The Direct Path: A Conversation with Sam Harris

In this conversation, Sam and Stephan discuss the direct approach to self-realization, a path of awakening that draws from nondual wisdom traditions of Zen, Dzogchen-Mahamudra, and Advaita Vedanta, and bypasses elaborate belief systems or self-improvement techniques. 

They also discuss Stephan’s experience learning and teaching Zen meditation, becoming a monk, Stephan’s experience of awakening and integration thereafter, sudden vs. gradual awakening, common misunderstandings about the direct path, and the connection between meditation and ethics as it relates to student-teacher relationships.

Interview with Rick Archer of Buddha at the Gas Pump
on Spiritual Integrity

In this interview, Stephan and Rick explore some of the following topics:

• What does spiritual integrity really mean?

• The role and deeper meaning of ethical precepts

• Understanding the power dynamics of the teacher-student relationship

• How teachers abuse their sacred responsibility and act out of integrity

• Why narcissists are drawn to becoming spiritual teachers

• How students are taken in by misguided teachers

• The crucial role of discernment on the path: “The true guru is inside you”

• Sex in the forbidden zone: Wanderers, predators, and boundary confusion

• Acknowledging and integrating the shadow

• How to know when it’s time to leave a teacher

• The future of the spiritual teacher-student relationship in the We

Q&A
Common sticking Points
Expectation, perfectionism, and impatience often impede nondual insight.
Played

Q&A
Emptiness and Form
Awareness is not separate from its content. It can be easy to lose of this.
Played

Q&A
Perfectionism
"People have read the books, and they want to experience all of it--all at once."

Q&A
Meditation, Experience, and Reality
Practice can reveal the nature of awareness. How about the nature of universe?
Played

Q&A
Trauma and Awakening
Often a hindrance, acute stress can also help us learn to contextualize experience.

Q&A
Stephan`s Awakening
"I downloaded this big packet of wisdom, which took me years to finally unpack."

Q&A
Measuring Progress
Informed instruction--not self-tracking--can help us refine and deepen our practice.

Q&A
Stephan`s Teachers
Suzuki Roshi and Jean Klein greatly influenced Stephan, and both seemed fully awake.

Q&A
Practices on the Direct Path
Mindfulness, conceptual inquiry, and instructive pointers can inspire sudden insight.

Q&A
Heartfelt Dedication
Motivation and intention can help us discern--and value--moments of emptiness.
Played