The prestigious American psychologist, Abraham Harrold Maslow has presented his theory of the hierarchical needs of life in which he postulates that "self-realization" is the highest need of one’s life, that the most perfect symbol of obtaining the highest need is peak experiences" , and that his definition of it is “a strong identity experience". I will summarize the following eighteen characteristics of its specific intension here:
1、和谐完整，浑然一体。
Everything blends into one harmonious and integrated whole.
2、 忘我融入，天人合一。
Becoming an integral part of nature by losing oneself and melting into it.
3、一泻千里，状态最佳。
Being in the best state as when a river flows vigorously.
4、得心应手，轻松自如。
Being good at what one does and handling things with great facility.
5、信心百倍，无坚不摧。
Being full of confidence as if all can be conquered.
6、摆脱痛苦，一切乐观。
Being free from suffering and optimistic about everything.
7、淳朴率真，犹如孩童。
Being as unsophisticated and pure as a newborn baby.
8、灵活圆融，即兴发挥。
Being flexible and tactical and improvise at will.
9、 独一无二，奔放天性。
Being unique by blooming one’s own nature fully.
10、全神贯注，当下感受。
Being absorbed in the present.
11、超凡脱俗，精神至上。
Being unworldly and regarding spiritual pursuit as supreme.
12、精气神足，十分圆满。
Being in a state of perfection with abundant essence, qi, and spirit.
13、 诗意盎然，神秘狂喜。
Being poetic and full of mysterious ecstasy.
14、宣泄一空，爽然若释。
Release one’s energy completely and being clear, bright, and fresh, and as if all inner struggles had dissolved.
15、清新透明，无敌无恨。
Feeling fresh, clear, and being free from hostility and hate within.
16、超然物外，极度平静。
Being free from worldly affairs and at absolute peace.
17、心醉神迷，奇妙无比。
Immersing oneself within the ecstasy of delight and feeling everything's amazement.
How many people can enjoy the “peak experience” that is described above? I suppose very few! What does that wonderful state that obsesses you and makes you lose yourself and meld with the outside world feel like? Consider the following descriptions:
“我仿佛是到了天堂的一种感觉。”
“I feel like I am in heaven”
“我有一种模糊的眩晕感——兴奋刺激的温暖、充盈、湿润、充满力量。”
“I have a vague sense of vertigo; that exciting warmth, fullness, wetness, and power”
“I feel extremely excited and out of breath; at the same time, my head becomes as light as a feather as if I were dreaming with a vague, distant voice, in a stagnant moment”
“喜悦、欢乐、令人感到兴奋、刺激，使我快乐得发狂。”
“Joy, pleasure, excitement, and thrill all make me madly joyous”
“感觉棒极了，象是身体的最佳状态。”
“I feel so terrific; seems in my body’s best state”
“仿佛象是一种觉醒和生命的开始。”
“I feel as if I were awakening into a new LIFE which had just begun at that moment.”
“感觉奇妙无比，几乎是人无力承受的极度狂喜。”
“It felt wonderful, almost unbearable ecstasy for human being“
“魅力无比！血液奔腾！不顾一切！消魂飘荡！极度兴奋！奇妙无比！令人陶醉！充满力量！美不可言！”
“Charming! Blood rushing! Desperate! Gone with the spirit! Absolute excitement! Wonderful! Intoxicating! Powerful! Beauty beyond words!”
“从某个方面性欲唤起能给予我机会让我超越自我，从日常生活存在的迷雾中醒来。”
“In some aspects, my libido awakens me and gives me a chance to transcend myself, awakening from the dense fog of daily life and ‘being’”
“象是离开了我的肉体，离开了我的精神，而且也不是真的关心对于平常的自我显得重要的一切。”
“I feel as if being away from my flesh, from my spirit, with no care for everything that matters to my daily self.”
“生命的住足，宛如瞬间的永恒，透过畅饮和品尝肉体的甘美的强烈交融。”
“My LIFE stays here like the eternal but all in one instant, tasting the sweetness and beauty of life, blending into each other mightily”
“一种奇异的感觉，我的自身存在的另一维，从我生命的支撑点那里飘离融化。”
“An amazing feeling, my own self-existence in another dimension; floating and melting from the supporting point of my LIFE”
“一种猛然喷涌的烈焰，强烈，吞噬一切，美妙之极。”
“A sudden gush of roaring fire; strong, devouring, wonderful”
“A pleasant, refreshing, irresistible sensation; growing until it becomes a rapid, high-altitude, screaming rocket with blast-like pleasure appearing in my sexual organs and then radiating throughout my entire body while everything else has gone. My "inside" feels full of vitality; its strength, wetness, heat, and intensity feel wonderful. For almost the complete time, all sorts of burning, wonderful sensations radiate from within my thighs as if everything around me has ceased to exist and I am completely immersed in this wonderful feeling; until now, I haven't found a more wonderful feeling in my entire life.”
“The sensation is an utter immersion without willpower and disconnected from my mind. It conquers me completely and occupies my body; the best word to describe this physiological sensation in terms of its destructive overall effect is “temerarious”. The only physical feeling that I can equate it to would be some forms of stiffness and tension, and also the indistinguishable, internal explosion of the parts of my sex organs.”
"My body tightens gradually, my feeling reaches a steep peak of bliss, and then I reach an extremely joyous high plateau and let sharp screams out and slip across this feeling of bliss peak, then my body convulses violently five or six times, sharply and intensely at first, then more bluntly, slowly, and gently.”
The descriptions above describe the “peak experiences” of reaching sexual climaxes. In his investigative reports spanning five continents, Maslow stated that there are two methods for mankind to acquire “peak experiences”; one is sex, the other is music.
Sex, is the most common way to acquire those “peak experiences”. The supreme realm for Buddhist study is entering the Elysium World, and doing so means immersing into those “peak experiences” eternally. In order to enter the Elysium World, one must achieve “an enlightened heart that is perceptive of nature”, for Buddha is nature and nature is Buddha.