Welcome to Awakening to Reality
Hello! Welcome to the Awakening to Reality site.
Must-Read Articles
-
“Thusness/PasserBy’s Seven Stages of Enlightenment”
Available in AR, BO, DA, DE, EN, ES, FR, HI, ID, IT, JA, KO, NE, PL, PT-BR, PT-PT, RU, SR, TA, TH, VI, ZH.
- “On Anatta (No-Self), Emptiness, Maha and Ordinariness, and Spontaneous Perfection”
You’re welcome to join our archived Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/AwakeningToReality.
Update: The group is closed to new posts, but you can still join to access past discussions.
1) The Awakening to Reality Practice Guide — by Nafis Rahman
- Download Guide (Version 1.2)
- AudioBook on SoundCloud
- Feedback: "The shortened AtR guide is very good. It should lead one to anatta (the experiential realization of no-self) if they really go and read. Concise and direct." – Yin Ling
- Download links: Word · Mirror · PDF · PDF Mirror · EPUB · EPUB Mirror
- Update: Portuguese translation now available here

2) The Awakening to Reality Guide — Web Abridged Version
3) The Awakening to Reality Guide — Original Version (compiled by Soh)
- Latest update: 12 January 2025
- PDF · Long version (mirror) · EPUB
- This is the original 1300+ page document on which the practice and abridged guides are based.
“"I also want to say, actually the main ATR document >1200 pages helped me the most with insight... ...I did [read] it twice 😂 it was so helpful and these Mahamudra books supported ATR insights. Just thought to share." – Yin Ling
"To be honest, the document is ok [in length], because it’s by insight level. Each insight is like 100 plus pages except anatta [was] exceptionally long [if] I remember lol. If someone read and contemplate at the same time it’s good because the same point will repeat again and again like in the nikayas [traditional Buddhist scriptures in the Pali canon] and insight should arise by the end of it imo.", "A 1000 plus pages ebook written by a serious practitioner Soh Wei Yu that took me a month to read each time and I am so grateful for it. It’s a huge undertaking and I have benefitted from it more that I can ever imagine. Please read patiently." – Yin Ling

Listening to PDFs on Various Devices
How to download PDFs and listen with text-to-speech (TTS).
iPhone (iOS 18+)
- Download & unzip: In Safari, download the ZIP. Open Files → Downloads and tap the
.zip
to extract. - Add to Books: In Files, select the PDFs → Share → Books (may appear as “Save to Books”).
- Listen with Speak Screen: Settings → Accessibility → Read & Speak → Speak Screen → turn on Speak Screen (and optionally Show Controller / Highlighting). Open the PDF in Books, then two-finger swipe down from the top, press Play on the floating controller, or say “Siri, speak screen.” Adjust Voices & Speaking Rate there.
Android
- Download & unzip: In Chrome, download the ZIP and extract in the Files app.
- Open a PDF: Use Drive PDF Viewer, Acrobat, etc.
- TTS options: Turn on Select to Speak in Settings → Accessibility (voices/speed under Text-to-speech output), or use an app like @Voice Aloud Reader.
Windows
- Open the PDF in Microsoft Edge.
- Click Read aloud (or press
Ctrl
+Shift
+U
). - Use Voice options to change voice and speed.
Adobe Acrobat Reader: View → Read Out Loud → Activate → choose a mode; voices in Preferences → Reading.
Mac
- Books / Preview: Select text → Edit → Speech → Start Speaking. System-wide: Accessibility → Spoken Content → Speak selection (shortcut
Option
+Esc
). - VoiceOver: Toggle with
Command
+F5
. - Acrobat Reader: View → Read Out Loud → Activate; adjust in Preferences → Reading.
Tip: If a PDF is only scanned images, run OCR (e.g., Acrobat “Recognize Text”) so TTS can read it.