When people talk to me and ask for advise, this is usually a general advise I give:

This is the general advise I usually give:
 
“Have you had the doubtless unshakeable certainty of Beingness or
realization of I AM that led to a permanent shift of identity, beyond
mere glimpses:

 
 
“Hi Mr. H,

In addition to what you wrote, I hope to convey another dimension of Presence to you. That is Encountering Presence in its first impression,
unadulterated and full blown in stillness.

So after reading it, just feel it with your entire body-mind and forgot about it. Don't let it corrupt your mind.😝

Presence, Awareness, Beingness, Isness are all synonyms. There can be all sorts of definitions but all these are not the path to it. The path to it must be non-conceptual and direct. This is the only way.

When contemplating the koan "before birth who am I", the thinking mind attempts to seek into it's memory bank for similar experiences to get an answer. This is how the thinking mind works - compare, categorize and measure in order to understand.

However, when we encounter such a koan, the mind reaches its limit when it tries to penetrate its own depth with no answer. There will come a
time when the mind exhausts itself and come to a complete standstill and from that stillness comes an earthshaking BAM!

I. Just I.

Before birth this I, a thousand years ago this I, a thousand later this I. I AM I.

It is without any arbitrary thoughts, any comparisons. It fully authenticates it's own clarity, it's own existence, ITSELF in clean, pure, direct non-conceptuality. No why, no because.

Just ITSELF in stillness nothing else.

Intuit the vipassana and the samantha. Intuit the total exertion and realization. The essence of message must be raw and uncontaminated by
words.

Hope that helps!” - John Tan, 2019

Ken Wilber on I AMness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA8tDzK_kPI

-- excerpt from the abridged AtR guide, which you can read for self-enquiry pointers: https://app.box.com/s/zc0suu4dil01xbgirm2r0rmnzegxaitq



On the difference between glimpses and doubtless self realization: http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2018/12/i-am-experienceglimpserecognition-vs-i.html


......
 
 
If you had not, self enquiry (asking Who/What am I?) can lead to the I
AM realization.


If you had the I AM realization, one should focus on the anatta
contemplations, or the four links of this portion in the AMness article:
 https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2007/03/mistaken-reality-of-amness.html
 

"Soh to someone at the I AM phase: In my AtR (awakening to reality
community), around 60 people have realised anatta and most have went
 through the same phases (from I AM to non dual to anatta ... and many
have now went into twofold emptiness), and you are most welcomed to join
 our online community if you wish: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AwakeningToReality

For practical purpose, if you had the I AM awakening, and focus on
contemplating and practicing based on these articles, you will be able
to awaken the anatta insight within a year. Plenty of people get stuck
at I AM for decades or lifetimes, but I progressed from I AM to anatta
realisation within a year due to guidance from John Tan and focusing on
the following contemplations:


1) The Four Aspects of I AM , http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2018/12/four-aspects-of-i-am.html

2) The Two Nondual Contemplations , https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2018/12/two-types-of-nondual-contemplation.html

3) The Two Stanzas of Anatta , http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2009/03/on-anatta-emptiness-and-spontaneous.html

4) Bahiya Sutta , http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2008/01/ajahn-amaro-on-non-duality-and.html and http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2010/10/my-commentary-on-bahiya-sutta.html

It is important to contemplate anatta in a direct and vipassanic mode. Way of practicing vipassana:

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/05/nice-advice-and-expression-of-anatta-in.html

https://vimeo.com/250616410

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2018/12/thusnesss-vipassana.html

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2018/09/vipassana.html


When practicing vipassana like above, go along with the two stanzas of anatta and bahiya sutta, keep them in mind and contemplate them.


its important to go into the textures and forms of awareness, not just
dwell on formless... then with contemplating the two stanzas of anatta,
you will breakthrough to nondual anatta


https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2018/12/thusnesss-vipassana.html


here's an excerpt from another good article


“It is extremely difficult to express what is ‘Isness’. Isness is
awareness as forms. It is a pure sense of presence yet encompassing the
‘transparent concreteness’ of forms. There is a crystal clear sensations
 of awareness manifesting as the manifold of phenomenal existence. If we
 are vague in the experiencing of this ‘transparent concreteness’ of
Isness, it is always due to that ‘sense of self’ creating the sense of
division… ...you must stress the ‘form’ part of awareness. It is the
‘forms’, it is the ‘things’.” - John Tan, 2007
 
 
 
These articles can also help:
 
my article No nouns are necessary to initiate verbs - http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2022/07/no-nouns-are-necessary-to-initiate-verbs.html,
 
my article The Wind is Blowing, Blowing is the Wind - http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2018/08/the-wind-is-blowing.html, 
 
Daniel's Explanations on Vipassana - https://vimeo.com/250616410, 
 
A Zen Exploration of the Bahiya Sutta (Anatta and Bahiya Sutta as
explained in the context of Zen Buddhism by a Zen teacher who went
through the phases of insights) http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2011/10/a-zen-exploration-of-bahiya-sutta.html
 
Joel Agee: Appearances are Self-Illuminating http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2013/09/joel-agee-appearances-are-self_1.html
 
Advice from Kyle Dixon http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/10/advise-from-kyle_10.html
 
A Sun That Never Sets http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2012/03/a-sun-that-never-sets.html

Highly Recommended: (SoundCloud) Audio Recordings of Kyle Dixon/Krodha/Asunthatneverset's Posts on Dharmawheel - https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/10/highly-recommended-soundcloud-audio.html
 
Early Forum Posts by Thusness - https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2013/09/early-forum-posts-by-thusness_17.html (as Thusness said himself, these early forum posts are suitable for guiding someone from I AM to nondual and anatta)
 
Part 2 of Early Forum Posts by Thusness - https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2013/12/part-2-of-early-forum-posts-by-thusness_3.html
 
Part 3 of Early Forum Posts by Thusness - https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2014/07/part-3-of-early-forum-posts-by-thusness_10.html
 
Early Conversations Part 4 - https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2014/08/early-conversations-part-4_13.html
 
Early Conversations Part 5 -  https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2015/08/early-conversations-part-5.html
 
Early Conversations Part 6 - https://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2015/08/early-conversations-part-6.html

Thusness's Early Conversations (2004-2007) Part 1 to 6 in One PDF Document - https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/10/thusnesss-early-conversations-2004-2007.html

Thusness's (Forum) Conversations Between 2004 to 2012 - https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2019/01/thusnesss-conversation-between-2004-to.html
 
A Compilation of Simpo's Writings - https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2018/09/a-compilation-of-simpos-writings.html "”



-----


also recently our blog released a new edition of the AtR Practice Guide which I highly recommend (free), it guides one through the various insights from I AM to anatta and emptiness:


Update 6th August 2023: Version 1.1 out!


Yin Ling said "I think the shortened AtR guide is very good
It should lead one to anatta if they really go and read
Concise and direct."


Note: Nafis just sent me a slightly updated version of AtR practice guide v1.1 which I have uploaded to box.com. https://app.box.com/s/zc0suu4dil01xbgirm2r0rmnzegxaitq (Word version), and   https://app.box.com/s/trvc22802ey1apaess9tv1ccmgrzllwg (PDF version)

Also, for those look for the epub version, Nafis was kind enough to send me a copy of it, which you can find here: https://app.box.com/s/71ytv9rj99x657qto635wyrcxdp395uk



Update: 9th September 2023 - AudioBook (Free) of the Awakening to Reality Practice Guide is now available on SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/soh-wei-yu/sets/the-awakening-to-reality