Satori
The Zen Buddhist concept of sudden enlightenment or awakening to true nature.
Also known as: Zen enlightenment, Sudden awakening, Kensho
Category: Concepts
Tags: philosophies, zen, buddhism, wisdom, enlightenment
Explanation
Satori is the Zen Buddhist term for sudden enlightenment or awakening - a flash of intuitive understanding of one's true nature and reality. Unlike gradual enlightenment through accumulated practice, satori is: sudden and unexpected, transformative yet momentary, and beyond intellectual understanding. Satori is not: a state to achieve and keep, understanding through thinking, or something the ego accomplishes. It often arises from: intense meditation, koan practice (paradoxical questions that exhaust conceptual mind), and ordinary moments when mind is open. Satori reveals: what was always already present, the emptiness of fixed self, and reality prior to conceptual overlay. The experience is described as: waking from a dream, seeing what was always there, and sudden clarity. Satori is both important and not - important as glimpse of true nature, unimportant as something to grasp for. For knowledge workers, satori represents: the possibility of sudden insight, the value of practices that open mind, and recognition that breakthrough understanding may come unexpectedly.
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