The Essence of a Buddha

I have been asked what is the true nature of a "Buddha"? One tries not to be to esoterically vague, but the essence of a "Buddha" is nothing(ness), which is the same as saying it is everything. "Buddha" is not a ideal to become or a state of existence that is the result of a practice. You have heard it said that you are already a Buddha, one just needs to have the realization. If one is truly in the moment then there is the possibility that one will have an "original" realization that is born out of total freedom. The totality of existence is "open" to one who is experiencing the total freedom of the absolute moment. A person will begin to realize that there is no such thing as Buddha as a defined presence, there is only a consciousness of "unconditioned understanding". In reality there is no such thing as a "Buddha". Naming or defining is the result of a mind that is a prisoner of conceptual duality. It is because the mind that is in illusion must seek the defined in order to be defined. In order for there to be an organized and defined "Buddhism" there must be the illusion and the duality of "Buddhist" vs "Non-Buddhist". One cannot realize the true nature of the "unconditioned" if one is a practicing Buddhist and believes in Buddhism as a kind of religious pursuit. The truth lies in freedom from both belief and non-belief. Buddhism its self is totally irrelevant, it is meaningless to one who has realized the truth of the absolute moment.

You can start out with the ideal of Buddhism and the concept of Buddha nature, but in the end you have to throw it all out the window, because it will do more to prevent you from realizing than provide a path to it. Most people are looking for the superficiality of image and identification than actually realizing the true self. For to realize is to give everything up totally and to confront the realization of ones own conflict, confusion and fear. There will be no replacements for the loss of your illusions, one will stand alone, empty, without a name or a cause.

Beyond the LImitations of Thought

When thought has realized its own limitations, then it is possible to understand the nature of a consciousness that is the constant moment to moment rebirth of the reality of what is. It is the intelligence of seeing that is absent thoughts manipulations and projections. What is seen is the purity of the moment which reveals the origin of the minds true motivations and the subtle way in which thought is a captive of its conditioning. Most of us live in the acquisitive past tense. We are constantly seeking to acquire something either physically or psychologically that conforms to what we believe or "know". It is part of our efforts to further define the self. Our motivations are "always" for the benefit of the continuity of the ego/self. It is the recurring activity of a self that is seeking the repetition of an established image of what has been . Ones deep identity of knowing, the projection of what is known as ones illusion of knowing. This is a very difficult thing, to penetrate ones own psyche. To realize in the absolute moment the totality of ones being as the illusion of the self created fear of not being. But these words are not the reality of that realization. One cannot fathom the intensity and passion it takes to see the truth of what is. Neither can one know the essence of the nature of that realization in terms of the known. Words only allude to the possibility. Negation, putting aside your systems of manipulation and mind games is the beginning of the possibility of something not imagined. Setting yourself free, that is the most difficult first step, for even when you "think" that you are free you are not. The external is just the beginning, it is the internal that is the most difficult. Most are satisfied with superficial external freedom, which is really not freedom at all. It is just aligning yourself with the ideal of freedom not the reality of it. Following and believing is the substitution that the mind sees as freedom. Most of us are trapped in the illusion of freedom and not the reality. It is difficult to break away because there is comfort in knowing...the security of the known. We follow an icon such as Buddha, Christ, Mohamed or Xyz because we are psychologically lazy and live in a fog of meaningless rituals and conforming archaic tribalism. We want to conform, to belong to some "higher knowledge", some force, that we believe is greater than the self. As such we become that greater force through the proxy of definition and identification. We live in the illusion of knowing, not in the reality of what is.

How is it possible for the mind to see and realize beyond the illusion of a self that knows? Can one see without the conforming activity of a mind that is seeking? It is difficult and not without first experiencing the reality of the loss of ones identity and ones psychological crutch of belief and knowing. In the beginning it is almost as though one has lost everything and that a person has fallen into a great crevasse. To face the daunting reality of true emptiness and aloneness. To stay with it and live the moment eternally is to see and realize the true self, the illumination of the unconditioned.

Acceptance and Negation

In previous blogs I have been discussing the vehicle of negation and in subsequent meditation there was the realization that negation brings about an acceptance of the moment regardless of circumstances or consequences. While one may not have a belief one accepts the reality of those that believe and are in illusion. There is never a judgement or conclusion about the reality of the moment only understanding. One should not confuse understanding with judgement which creates division and conflict. Negation is the outcome of freedom and understanding. It is not a personal attack on the beliefs of others, but if one is asked to explain then one answers with an observation that is absent an agenda or position. Seeing the truth of the moment is a personal realization that is new and original to that entity and not to the collective. Because we think in terms of conceptual idealism it is impossible to explain the reality of such experiences verbally. The word is not the thing but it may point to the reality. It is up to the individual to find his or her own way. This is why one must avoid being caught up in the teachings of others and of beliefs in religious or philosophical ideals. Use such things as stepping stones but realize that they are of little importance and only serve to further the illusion of the self.

So negation is acceptance of the moment. It is the negation of ones desire to change the moment to suit ones beliefs and ones illusion of knowing. It has nothing to do with changing another person or changing the world. One must realize deeply that only the self can change, change that is not an activity of the self proper but of understanding that transcends the self that knows and of the activity of knowing. When you are experiencing the reality of the absolute moment which is absent the self that knows, then the world changes, because you are the world.

Belief, Being and Non-Being

I have on occasion been approached by persons who have strong beliefs in religious ideals or who are predisposed to believe in some kind of "new age" philosophy. There is this common thread of a need for validation and acceptance. People will make excuses for elements of a belief that are not consistent with logic and "common sense" and they invariably feel embarrassed for people who do not believe as they do. It is interesting to note that persons with strong beliefs find it necessary to cling to the notion that what they believe is absolute and irrefutable. The only thing that is irrefutable to this writer is that life changes from moment to moment and if one is to have understanding that is not a stagnation then one must also change. Change it seems is really what life is about, if it is in fact "about" anything. It is difficult to throw off ones beliefs, because we invariably find ourselves substituting one belief for another. But are not all beliefs really the same. They provide psychological escape from the truth of what is. The truth of the moment does not have a belief, it does not need to be labeled, defined or organized. But that is what we do. We take an ideal and turn into a god that we worship and want to willingly or unwillingly force upon others. The truth is, what is worshiped is our own creation, it is us. We worship ourselves and build all kinds of physical and psychological monuments, talismans and the like to create credibility as a separate identity such as God, Krishna, Christ, Buddha, Mohamed etc. But these representations of divinity are the masks of our own mind as the duality of what should be. Even atheism carries its own form of belief, and has its worshipers and progenitors. They too have a mask and an agenda, in fact there is in reality no difference. All are organized to promote and exploit and all are corrupt in there own way. I tell people that they must first free themselves if they want to see truth. But it is the hardest thing to do because we have been programed since birth (and before) to believe in the self. The self being the projected image of all the elements of what is believed. Psychologically to believe is to exist. Not to believe is to cease to exist. This is the basest fear, not being.

You can spend decades in a Zen monastery and still not realize the origin of the fear of not being. Or you can walk out your front door in the early morning sun and realize instantly that there is neither being nor not being. In that moment of awareness one is not just free, one is the freedom of the moment. Each moment is the renewal of the realization of that freedom. One is aware that it cannot be made into an objective ideal to be sought as in Zen. When Zen is not it is. Organization and ritual destroy the freedom of the absolute moment. And so all ideals, religious or otherwise, are the product of minds manipulations. The mind that manipulates destroys truth and love.

Superstition

The mind is constantly looking for definition in what is. It is seeking to relate the moment to what is known. But the moment is the new and never before. So how does the mind cope with the new when all that is realized is a projection of the known? The known is the precursor to the duality of thought. It is the known as a separate activity of self. The creation of a consciousness that exist as the duality of the self and what the self knows. But true reality is realized only when one sees that what is known is in fact the self. The psychological accumulation of experience that becomes the minds defined reactive self. If the mind can grasp the significance of this very simple fact, then it is possible for one to see, realize and act without thoughts need to reference. A person needs to realize that the mind references in order to avoid, delay or minimize its on going self induced fear. But it cannot, because life is insecurity, in so far as the minds limited understanding will allow.

One wide spread coping mechanism is the creation of a superstition. Superstitions are manifested in many forms. It could be religion, new age philosophy, guru's, healing arts, astrology, numerology, crystals, systems of so called masters, psychological gamesmanship, etc. Anything that the mind can use as a coping mechanism, especially if it cannot be readily refuted. What is the one thing that all these superstitions do? They provide an escape, an escape from the truth of the moment. The mind that is escaping is confused and conflicted. Such a mind is seeking and what it seeks is the projection of its own conflict. The mind mirrors its state, whether in confusion or in illumination. One who is illuminated is never seeking because one realizes that there is nothing to be found. There is no superstition in the mind of one who is without a defined selfness. It is a person who has realized the peace of not being "of the known", an emptiness that is the intelligence of the iconoclastic. The negation of all save the reality of the absolute moment.

Superstitions take you further down the road of escape. They become a narcotic of sorts with the promise of a tranquil mind and of knowing something that will provide an answer to all of ones problems. They provide the illusion of security in an insecure psychological morass of ups and downs. It is easy for a person to buy into such non-sense because thought is naturally seeking to further its defined image and to alleviate the pressure of a conforming society of haves and have not's. If you can realize this in the moment then it is possible for you to see through the fog of minds attempt to find something that will help it escape the torture of its own creation. To see for the first time that it is minds desire to...that is the beginning of all illusion.

The Reality of Negation

Friends have asked me to further explain negation and the process of negating that I sometimes allude to. Negation or the negative is traditionally understood in terms of an undesired result, effect or as an avoidance of something distasteful. A person must initially realize that in the defined traditional sense both negation and affirmation are one in the same as an ideal of thought. One defines the other. The mind exist "normally" within defined limits of understanding. When you think from a defined position, agenda, belief or the like then you think within the ideal of position and opposition. You are always seeking to negate through the affirmation of what it is that you know or believe. The negation that one refers to is of a different nature. It is the "negation" of a mind that has understanding. It is not an activity of the mind that is seeking to avoid. There is no conclusion or belief in negation. It is not a product of thoughts knowing. Negation is viewed more as a vehicle (in the Buddhist sense) rather than an activity of the mind that is judging.

It is negation that is the outcome of understanding the self and its propensity to accumulate and define an experience. It is the realization that self is no more than the authority of the known as what has been and therefore the projection or modified projection of what will be. As long as the mind is trapped by the circumstances of the past as a defined ideal, one cannot realize the truth of the moment. Negation allows the moment as it is without the authority of the self that knows. Then a person will realize the true self in that moment and have understanding that transcends knowing. The state of not knowing brings about a peaceful state of existence in which there is the possibility of something totally new that cannot be imagined. This is not "new age" or "Buddhist" gibberish, it is simple seeing in the moment that is absent all ones baggage. The vehicle of negation is not a process or a method of accomplishment, it is the simplicity of emptiness and a quiet mind. When you are not seeking an end to a means then the mind is free and has the capacity to see beyond its traditional nature. One is acutely aware of thoughts movement as a duality in the illusion of time/space. That simple awareness is the beginning of an intelligence that sees into the true nature of the human condition and its conditioning. It is the flowering of the unconditioned.

Dimensional Acuity

Dimensional acuity relates to a persons ability to comprehend their thoughts and actions in terms of psychological conformity. The mind is a prisoner of its tendency to conform to learned and promoted activity. It is difficult for a person to think outside of ones inherent and instinctual desire to follow environmental norms. It is more than just herd mentality. Understanding the fear that is associated with this desire is important if one is to go beyond the minds tendency to rationalize and project. The brain is capable of understanding psychologically on many different dimensional levels. But this ability is limited by the minds penchant toward duality and its accompanying fear based activities. When the origin of thoughts movement is fear based then the entity that is the self seeks attachment, definition and identity in an attempt to minimize the projected illusion of the result of that fear. As the mind is consumed with the external it is incapable of realizing the origin of its internal turmoil. A person must realize the extent to which ones every movement and thought is related in some measure to fear. That the origin of all fear is attachment to a self that is the separate entity that knows. One cannot fully realize the illusion of duality and self projection until there is freedom that is the negation of all belief and all seeking. The mind seeks because it is in a state of contradiction and confusion. This state of mind is the result of fear that is self imposed and aided by the influences and teachings of others who are equally conflicted. Until you have a realization in the moment in which you see directly without reference, you will remain in illusion. Without reference means thought that is absent the thinker and the duality of the known as a projection of the self (the memory of what was).

The above is difficult to grasp and the terminology may seem non-contextual. But one must see beyond traditional understanding. The writer wants to convey that which cannot be conveyed. It can only be hinted at by making up new uses of words that may create an intuitive understanding within the reader that can lead to a realization that is the readers own original seeing in the moment. To realize a quietness and emptiness that creates a capacity for dimensional understanding that goes beyond mere intellectual and conceptual inquiry. When one realizes that there are many dimensions to thoughts understanding then is is possible for an integration to occur in which the mind realizes its own movement as a projection of the known. A wholeness or oneness will occur the outcome of which is the dissipation of all fear based thought.

Intelligence?

We were discussing the notion of intelligence and how is it that we acquire knowledge and is intelligence a product of knowledge? The human brain is the store house of all our accumulated experiences. It is mixed with the on going psychological and biological idiosyncrasies of each individual which in combination develop into a perception of reality. Most of what we consider intelligence is no more than rote memory organized into logical and illogical ideals. A person can acquire an encyclopedic knowledge of events and facts but may be lacking in intelligence. So what is intelligence? One could say that intelligence is being able to organize knowledge in a manner that is consistent with ones goals. A person could also say that an intelligent person is one who accomplishes goals and lives a life of meaning and direction. We tend to equate intelligence with success, either in terms of assets or in terms of social and academic achievement or both. If we realize that our definition of intelligence is related to our own perception and that this perception is a product of individual experience, then that definition is by nature limited to our own very narrow conclusions.

There may be intelligence of a different nature. If it is possible to realize the whole field of thought and how the mind actually moves through the ideal of time as a process, then the nature of thought can morph into something that is without a point of reference. That is seeing ones own mind as it actually is in the moment, then true intelligence is being consciously aware of what causes one to act and react. Intelligence then is being consciously aware of the self and its movement as an entity that is bound by the limitations of all its accumulated knowledge and experience. Seeing that one is limited, a persons consciousness can develop a new quality that realizes the moment as something that is without the conditioning of ones accumulations, experience and all the rest of it. The mind that is not bound by the limitations of thoughts narrow field of what is "known" has intelligence that is beyond its own content. True intelligence is the ability to see through a consciousness that is bound by its content as a continuation of what was. The mind seeks out security as that which conforms to a persons vision of what should be or how something should be. So the intelligence that you think you have is bound by the limitations of the entirety or sum total of all experiences and the result of those experiences on the psyche. This is why it so important to realize freedom that negates all the effects of ones past relationship with the sum total of all experiences. A person cannot erase the past but one can realize a consciousness that frees the mind from all attachments to ideals that are the result of experience. Intelligence is a by product of total freedom, the clarity of iconoclastic vision. It is the negation of the authority of the self and of all others, creating an equality of understanding that does not compare or judge. Equality of understanding is a state of mind that is without the barriers of right and wrong, good and bad and so on. It is looking and seeing without the inflective and reflective self. There is no reaction to what is, only action that is the outcome of self realization in the absolute moment. The emerging true self that is without the notion of an ideal defined self. So intelligence is not a product of thoughts manipulations or its accumulated and logically categorized experience. Intelligence is something quite apart from the notion of a mathematical IQ. To this writer it starts with freedom. Freedom that negates all save the truth of the moment as seen by one who realizes the nature of the true self as the reality of that absolute moment.