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Four Fundamental Questions: Talks and Essays About Human Experience and the Actual Practice of an Enlightened Way of Life
Book by Da Free John
118 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1980
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February 12, 2024Turns out books are actually more educational than tik tok who knew
October 21, 2020
Its a small book, but it had a huge impact on me and changed my seeking path.
September 16, 2024
A BRIEF AND ACCESSIBLE ORIENTATION TO ADI DA (AS OF 1980)
Adi Da Samraj (1939-2008) was born Franklin Albert Jones, but was also known as Bubba Free John, Da Free John, Da Love-Ananda, etc., until from 1991 until his death he settled on Adi Da Love-Ananda Samraj [or just "Adi Da"]. He became a famous and controversial spiritual teacher beginning in the 1970s counterculture. His movement has been criticized as cultic, abusive, etc., although his followers remain devoted to him, and often live in one of his five "Adidam" churches (including his main one on an island in Fiji).
He begins this 1980 book, "What are the questions that if answered truly would Enlighten you and would lead you to practice the Way of Truth?... what questions would make the practice of real or spiritual life inevitable if you were to answer them fully? The first question must necessarily draw your attention to the fact that the Condition in which you actually exist is entirely different from the condition you are presuming in this moment... you must first ask yourself this question: Are you the one who is living you now? Are you personally responsible for your existence?" (Pg. 11-12)
He states, "The second question is not, 'WHO is living you?'... The second fundamental question, then, following upon your answer to the first, is, 'What is your relationship to that One?'... You act as if, as a result of serious consideration, you had discovered that you are omnipresent, immortal, all-powerful, responsible for your own existence. In fact you are not. You are a zero in the midst of all of this! You know nothing about even this present moment of existence." (Pg. 14-15)
He says, "The third fundamental question ... is this: Do you know what anything is?... Out of nothing, out of nowhere, all of this manifestation appears. You can enter into play with it and think about it, but you never know what it IS." (Pg. 29) Then, "The fourth and final question to consider is: What is your relationship to all experience, and to every being and thing that exists?... it follows directly upon the answer to the third: No, I do not know what anything IS, and 'I' am not a separate knower... 'I' is not a viewer, a hidden self... Rather, 'I' is the body." (Pg. 35)
He asserts, "None of you has the least knowledge of what you are, and yet you are all here, very professionally being whatever it is that you are!... No one, regardless of his or her sophistication or experience, no one, not even myself, knows what a single thing is. Not what anything IS, you see. What is a shape, what is a place, where is it? We do not know that... Not Jesus, not Moses, not Mohammed, not Gautama Buddha, not Krishna, not Da Free John, no one has ever known what a single thing it... The summarization of our existence is Mystery, absolute, unqualified confrontation with what we cannot know." (Pg. 30-31)
Adi Da definitely doesn't appeal to everyone. Still, his earliest books (such as "Method of the Siddhas," "The Knee of Listening," "Garbage and the Goddess," etc.) are perhaps of more interest to the average "seeker" than his later ones.
Adi Da Samraj (1939-2008) was born Franklin Albert Jones, but was also known as Bubba Free John, Da Free John, Da Love-Ananda, etc., until from 1991 until his death he settled on Adi Da Love-Ananda Samraj [or just "Adi Da"]. He became a famous and controversial spiritual teacher beginning in the 1970s counterculture. His movement has been criticized as cultic, abusive, etc., although his followers remain devoted to him, and often live in one of his five "Adidam" churches (including his main one on an island in Fiji).
He begins this 1980 book, "What are the questions that if answered truly would Enlighten you and would lead you to practice the Way of Truth?... what questions would make the practice of real or spiritual life inevitable if you were to answer them fully? The first question must necessarily draw your attention to the fact that the Condition in which you actually exist is entirely different from the condition you are presuming in this moment... you must first ask yourself this question: Are you the one who is living you now? Are you personally responsible for your existence?" (Pg. 11-12)
He states, "The second question is not, 'WHO is living you?'... The second fundamental question, then, following upon your answer to the first, is, 'What is your relationship to that One?'... You act as if, as a result of serious consideration, you had discovered that you are omnipresent, immortal, all-powerful, responsible for your own existence. In fact you are not. You are a zero in the midst of all of this! You know nothing about even this present moment of existence." (Pg. 14-15)
He says, "The third fundamental question ... is this: Do you know what anything is?... Out of nothing, out of nowhere, all of this manifestation appears. You can enter into play with it and think about it, but you never know what it IS." (Pg. 29) Then, "The fourth and final question to consider is: What is your relationship to all experience, and to every being and thing that exists?... it follows directly upon the answer to the third: No, I do not know what anything IS, and 'I' am not a separate knower... 'I' is not a viewer, a hidden self... Rather, 'I' is the body." (Pg. 35)
He asserts, "None of you has the least knowledge of what you are, and yet you are all here, very professionally being whatever it is that you are!... No one, regardless of his or her sophistication or experience, no one, not even myself, knows what a single thing is. Not what anything IS, you see. What is a shape, what is a place, where is it? We do not know that... Not Jesus, not Moses, not Mohammed, not Gautama Buddha, not Krishna, not Da Free John, no one has ever known what a single thing it... The summarization of our existence is Mystery, absolute, unqualified confrontation with what we cannot know." (Pg. 30-31)
Adi Da definitely doesn't appeal to everyone. Still, his earliest books (such as "Method of the Siddhas," "The Knee of Listening," "Garbage and the Goddess," etc.) are perhaps of more interest to the average "seeker" than his later ones.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews