Stephen Snyder - Demystifying Awakening: A Buddhist Path of Realization, Embodiment, and Freedom

With skill and compassion, Stephen invites a surrendering into the formless, luminous presence that is our true home. This is a rich and beautiful resource for those called to deepen their exploration of Awakening and freedom.

Tara Brach, best-selling author of Trusting the Gold and Radical Compassion

We all long for a timeless inner peaceand Stephen Snyder shows us the path to it. As a guide, he is friendly, helpful, and sweetly encouraging. In his pages, you feel like youre coming home to who youve always been: wakeful, loving, contented, and wise. Hes done a brilliant job of clearing away the clutter and summarizing the essential steps of full Awakening. Its a joy to walk them!

Rick Hanson, PhD, NYT best-selling author of Neurodharma and Buddhas Brain

A unique and profound manual. It clearly and succinctly unveils the path and process of Awakening as practiced, lived, and taught by Stephen Snyder. Written from deep experiential knowledge and wisdom, this book resonates as a transmission of Awakening.

Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, NYT best-selling author of Unwinding Anxiety and The Craving Mind

A remarkable grounding in the Absolutein the formless, timeless, spaceless reality that is always immediately with us, showing up as every moment of our livesradiates right through this deeply compassionate work. It maps out, compares, and shares the paths to profound Awakening that the author has trod himself, making the paths seem accessible to each and every one of usas in fact they are. There is indeed a path to Awakeningor even 84,000 pathsand accepting Stephens invitation to join him on the deep ones presented here will surely be the journey of a lifetime.

Henry Shukman, author of One Blade of Grass and guiding teacher of Mountain Cloud Zen Center

Stephen has written a profound manual of Awakening that is rich with the insights of a lifetime of practice, and abundant with the kinds of insights that can only come from the firsthand experience of one who has truly walked the path. A must read for everyone who is serious about waking up in this life!

Steve James, educator, founder of the Movement Koan Method, and host of the Guru Viking Podcast

In Demystifying Awakening, Stephen Snyder pulls back the curtain on the process and experiences of spiritual Awakening. He offers a gradual and multifaceted series of practices, including self-inquiry, meditation, and contemplation, derived from his own practice and from his years of guiding and supporting others. This is not a conceptual book for scholars; rather, its a book for those of us who long for the freedom that the Buddha promised and who are willing to walk the walk.

Jennifer Wheeler, MA, Buddhist Studies, University of Sunderland

If youve been on the hunt for a practical guide to dissolving the small self and its many-colored coat of suffering, stop here. In Demystifying Awakening, Stephen deconvolutes and disambiguates the many steps and stages of enlightenment, grounding even the wordless, formless, ageless, entirely empty realm-that-is-not-a-realm into right-now possibility. He walks you right to the edge.

Elizabeth Koch, founder of Unlikely Collaborators

To say Ive been waitingthroughout fifty years of Buddhist practicefor someone to write this book is an understatement. Finally, here is a presentation of the path to Awakening, the processes of growth, and how to address the obstacles within the unfolding of insight and realization. It carefully lays out the methods for breaking through the barriers of self-identity to Awakening, and provides descriptions and confirmation of the awakened state. This book is a guide, a manual, a companion to any practitioner in retreat or on the path to Awakening.

Dhammadasa, founder and former director of Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

Demystifying Awakening is enormous in its scope, from the beginning of practice to expansive experiences of Awakening. To condense a lifetime journey into a book is an incredible undertaking and results in a gift to those who can find themselves somewhere in its pages. It is clear that the book is offered as an inspiration and encouragement to the practitioner, and in this it succeeds completely.

Susie Harrington, meditation teacher at Desert Dharma

Stephen lovingly guides us through the subtle landscapes of the Awakening process, inviting us to know for ourselves our true identity. He does this with precision, rigor, and the felt sense of direct realization. This book transmits a depth of nuanced wisdom that is rare.

Marisa Mohrer, LMSW, MPH, trauma therapist and author of Songs of Awakening

Demystifying Awakening is an immediate classic! This book clarifies and explains the core principles and teachings of the spiritual journey to Awakening. This book consolidates Stephens years of experience in meditation, Awakening, and teaching; it is a must read for anyone who has ever had an interest in discovering a deeper truth.

navira, Matthew Buckley, Buddhist monk

A wonderful guide to the Awakening path. Lucid and precise, Stephen shares his story of the precious gift of his own Awakening through Buddhist teachings and practices. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the path of Awakening in any tradition as well as to followers of Buddhist practices.

Constance Corson, MD, psychiatrist and meditation teacher

Stephens direct experiences of jhna, emptiness, and Awakeningcoupled with his ability to transmit these experiences through his teaching and writingare extraordinary. This book is well worth having in everyones library.

Warren Buck, PhD, physicist and meditation teacher

Copyright 2022 Stephen Snyder

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The information in this volume is not intended as a substitute for consultation with health-care professionals. Each individuals health concerns should be evaluated by a qualified professional.

Buddhas Heart Press

awakeningdharma.org

Midland, MI, USA

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021924389

ISBN: 978-1-7347810-6-9 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-1-7347810-5-2 (e-book)

Editing by Erin Parker

Proofreading by Lynn Slobogian

Cover and interior design by Jazmin Welch

E-book production by Bright Wing Media

Project management by Carra Simpson

Ebook by Bright Wing Media

I dedicate this book to my Guamanian mother who raised me for the first seven years of my life. From her I learned the invaluable lessons of giving and receiving unconditioned love and of seeing nature as teacher.

A cornerstone of Buddhism, Awakening is seeing clearly through the lens of who we take ourselves to be in quiet recognition of our abiding true nature. True nature is the absence of a separate self, coupled with a direct knowing of the unbreakable connection, of Oneness, of all life, including each of us as our true nature. Approximately 2,600 years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha awoke from the conceptual conviction that he (and every other living being) was only a separate individual. The Buddhas deep Awakening was revolutionary. His customary self-identity fell away never to return. He maneuvered through life appearing as a human in earthly form while internally his