* This is post #1 – Read this first – for the most recent post click HERE.

I first learned about meditation from the book Zen Combat when I was 14.  I was trying to learn Karate and Aikido from books.  I tried to meditate from the meager information I had about it  but it always produced some weird experiences so I backed off.  In 1968 when I was 20 years old I found a book on Zen Buddhism by D.O. Suzuki on a bench in a hallway at a hippy-run church near my college in Sacramento.  I opened this book to a page discussing the common Zen koan “Who am I?.”  I recognized immediately that I didn’t know who I was and that this was a critical question.  I was intrigued.  I took the book home and studied it.  I soon found the book “The Three Pillars of Zen” and read it many times.  I quit college shortly after this and moved home.  I began reading spiritual material from other religions and philosophies and took a class on Eastern Religions at a local college which involved some interesting field trips.   I began doing meditation by counting my breaths and moved on to contemplating the koan, “who am I”.  I had a few powerful insights but after about two years of meditating on and off I decided to get serious and tried to maintain self-reflective awareness 24 hours a day.  After maintaining continuous awareness of my koan for two and a half days, day and night, I experienced a frightening moment that caused me to stop meditating immediately and not return to the Zen meditation for many years. I resolved this problem in 1991 and took up Zen meditation again but only very occasionally. My enthusiasm for awakening was rekindled in 2005 through conversations with a friend of mine.  Since 2005  I have practiced daily self inquiry and contemplation as well as sitting meditation and have had many insights and experiences relating to spiritual enlightenment,  awakening, self realization, or the search for inner truth.  This blog is simply a place where I can a share these insights with you. Most of these stories occurred after my interest was renewed but some are much earlier.  They are in chronological order and some are just copies of earlier write-ups. To read these in order click the next arrow → link below.   Pip Skywalker    –  October 23, 2013