Enlightenment is the end of 'me' as an individual!
If an individual 'thinks' they are enlightened, you can be sure of one thing:
'They are not enlightened.'
Why?
Because there is no such thing as
personal
or
individual
enlightenment.
There is only being happening, here it is, it's 'this'
....BANG....
all at once;
everythingness and nothingness
simultaneously!
The realization of enlightenment is
that there is no,
and never has been,
individuality.
The individual is an illusion.
The unenlightened individual is an illusion.
The enlightened individual is an illusion.
Enlightenment is the end of the illusion called individuality.
Enlightenment
is
Unity, Wholeness, Oneness, Beingness,
and yet it is beyond all labels.
Many wo/men 'think' they are
enlightened individuals,
not realizing that this terminology is,
in itself,
a complete contradiction.
It is a contradiction because enlightenment is the end of the individual.
There is no individual writing this!
There is no individual reading this!!
Writing is 'happening' through form, but there is no individual person doing the writing.
Reading is 'happening' through form, but there is no individual person reading it ....
...unless the one reading it is still an individual?
And even then, well, the individual is only seemingly so!
What is individuality?
It is, an illusion of separation, that there is an
'I',
which is separate and apart from all other form.
Can that separate
'I'
become
enlightened?
No.
Why?
Because it is
not
real,
it is an
illusion.
. . . if the cells of your body were to start arguing and fighting amongst themselves,
even acting as independent cells,
with no regard for each other,
what would be the outcome,
hm . . .
Enlightenment is the end of the illusion that there is an individual,
enlightened or otherwise.
What of the
Seeker?
The seeker is seeking
Enlightenment.
The problem is,
once the seeker 'thinks' they are an enlightened individual,
they have fallen into an even bigger trap;
the trap of being an enlightened individual....
....ha, ha..there is no such thing.
So now they have to realize something greater than individual enlightenment.
Personal Will
and
Individual Enlightenment
are simply
constructs of
an
Unenlightened
Mind.
The individual has to dissipate,
dissolve and disappear back into the nothingness,
which is everything.
But this can not be forced.
In fact,
ironically,
the opposite is more likely to bring about
a shift in consciousness.
The secret, if there is one, is to....
Let Go,
or,
Surrender
to
What
'Is'.
***
The death of individuality leaves what behind?
All that remains when the individual is no more, is, the physical form, and nothingness unfolding as everything....and, once again, form is only apparent!
Is enlightenment an 'experience'? No. Only individuality can 'experience'!
The Paradox here is that enlightenment is the end of experience,
the end of the individual, the end of personal will.
What is
'is',
it is just what 'is' happening as
'this'
with no experience and no experiencer.
And that is liberation.
;-)
Sounds more like a myth to me.
ReplyDeletegood.
ReplyDeleteWei Wu Wei began one of his books with (something like) "I write these books with only one objective, to prove that there is no one who could write them."
Good post Doug...or non-Doug. Would that make you Doug-less?
ReplyDeleteIn Soto Zen, the sitting is it. This is enlightened activity...no doer, just sitting...inhaling, exhaling. When you use zazen to try and get enlightened you turn your zafu into a cushion from hell!
Hi Tawan,
ReplyDeleteYes that's a great quote, here's another one:
"Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9% of everything you think,
And everything you do,
Is for your self,
And there isn't one."
Wei Wu Wei.
:-)) @Shinzen,
ReplyDeleteYes, Douglas is now Doug-less, ha, ha...insightful humour as always!
And, yes, all there is 'is' sitting, when sitting 'is'! The seeker seeks what already is, so sit, and here it 'is', or stand and here it is, or write and here it is.....not that anyone is writing, no, writing happens, words unfold...out of nothingness into somethingness; being is simply happening, like 'this'.
I, in the eyes of the world, am a father of four children, but I am not the role of 'father', although fathering happens.... no one is doing anything here, although it appears to those lost in individuality that there is a someone, and that someone is doing something.
;-)
Thank you once more for brightening up this blog....not that anyone was doing anything!
Hello Rizal, yes, for the great majority it remains a 'Mythtery' doethn't it? ;-)
ReplyDeleteJoking aside, for sure, man, the universe and everything is the 'Myth' that came to life.
Sweet! :-)
ReplyDeleteI am either everyone, or no one, or both! Fits in with my view.