Enlightenment: The Path Through The Jungle [Paperback]

Dennis Waite (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2008

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. What is enlightenment? What is it not? - exposes the myths and defines this misused term once and for all.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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 I heartily recommend this book. ~James Swartz, teacher and author 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"This is a valuable addition to Advaitic literature and should be read by all those who are perplexed as to the truth of this noble tradition. ~The Mountain Path, TiruvannamalaiIn his new work: ENLIGHTENMENT, Dennis Waite rises to the challenge of this modern spiritual dilemma confronting the key issues between the traditional and modern approaches to Advaita/Non-Duality head-on. In this regard, he is a lone, rare voice, and should be commended for his diligent work. "oy Whenary, author of "The Texture of Being"

About the Author

Dennis Waite has been a student of Advaita for over 20 years and maintains the most visited website on the subject. He is a member of the Ramana Maharshi Foundation and chief moderator for the Advaitin e mail group in 2007. He lives in Bournemouth, England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Mantra Books (April 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846941180
• ISBN-13: 978-1846941184
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,296,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Following an intense scientific-based education through the nineteen sixties, he emerged with a fundamental dissatisfaction with the perceived values and belief systems of Western society. Thus began his search for a philosophy that could provide satisfactory answers to the universal questions of life. He joined the Ouspensky influenced School of Economic Science in London in 1972 but left after several years, disillusioned with the lack of rigour and the mystical element. He renewed his involvement with them in the mid-eighties, by which time Shri Shantananda Saraswati, one of the four Indian Shankaracharyas was directing the School along a path influenced by Advaita and Sankhya Yoga. He remained with the School until 1998, by which time he had been acting as a tutor for four years at the Bournemouth branch and was assisting in the teaching of Sanskrit. He left because some of the teaching methods and much of the material diverged from the tenets of pure Advaita.

He is a moderator of the Advaitin Email Group (Chief Moderator in 2007) and a member of the Ramana Maharshi Foundation in London, for whom he produced and maintains the website at www.ramana-maharshi.org.uk.

His own extensive website is www.advaita.org.uk . This contains essays on topics relating to the spiritual path of Advaita Vedanta and other material, together with links to relevant organisations, teachers and resources. He still reads extensively on the subject, though no longer actively 'seeking'. He is the editor of the Advaita sub-category for the Open Directory Project on the Internet (http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Advaita_Vedanta/).

Educated to degree-level in Chemistry, he has worked for most of his life in computing. Since 2000, he has devoted his life to writing. He completed a philosophical/ecological thriller in 1999 (extensively revised in 2007-8) and a book on Earned Value metrics in March 2001. His first book on Advaita, 'The Book of One', was written for students of that path and published in 2003. An introductory book on Sanskrit ('The Spiritual Seeker's Essential Guide to Sanskrit') was published in India in 2005.

His book 'How to Meet Yourself', published in 2007, was aimed at the non-specialist reader and addresses the fundamental topics of meaning and purpose in one's life and the nature of happiness. Though not intended for the 'spiritual seeker', its intention was that, by the end of the book, the reader will wish to become one! It approaches the subject from the standpoint of western philosophy, sociology and psychology but increasingly introduces Advaitic concepts so that the last two chapters explain in some detail the non-dual nature of self and reality.

His major book on Advaita, also published in 2007, was entitled 'Back to the Truth'. This is a systematic treatment of Advaita which, by using examples from many sources, helps the reader to differentiate between approaches and teachers. It compares the scriptures of traditional Advaita with the words of contemporary Sages and with the modern 'nothing to be done' teaching of neo-Advaita. Should we ignore the mind? Is the world real? Is there anything we can do to become 'enlightened'? These questions and many more are addressed and explanations given, in their own words, from those who discovered the truth.

His most recent book, published in 2008, was 'Enlightenment: the Path through the Jungle'. This aimed clearly to define the term 'enlightenment' and dispel the many myths about it propagated by 'new-age' books on the subject. It endeavoured to set down the proven methods, passed down for over a thousand years in the traditional teaching of the subject and contrast these with those of modern 'satsang' teachers and the non-teaching of neo-advaitins, demonstrating in the process that only the traditional methods are likely to bring about enlightenment.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lack of breadth, May 24, 2008

By 

R. Haigh (Cornwall United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enlightenment: The Path Through The Jungle (Paperback)

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.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Necessary Addition to Everyone's Library, June 13, 2008

By 

James M. Corrigan "James" (Stony Brook, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enlightenment: The Path Through The Jungle (Paperback)

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 "stand in line," 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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take this book to satsang, June 5, 2008

By 

Jerry Katz "Nonduality.com" (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enlightenment: The Path Through The Jungle (Paperback)

What is traditional advaita?

Traditional advaita is a process, a culture, and a methodology for achieving enlightenment. It is founded in Indian scriptures, but more important than scriptures are the teacher and the methodology, according to Waite.

What is neo-advaita?

Neo-advaita gets right to the point that so many people already sense, intuit, and know from experience. The point is that "this" is "it." Stop and see. Neo-advaita confesses the truth that there is only "this." Neo-advaita doesn't go through a process of education, nor does it unfold scriptures chapter by chapter. It just says what is, in various ways.

Since it's impossible for people to gather around any interest at all without some kind of organization arising, there are processes, methods, and a culture of neo-advaita that can be identified, but they are very thin compared to traditional advaita..

Some of the teachers of neo-advaita, though they themselves do not use the term neo-advaita, include Tony Parsons, Jeff Foster, Richard Sylvester, Nathan Gill.

Theme and purpose:

The theme of this book is that you can become enlightened through traditional advaita, while it is unlikely you will become enlightened through neo-advaita and satsang.

Dennis writes about the book's purpose: "The purpose is specifically to address the concerns of seekers who are dissatisfied with the satsang or neo-advaitin approaches to the teaching of advaita and to answer related questions." Waite says, "I am not primarily criticizing neo-advaita in respect of the truth or falsehood of its actual statements but as regards its utility as a teaching methodology."

The evolution of advaita:

Neo-advaita is less than 30 years old and evolving. Traditional advaita is 1200 years old and it too is evolving. For example, one organization, The Philosophy Foundation in Waltham, Massachusetts, is dedicated to traditional advaita and offers an Eckhart Tolle reading group. Swami Chinmayananda's ashram offers youth camps and senior citizens homes. Both those organizations are mentioned by Waite in his book and their recommendation is implicit.

Dennis Waite has freeze-framed the evolution of neo-advaita, analyzed it, and suggested it bend and graft onto traditional advaita. More than anything else, that suggestion makes this book controversial. It sounds as though he is asking Tony Parsons to teach classes in the Upanishads. That is unnatural. Kindly allow me to ask, When did Dennis Waite become the Pope of advaita?

This is an important book in the nonduality genre for several reasons. Dennis Waite makes a distinction between neo-advaita and traditional advaita that is detailed and clear. Well-known players in the nonduality game back Waite's thesis. Also, Dennis Waite has developed a potential force for the evolution of neo-advaita. If his book is read by people who attend Western satsang and if they ask the right questions, that force could be absorbed by neo-advaita and a new faction might split off that looks like a neo-traditional advaita.