The Duality of Emptiness and Awareness

Kenneth Folk is a personal meditation trainer known worldwide for his innovative approach to secular Buddhist meditation. After twenty years of training in the Burmese Theravada Buddhist tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw, including three years of intensive silent retreat in monasteries in Asia and the U.S., Kenneth began to spread his own findings, successfully stripping away religious dogma to make meditation accessible to modern practitioners. Kenneth has been recognized by Wired Magazine as an influential voice in Silicon Valley’s tech culture, a "power player of the mindfulness movement." Website: kennethfolkdharma.com YouTube Channel Summary and Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 1/17/2015 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Kenneth Folk 00:04:30 - Degrees and Levels of Awakening 00:09:16 - The Diversity of Spiritual Perspectives 00:13:45 - The Constituents of Experience 00:18:39 - Debunking the idea of an awareness ground state 00:23:19 - The Meaning of Nibbana 00:27:53 - The Radical Idea of Nibbana 00:31:51 - The relevance of Buddhism for us 00:36:39 - The Witness State 00:41:34 - The Sublime Experience of the Witness 00:46:32 - Evaluating Different Experiences 00:51:08 - The Drive to Discover Deeper Reality 00:54:57 - What is Mindfulness and its relation to meditation? 00:58:19 - The Two Types of Meditation and the Importance of Mindfulness 01:01:13 - Awakening through Meditation 01:04:20 - The Benefits of Dedicated Practice 01:07:29 - Different Ways of Defining Awakening 01:11:07 - Varieties of Experience 01:14:11 - The Myth of Hercules and its implications in athletics and brain development 01:17:31 - The Finite Resource of Attention 01:20:44 - Understanding Mindfulness through Concentration 01:24:06 - The Relationship between Concentration and Enjoyment 01:27:27 - Filters and Objectification in Meditation 01:30:32 - The Developmental Window for Awakening 01:33:25 - Our Umwelt and the Experience of Reality 01:36:40 - The Pursuit of Sublime Experiences 01:40:24 - The Ultimate Union with Consciousness 01:43:32 - The Evolution of the Spiritual Scene 01:46:05 - Awakening and the Power of Grassroots Transformation 01:49:16 - Percolating Shifts in the Industry 01:51:53 - Appreciation for the Audience