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André van der Braak (1963-)
Andre van der Braak was born in 1963 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. From 1981 to 1986 he studied at the University of Amsterdam, majoring in clinical psychology (comparing psychoanalysis and buddhist insight meditation using Ken Wilber's model), as well as comparative philosophy (graduating with a thesis on Nietzsche and Buddhism).
His search for a synthesis between Eastern spirituality and Western psychology led him, via TM, yoga, J. Krishnamurti, advaita vedanta and Buddhism (he was a buddhist for five years, practising meditation intensively), finally in 1987 to Andrew Cohen.
He lived in Andrew Cohen's community for eleven years, was editing his books and was the first editor-in-chief of the now well-known magazine ‘What is Enlightenment?'. In 1998 he left the community disillusioned. Since then he has worked for several years as an IT Consultant for ABN AMRO bank and as IT manager for various internet startups. Currently he lives in Amsterdam and has just finished up a Ph.D. dissertation on Nietzsche's sceptical ethics of self-realization. He teaches philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and at Luzac College in Alkmaar.
Publications:
http://www.avdbraak.nl/publicaties/
Zen spirituality in a secular age — Charles Taylor and Zen Buddhism in the West
https://www.academia.edu/2269031/Zen_spirituality_in_a_secular_age_Charles_Taylor_and_Zen_Buddhism_in_the_West
Zen spirituality in a secular age II — Dōgen on Fullness Zazen as Ritual Embodiment of Buddhahood
https://www.academia.edu/2269032/Zen_spirituality_in_a_secular_age_II_D%C5%8Dgen_on_Fullness_Zazen_as_Ritual_Embodiment_of_Buddhahood
Toward a philosophy of Chan enlightenment: Linji's anti-enlightenment rhetoric
in: Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 37(2):231-247, May 2010
https://www.academia.edu/2269026/TOWARD_A_PHILOSOPHY_OF_CHAN_ENLIGHTENMENT_LINJIS_ANTI-ENLIGHTENMENT_RHETORIC_TOWARD_A_PHILOSOPHY_OF_CHAN_ENLIGHTENMENT
PDF: Hisamatsu Shin’ichi: Oriental Nothingness
by André van der Braak
In: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, Volume 8. 2019, Pages 635-647
PDF: Reimagining Zen in a Secular Age:
Charles Taylor (1931-) and Zen Buddhism in the West
by André van der Braak
Leiden, Boston, 2020.
This book is dedicated to my Zen teacher Ton Lathouwers.
PDF: Nietzsche and Zen: self-overcoming without a self
by André van der Braak
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
PDF: Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru
by Andre van der Braak
2003
http://www.avdbraak.nl/eb/
Enlightenment Blues is Andre van der Braak's first hand account of his relationship with a prominent spiritual teacher. It chronicles both the author's spiritual journey and disenchantment as well the development of a missionary and controversial community around the teacher. It powerfully exposes the problems and necessities of disentanglement from a spiritual path.
Andre van der Braak lived in Andrew Cohen's spiritual community for 11 years, an involved initiated shortly after Cohen had begun teaching. He was one of the original editors for What is Enlightenment? magazine. He was also an editor for Cohen's first teaching text, Enlightenment is a Secret, which entailed reading over 4,000 pages of transcribed talks, and editing them into book form.
Cf. Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening by Andrew Cohen, Deepak Chopra
For an excerpt from Enlightenment Blues, read the introduction.
Introduction
All religions point to the same transpersonal truth. The realization of this truth is often indicated by the term ‘enlightenment'.
Over the centuries many kinds of approaches have been devised to gain access to that larger truth. One thing they almost all have in common is the need to submit to a spiritual guide or teacher. This is deemed necessary because most of us are too caught up in our conditioning to find our own way out of it. Consequently for the teacher to be effective, the student must trust him or her very deeply.
A profusion of such minded spiritual communities exploded onto the scene during the Sixties and Seventies. As the churches in the West emptied out, the holy sites in the East filled up with westerners hungry for spiritual experiences. A spiritual renaissance was in the air. Westerners enrobed as Buddhist monks, visited ashrams to study yoga, and became followers of westernized Eastern teachers such as as Bhagwan Rajneesh, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Suzuki Roshi, or Swami Muktananda. Enlightenment seemed at hand.
At the time when my story begins, around the late eighties, the atmosphere had changed. The new goddess Enlightenment was not so easily won. Some of the original enthusiasm had given way to doubt and uncertainty. Buddhist monks disrobed and became meditation teachers in the West. They experimented with psychotherapy, romantic relationship as a spiritual path, and spirituality in daily life. The grandiose ambitions of before were scaled down to more realistic proportions. After the ecstasy, the laundry—as one book title puts it.
Apart from the elusive nature of enlightenment there was another disturbing development. Enlightened spiritual teachers had become embroiled in public scandals, usually related to sex, money or power . This left many dedicated spiritual seekers disappointed and disillusioned. Either enlightenment wasn't to be attained, or if it was attained, it didn't turn people into decent humans. There was a general sense of crisis and confusion.
In came Andrew Cohen, a fresh young American boy-next-door who had apparently managed to woo the ever-elusive Enlightenment. In 1986, after having tried many approaches, Andrew went to see an obscure Indian guru, H.W.L. Poonja, a disciple of the famous sage Ramana Maharshi. After a few conversations, the inconceivable happened. Enlightenment descended upon Andrew. In some mysterious way, Andrew had spontaneously morphed from an insecure thirty-year old into a charismatic spiritual teacher with a silver tongue, exuding great clarity and a mystical presence. Suddenly Andrew was irresistible, and wherever he went people wanted to be around him, and hang onto his every word. He seemed to possess an uncanny ability to transmit a deep glimpse of enlightenment, inspiring people to leave everything behind and become his disciples. Thousands of people still full of hope and longing flocked to see him.
When Andrew came to Amsterdam in 1987, I went to see him. Meeting Andrew was a revelation for me. I felt, like so many others around me, that finally I had understood what enlightenment was, not as a theory but as a living actuality. Those of us drawn to Andrew were also drawn to each other. We were united by a deep love for and surrender to Andrew. We saw ourselves as the latest manifestation of an age-old phenomenon , like Christ and his disciples, stirring up the religious (in this case Buddhist) establishment. We saw Andrew as a ‘fisher of men' who told us to ‘let the dead bury the dead'. We were sure that Andrew's revolution would take the spiritual world by storm.
Andre van der Braak, July 2003
