/lit/ - Literature

>>21306039
>>21305989
I’m afraid there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this, honestly. Also, giving such advice, would be presuming I’m qualified to be anyone’s teacher, guru, guide, or what-you-will, which I don’t see myself as being, and which seems to me a very exhausting, selfless function to carry out, although I do like studying this (obviously). Keep in mind, it’s easy to be impressed by great scholarly learning, but this does not necessarily have a bearing on what my or anyone’s spiritual state is or what I or anyone can authentically teach anyone. A Ph.D. in Tibetology or Tibetan studies, is not necessarily on the same level of “being” as an authentic life-long Vajrayana practitioner or lama might be.

One way I’ve heard it said, also, is that the authentic approach towards the enlightenment spoken of in perhaps all valid religious traditions, can be started from anywhere, reaching the same center of the circle from any starting-point on the circumference of world religions and mystical traditions, so long as the quest is authentically and devotedly carried out. The “pie” can be sliced in any way, so long as you are earnest about it and persevere.

One possible divvying up of the pie could go like this (keeping in note, it’s NOT strictly/perfectly geographical, but having to do with how similar, adjacent or related these various traditions are).

North: Shamanism, Tribal Occultism.
Northeast: New Seers Nagualism of Mexico.
East: Zen Taoism of China.
Southeast: Vajrayana Buddhist Yoga of Tibet.
South: Hindu Yogas of India.
Southwest: The Sufi Way of the Mideast.
West: Jewish Magic, Mysticism and Hassidism.
Northwest: Magick, Gaelic Mysticism, Viking Seidhr, Theosophy and Western Occultism.

Also, one of those paradoxes mystics are so fond of, as exemplified in one Zen teaching, goes like this:

>A Buddhist monk approached his teacher and asked the Zen Master, “If I meditate very diligently, how long will it take for me to become enlightened?”

>The Master thought for a moment, and then replied, “Ten years.”

>The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast. How long then?”

>The Master replied, “Twenty years.”

Also, only in a few sects or interpretations of these schools, are “magic”, or what the Hindus and Buddhists would call in Sanskrit siddhis (miraculous abilities) explicitly and deliberately sought after, instead of being regarded as byproducts of the sincerely traveled quest for enlightenment. The most obvious outlier, of course, is the Western magical tradition (“Magick,” per Crowley). It can also be found allied usually to all other of the world’s major religious traditions, but there’s usually a distinction made in these traditions between magic, and the higher transcendental enlightenment sought after in such traditions (and to which the pursuit of “magic” could even be a dangerous detour).