Question

Is it important or helpful to have knowledge of path moments, nanas, etc. as a road map; as some people say?

Answer

For those of you who don't know what these words "path moments" and "nanas" etc. mean, they are, basically, scriptural information about enlightenment. In some people's opinion, they are possibly about the path to enlightenment, , in regards to how they think it happens, this and that. And, quite frankly in our opinion, a lot of that information is not important, not even as a road map, because it can get quite confusing. Some people will think, "Oh, they have a sixteen-step road map", and they start going, "Yep, I've done that one. Yep, I've done that one, and that one. Oh, look, I am half way up!" We have actually met people like this, that believe that they have progressed and yet, really, no, they have not progressed very much at all.

In our opinion, this sort of information about enlightenment, progression steps, etc. is not necessary, and often can be very harmful for many people. The practice is to end our fear, end our jealousy, end our greed, end our ignorance, develop compassion, develop patience, and so on. We don't need a road map for that, we don't need listings of certain checkpoints, because you're going to know for yourself whether or not you have grown, and whether or not there is more to do..

You can ask yourself some important questions to clarify this. Are you more compassionate than you used to be? Are you more forgiving than you used to be? Is your Compassion as high as you would like it to be? Or is there more that you can do?

Your equanimity, your patience, for everyone of you, there is more to do. You have plenty of tools, you know where you're heading. You have enough of a road map that you actually don't need all the books, or to discuss all of the various sorts of theories about enlightenment.

You know, for a lot of people worrying about the top of the mountain, it takes their eyes away from the footsteps, and watching out for the branches, and the crevices, and the snakes that are on the path -- today.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.