{"id":53727,"date":"2025-02-20T20:27:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T20:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awakentheworld.com\/?p=53727"},"modified":"2025-02-20T20:27:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T20:27:22","slug":"kensho-samadhi-research-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awakentheworld.com\/cs\/kensho-samadhi-research-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Kensho Research Study \u010c\u00e1st 1: Co vede k duchovn\u00edm probuzen\u00edm? Studie o \u017eivotn\u00edch zku\u0161enostech a praktik\u00e1ch sebepozn\u00e1v\u00e1n\u00ed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A kensho research study at the Samadhi Center (Canada)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Dr. Jeffrey Overall <\/strong>
The Global Institute for Conscious Economics
Link to PDF full article<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blog post by Daniel Schmidt<\/em>:

Kensho is a Japanese word from Zen that means “seeing true nature”. It refers to the direct experience of awakening beyond name and form, unmediated by the conditioned “I”, and the recognition or knowing of your true nature. For more information on exactly what Kensho is, check out this video on the 8 signs of Kensho<\/a>. Samadhi and Kensho should not be thought of as separate; as they say in Zen, “not one, not two”. Samadhi can be both a temporary state of union (peak experience), but can eventually become a developmental stage when we recognize that our true nature is ever present and the seeker is dropped.

Recent research conducted at the Samadhi Center in Canada sheds light on the factors that contribute to and block Kensho. By analyzing interviews with individuals who have and have not experienced Kensho, the study reveals compelling patterns in how we seek truth, and whether we look within or outside ourselves.

In this study Dr. Jeffrey Overall interviewed individuals who experienced Kensho during retreats at the Samadhi Center and identified seven key influences: personal struggles, previous awakenings, childhood spiritual experiences, the search for meaning, trauma, the role of the ego, and psychedelic use. A deeper analysis revealed that early spiritual experiences and prior awakenings tend to build upon one another over time, increasing the likelihood of future awakenings. Interestingly, psychedelic use during retreats did not appear to have a significant impact on Kensho.<\/strong> This study stands out by emphasizing how structured self-inquiry practices can facilitate awakening. It also suggests that Kensho is not a singular event but part of an ongoing process of personal and spiritual evolution.

The study\u2019s qualitative analysis found that having gone through a dark night of the soul, having had prior awakenings<\/em>, childhood spiritual experiences<\/em> were the strongest predictors of Kensho. This suggests that past exposure to expanded states of consciousness and familiarity with the process of inner surrender makes an individual more receptive to breakthrough moments in the retreat setting. A dark night of the soul is characterized by a period in which the usual pattern of the conditioned self is interrupted, accompanied by some inner resistance, struggle, aimlessness, or sense of purposelessness in which the egoic self goes through a letting go or surrender process.

Among those who experienced Kensho, several key themes emerged:<\/p>\n\n\n\n