Pointers

You are already what you are seeking!


*****


What is it, right now, that is not a thought, an emotion, a sensation, an appearance, or a sound? Be very still, as you sit with this, as you ponder this. What is present, but is none of the things that is listed above? What precisely is left?


*****


Even the Buddha tried concentration, piety, silence, quieting his mind, watching his breath, and self-mortification. But none of them lead him to recognize the essence of Existence.


*****


You think you have to seek "enlightenment." But that is merely an assumption, and an incorrect one, at that. Further, the idea of enlightenment adds fuel to the fire that self-knowledge can be ambushed or aggressed, and that there must be the requisite period of time for all of this to take place.


*****


The task of the teacher is to remove misunderstanding. And this is done not by transmissions or by the giving of spiritual names, but by pointing to the immediacy of our natural and ever-present state.


*****


Emerson was correct: "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." Look into what you are right now. Don't ever bother with the who, because the who is a fiction, an appearance. It comes up as a thought, a feeling, or a sensation, or a memory (which is simply another thought), and then is gone. Awareness is ever-there, and is precisely what you are. See, with ease and clarity, the astonishing obviousness of this fact.


*****


You cannot "bring more presence" into your life. It isn't something that can be parceled in. Either this presence of awareness is there, in toto, or it is not (or at least it appears not to be).


*****


Your natural state is already before you and within you. But you keep returning to the level of the mind when you attempt to meditate, watch your thoughts, or a repeat mantra. Ironically, it is the moment after doing any one of these things that you are back to your ever-spacious and pristine naturalness.


*****


If you want to take a vow of silence, that's perfectly fine. But if your intent is to use that vow as a means of "reaching" Truth, it's not going to happen.


*****


When you attempt to "be present," you--as a thought, an imagined entity--are trying to align yourself with presence. But how can a thought, which is a mere appearance, align itself with awareness, which is an actuality? Instead of attempting to "be present," wouldn't it make far more sense to bring your attention to the fact that you are presence itself?



*****


Put your trust in your own experience and understanding, and not in what was said or repeated in some ancient text. And don't waste time contemplating such vague notions as "life's impermanence," the "reconstituting self," and the "legitimacy of samsara." Simply see that thoughts, sentiments, and sensations come and go. But there is always something that fully remains: Awareness proper.