Mo fo yu

 The dharma flowers out of ignorance, out of striving, and seeking. It blossoms like a flower on a grassy hill that is exposed to direct sunlight under clear blue skies. It opens it’s eye and sees that not only is it a flower , but it is also the hill the sky and the whole universe. All the searching chains of thought in our mind will eventually blossom in the field of enlightenment. The mind will be purified, and no conditioned consciousness will remain. The power of awakening and enlightenment occurs naturally, it is a power we cannot put into words, simply one we may witness evolving everywhere we look. It is the same power and the same nature unfolding throughout the universe. The Buddha mind is the awakening and awakened mind, as well as the power and nature of all things in the universe. All form is awakened, awake, even if it does not realize it. The awakened self is all that is real, it is the One life among all life. There is no confusion, there is no conditioned consciousness, there is simply untouched awakening. There is the Buddha here, and the Buddha there.  The truth is that all there is, is the Buddha who is awake, that is awakenness. The Buddha does not move anywhere. It is a spotless and empty mind. This whole universe and all of it’s forms, sights, and sound, are simply the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind. Regardless of what we attempt to do, we cannot touch it or affect it, for as the Buddha, we have no self. What we call life is an empty as an empty trash can. It has no guts, no bones, no muscle, no skin. What we call a world is not a world, it is not a place, for there is no place but the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind, which is very empty. Nothing touches it, nothing moves it, it is not contemplated nor understood. What mind is there to understand anything at all? What self is there to see? All along, nothing has occurred, what is occurring is beyond any ability to define, it is beyond comprehension, beyond understanding, there is nothing we can say about it. All of this is the emptiness of the Buddha. 

What this is, is infinity, an indescribable infinity. Infinite in everyway. Infinite in all places. Just infinite. You can't pin it down or depend upon any perception to hold it. Yet even if we don't see it, we do, because it is all that is. There is no way to find it or lose it. You can say that you know it, or that you don't, because how could you? Evershifting, ever staying the same. It is just this. Right, here. We live in it, we are it, it is us. Consciousness ceaselessly changes, yet this does not. It becomes anything and everything including nothing. I truly believe it is formless and that this world is an illusion. Reality is simply this enlightened mind. As this indefinable body continues to emanate, the dharma ceaselessly unfolds as forms spiral upwards towards Buddhamind. Within the human being, the energy centers continue to spin and that which is shrouded from the Truth continues to aspire to blossom on the dharma field. The human being is fully enlightened when ignorance has been eradicated. The paradox is that there was never any ignorance to begin with, while it remains as an obstacle to a partially enlightened individual. It is possible to exterminate ignorance. The dharma must fully blossom, thirst eliminated, attachment dropped. These gears spin in Eternity until it is so. The dharma will carry us forward passionately until it is so. Thus we carry on without attachment to the Goal, as the drama of life plays out. It is true that there is no self. That the world is an illusion, even the dharma. Regardless of where we stand, we do not need to fear death, for the road is truly open before us. The same openness surrounds us regardless of our position, we are less than a heartbeat from infinity. The truth is that we always dwell in the sea of life and that there is nothing that can threaten this position. We have nothing to fear and we never will, all obstacles and enemies are illusions with no power. There is no self, no truth, simply Spirit. 

When the Buddha awoke, he did not gain anything, he simply saw clearly what was already here. It seems to me that awakening is more about losing our self than gaining it. We don't gain a new but, but clear away the debris that cover our true nature which is already here. The experience of clearing the debris lends to the notion that there is something to be done to establish enlightenment, that we are missing something as we are. This couldn't be further from the truth. Enlightenment teaches that things are always fulfilled exactly as they are, and that this is the single truth of the universe. Our identity as a separate form is unreal, our identity as Supreme formlessness, Spirit, Being, alone is real. We are Supreme Spirit, this limited human experience is a dream. It appears that our existence within the temporal may continue even though this truth is discovered, and it seems that there is an exact science to awakening the human being that we may follow. I think I feel confident enough to say yes, there is an exact science to awakening. In order to bring all of human consciousness to Consciousness the energy centers of the human vessel must be properly awakened and thirst must be completely overcome. The energies and consciousness of the human being must pass through the various stages of maturity as expressed in the Ten Ox Herding Pictures. It seems to me that our energies to not move altogether from one stage to another, but are fragmented to a certain extent and awaken somewhat independently. Even though our energies are fragmented or compartmentalized, it seems that there are possibly several major movements of awakening that every individual goes through. I don't fully understand these major movements, yet I can say something about them. It seems that we can awaken to stages of human growth and/or stages of enlightenment without fully incorporating the substance of these stages into our daily activity. For various psychosomatic reasons we are unable to live up to their full expression in daily life. It seems that we to a great extent may inwardly realize them, without fully maturing into them personally. Development is not nearly as clean as we may imagine it to be. It is very complicated in my experience, and can become very complicated if things to not go well. There is a great deal that we can talk about with regard to the development of human consciousness. But overall its seems that to fully awaken, we have to inwardly realize Truth and then live up to it, or fully express it as a human being. We have to transmit all of our psychic content upwards through the various stages and energy centers to complete dissolution in Spirit and affirmation as Spirit. We must overcome all temptation, which is the sustenance of conditioned mind. I find it essential to have a good intuitive sense of where I generally am, so that I may know how to proceed. Also, an understanding of the terrain, of the specific processes and transformations and workings of each stage along the path. Both are essential. Both of these can be summed up as the singular nature that is the Dharma, or Way, that is the inner guide to self-realization. We are realizing truth and actualizing the content of the human being. Awakening involved the entire human being, which is a structure of energy-consciousness. Our aim is to turn it on. You can only turn it all on, if you turn it on correctly. Inward realization is contemplation, realizing it fully as a human being requires energy, activity and personal transformation. You must act. You cannot deny your human existence. As much as we are geared to inwardly realize truth, we are geared to manifest it in our daily activity. The human vessel equally capable of both, and cannot function well unless both are achieved. Even if you know what Enlightenment is, if you don't act upon it, it doesn't mean anything. You have to live up to it. You will not be satisfied until you do. You must walk this path too. Through contemplation you can activate inward realization, this still requires bringing your self to the table. You have to move from being driven from tribal motivations, to egoic impulsive motivations, to logical motivations, to rational motivations, and on and on until you have fully manifested Buddhahood. Must may seem like a strong word, I use it because there is only one direction to go, and only one way to get there, and nothing else we do will really satisfy our soul. There is no way around this growth, this movement, so you might as well accept it and get on with it.