The Buddhist psychotherapist, Mark Epstein mentions in
one of his excellent books[1]
that a school of Tibetan Buddhism renders the stages of awakening as
“Looking, Meeting, Embracing, Orgasm.” He says nothing further about this, but
since I readily relate to those metaphors, I'll give below my own brief exegesis (which adds an ultimate stage). Read the post "A Summary of the Process of Awakening" for a more in-depth explanation.
- Looking –
for a path with heart.
- Meeting –
a teacher, a teaching, a community.
- Embracing
- Falling
in love – entering the stream, the honeymoon
stage, drunk with love.
- Sobering
in love – going deeper, into the unflattering
stuff, liberating honesty, dark night of the soul, profound
love and compassion (agape, metta).
- Orgasm – satori,
breakthrough, Identification with the Beloved
- Family (Integration) -- bringing it all into daily life, nurturing others, producing
family (a lineage).
[1] I can't remember which book. You would think it would
be Open to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life; Insights from
Buddhism and Psychotherapy, but that's one of his books
that I haven't read.
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