Liberation is being completely free of any restrictions where restrictions come from attachment to conditioning, upadanas, past – memories and perceptions, warts’n’all, and inappropriate attention to the 5 khandhas. There is a spirit that wants to be free, a freedom that is found in returning to Source, freedom that can only arise with an autonomy that has ended following; in this freedom the seeker chooses. But it is not a choice that comes from ego.
Through his ZPAP zandtao crossed the threshold of autonomy. If zandtao were to describe autonomy it would be to describe it as spiritual liberation, and the details of that description would be to describe what arises from his practice. This would include the arisings of the 5 Dhamma comrades, the development of the 4 Brahma-Viharas, the release of attachments as kilesa upadanas and inappropriate attention to the 5 khandhas, the 3 characteristics of Buddhism, being in a state of atammayata, the development of a love-wisdom balance and the vision that arises from this balance as tathata. Yet the sense of autonomy is beyond this description of attributes, spiritual liberation is a feeling of freedom that is beyond description.
Through Secular Path? zandtao has become free from Buddhist restriction – it doesn’t have to be Buddhist now even though the above description of attributes is Buddhist because that is the source of his practice. Through his practice, ZPAP, zandtao has clarified spiritual objectives of autonomy and quest. His meditation approach starts in Buddhism, starts with Buddhadasa, but in the end there is no adherence to Buddhism except in his practice; there is just autonomy and quest. Prajna-zandtao is the result of this meditation approach with zandtao having crossed the threshold of autonomy - now being free of restrictions.
Let’s be clear about restrictions, they were the raft. Buddhism, the honing into Buddhadasa, and then the honing in to aspects of Buddhadasa and his MwB, were the rafts that took zandtao to autonomy and quest. But now these rafts are a “burden” – a burden he was grateful for and still is; there is a feeling to be free from any raft as burden, raft has almost inseparable from the path but now it has become burden. Seeing the function of the raft, zandtao is now free to see the raft for what it was – leaving it behind as a burden; zandtao’s autonomy is now free to choose. Just as an aside this is not the first of the unburdening, unburdening is a function of discernment as mindfulness grapples with new thinking, learns from it – as the raft crosses the stream, and then insight leaves the raft behind to become part of the ongoing path’s understanding.
The feeling of freedom is expansive, it is a feeling that wants to burst out and be a blissful moment in Unity – a moment that can be experienced and then be content with his path. But spiritual liberation wants to do more than that - but what?
Michael Beckwith’s book is a place to start - Spiritual Liberation, Fulfilling your Soul's Potential. Here’s a good one for releasing restrictions, in Buddhism it is usually considered there is no soul - anatta; does zandtao have to find soul to proceed with this z-quest?  And Michael speaks of God. In fact when zandtao reads Michael’s intro he feels very much in tune with his process, but much terminology is different. There is an effusion in this intro that zandtao feels but does not usually express - a cynical ego perhaps. It is usual in z-quests for zandtao to describe where he is starting from but it seems Michael’s intro is appropriate for that. What zandtao wants to convey is the feeling that arises from autonomy, and such descriptions as Michael's intro does that. With zanshadtao we could be in the realms of spiritual liberation. Seekers might be considering spiritual bypassing or being taught spiritual practices that involve bypassing, how can we help if there is limited understanding of what is at stake? When parents see their children attracted to cults they feel protective and want to bring them back. But these seekers have perhaps felt the  that exists in the world of conditioning, and seen that there is so much more. If the cult has tapped into that vacuum why would the seeker want to return to the prison of conditioning? This is not a defence of cults but an attempt at awareness, are we aware of the prison that conditioning provides?
As described in the intro Michael offers an approach to develop spiritual liberation, why not try it? Without some grasp of spiritual liberation, how can there be understanding of Zanshadtao?
To help with portraying such a grasp zandtao will continue with Michael's approach to spiritual liberation, to begin with he will look at Michael's Love-Beauty. “It is about aspiring toward spiritual liberation, which I define as becoming free from the narrow confines of fear, doubt, worry, and lack, and living instead from a conscious awareness of one’s Authentic Self, one’s true nature of wholeness.” Authentic Self – free from restrictions, free from attachment to conditioning and teachings – free from patriarchy. That liberation has started with autonomy and quest and is moving towards Authentic Self as spiritual liberation – zandtao will use Authentic Self for the time being even though he has objections to the use of self because of anatta. The consciousness that is Authentic Self is not personal, is not owned or appropriated by zandtao; what was bill, zandtaomed and is now zandtao has been let go – surrendered? – and consciousness lives through zandtao, consciousness lives in the vehicle (vihara) that is zandtao. Spiritual liberation is the consciousness that rides the vihara of zandtao that presents no restrictions to this consciousness. So there is autonomy and quest leading to Authentic Self, this is where Michael and zandtao start together.
“Spiritual liberation results from discovering and expressing the intrinsic qualities of enlightened consciousness that have been ours since the moment we came into existence.” Awakening – discovering the intrinsic qualities of enlightened consciousness; zandtao does not like the use of the word enlightened. Embodiment of awakening – expressing the intrinsic qualities of enlightened consciousness. Spiritual liberation means awakening and embodiment. In secular path? LINK, awakening grew out of autonomy, and embodiment arose from this awakening through the love-wisdom balance. Love-wisdom leads to seeing, maybe this is the visioning Michael talks of. These initial quotes from Michael’s spiritual liberation fit in with where zandtao is at.
“Growing into spiritual adulthood has to do with understanding that we are here to attune ourselves to the evolutionary impulse that governs the universe, which is infinite, conscious, and seeks to articulate itself by means of us.” This is the second part of Eckhart’s mystery of consciousness, again a togetherness.
Dhammajati – “All that exists has an observable impulsion to become more fully itself”. “Likewise, in order to fully evolve, the Spirit-seed at the core of our being must be cultivated”. Cultivating the Spirit-seed is reconnecting with Dhamma, a Dhamma that has been with us since birth. Again togetherness. “Through …. inner work, our consciousness becomes a fertile condition for our conscious participation in our evolution, rather than a natural selection process driven by external conditions”.
“With our energies no longer entirely focused on feeding, clothing, and housing, we are free to enter the real work to discover and release what the poet Robert Browning called our “inner splendour.”” The privilege of bill’s middle-class conditioning meant that he did not have to consider these survival issues. But he was far from a spiritual life. That spiritual life began with his partial awakening of upheaval, but even then there was no spiritual life. During his 2nd childhood bill gained experience and this combined with his partial awakening led to a state of practice that enabled bill to begin a spiritual life on early retirement. By this time the fundamental survival of his childhood privilege had led to sufficient money to enable zandtao to develop his vihara to then follow his path with the practice and quest of his website – and some scifi.
“From this moment forward my life is dedicated to serving Love-Beauty in the world”. For bill there was none of Michael’s activism in his upbringing; just a fragile adherence to middle-class conditioning that when it broke also broke much of bill’s conditioning and led to upheaval. That awakening governed bill’s life perhaps similar to the presence of Love-Beauty that was Michael’s dream. For bill there was no unconditional love but romantic love in his 2nd childhood turned to Real Love (as discussed in the book). Maybe the visions that Michael associated initially with the weed can be compared with the creativity and imaginings of Wai Zandtao’s scifi.
For bill and then zandtao dedication to serving Love-Beauty sadly only came later in life. Whilst bill considers compassion and social activism a significant part of his 2nd childhood, the getting of experience during those 30 years was not accompanied by developing spiritual awareness; that only came when he started to practice in his 50s when he converted to Buddhism. There is no doubt in zandtao’s mind that even though there was partial awakening at 23 there was insufficient awareness and no practice for bill at that time to lead to a spiritual life. Kamma might have given bill such a path by connecting with others but there was not sufficient strength inside bill to be spiritual during his 2nd childhood. In the pathtivist trilogy LINK zandtao has also written of his life and experience in the hope that it will inspire others to follow their paths. Nowhere near as inspirational as Michael but the path was there throughout bill’s life, it can be there throughout yours if you give it a chance.
Michael writes that great teachers and mystics “stand in agreement that there is a dynamic Presence that is the life force enlivening all that there is, that which longs to articulate itself through all beings, and for that purpose has empowered us with the capacity to co-create our lives in harmony with the laws governing the universe”. Zandtao feels his own life was enlivened at times with that universal harmony and he feels fortunate that late in his life he can feel that Presence strongly. Presence’s process is there, seek it in yourself, it is not a competition of comparison but simply recognition; please don’t run away from that recognition however strong the Presence is.
“we …. will awaken to the realization that we are and always have been spiritual beings having a human incarnation. From that platform, we become a beneficial presence on the planet and individual expressions of humanity’s next level of evolution.” Whilst pathtivism was not what Michael meant (as he does not know of pathtivism (my coining)), zandtao immediately sees pathtivism in this quote. Realising our spiritual nature, we can become beneficial. What happens if we don’t recognise our spirituality yet we have sufficient compassion to want to be beneficial? When we observe activism/the struggle as it stands, even with compassion and empathy there is a clear failing. Although the majority of people support changing from the patriarchy, in the movement for change there is such a division and a lack of power that meaningful change becomes difficult. Where there is similarity with what Michael says is that if we recognise we are spiritual beings – if we follow our paths, then this is what nature intended, and what nature intended will build the struggle. Being nature there is no division – no ego that divides, what is clear within the struggle is that egos struggle against each other; there is not Unity in our activism. When we are Authentic Self, we struggle in harmony; this is what zandtao sees in Michael’s use of the word platform – the starting point that is nature, pathtivism and Authentic Self.
What is the next level of evolution? That is interesting but what it cannot be is patriarchy where there is no path, no culture of awakening of spiritual beings because of the restrictions of patriarchy. How can people be awakened where the roles of wage-slavery are imposed to facilitate the lives of super-rich – of the 1%? Whatever evolution’s next level is it does not include patriarchy.
When we affirm presence, this does not diminish the recognition of patriarchy. Affirming presence is a personal thing – it is about personal evolution, yet it is still a recognition of patriarchy, that patriarchy restricts even though presence is affirmed. The importance of this emphasis is that Authentic Self frees the individual - spiritual liberation, but recognises that for others liberation is still being restricted. There is the observation of conditioning kilesa that is patriarchy restricting the liberation of others as well as the recognition that there is a need for the Authentic Self to practice to avoid new egos from conditioning. It is part of the duty of Authentic Self to help end the restriction that is patriarchy enabling the spiritual liberation of the Authentic Self of others – a culture of awakening. This is not a belittling of the Authentic Self but a recognition of zandtao’s emphasis on compassion - freedom from suffering for all; we follow our own paths. What it does is highlight the need for Authentic Self – recognising our spiritual being - in the struggle, it is this lack of spirituality that contributes to the failure of the struggle. Specifically young activists react emotionally to their upbringings and cling to ideologies that lead to division, in Authentic Self there is the awareness of compassion for Unity. This emotional reaction happens from generation to generation and is manipulated by the patriarchy to ensure division – ensure there is no culture of awakening – and therefore ensuring that fewer people evolve their spiritual liberation. For zandtao this is the love restriction of patriarchy as discussed here LINK.
This is the abidance of the 7 core components:-
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There was a break of illness and coming back has led to a clarity and an unknown. Zandtao feels a closeness to Pastor Michael’s opening chapter especially following the secular quest. When zandtao began investigating Stephen’s secular approach he did not expect any form of secular understanding to arise. And with regards to Stephen’s agenda there was no secularity – for zandtao there was no common Buddhism. Whilst zandtaomed has developed a practice around Theravada Buddhism, specifically MwB - anapanasati bhavana of Ajaan Buddhadasa, he does not feel that there is a common practice with regards to the proliferations of Buddhism. Zandtaomed’s practice is his practice, the source of that practice began with honing in onto Buddhadasa and then it was refined. How was it refined? It was refined by the practice itself. Apart from the meditation infrastructure of the 4 tetrads it is unlikely that followers of Buddhadasa would see it as his practice – not that that matters as what is practiced is now zandtao’s practice.
Crossing the autonomy threshold has completely altered his connection with MwB. At the threshold his quest took him into love through Real Love LINK. And then when he quested into secularism this love investigation strengthened and it became more central to his practice – love-wisdom balance leading to prajna-vision:-
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And this vision is to see spiritual liberation.
This practice that includes love-wisdom balance has completely altered the way he meditates even though the infrastructure is the same. But it has brought with it autonomy – an autonomy that is secular. His practice is Buddhist, his autonomy is secular. When Pastor Michael describes his various teachers and the Authentic Self that they became he was also describing secular, the autonomy that is Authentic Self is secular. Buddhadasa described there was no religion. Was he saying the same thing? Developing the practice can be a deeply religious thing in the sense that through the religion, in my case Buddhism, the seeker develops their practice. But the practice is complete with autonomy, and the autonomy has no religion – all paths up the mountain.
Through his book Pastor Michael describes the Authentic Self, and gives teachings to help develop a practice that will lead to an Authentic Self – Life Visioning. This is his religion, the Authentic Self is secular. Zandtaomed can help develop a practice, his teachings towards the seeker developing their own MwB practice, and if he were able to work with a seeker hopefully they would gain the autonomy that was independent and secular.
But zandtaomed does not work with seekers so unlike Pastor Michael his way forward is not at the moment working with seekers. Pastor Michael’s book is concerned with seekers, his talks are concerned with seekers. Zandtao does not have this zandtaomed has only one seeker; given his age and lifestyle this is unlikely to change. Previously zandtao has used z-quests as his quest into the unknown. So far this has been concerned with developing autonomy but now it becomes concerned with his conscious evolution. It is not concerned with developing his Authentic Self as zandtao has crossed the threshold and reached his autonomy. Sow where does he go?
Teal seems the obvious answer as she always makes me think. But with Teal there is so much, and that a great deal is concerned with relationships. And then there is the extraterrestrial question, something factual that cannot be substantiated. Her approach has all the hallmarks of Kolok’s scifi caring guardians. Z-quests are not concerned with verification of such facts, they are about conscious evolution. How does zandtao try to evolve consciousness?
The issue that comes up for zandtao is patriarchy. Patriarchy is a word that is not usually accepted within spiritual communities, and if it is it is not embraced as imperialist, white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy. Should it be? Can we truly be spiritually liberated with the way things are? This is a z-quest for spiritual liberation into the way things are and its relationship to patriarchy.
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