There’s a well-known phrase, ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’, that is generally used to express the benefits gained from, and debt owed to, the efforts of those who preceded us.

In the ‘enlightenment’ area this debt seems to be less often acknowledged.

This may perhaps be because ‘enlightenment’ when it occurs is seen to have no connection whatsoever to any previous knowing, or indeed any previous concept of a self that could know anything.

All the same, I have benefited from the work and descriptions given by many predecessors of what happened with them in their life, or what they ended up in through living and being. I have also benefited from their direct teachings, advice, and guidance.

I hereby formally acknowledge my gratitude to them, my thanks, and my love for them in their acts of self-sacrifice.