Outside
Look at any landscape. See what seems to appear outside of yourself. Examine the objects, the lighting, the sounds, the smells. Check out how things feel, or how you imagine them to be. Maybe you can enjoy a snack or sip on some water as you contemplate this field of senses. Pay attention to how all your senses are responding. Think about how much of what you observe is being seen accurately or in its infinitesimally small detail, the atoms, the electrons, the composition of materials and the elements. Do you see how the energy is holding these appearances together? Can you see how galaxies and stars formed in order to place this magical illusion here before your senses, in this moment, in this vast expanse of time and space?
Do you begin by saying that this is real, or do you begin by resting in what you observe? Do you begin by saying it is illusory, or do you simply relax? Maybe you come to the conclusion that all of it is mind, just a fairly inaccurate portrayal of what is, not, never was, an assumption based upon nothing whatsoever that anything at all can ever exist outside of ourselves.
This notion that our mind has it right is quite an assumption. Are you sure?
My Root Master made it very clear to his students that we can never truly discover our real condition through concept or by adopting this philosophy or certain ways of thinking and judging what appears. If we are smarter or have deeper intellectual knowledge, it doesn’t really matter. Mind is not the key, it will not reveal an answer that will ever be something that explains it all.
When I talk about Timeless Luminosity or Dharmakaya, I’m not talking about an object or a concept, even though that is the avenue we take into forming some sort of idea about it. It’s very nice; however, that concept or idea is not the same as what I am explaining. I’m talking about directly experiencing the ineffable. This is beyond concept; however, it’s not outside us. We encapsulate all there is and beyond. We don’t know this because intellect gets in the way.
If we wish to know what is outside, we need to see the illusion as an illusion. We need to acknowledge the magical display. When we start forming concepts about everything, we distort the empty nature of what that is. We form delusion for ourselves.
Our senses are bombarded by information. Our mind thinks that is real when our mind is deluded, thinking that these senses and our thoughts are out there, outside ourselves. In reality, it is mind itself that experiences all appearances, applying ideas, thoughts and concepts to that. What we think something may be is something we form within. Even the entire universe is within us. This idea of outside is not really real.
When I came back from death, people asked me if it was like a dream. I said that this thing we call life is like a dream. My death was far more real than anything I had ever experienced before, except for realizing the Nature of Mind. In my case, death was direct experience of the ineffable, without any sort of filter. I became the light of Dharmakaya, even though I had always been that. To say it is out there, outside, beyond the veil, etc., is to say that it was never within. In reality, all and beyond, everything we need, has always been within us.
As your life moves on, as your Spiritual Path progresses, please take the time you need to simply sit quietly in contemplation. Examine all thoughts, but don’t cling to them. Let them pass without doing anything to them. Examine all appearances, seeing them for what they are, not as you make them seem. In time, if you are realistic and honest, reality begins to crispen. You begin to sense the energy of each and every moment. You begin to have some idea of what it means to live spontaneously. This is not found through belief; it is found by relaxing enough to simply be.
I pray that each and every person reading my words will awaken. We all have this ability. Don’t look outside yourself for the answers, look within. When you start to recognize who you really are, you start to develop trust for the Buddha you have been all along. Don’t take my word for it, examine for yourself and you will awaken.
Blessings in Light,
Robert Aho
NOTE: If you are still thinking about purchasing my books, Timeless Luminosity, as well as The Frog, they will remain at a discounted rate for the time being. Please go to Amazon to take advantage of this price drop while it lasts, before additional printing and handling costs go into effect.
" I became the light of Dharmakaya, even though I had always been that. To say it is out there, outside, beyond the veil, etc., is to say that it was never within. In reality, all and beyond, everything we need, has always been within us."
This is great, Robert. Thank you very much.