Where has the Dharma gone?

 Where has the Dharma gone off to? Try as we may, we won't find it in pig pens. When we tire of toiling in the mud we may be ready to look for something real. The fresh air blowing in from abroad is much more pleasant than this reek. Emboldened by the act of looking up, we eventually resolve to make an exit. Linger as we may at the edge of what we know, the wilderness offers irresistible excitement and promise.

 To find the Dharma, we have to go out and look for it. This means going out from ourselves, going out from what we know. We have to put that life behind us and be willing to do something completely different. We have to leave behind our normal way of seeing, feeling and thinking. When we step outside of the box, we find ourselves exactly where we are. In some way we have to study the Dharma before we can step into it.  When we are acclimated, the door will open. 

What can we say of the Dharma? The Dharma awakes the mind and the soul to the true nature of reality. Self-centeredness closes the door while furious determination opens it. The Dharma is the true nature of our self. It is from where life springs forth. To know who we are and what is real we must give up our lives for the sake of this greater life. Once we step through the door we realize this is where we have always been. The Dharma is simply here. It is what here is. Whenever we go searching for it, we can't seem to find it. Whenever we stop and see exactly where we are, we find we have already arrived. Human consciousness naturally becomes dissatisfied with close-mindedness and begins looking for the truth. The truth naturally awakens within our consciousness and we naturally realize that it is already here. Nothing else exists. Pin the tail on the donkey! We do have to go and look for it even if the search is pointless. It is simply apart of the awakening process. As the Dharma awakens, the mind will naturally be cleansed of stupidity....😄🔫 There is no fucking point, but what can we do about it?

 The mind is addicted to striving towards an end. The Dharma doesn't blossom through this activity. It happens when this activity ceases. We also can't get to this blossoming through this mental chatter. There is no action we can take that we can guarantee will bring about this blossoming. Our behavior must be charged with the Dharma to bring about the Dharma. It doesn't matter what we do, it matters how we do it. This is why when we are looking, we have to step outside of the normal. Our normal way of doing things is impossibly infested with striving and is no good. It's only use is as fuel for change. When we recognize that the way we have been trying to go is without a doubt hopeless, we will be in a position to try something else. We will have exhausted all methods for striving and we will realize that at it's core, striving is simply not going to open up this door. At this point we want to open the door more than we want to persist in our habitual way of doing and living and being. So we take a chance, a very remarkable chance, and the whole world spins.