With the light of perfect wisdom, dispel the cloud of ignorance. Subject to decay are all conditioned things. Practice with diligence.
The Buddha's last words
I want to practice with diligence. What about you?
One of the things we are reminded to do through our practice, be it a yoga practice or a dharma practice or just a life practice...is to step back into witness consciousness and observe. Take a step backwards, create some distance between Self and "self", between what seems to be happening and what is etc; while we detach and let go of our wrong views and mixed up ways of seeing . We replace ignorance and confusion with clarity as we observe what is happening on the stage we erroneously believe is us, and on the world stage before us, which erroneously believe isn't us. ...without getting all tangled up in it.
Taking a step back, we observe our mind and heart patterns. We observe what we have been doing that is not working as we travel along on our hero's quest for happiness! We seek to drop the veil of ignorance so we can experience the wisdom that is there for us to embrace.
Enlightenment, Eckhart tolle reminds us in Laughter Breaks Through the Ego, is all about "light". It is a discovering of light inside us, the same light that is shining in all of us, a light that will remove darkness, "the cloud of ignorance". It is also referring to our ability to become "lighter", in terms of achieving a lack of heaviness which means freedom. Enlightenment is Self realization.
To awaken, like the Buddha did, we need to be willing and motivated to look inside our hearts and minds. This motivation will require the development of a "courageous heart" and the of use " heroic effort". We need to see how we have been seeking happiness in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways and to understand we are only suffering more in the long run from our misguided attempts.
Why should I , being subject to decay and death, subject to change keep seeking that which is subject to decay and death, keep seeking that which is subject to change? In these great cycles of birth and death where is freedom and happiness to be found?
The Buddha
We are all looking for freedom and happiness whether we know it or not. How do we find it?
Well, we are hopefully getting that the method we have been using to date, of clinging and resisting, doesn't work. Right? So if we want freedom and happiness, we need to be willing and motivated enough to change our patterns of relating to our inner and outer worlds. We start by observing what those old patterns are and then who is the One observing? We observe from the spaciousness of witness consciousness
It is certainly difficult knowing what to do when all that commotion is going on. The only lasting solution is to realize that it is the same you noticing it all. You are the one who is aware that your thoughts and emotions are shifting. It happens to us all the time. Just relax and be the one that notices. Be the one who sees the many-this is the path to self-realization. Michael A. Singer, page 115
In The Buddha's Life and Journey with Joseph Goldstein, we are reminded of Joseph Campbell's mythological description of The Buddha's awakening under the Bodhi tree. We can apply those stages to our own awakening.
We can recognize our call to destiny. Suffering often is that call, that catalyst that says:" I don't want to do this anymore, like this. It isn't working. I am suffering more from my misguided attempts than I am finding happiness. I can't run from what is inside me any longer...it only creates more pain in the long run."
Then in the second stage, the great renunciation, we let go of our wrong view, our mixed up way of looking at the world, our tendencies that do not serve and we become willing to release those samskaras we have clung to. We loosen our grip and stop clinging. We stop resisting what is.
In the third stage we enter the great struggle. We struggle, because we are motivated to do so, against the powers of delusion and illusion. We remove the veil of ignorance for the clarity of wisdom.
And finally we awaken...seeing and understanding that which is ours to see and understand. We understand clearly the cause of suffering and the solution for it..
Goldstein reminds us of these lovely words from Henry David Thoreau, I went out to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach., and not, when it came to die, discover that I had not lived. "
What is your motivation for practice? Why do you want enlightenment or Self-realization?
My motivation for being here...is my desire for wisdom and understanding. I want to front out the essential facts. I also have a desire to be happy and at peace so I can help others be happier and more peaceful. I believe there is quality to this motivation regardless if I ever help another soul or not. I guess my motivation makes my actions successful.
The quality of the motivation is a much truer measure of our actions than their success or failure...Dali Lama
It all starts with stepping back and observing the process and how we are in it.
All is well.
Joseph Goldstein /Be Here and Now Network. The Buddha's Life and Journey with Joseph Goldstein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW7_twGZJRs
Joseph Goldstein/ Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, The Example of the Buddha,https://tricycle.org/magazine/the-example-of-the-buddha/
Michael A. Singer ( 2022) living untethered New Harbinger/ Sounds True
Eckhart Tolle/ Namaste Publishing ( ) Eckhart tolle Laughter Breaks Through the Ego. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyUG5KnutTo
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