A few interesting places on the web

Today, reflecting on a question I asked a colleague, I decided to try to find some answers to, or further reflections on, the state of enlightenment. Even though I'm such a novice at all this, I was aware that asking 'what is enlightenment' or 'are you enlightened' are pretty useless questions. Even so, I thought I'd try anyway, to see what came up. And here's where I ended up:


Life Beyond the Image - Takuin Minamoto, or more specifically, here, which is a discussion on the topic 'Are You Enlightened?'
I learned a lot here, most of which I'm still digesting. I pressed on, wanting to find out a little more about Takuin and his site, which led me to


Buddha at the Gas Pump - Takuin Minamoto Part 1, in which Takuin speaks about his awakening. In a most definite not-sitting-still mood, and a promise to myself to return to take in all parts with full attention, I decided to take a quick look at the YouTube channel BuddaAtTheGasPump, which I'd noticed had 382 videos! This then led me to


BuddaAtTheGasPump's YouTube channel, which says: 


"People everywhere are undergoing a shift to an Awakened state of consciousness which is transforming their understanding of themselves and the world. For some, this shift has been abrupt and dramatic. For others, it has been so gradual that they may not have realized it has occurred. Such shifts, or awakenings, are not new: Christ spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven within, Buddhists speak of Nirvana, Zen masters of Satori, Hindus of Moksha, but these traditions generally regard these states as rare and difficult to attain.

Many people are therefore skeptical of claims of higher states of consciousness. They find it hard to believe that apparently ordinary friends and neighbors might be experiencing something extraordinary. Maybe they expect Enlightenment to look as remarkable on the outside as it is reputed to be on the inside.

These videos are of a weekly TV show whose purpose is to enable ordinary people to share their experience of awakening."

so then on to the site itself: 

Buddha at the Gas Pump- Interviews with 'Ordinary' Spiritually Awakened People

Plenty of food for thought here... so much to explore. In answer to my simply googled question, there's much more out there than I thought there would be, and the great thing is, it's in a form which I think I will be able to understand fairly readily.