Christ-Awakened Contemplative Process and Practice

This is not a course. Or a program for self-improvement. Or a regime of religious indoctrination. Unlike any secular or religious meditation approaches, this is a lifelong journey of exploration, inquiry, and experiential learning of a unique contemplative process integrating the essential insights of the Buddha Dhamma but centred on Jesus Christ, the singular incarnation of the eternal logos and the second Person of the Holy Trinity — God the Son, who is God with us (Immanuel), the Alpha and Omega in Whom we live, move, and have our being.

This distinctive and singular Awarezen offering is unlike anything else in our world. It is based on my book The Christ-Awakened Life: Meditation Beyond Boundaries, with some additional material on powerful mind transformation methodologies of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism focused on altruistic compassion. This offering crystallises and encapsulates my nearly five decades of meditation practice and scholarship, under the training of highly respected Dhamma teachers and meditation masters who are my beloved spiritual mentors.

Traversing Asian paradigms and Biblical narratives, this contemplative journey is an emergent expression of my lifelong immersion and training in the three major traditions of the Buddha Dhamma — Early Buddhist and Theravāda; Mahāyāna; and Vajrayāna. We will explore and learn, practice and gain proficiency in a range of meditative pedagogies: guarding the senses; domains of mindfulness (satipatthāna) and introspection/clear comprehension (sampajañña); serene stillness (shamatha); meditative equipoise (jhanas); formless absorptions (āruppas); deep insight (vipassanā) and middle-way ontological inquiry (mādhyamika-vipashyanā) into contingent arising (pratītya-samutpāda); emptiness (śūnyatā); four sublime abidings (brahma-vihārā) and mind transformation (lojong) for the altrustic heart of enlightenment (bodhicitta); liberation of no-mind and cessation into the deathless (nibbāna); the Zen of silent illumination (默照禅 mozhao-chan); the Zen of critical phrase inquiry (话头禅 huatou-chan); quintessence of mind (mahāmudrā); and the great perfection (dzogchen) that stands at the pinnacle of the path. Auxilliary pedagogies of creative visualization and mantra practice transmitted in Tantric teachings may be used as supportive practices as and when necessary and beneficial.

These pedagogies are organised under the rubric of the Christ-Awakened Contemplative Process. This process, while inclusive and hospitable to Asian spiritual paradigms and pedagogies, is nevertheless deeply Christ-centred, gospel-shaped, essentially Trinitarian, biblically and theologically-grounded. This diverse repertoire of meditative methodologies is renovated, re-contextualized, and re-invigorated within the biblical Trinitarian paradigm centred on Christ the Redeemer and Lord. Hence, even as Christ is the only way to salvation (for He is none other than salvation), He "... can meet us on all ways, in all our diverse ways of being, knowing, thinking, speaking, and acting in the world, with all its diversity of cultures and paradigms. This rich diversity of culture reflects the infinite creativity and glorious depths of the biblical God" (Kang, 2023: p.135). 

The Christ-Awakened Contemplative Process comprises the following practices:

1. Courtyard of Christ Meditations — Ruach of Stillness and Ruach of Pulsation

2. Mind of Christ Meditations — Silent Mind, No-Mind, and Natural Mind

3. Garden of Christ Meditations — Sublime Heart Attitudes and Wisdom Gone Beyond 

4. Heart of Christ Meditations — Step by Step into Love and Equalizing and Exchanging in Love

5. Spirit of Christ Meditations — Resting in Incarnate Essence and Flowing in Creative Effulgence

Once mastered, the process will culminate in the "non-practice" of "non-meditation" — the gracious blessing and anointing of Triune Being. Here, meditation ends and relational communion begins. The communion and union dance of love in the omnidimensional Father-Son-Spirit transcends all notions of meditation as we know it. But our solid foundational mastery of meditation makes this anointed Triune communion unimaginably real and substantively life-transforming. There are two quintessential elements to Triune Being — Presencing Triune and Triune Outpouring.

From my heart to yours, I invite you to join me in this participatory and relational journey of enlightenment and growth. It is a self-shattering and ego-dissolving journey of enlightened growth into the fullness of Christ through profound and rigorous contemplative practice. Not only I, but the Lord Himself is calling you. Jesus is beckoning us all to recognize Him, turn back to Him, and return home with Him and into Him, resting in effulgent glory and shimmering darkness beyond all constructed notions and dichotomies. 

In my own words (Kang, 2023: p. 135): 

"Hidden in memes, types, metaphors, narratives, philosophical concepts, and contemplative praxes, Christ is patiently calling all to Himself in His own time and way. Across cultures and geographies, we see a majestic God becoming human so that everyone can be given a chance to partake in His eternal life in communion with Him." 

We will meet once a fortnight for an hour each over Zoom. There will also be 2-hour mini-retreats on Saturday mornings at a frequency to be determined. If there is sufficient interest from Singapore residents and locals, we can organize "live" teaching sessions and retreats at a conducive contemplative venue to be determined.

Will you heed His call — His special call to each and every one of you, urban contemplatives? 

Email me at chriskang@awarezen.com to express your interest.

In nomine Patris

Et Filii

Et Spiritus Sancti

Amen