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Enlightenment: The Path Through the Jungle (Paperback)

by Dennis Waite (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: O Books (29 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1846941180
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846941184
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.8 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 55,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #16 in  Books > Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism > Philosophy

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Review

I think this is a most valuable work for the serious aspirant who wants to understand the weakness of Neo-Advaita as opposed to the traditional teachings of the great Sages. I agree with the summary of your findings and wish the book well. I am sure it will assist many who are becoming increasingly confused and disillusioned by Neo Advaita, and may turn to the traditional approach. --Alan Jacobs, President of the Ramana Foundation UK and author of numerous books, including "The Principal Upanishads and "The Bhagavad Gita".

It deals with the issues of path and no path, doing and non-doing, appearance and reality, the qualifications necessary for enlightenment, the need for a teacher and other important topics of interest to sincere seekers. I heartily recommend this book. --James Swartz, teacher and author of numerous books, including Meditation: An Inquiry into the Self and Self Knowledge , a commentary on Shankara s Atmabodha .

I welcome Dennis Waite s book Enlightenment: the path through the jungle as a breath of fresh air amidst the quagmire of new books on neo-Advaita. Finally, someone has done their homework, and made the effort to create powerful distinctions about what Advaita is and what it isn t. So many are hungry for truth, yet so very few are willing to pay the price. Dennis Waite offers necessary help to sincere seekers who wish to learn how to discern between the diamond-like brilliance of authentic Advaita-Vedanta, from the rhinestone approaches represented by popular neo-Advaita. --Mariana Caplan, Ph.D., author of Halfway Up the Mountain" and Do You Need a Guru?"


Product Description

What is enlightenment? What is it not? exposes the myths and defines this misused term once and for all. Which teaching methods will get you there? And which will not? explains how the traditional methods work and why the modern, Western approaches are most unlikely to. The clearest book that has ever been written on the subject of enlightenment, it provides a detailed examination of the satsang phenomenon (and its more extreme, neo-Advaita variant), contrasting these approaches with the traditional methods passed down from teacher to disciple for over a thousand years. It indicates what is needed in the way of preparation and path in order to gain enlightenment, given some modern teachers statements to the effect that there is no person and nothing to do. With a Foreword by Dr. Greg Goode, philosophical counselor and one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on the subject of non-duality.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Necessary Addition to Everyone's Library, 13 Jun 2008
By James M. Corrigan "James" (Stony Brook, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Dennis Waite's book "Enlightenment: The Path Through the Jungle" is a necessary addition to everyone's library because it can serve as a checklist against which they can test their understanding. Have you ever had the experience of trying to do something new, struggling with it to no avail, and then someone comes over to you and shows you what you have been doing wrong and suddenly - voila! - you understand? This book is that someone. Dennis has collected together over 500 `pointers' and categorized them under aspects of understanding Enlightenment, going to great pains to clarify the meaning of words used in nondual writings, the purpose of and need for practice, and the necessary value of scriptural teachings and guidance from an experienced teacher within Advaita. This makes it easy to find the pointers needed when questions arise for you - you can always find what you are looking for in Dennis' Index, if not in Reality!

While there will be some that take his assertions about the necessity of effort on the part of those who wish to find enlightenment and end their suffering, and his criticism of certain "neo-advaita" teaching methods, as negative, I feel it is worth the time of everyone to read what he has written and pause to digest these gentle assertions and see if they do not ring true. There is that old adage: "You get what you pay for," which, if you see your efforts to reach understanding as the payment, holds just as much in this realm as in any other.

Of course there will always be those who are in too much of a rush to "queue up," and they don't listen to anyone anyway. This book isn't for them.

There is a disturbing current finding favor in modern Nondual circles, which Dennis points to, which I characterize as anti-Intellectualism. Concepts, more and more frequently of late, are considered to be wrong in all cases. And it is this judgment that leads to teachers today presenting an understanding of ultimate reality as requiring nothing more than a short tagline, such as "you are That!," to achieve. As Dennis explains, this is the reason that effort is rejected and scriptural authorities are ignored. But it isn't that easy to dispel ignorance, and if you spend the time to contemplate the good feelings of being together with your satsang and how you were before, you will see that all you have done is replace one misunderstanding of reality, coupled with whatever suffering, or dis-ease, this brought on, with assertions that you really don't understand when you try to make sense of them, coupled with the good feelings of companionship that one finds in satsangs. And it is this failure to make sense of these assertions that is today esteemed because it means that one is not "lost" within concepts. Yes, but one is also bereft of understanding!

You are That, and nothing needs to be done to change you, but until you understand what that little tagline means you are not enlightened. It is the conceptual wisdom of a long tradition like Advaita that has proven effective in moving individuals like you and I to this understanding. It is the ignorance that must be dispelled, as Dennis points out, and that does require effort. Understanding is not like coins in the pocket - something that you have - and you do not get $200 for just passing "Go". Understanding is something that you are, and this book will help you realize what you are "doing wrong" to become that!

James Corrigan
An Introduction to Awareness
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightenment: The Path Through The Jungle, 26 May 2008
By Roy Whenary - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
In this book, Dennis Waite seeks to provide (1) A counter-argument to the modern 'neo-advaita' perspective, and (2) An in-depth explanation of the background to the traditional 'Advaita' teaching - as it was, and as it is.

Many enthusiastic students of contemporary non-duality teachers may be under the illusion that what they are hearing is the authentic 'Advaita' teaching. But, Dennis points out very clearly that this is not the case. Many of these contemporary teachers have gone on record as completely dismissing anything slightly resembling traditional Advaita. In its place, they appear to have created what is, to some, a teaching without real substance.

The trick is, really, continuing to have the depth of the traditional approach, and the light spontaneity of 'neo-advaita'. It is my feeling that both qualities are necessary in order to truly comprehend the nature of reality. It doesn't have to be just one or the other. Life is not only black and white - there are many shades and colours in between.

With the traditional teachings, I feel that there is very much a danger of being caught up in too much knowledge, but knowledge cannot be denied, and it can also be inspiring. A fact is a fact, and the fact is that the key aspects of the 'neo' argument have been contained in the scriptures since the very beginning. Anyone who doubts this should read Shankara's 'Viveka Chudamani' (also known as the 'Crest-Jewel of Discrimination' and written some 1300 years or so ago). But there is much more than this, because when we study Advaita, we have the benefit of the wisdom of many of the great sages from history. This wisdom is not nonsense, and anyone who suggests it is, I would say, is very much lacking in humility.

In reviewing Dennis Waite's book: ENLIGHTENMENT, I would strongly urge the doubting reader, and any 'born-again' 'neo' non-dualists to just take a careful look at each section of this book (it is broken up into 559 short numbered paragraphs). Give time and space to fully receive all the implications of each paragraph, rather than just quickly glancing through and dismissing it as nonsense. Then, perhaps, you may not be in denial of the need for a more rounded view of the history of Advaita.

I am not saying that we should all study the subject to the extent that Dennis Waite has. It takes a peculiar skill and an admirable dedication to do that, but within the pages of this book: 'ENLIGHTENMENT:The Path Through the Jungle' there is a rich and rewarding invitation to Open Your Mind ... it is in truth, an Open Secret.

Roy Whenary (author of 'The Texture of Being')
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Lack of breadth, 14 May 2008
By R. Haigh (Cornwall United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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I have read most of the books by Dennis Waite and on the whole have found them to be quite informative and well written. Though Dennis is clearly knowledgeable about the Advaita Vedanta tradition, I feel that with "Enlightenment: the Path through the Jungle" he has revealed his lack of breadth regarding other approaches to nonduality.

A few main points:

Firstly, the term Neo Advaita. None of the communicators who have been given this label wish to be associated with it (as far as I know.) Since they do not acknowledge the category, its construction and subsequent dismissal as a teaching that falls short of traditional Advaita Vedanta methods seems totally unreasonable. These direct communicators have never set themselves up as being some sort of new movement of traditional Vedanta.

Secondly, this type of direct pointing is in no way exclusive to the new wave of satsang teachers. It can be found in a wide range of communications from Huang Po to Longchenpa, from Alan Watts to Wei Wu Wei, Krishnamurti to Sailor Bob and so on. And of course, direct pointing can be found in the work of Ramana, Nisargadatta and Krishna Menon (not to mention: Rumi, Lao Tzu, the Hsin Hsin Ming, the Avadhut Gita, etc... etc...)

Thirdly, the central inference of this book is that "enlightenment" is less likely from exposure to 'neo/satsang' communication than from traditional progressive methods. [Blatant nondual incorrectness aside] there is absolutely no evidence that a progressive time bound method would have any such advantage. It is not unreasonable to claim that there may be some apparent benefits to a progressive teaching, particularly in the context of providing a stable framework to allow a student to assimilate the teaching at an intellectual level (thus producing a more psychologically balanced experience over a greater span of time.) Yet there can also be problems with this (despite the counter claims.) It could actually act as an obstacle as the student becomes somewhat seduced by the trappings and `culture' of Advaita resulting in an enhanced sense of a 'self with advanced capabilities'.

"Enlightenment: the Path through the Jungle" makes some well observed points (especially regarding confusion generated by failure to distinguish between empirical and absolute truths) and Dennis is on firm ground with his knowledge of Vedanta. But the failure to truly acknowledge and appreciate that there are powerful and valid approaches to nondualism other than traditional Advaita, ultimately makes this book a one-sided and unsatisfying read.
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