I find that many cultivators, meditators and spiritual practitioners have read countless spiritual books, but because many of these are translations of ancient foreign languages, have no clue as to WHAT IS THE TAO?

As Buddhism explains, there are 53 stages to complete and perfect enlightenment. In the Stage of Wisdom and Merit accumulation (the first stage of the spiritual path for every practitioner, no matter what the religion or school) there are 20 stages of emptiness realization (which is why some ordinary people seem more mentally open or flexible than others, even though they do not practice). In the Stage of Intensified Practices there are 20 stages of emptiness realization. Upon seeing the Tao, or initial self-realization or awakening to non-ego, you’ve reached stage 41 of this process — there are then 12 more of these stages to be mastered.

Stages 40-50 of the cultivation path, starting with initial enlightenment or the awakening to the emptiness or non-existence of the ego (since it is only a product of thoughts),  are  called the Bodhisattva bhumis. One is indeed enlightened at these stages, but errant habitual energy streams still arise in the mind that must be purified away which explains the 10 progressive stages. So one has discovered the absence or non-existence of the ego in "seeing the Tao" but not yet realized the emptiness of phenomena and done away with all obstructions. Hence upon intiial awakening, there is not COMPLETE enlightenment but just partial enlightenment.

Now various spiritual texts explain this absense of the ego, disintegration of the small self, realizing of your true nature, emptiness realization, and so on as terms that try to explain "spiritual enlightenment," "self-realization," "realizing the Tao. " But what is this like?

This is what I suggest — read "Collision With the Infinite" by Suzanne Segal, who reached this stage of non-ego but didn’t know what was happening. Despite years of meditation and spiritual training, she actually thought that it was a pathological state and had no one to tell her, "This is it. You’ve entered the path." Only upon seeing the Tao can we say you’ve finally entered the path and can  begin the Stage of True Cultivation Practice to get rid of the errant mental clingings and illusions still left.

Once you understand what it means to realize the non-existence of the ego, you can then read "Nothing Ever Happened," by David Godman, which in Book 3 recounts scribblings from Master Papaji’s diary. In his diary Papaji describes how he attained enlightenment, but still had to progressively cultivate through these stages for a deeper realization. So in this book you can find out what it entails, what questions come up, and what it means to realize "the emptiness of phenomena" after aninitial awakening tot he "emptiness of the ego." This is the goal of all religions, and yet the origanized religions miss this completely.

First, in seeing the Tao, you realize the emptiness of the ego, or emptiness of the self. Next you have to cultivate to realize the emptiness of phenomena. As Samantabhadra says in the Surangama Sutra, it is not ALL done at once, but step by step because of karmic obstructions that still linger.

And if you have other questions, then "I am That" by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj will fill in some details, too.

Why these books? Because they are modern ENGLISH accounts of enlightenment. Once you understand what THEY say, then you can better understand ancient Zen stories, Taoist works, and Buddhist texts. Translators have used the best words possible to translate these ancient accounts, but in my opinion people never realize their true meaning unless they match them with modern accounts written in their own langauge. So know the goal, and then practice becomes easier.

As I point out constantly, use whatever works…these Hindu works are perfect because what is explained about enlightenment from these realized masters is in modern verbiage and English. So that will help you understand the cultivation path. If a Hindu text says it better, use that. If a Buddhist book, then use that, if a Christian, Taoist, Zen or other book, then use that. It’s all the same fundamental Ground State, or God they are pointing to. This is the state of liberation or freedeom or Union with God or enlightenment. You just have to get there.

Just get rid of denominationality and use what works, as long as it’s virtuous and pure.