You Can't Think Yourself to Enlightenment

Beliefs Block True Understanding

Whether you're into spirituality, atheism, science, or you are just a regular person, you probably have some deeply held beliefs about reality and how it all works.I mean, we are born, we have no idea what’s going on, and then, as we go through life, we try to figure everything out.

There are some people who really want to figure it out, and they usually end up in spirituality. Only through authentic spiritual teachings can we ever find out what it’s all about. 

Sure, you can analyze relative and impermanent appearances, as scientists try to do, but this will never satisfy the thirst for true knowledge. Whenever we discuss relative phenomena—and essentially the whole universe and everything in it and outside of it are such things—we are not speaking about absolute truth.

The problem is that we try to attain realization or enlightenment by thinking we need to figure out reality. We mistake the relative for the absolute and start attaching to relative ideas, thinking we are getting closer to the absolute.

Let Go of the Spiritual Ladder

We think about all kinds of different ideas regarding the structure of reality, how it emerged from nothing, our life’s purpose, and so on. Not only do we isolate ourselves from actual reality with our ideas and beliefs, but we also become frustrated because reality doesn’t match them or because we don’t attain enlightenment.

We may climb the ladder of the many bodhisattva stages, levels of enlightenment, or whatever kind of system exists in our spiritual teaching, but we are only adding relative aspects to their relative sense of being. We never feel good enough or enlightened enough, and there is always something to strive for.

Your True Self Is Already Here

Let me share a quote from Zen Master Huang Po. He once said, "The Buddha-Nature is like the Void; though you were to adorn it with inestimable merit and wisdom, how could they remain there? They would only serve to conceal its original Nature and render it invisible."

According to ancient Zen Masters, Buddha nature refers to the fundamental nature of everything. It’s pure, enlightened, and already free from delusion. It’s basically our own very nature, which is always present. So, whenever we come up with any idea about the Absolute, reality, or however you want to call it, we are basically only adding stuff to our original nature to the point that it becomes invisible.

Let’s say you want to describe an empty room by putting objects into it. It doesn’t make any sense, right? We’d only clutter the room, making it impossible for us to see the empty space. The same is true if we come up with all kinds of ideas about reality. I mean, our true nature, our true Self, our true Being, is already there, even at this moment right now. Anything that comes after that can’t describe it. This is an important point. Whenever we try to describe reality or put it into a little concept, it only comes after the fact that reality is already present.

Trying to describe reality only clutters it. That’s why the ancient Zen masters and enlightened beings always talk about letting go of concepts and dropping all ideas. They talk about becoming completely empty in order to see reality as it is.

Stop Clinging to Concepts

The Third Zen Patriarch said that we shouldn’t seek truth, but we should stop clinging to opinions. So it’s not even about finding truth; it’s about letting go of all of our ideas and concepts. Truth is already there; in fact, it’s this Truth from which you view your ideas and opinions in the first place.

If you read Huang Po’s teaching, you will basically find that he is saying to stay away from conceptual thinking if you want to realize enlightenment.

Now, we sit in meditation, and we try to do that in order to attain realization. We have taken this idea and put it above all other ideas, making it the supreme idea to follow. Do you see where I’m trying to get to? Even the holiest idea we think of is only an idea, only a concept. And we would be wise to discard it as soon as it comes up in our minds.

No idea compares to the breeze you might be feeling when you take a walk, or the sounds you are hearing right now, or the ground beneath your feet that you are feeling when you walk.

Reality is always right in your face. Actually, it is your face, your true face. But when we start thinking about it, it becomes hidden.

So maybe, when you sit in meditation the next time or you contemplate reality, use this idea to let go of all other ideas, and then let go of this idea as well. 

Be completely radical with it. 

Don’t try to find any definition to fixate on.

Wish you all the best!

Your friend of the way, Bye!