Adyashanti - Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview

Also see http://batgap.com/adyashanti/.

I'm sorry about the technical quality of this video. We had problems which we weren't able to surmount.

Adyashanti dares all seekers of peace and freedom to take the possibility of liberation in this life seriously. He began teaching in 1996, at the request of his Zen teacher with whom he had been studying for 14 years. Since then many spiritual seekers have awakened to their true nature while spending time with Adyashanti.

The author of The End of Your World, Emptiness Dancing, and True Meditation, Adyashanti offers spontaneous and direct nondual teachings that have been compared to those of the early Zen masters and Advaita Vedanta sages. However, Adya says, "If you filter my words through any tradition or '-ism', you will miss altogether what I am saying. The liberating truth is not static; it is alive. It cannot be put into concepts and be understood by the mind. The truth lies beyond all forms of conceptual fundamentalism. What you are is the beyond—awake and present, here and now already. I am simply helping you to realize that."

A native of Northern California, Adyashanti lives with his wife, Mukti, and teaches extensively in the San Francisco Bay Area offering satsangs, weekend intensives, and silent retreats. He also travels to teach in other areas of the United States and Canada.

"Adyashanti" means primordial peace.

Interview recorded 8/30/2011

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• enlightenment
• awakening
• meditation
• self-realization
• interviews
• spirituality
• non-dualism
• advaita
• non-duality
• zen

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

Not that I have heard. I should have asked him. Next time if there is a next time.

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

Ben is on the list. I'll add your vote for him. Thanks.

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

Thanks for the compliment. I added Richard to the list and will look into it. (I get new recommendations every day and only do one interview a week, so it may take a while.)

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

Wow. Thanks for the beautiful comment. Do we know each other? Sorry about the poor technical quality of Adya's interview. We had bandwidth problems I think.

[widestrides]

Nice interview.

What form of meditation does Adyashanti practice?

What form does he teach or recommend?

Just sitting in Silence?

Thanks.

[somethingcomes]

I really like Adyashanti. I wish I could attend one of his lectures, I bet it's just fantastic.

[michmonma]

It just simple love I feel after watching this. Thank You all.

[avedic]

@writing314 I agree. :) That's why I like people like Adyashanti and Allan Watts and Tim Freke(look him up! he's amazing). They aren't the usual milquetoast airy spiritual sorts you usually come across. They have a sense of humor and vigor for life. True spirituality is about being ENGAGED in life. Once you get the truth of oneness...it enabled you to truly let go and live freely, unconstrained by fear. That's the idea. Not to check out of reality and live in some blissed-out state.

[writing314]

@avedic awesome......so to sum up our chat....do what you wanna do.....when you wanna do it....take no prisoners lol spirituality my ass x x x

[avedic]

@writing314 well said. back in my younger born again christian days, i was rather judgmental of anything different. college, weed, and new people changed that. my first real friend in college was a muslim girl who totally changed my mind about "other" people. now, i value diversity more than just about anything. homogeneous ideas and lifestyles breeds stagnation and ignorance...and fear.

[avedic]

@writing314 I'm in the same boat as you were. I lost my job last year due to the horrid economy, lost everything, and had to move in with my parents at 28. I've become a shell of my former self. Questioning everything about life..wondering what the point of living even is. The depression is crushing. But..since stumbling on Adya's teachings(and Alan Watts) I feel like Im on the cusp of..something. I haven't crossed that "threshold" yet..but it feels close. Good luck to you! Glad you got better.