Of gurus, enlightenment and authentic training

Discussion in this IPS thread led me to divulge some of my 'authentic' training background. Yet I still maintain that this training is not 'enlightenment' and to the contrary is part of a metaphysical guru system that is now defunct. My point is not that a teacher is not necessary to learn a skill; obviously they are. But this skill they teach is just that; it is not Enlightenment or the True Path to Reality. The latter is what I mean by Guru. It is when we give ourselves completely over to a Guru, our entire lives, everything--that is the system that is obsolete. Yes, the states they teach are beneficial and necessary to a fuller, more integrative life, even to evolve as humans. But they are only a part of an integral practice. But as I said, the notion that they have privileged access to the really Real or True Self or whatever is metaphysical to the core and has to go. As does the notion that we can get it all from this Guru who knows it All.  


And I speak from personal experience, having been extensively trained in a Chinese Buddhist tradition* as well as initiated into a wesoteric tradition.**

* Tai chi chuan originated in the Buddhist Shaolin Temple, founded by Bodhidharma. Actually it was founded by Zhang Sanfeng (Chang San Feng), but he studied Shaolin and his tai chi was a hybrid of that and Taoist techniques. Point being, it is an authentic tradition through the Tung family. This article shows their connection via the training of mind.

** Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Note that I have since left both systems due to their metaphysical bases. Much like Kwai Chang Caine I had to pick up the burning cauldron with my forearms and leave the Temple. While I didn't actually do that I nonetheless have several like and indelible scars to mark my initiations.