Tuesday, November 26, 2013

by Tenzin Palmo


"Normally we are so identified with our thoughts and emotions, that we are them. We have to learn to step back and know our thoughts and emotions are just mental states. They are not solid, they are transparent. Then arises the question: ”who am I?” And the great understanding is that the further back we go the more open and empty the quality of our consciousness becomes. Instead of finding some solid little eternal entity, which is “I”, we get back to this vast spacious mind which is interconnected with all living beings. In this space you have to ask, where is the “I” and where is the “other”. As long as we are in the realm of duality, there is “I” and “other”. This is our basic delusion. It’s what causes all our problems. Because of this we have a sense of being very separated. That is our basic ignorance!

This duality, this sense of being separated is the cause of our fundamental pain, the deep loneliness that human beings feel at the core of their being. We create this sense of an “I” and everything else is “ Non I”. And from that comes this attraction to other “Non I” which “I” want, and this aversion to everything “I” don’t want. This is the source of greed, our aversion and all other negative qualities that we have. It all comes from this basic dual misapprehension.

Once we realize that the nature of our existence is beyond thought and emotions, that it is incredibly vast and interconnected with all other beings, then the sense of isolation, separation, fear and hopes fall away. It’s a tremendous relief! This is the joy of unity that comes when the ego has been shed.

We are not enlightened because we do not bother to bring ourselves back to the present because we are too fascinated by the games the mind is playing.

Genuine renunciation is giving up our fond thoughts, all our delight in memories, hopes and daydreams, our mental chatter. To renounce that and stay naked in the present is renunciation!

We say we want to be enlightened but we don’t. Only bits of us want to be enlightened. We are stopped by fear and lethargy; the great inertia of the mind. We should wake ourselves up but instead we find excuses…we like dreaming!"

No comments:

Post a Comment