N-lightenment

Something in you already knows.

The Language of Zen

by 2 Comments

zen-languageI am you.
But I am not me.
This may sound strange, like poetry, a metaphor or a Zen riddle.
Yet I assure you it is simple, basic, obvious truth.
Because there is no separate, independent self-nature, of course I am you. How could I not be?
Because there is no separate, independent self-nature, how could I be me?
There is nothing I am not, except me. Me would be a separate, independent self, which I cannot be.

We often see the writings of ancient Zen masters as some cryptic metaphor or secret language we are certain must mean something else, its true meaning hidden from us. But usually it is simply the straightforward experience of the moment.

I am you.
But I am not me.

Mountains are rivers and rivers are mountains.

When you believe that there is a separate, independent self-nature and you are it, the language of Zen makes no sense at all. The language of Zen is written by people who no longer believe in nor experience a separate, independent self-nature. The illusion of separation has fallen away. Seen in this way, the writing is very clear and simple.

When we are free of this illusion of separation, we can also use words like mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. But they do not mean the same thing as they did when we believed in separation. Mountains are mountains, but they have no separate, independent self-nature. Nothing does. So we can also say, “I am the mountain. The mountain is me.”

The English language is based entirely on duality. We have names for everything and each name and what that name represents is an independent entity separate from all other entities with a different name. This is useful, but it doesn’t represent truth as it is. It is simply a tool. Because this is the language we were taught, our thoughts correspond and depend on this language. So we perceive a world made of separate disconnected people and things.

When we first encounter Zen language, it throws us for a loop. According to what we’ve been taught and conditioned to believe, it make no sense. “I am you, but I am not me.” But Zen language is actually very straightforward and not cryptic or mysterious at all.

For just a moment suspend this thought that everything is separate from everything else, that you are separate from everything and everyone else. For just a moment, let go of your attachment to this thought. So conditioned are you to believe this and experience life in this way, you may have to let go of all thoughts for a moment. Now what is your experience? It’s nice, isn’t it. Spacious. Free. You feel connected. There’s a great feeling of love, not for any one person or thing, just radiating, for everyone, for everything. From here, listen to these words again. “I am you, but I am not me.” Does it begin to make more sense now? Maybe you would prefer silence. That’s always a good option.

Usually, it takes a while for the sense of separation to fall away. But sometimes it can happen in a brilliant flash. Sometimes Zen language helps that happen. Truth can have a powerful impact to a mind that is ripe and open to it.

The World’s Greatest Magic Trick

by 4 Comments

magic-trickIf you love magic tricks the way I do, you may also be fascinated with figuring them out. How did they do that? Magic tricks are illusions and, if they are done skillfully, they appear absolutely real. I think it is natural to be intrigued with magic tricks because the clever magic tricks professional magicians perform actually point to a much deeper and more fundamental magic trick that is a big part of our every-day life. When we watch stage magicians, even though the illusion appears very real, we know it’s not. That’s the fun of it. If you actually believe the magician pulled a card out of your ear, it wouldn’t be fun at all. You’d probably seek medical attention. But this other illusion I’m thinking of we do believe is real. And that’s where the trouble comes in.

Most magic tricks use distraction as a fundamental tool. While we’re watching the right hand, the left hand is setting up the illusion. And the magic trick that is continually going on in your daily life also uses distraction. You might say both the illusion and the magician is the internal thought of the separate self, what you commonly call I, myself. While your attention is riveted to this thought of me, you’re distracted from seeing what life and reality are constantly showing you – there is no me. There is no separate self.

In this way, you are actually living in this magic trick, this state of perpetual illusion, without even knowing it is a trick of the mind. It feels exactly like reality to you. That’s why I say this is the greatest magic trick there is.

Just as the stage magician has a number of assistants, both seen on stage and behind the scenes, your mind magician also has many assistants. Those assistants – friends, family members, colleagues, teachers, society, language – all reinforce this illusion, which they also believe completely. Without these tireless assistants, the trick would fall apart. The mental distraction alone would not be enough without this constant reinforcement.

Because this particular illusion is nowhere near as much fun as the ones you see in a magic show, and, unlike the magic show, actually create suffering in your life, at some point you develop a strong desire to peek behind the curtain. You begin your spiritual search. You begin doing spiritual practices, like meditation and self-inquiry. And, eventually, if you are diligent and focused, you do get to peek behind the curtain. And you discover that there is no separate self there. There is no separation at all. That was just the smoke and mirrors of distracting and heavily reinforced thoughts.

You may never be able to create a mental concept of what you do find behind that curtain, other than the same analogies and metaphors other finders have used. But these are just pointers. What you discover cannot be described in a language or thought that is incapable of describing it. But it doesn’t matter. You are free. You have discovered the greatest magic trick of all time. You’ve broken through the wall of illusion and the sun of reality is shinning brightly.

Is it surprising you want to tell others about it?

The End of All Suffering

by 4 Comments

Buddha taught that there was suffering and liberation from suffering. This video shows you exactly what that liberation is. All of our lives it has been staring us in the face. Life has never hidden this from us. May this video bring you the clarity you need to finally be free from suffering.

Take Off the Thought Filters

by Leave a Comment

A beautiful, short (only 3 minutes) video showing how our thoughts and beliefs filter and distort the world as it really is. When we believe our thoughts are real, we see a thought world, not the real world. But there is something we can do about that.

Map of Consciousness – Introduction

by Leave a Comment

Map of Consciousness – The Journey of Awakening
Map of Consciousness – The Journey of Awakening

Introduction to the Map

If we are to set out on a journey, it’s a good idea to have a map of where we want to go. If it is a new journey, there are places on the map we have not yet discovered. These places are completely unknown to us. Friends may have described some of these places, but all we really know is that they sound interesting and seem worth directly experiencing. Other places on the map we know pretty well. We’ve spent some time there. And still other places we have only briefly glimpsed through the car window as we passed by.

This map of consciousness is like this. Some places you are very familiar with. It is where you live or where you have lived before you moved on to this new place. Some places you have just had short glimpses of. And other places you have not yet experienced at all.

On our spiritual journey it is important to know where we are and where we used to be. Where we used to be is the state of consciousness we transcended to get to the state of consciousness we live in now. Where we are is the state of consciousness we live in now. There are also states of consciousness we have had brief glimpses of in meditation, on retreats, while reading a spiritual book or just in daily life. These are brief glimpses of a higher state of consciousness but they have not yet become the state of consciousness we live in. And then there are still higher states of consciousness we have not yet experienced at all.

This map is useful to show us where we are, where we have been and where we are going. States of consciousness are more dynamic than physical places on a map. But even so, a map can be useful.

It should be obvious that we can only describe where we are and where we have been. Where we have yet to be we cannot describe, just as on a physical map. We can describe the brief glimpses we had through the car windows in passing, but these will be limited and superficial. We’re actually pretty good at describing and understanding where we used to be from the higher vantage point of where we are now. We’re actually not that good at describing and understanding where we are now when it comes to consciousness. And we’re much less capable of understanding those brief glimpses. Limited as it is, this makes a map, created by one who has been down this same path a little further than you have, quite useful.

Don’t think of these as hierarchies or any form of judgments. Higher and lower are just words. To the awakened mind, they have no meaning. I use the words higher or lower because it makes it easier to understand. At some point in consciousness, the meaning of language falls away. Certainly in Oneness, all hierarchies must dissolve.

Wherever you are on this Map of Consciousness, think of it simply as where you are without any judgment about it. If you wanted to travel to a location one hundred miles from where you currently are, you would not condemn yourself for being one hundred miles away. After you traveled fifty miles, you would not condemn yourself for being fifty miles away nor feel special because you were fifty miles closer. You would simply be wherever you are at that particular point in time. And so it is with this map. You have a destination and right now you are at a certain location moving toward it. That is all.

You Are Already at the Final Destination

And here’s something very important to realize. You are already at the highest state of consciousness. In fact, you are this highest state of consciousness. This is what you truly are, your True Self, although you may not be aware of it yet. And that’s what the map is for, to show you what you already are but simply are not consciously aware of yet. The truth is you are already at the final destination. The map is just one of several tools to help you realize this. Even this map cannot show you what the final destination actually is if there even is one. Like all journeys, the spiritual journey is an ongoing process that has no end.

You can view this map in two ways. You can see it from Stage One, Pure Instinct, to Stage Seven, Pure Consciousness / Oneness, as the progression you are taking to realize what you truly are. Or you can view it from Stage Seven to Stage One to begin with what you truly are and see the various stages that obscure this but are always included in it. Look for where you currently are on this map and where you have already been. It will be easy to see where you are because where you have been will be very clear. Where you are may be a little less clear. We always see the previous stage in our evolution with more clarity than the stage we are on. Also notice the stages you have had brief glimpses of from time to time but do not live at yet. Everything comes from pure consciousness, so it is natural to have glimpses of higher stages of consciousness even though that is not your normal day-to-day experience. These brief glimpses show you where you are heading.

At each higher level of consciousness you will experience greater freedom, spaciousness, inner silence and stillness, peace, love leading to unconditional love and happiness leading eventually to bliss. Each higher level of consciousness comes from surrendering the limitations and restrictions of the current level of consciousness. The path of awakening is a continuous letting go. Beginning in Stage Two, Consciousness as Ego, specific meditation practices help us move to the next stage. By Stage Four, Consciousness as Love / Something More, meditation becomes a natural part of living rather than something we do. It becomes more of our natural state.

Click here for the Map of Consciousness

Are You Bargaining With God?

by 2 Comments

Are you bargaining with God?
Are you bargaining with God?

Is this you? Are you bargaining with God? Are you haggling to keep your identity, your treasured thoughts and beliefs? “I want freedom, peace and love, but I don’t want to lose my treasured identity. I’ve worked too hard to develop it, protect it and improve it. Can’t I have both? Can’t my ego awaken?” The answer is simple. No.  This is the bargaining we do that keeps us asleep, that keeps us suffering.

When I speak about surrender, I’ve had students actually say, “Please don’t use that word. I hate that word.” Of course you do. The ego hates that word. Spiritual surrender means total surrender. There are no halfway measures that work. And it means complete surrender of the ego. That’s what awakening really is, a complete surrender of the sense of being a unique separate self. A complete surrender of everything, of you, of the world, of all your ideas and beliefs about God, of everything.

This is what God is trying to sell you: the freedom, peace, love and bliss of Truth. God is trying to sell you God. Not the God of your beliefs, but actually God, the real deal. And God is also trying to get you to realize that you are not separate from this, not separate from anything, even God. There is no separation here except in your mind.

And this is what your bargaining is about. You’re trying to hold on to this limited sense of a separate self and all the suffering that you know comes along with it even if it means you lose out on Nirvana, Heaven, your True Infinite Self, God and freedom from all suffering. What kind of a bargain is that? Are you nuts? No, really? How long are you going to believe those thoughts that tell you the ego can figure it out, the ego can know God, the ego can find a way to awaken and be free of suffering? How has it worked so far? You can study every spiritual book in existence and it’s not going to get you any closer.

What it takes is surrender, complete surrender. This is what God is telling you. This is what your True Infinite Self is telling you. This is what Truth is telling you. Yet you prefer to listen to the voice of the ego again because it’s telling you you don’t have to surrender. It’s telling you surrender is a very bad idea. It’s telling you, you would be nothing without the ego.

Keep bargaining if you want to. Keep haggling. Keep listening to this inner voice of the ego. Keep believing that the price of surrender is just too steep a price to pay for Paradise, for Truth, for God. It’s up to you.