From this page, you can access posted draft sections from the forthcoming book, The Critical Path to Awakening (CP2A), which is the long-form version of the Axis Mundi Awakening map of Buddhist insight and realization.

“Critical Path” as Concept

Critical path is a concept borrowed from business project management methods. A critical path comprises

• the delineation of all the necessary stages and steps toward a project goal,

• the longest expected duration of each step, and

• the "dependencies" of the beginning of one step on the completion of some prior step or steps.

A critical path as a whole yields the shortest possible beginning-to-end representation of the route to a goal. Thus, the book, The Critical Path to Awakening, is a whole-path project management template from zero to highest realization, and it aims for the greatest efficiency available to those who practice with devotion and diligence.

The Uniqueness of the Book

The concept for CP2A arose from a gaping lack in the burgeoning western Dharma book market: Although countless niche books exist on this or that isolated theory or practice morsel, nothing exists to empower the practitioner to do the following:

• Plan the most efficient whole path toward the goal of enlightenment

• Efficiently navigate the order of stages and levels of meditation practice

• Document and interpret preliminary results

• Diagnose stable attainments

• Integrate rather than merely transcend human life and relationship in the physical and subtle dimensions

The Dharma book market is currently a buffet with no defined meal courses that govern menus which, in turn, govern recipes. It is a fragmented pedagogy. Without continuity-of-care whole-path guidance, the practitioner risks misdirection toward the ultimate goal—enlightenment—as well as toward the mastery of the currently alluring practice morsel.

CP2A solves this problem for busy Western laypersons by delineating the following in modern English:

• A coherent model of enlightenment

• A tested syncretic map of the stages and substages of spiritual realization

• Diagnostic criteria for the completion of each substage

To achieve its aim as a comprehensive workbook for the awakening project, CP2A includes figures and tables that support concepts and diagnostic comprehension, retention, and reference.

The practitioner traverses the critical path as honed for overall efficiency:

• Model informs map.

• Map drives method.

• Method determines specific practice modules.

• Practice confirms the results framework.

Syncretism and Holism

The pragmatism of this summary may sound dry to aspirants who currently labor under the misguided but culturally pervasive notion that meditation is relaxation therapy. The book’s fuller expression, however, offers inspiration to all practitioners. Specifically, it borrows “greatest hits” from several vehicles and traditions. Additionally, CP2A addresses psycho-emotional challenges and works with them meditatively as such.

In an implicit counter-ideological undercurrent, CP2A also brings into relief the ways that current hypermasculine modes of practice and concomitantly patriarchal Dharma community norms must be balanced by the feminine archetypal principle in individual men and women alike if the Dharma is to survive, evolve, and thrive in the West. CP2A therefore drives what is at stake into fertile open ground.

Online Bonus Writings

An important practice in the Axis Mundi curriculum is daily journaling of one’s practice. To share personal practice experience and to model the journaling practice, a bonus post category appears as Jenny’s Early Practice Journaling. Much of this content was published on the former Jhana Jenny website.

Donations for Book Cover Design

Some people have asked how donations may be made. Below is a button to donate through PayPal. The funds will go to pay for original art for the cover of CP2A, as well as professional front and back cover layout design.