SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL PEOPLE HAVE SOUGHT ENLIGHTENMENT AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING. SUCH WAS THE CASE OF A YOUNG AMERICAN CALLED LAURANCE DARRELL FOLLOWING A DEVASTATING WARTIME EVENT. SEEKING AN ANSWER TO LIFE AND THE INFINITE HE TRAVELED TO INDIA EVENTUALLY STUDYING UNDER A VENERATED MAHARSHI. HIGH IN THE MOUNTAINS, HE EXPERIENCED ENLIGHTENMENT. BRITISH AUTHOR W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM CHRONICLED HIS STORY IN A BOOK HE CALLED THE RAZOR'S EDGE.

1. THE RAZOR'S EDGE: W. Somerset Maugham, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guy Hague, and Zen
   Explores who Larry Darrell was in "real life" and what happened to him post-novel.
   

   • THE RAZOR'S EDGE: True or False?
     All important Footnote [3]
     

   • THE MEETING: An Untold Story of Sri Ramana
     

   • THE SAINT
     Before he left for India did Somerset Maugham know about and intend to visit Sri Ramana Maharshi?
     

2. 20th CENTURY NOVELS: The Razor's Edge
   Maugham's novel was a runnaway bestseller. Some of the reasons why are explored.
   

3. RAZOR'S EDGE NOTES
   Quick overview of the novel's major characters and themes done in a list-type note style.
   

4. ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT: The Path Unfolds
   Recounts meeting "Larry Darrell" in real life and the downstream results of that encounter.
   

5. GUY HAGUE
   Some people think Guy Hague was the real life role model for Larry Darrell. Find out.
   

6. SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI
   Insights and background into the "holy man" Maugham used as a model for Larry Darrell's teacher.
   

   • LARRY DARRELL, THE HOLY MAN, AND SWAMI RAMDAS

   • SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI TIMELINE

   • SWAMI RAMDAS: A BIOGRAPHY

   Additional gurus, teachers and spiritual guides influential in Darrell's life:
   

   • YASUTANI HAKUUN ROSHI

   • FATHER ENSHEIM

   • KOSTI

7. RELIGION AND CATHOLICISM IN THE RAZOR' EDGE
   Although eastern mysticism is the main focus in Maugham's novel, threads of other religions abide.
   

8. MAXIM'S RESTAURANT, PARIS, AND THE RAZOR'S EDGE
   Maxim's was the backdrop to one of Isabel and Larry's major meetings.
   

9. LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
   In WWI, Larry, an American, served in the Royal Flying Corps. Watching his closest friend die sent him on his spirtual quest. Years later he meets a friend who flew for the French.
   

10. AS THE DAY BROKE IN ITS SPLENDOR
    Larry tells Maugham of his meeting with the Maharshi and eventual spiritual awakening.
    

11. THE BEST OF THE MAUGHAM BIOGRAPHIES:

    • WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM
      Good biography. Lots of Maugham graphics, from early childhood to late adult.
      

    • W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM: A BIOGRAPHY
      

    • MAUGHAM
      

    • MAUGHAM IN INDIA
      

    • LITERARY AMBULANCE DRIVERS
      Everybody knows Hemingway drove an ambulance during WWI, nobody knows Maugham did.
      

12. KATHA UPANISHAD
    Maugham opens his novel and gets the title THE RAZOR'S EDGE from the Katha Upanisand. What is the Katha Upanishad?
    

    
    

WHAT HAPPENED TO AWAKENING 101 AND THE GEOCITIES PAGES?

THE WANDERLING AND WIKIPEDIA

Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.

(PLEASE CLICK)

E-MAIL
THE WANDERLING
(please click)

Below is a list of freely accessible pages related to meditation, Enlightenment, and things Zen covered the meaning behind the words such as the three S's:

• Samadhi

• Siddhis

• Satori

As well as words and meanings behind such as:

• INKA SHOMEI

• SHIKANTAZA

• ANUTTARA SAMYAK SAMBODHI

And a variety of "number" concepts such as

• The Three Poisons

• The Four Sublime States

• The Five Varieties of Zen

• The Eight Jhana Factors

• The Ten Fetters of Buddhism

• The Twelve-year Rule

The same can be said about the free site links that show up in the below Althugh the content of the sites are not all Buddhist related per se' they do tie back and interrelated with most of the above sites and links:

Leonardo Da Vinci Ring Site


Best of the Roswell UFO Internet Sites


Best of the Carlos Castaneda Internet Sites


The Best of the William Someret Maugham Sites


Giant Birds and Flying Creatures In Fact and Fiction

You can also put any relevant word, term, phrase, or question into a search engine along with the words "the Wanderlng" in quotes as so presented and see what comes up. From there you can go on and on into infinity. Try it and see what happens.