Naming Note
The Naked Awareness practices were previously called "Dogzen," a play on the Buddhist term "Dzogchen." However, I've let go of that name. It caused some confusion. "Does it work on cats too?"
Benefits of Cultivating Naked Awareness
The purpose of cultivating Naked Awareness is to make an enlightened state more available in our daily lives.
What this means for each individual can vary, but the effects generally fall into a few key areas:
- Shifts in Identity: It could support a more grounded sense of yourself, or an emptied-out ego free of encrusted binding elements and false identifications. It can dissolve your sense of separation and duality.
- Emotional Freedom: It could diminish your fear, free you from reactivity, and eliminate unnecessary suffering.
- Vivid Presence: It can wake you up from your waking dream, helping you live in the present moment with a fresh, open awareness like Zen "new mind." It could even blow your mind with joy, rapture, and enthralling beauty.
- Deepened Connection: It can open your heart towards others, provide clear access to your creative abilities, and help you forge a vivid connection to truth, ultimate reality, the absolute.
These are some of the benefits that Naked Awareness practice could provide. What you get out of it depends on a lot of factors that you carry into it. Although our essence is the same, each of us is in a unique condition. We will each get out of this practice what is right for us. Through it all, there is an element of experimentation. We engage in the practices and see where they take us.
