Thoughts

2026, February, Issue 188

Grasping mind in motion,

grasping, always grasping,

grasping at what is not real,

thinking,

always thinking that this thinking

will somehow lead to an answer,

a definitive answer,

just another relative position

in your quest to equate relative with Ultimate,

not knowing the nature of reality,

equating illusion with something solid,

ignorantly seeking answers

to all that we have been wondering,

starting with a fallacy, thinking,

always thinking that this grasping,

always grasping at thoughts, thinking,

thinking that will yield secrets

that have been long forgotten,

secrets that have been kept from us

for all eternity, secrets, thinking that,

only if we possessed those secrets

we would be able to go home at last;

Wandering fool!!!

Don’t you know that this grasping,

grasping at thoughts,

grasping at belief,

these thoughts are just some other fantasy,

some other fabrication that is not real?

Can’t you see belief will do you no good?

Find the ineffable for yourself,

Discover that by leaving such foolish notions behind,

such notions as subject and object,

Leave concept behind!

Discover liberation directly,

Beyond concept,

in that space beyond thoughts, in that

Ultimate Knowledge,

that which cannot be constrained

by any thought!

See the ineffable at last,

see that with your mind,

as it enters your real condition,

that is the Nature of Mind,

as it is.

A poem by Robert Aho © 2026

If we wish to awaken, we must examine thoughts. This begins with a spark of the ineffable, held within our heart center, something which cannot be described; although, it feels very bright indeed. This is the spark of enlightenment mind, or Bodhicitta. It is not a thought, it is a small level of awareness, just enough so that you do not become overwhelmed. We cannot become enlightened unless we are able to become Timeless Luminosity, beyond thought, beyond belief, beyond all the answers that you seek.

Thoughts will never provide you with enlightenment. It’s not possible. It’s even debatable whether thoughts will provide us with any advantage whatsoever in our process of awakening. If we wish to be in the knowledge of our real condition beyond subject and object, we must go beyond thoughts, we must find a way to stop grasping at this or that notion of enlightenment. In order to do this, we must look at mind, we must understand thoughts.

When we think about thoughts, our mind is in motion. Thought is nothing other than mind in motion. Our empty cognizance manifests during this particular motion of mind in such a way that waves hit our awareness. Each wave dissipates immediately, even though we try to sustain each thought, reifying that which cannot be reified. We create fantasies. Our consciousness experiences a myriad of appearances, seemingly random emotions, a variety of confusing energetic enigmas that we then try to reassemble into something that might seem to make sense to us. Humans aren’t very good at this, even though we typically seem to think that we have all the answers.

There is no point in trying to stop thoughts, just as only a fool would try to stop the waves on the ocean. We must allow our consciousness to observe what is happening, to see what is not real. Our thoughts are not real, even though they seem to be real and we experience them as real. From our relative point of view, we do whatever we can to pretend that every thought we have is real. In such a way we have deluded ourselves for all eternity. It’s why we are trapped within cyclic existence.

This happens mainly because we are overwhelmed by our own senses, our own perception manifesting in mind, as mind. When we dream, we think it’s all real. When we wake up in the morning, we think it’s all real. Our thoughts lead us to the untested assumption that everything is real, every thought, every emotion, every random belief we may adopt. We grasp at what is not real, then wonder why we have such miserable lives. We create our own demise.

When we investigate thoughts, we discover that they’re not really there. They disappear before we realize that they’ve appeared, then we grasp at what we think we remember about that. It’s like trying to catch a wave and hold it very still before it crashes onto the shore. When we attempt to do so, the wave goes through us, around us and we’re hit by another wave. In short order we are very confused, not understanding why this keeps happening to us. Every notion or belief we’ve ever had comes crashing down. Relative reality is that way. None of it can ever be sustained.

We must learn to see thoughts as they pass by, and not do anything with them. Simply acknowledge that these waves of energy are passing through. Don’t try to cover them up, don’t try to hold them in place, don’t try to push them away. Thoughts are not reality.

If you wish to awaken in the death bardo, you must be prepared to simply let thoughts go. This bright condition, this Timeless Luminosity, cannot be sustained or discovered by utilizing thoughts, nor by grasping at thoughts, nor by creating new thoughts, not by any thought at all.

Blessings in Light,

Rigdzin Robert Aho