

Proof of this fundamental ignorance is that the Philosopher's Stone is considered a myth, when it is still being regularly achieved in China by qi gong practitioners, and is well explained by the Chinese medical system as the embryo of enlightenment. This dramatic oversight is based on white male arrogance and racism, and amounts to a modern version of the Oriental Exclusion Act. The basis of both Chinese and Tibetan civilization is that deathless consciousness can be achieved through the practice of sexual yoga. The fact that this has simply not been noticed or understood by Western researchers suggests a cultural bias, which has prevented a real understanding of human evolutionary potential and authentic spiritual awakening.

Dzogchen is considered to be the most advanced system of enlightened consciousness evolution, from a Tibetan perspective. Its origins are mysterious, and suggest small regional kingdoms, which may have been based on Tantric systems of realization in countries that are now dominated by Islam. Its opponents in Tibet have always criticized it as Chinese. Because of the emphasis on sexuality in many ancient systems of consciousness evolution, monotheistic religions were culturally destructive because female sexuality was a threat to the dominant male power structure.

The Symbol of Dzogchen

Dzogchen or Ati (primordial) yoga claims to represent the true nature of the individual and the origin of consciousness, and is said to be taught in thirteen different solar systems. It differs from other versions of Tantric Buddhism by virtue of using a post-realization perspective from the beginning of the practice, which enables conventional stages of development to be transcended. The final result when the union of mother and child lights, the subtle and super subtle bodies is achieved is the primordial realization of complete Buddhahood, the origin of consciousness itself.

Dzogchen conflicts with all postmodern and scientific definitions of what it means to be human by virtue of a well-documented phenomenon called enlightenment without remainder, which Integral Theory has avoided mentioning at all costs. After death the body of the practitioner literally shrinks away to nothing over a one or two week period, sometimes leaving hair and fingernails. The theory is that the human body is composed of energy, and since matter and energy are interchangeable, the body can be transformed into the luminous essence of its elemental structure, by the complete process of primordial inner yoga integration.

Rainbow Body/Enlightenment Without Remainder

This phenomenon is being researched by the Noetic Institute, called the Rainbow Body Project, as well as by a highly regarded Catholic priest, Father Francis Tiso, who appears in a film on the subject discussing the substantial evidence. Accounts of this process of bodily dissolution still occur in Bon and Nyingma lineages, which maintain the Dzogchen or Ati yoga tradition, and often emphasize light deprivation as a primary training methodology. The system uses space (sky), light, or darkness gazing practices to unite the subtle and super subtle bodies.

The final thogal vision of “direct crossing, or leaping over” is called the dissolution of phenomena. This fourth vision, which does not always appear sequentially, returns the practitioner to the primordial nondual source, Buddhahood itself. The forty-nine day dark retreat is a well known practice, although serious practitioners may spend years in darkness. It is well known in modern Bhutan, that although rare, this phenomenon of enlightenment without remainder, is achieved by meditation adepts every generation or two. Communist newspapers in Tibet, which have a vested interest in the denial of spiritual authenticity, have also regularly reported this phenomenon.

According to Dzogchen, proof of complete enlightenment, the union of physical, subtle and super subtle bodies is the dissolution of the actual physical body, before, during, or after death according to the realization level of the practitioner. The highest level is known as the Great Transfer. Dzogchen is much closer to Taoism, in this respect, which has similar descriptions of whole body enlightenment and after death phenomena. Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism usually do not result in this higher level of bodily energy integration. The Ati yoga/Dzogchen primordial yoga system describes the level of enlightenment being determined by the understanding of the energy system of the body, which results in subtle body union when fully actualized. This is known as the union of mother and child lights in both Dzogchen and Mahamudra Tantric lineages. It is interesting to hear Father Tiso, a known expert on the subject, explain Buddhahood as the recreation of conception, the inner yoga theory of the nondual absolute depicted in Himalayan art as yab/yum iconography. Tantric Buddhahood is illustrated by deities in sexual union with their consorts.

Sexual yoga that results in Buddhahood/immortality is the closely guarded secret of many of these ancient lineages, which continue into the 21st century. The human reproductive system is the mechanism of enlightenment if the energy system of the body, tsa, lung and thigle, is understood and correctly utilized. The origin of the Chinese medical system is attributed to the Yellow Emperor who is said to have achieved immortality/deathless consciousness through the practice of sexual yoga predating Buddhism by thousands of years.

Samantabhadra in Yab/Yum Union with Consort. This image of the primordial Buddha,
the Dharmakaya, depicts the union of mother and child lights at the completion stage
of the thogal practice when primordial enlightenment is fully realized.

The basic theory is that the original reproductive energy of the human body is enlightened, and has the capacity to fully activate the brain when the correct methodology is used. This results in the opening of the energy meridians of the body that awakens the third eye and restores the original state of enlightened consciousness. The key insight of Tantric systems of consciousness evolution is that enlightenment is found within the body, which Western transpersonal psychological definitions of awakening have completely failed to take into account.

Chi/prana cultivation and refinement as the basis of true spiritual enlightenment has simply not been understood by Western scholars, practitioners and scientific researchers.

Dzogchen represents a living tradition of pre-modern inner yoga, which challenges modern and postmodern philosophical and scientific worldviews, as well as Integral Theory. At the core of the meditation paradigm is a dormant super subtle body, which has the potential as the Dharmakaya body of truth, to completely change the course of human civilization when understood by science. Evolutionary enlightenment, Eros, and theistic nonduality in which the witness is the Godhead, are attempts to reconcile science with spiritual states of consciousness, which have completely overlooked the actual mechanism of enlightenment. The use of the word Spirit throughout Integral Theory is particularly confusing, since the Original Spirit is a Taoist term for the embryo of enlightenment. When Lao Tzu refers to the Valley Spirit in the Tao de Ching, he is referring to the embryo of enlightenment using the external metaphor of an echo from the Neidan perspective. It says in the I Ching, the Book of Changes, the bible of China, - understand the heart of the mind, see the Original Spirit, and arrive at destiny [immortality]. The real understanding of the human spirit was lost in translation as alchemy was discredited by science and religion in the West. It is astonishing that this was well known in Europe five hundred years ago, and now is considered a myth, although it is still the basis of Chinese medicine and qi gong. The fact that this is not mentioned by Integral evolutionaries is direct proof of pseudo-satori masquerading as authentic awakening.

Theistic psychological definitions of enlightenment do not explain the physiological union of the three bodies, which results in Buddhahood.

The two inner subtle bodies have not been understood as actual primary structures, because the energy cultivation that is necessary to unite them has been completely overlooked by the Integral experts. The Integral explanation of an evolving God which is revealed as personal awareness by nondual transformative peak experiences, which result in higher stages of development, does not explain the Coniunctio, the union of mother and child lights which is the final vision of the Dzogchen thogal practice. The Dharmakaya is the mother light, which is returned to void by the conjunction of subtle and super subtle bodies. The complete dissolution of the super subtle body at the time Buddhahood is achieved, enables the subtle body to replicate universally because it is restored to its original higher dimensional form.

The post-Trikaya experience fully integrates the three worlds of desire, form, and formlessness into a single whole. This whole is Dzogchen, your true nature, the essence of the nondual absolute itself.

According to Dzogchen your consciousness has never been separate from this vision of perfect totality, which is called the view. There are no stages of consciousness; complete liberation is the only one according to the view. Enlightenment is one Bhumi or level.

The Primordial Energy of the Trikaya

Integral definitions of enlightenment have not acknowledged the central intellectual problem of Western science and religion – severe dualistic amnesia which has resulted in the loss of the paradigm of the three bodies – corpus, anima and spiritus. A theory of Tantric global cultural evolution, might suggest that the lost super subtle body, the real Philosopher's Stone, is in the process of rediscovery as the authentic identity of human beings. It is the Bodhisattva ideal, which governs the evolution of consciousness when the completion stage of meditation is understood by science. Current definitions of mysticism have not been able to explain the completion stage of meditation at all, which prevents an accurate understanding of the theory and practice of real awakening.

The subtle body union, which restores the human memory, at the time of enlightenment, represents the lost origin of science, religion and the human race. It is why Dzogchen considers the origin and true nature of human perception to have always been the total perfection of the nondual absolute. Theistic and nontheistic nonduality result in different worldviews, which are further distorted by Integral definitions of emptiness as God combined with evolution. The postmodern narrative is one in which Buddhahood does not exist primarily because the scientific worldview does not acknowledge super conscious developmental stages.

There is nothing more threatening to the power hierarchy of this dominator narrative than the discovery of authentic identity, meaning, and purpose, as the highest stage of consciousness evolution. Essentially, the collective awakening of Western civilization is impeded by an incomplete cultural worldview, which amounts to a conspiracy of ignorance masquerading as technological progress. The pre-modern inner science of cultures such as China and Tibet, represent a reality of universal inner truth beyond language, perspective and cultural power dynamics. This is in direct contrast to the postmodern hypothesis of the absence of higher truths based on contextual relativity. The Dharmakaya, the super subtle body, is this inner body of truth, dormant within all human beings. This ultimate realization is the end result of true Dzogchen lineage transmission and enlightenment.

Direct Experience of the Nondual Absolute

One of the central problems of modern and postmodern descriptions of reality is a perspective governed by the assumption that Buddhahood does not exist as the end result of the completion stage of meditation, because God cannot be proven to exist by science. The Western philosopher or scientist is unable to understand the necessary procedures, and inner energetic framework, which results in the ultimate transformation from human to living Buddha. To make matters even more challenging in terms of metanarrative evolution, Buddhahood is the authentic identity of every human being from a Dzogchen perspective.

The Buddha nature or embryo of Buddhahood, the super subtle body that lies dormant in the human reproductive system, is the actual mechanism of enlightenment – permanent direct experience of the nondual absolute. This means that the Western observer that has not succeeded in completing the meditation process of discovering the true golden self is literally an imposter with severe amnesia, masquerading as a person. This is why Chinese civilization describes the individual who has achieved enlightenment/immortality as a real human being. There is a level of authenticity within you, which is inconceivable from a modern Western perspective.

Buddhahood results in a worldview in which it becomes obvious that the Western scientific description of human origins is so incomplete and distorted, that it literally prevents the possibility of discovering the true identity and potential of the individual. Unfortunately, the current Integral definition of spiritual awakening is not much better. The essence of Tantric inner science is the absolute certainty that any human being that uses the right methodology progressively can fully evolve in a single lifetime and achieve awakening, which is true sanity. Unless sanity is defined as the Trikaya, the nondual absolute cannot be fully grasped and directly experienced as true identity. The goal of meditation is the discovery of the authentic self, the original face or super subtle body, which is dissolved into emptiness at the time of enlightenment.

Western civilization is currently unable to explain authentic enlightened identity, from the perspective of Buddhahood, as the ultimate potential and true nature of the individual. The Western observer is limited by the amnesia, which combined with the cultural emphasis on external material goal orientation, creates a media dominated perspective in which the Bodhisattva vision appears unrealistic or nonexistent. There is a pervasive disillusionment that governs Western science, art and cultural evolution in modern times, because technology is not progress in terms of understanding ultimate meaning. The postmodern denial of ultimate truth is based on the incomplete perception of the perceiver, because that which is perceived has always been the nondual absolute from the perspective of the Dzogchen view. Western definitions of truth, or even justice come apart when the power dynamics of language and information communication are analyzed in terms of authoritarian masks of control. There does not appear to be any form of absolute truth because truth is considered to be merely a relative description determined by the perception and cultural location of the observer and the observed.

The Western cultural definition of sanity underlies the radical fear of direct experience of the nondual absolute as the true nature of perception. The medical definition of “normal” perception, (the imposter with severe amnesia and an imaginary identity), determines the drug and media controlled behavioral modification which is necessary to prevent individual and collective awakening. This is why the establishment, whether religious, philosophical or scientific, will seek to marginalize and discredit an accurate understanding of any experience of authentic realization. Unfortunately, this now holds true for Integral evolutionaries as well. When Buddhahood becomes understood as the true origin of human potential, it becomes obvious that the meaning, purpose and quest of science and religion, as well as cultural evolution, is the union of the three bodies, the Trikaya.

To make matters worse for the white male establishment, that determines the nature of both sanity and reality, Tantra theorizes that enlightenment is much easier for women than for men. The beauty of Tantric theory is that this entire process of ultimate individual and collective self-discovery is possible in the course of a normal life as long as awakening is the priority. This suggests that the Integral progressive future orientation of evolutionary enlightenment may be in the process of defining a new normal – Tantric Buddhahood.

Fortunately, because of the nature of the direct experience of the nondual absolute, the super subtle body can never be outdated because real enlightenment transcends time, space and causality. Most importantly this is not a Buddhist story based on sitting cross-legged with your eyes closed. This model is outdated and incomplete in terms of inner energy refinement theory. From the Dzogchen perspective of the view it is considered to be dualistic. The union of the three bodies, the Trikaya, represents the fully evolved transhuman genius of the future history of humanity.

Longchenpa, The Most Respected Scholar and Master of Dzogchen
who Wrote from the Fully Realized View






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