Wed, 17 Sep 2008
Chasing Enlightenment
Brad's going on about Genpo Roshi's Big Mind™ seminar on his blog again. I don't have too much to say about it, except even if it works, it doesn't. For the sake of argument, let's say the seminar works and you get a glimpse of enlightenment. If so, the conversation in your head is going to go something like this:
Huh?
Is this enlightenment? I'm enlightened!
This is wonderful! I always wanted this!
It's going to make such a big change in my life.
What happens now? I've got to make sure I understand it.
What if I lose it? Can you lose enlightenment?
What is it? What did I understand?
I can get it back if I concentrate enough.
Shit.
Like the movie title says, "Gone in Sixty Seconds." The point is, all gain and loss is samsaric, and that includes gaining enlightenment. It's only when you get tired of chasing after gain and fleeing loss, that you can see through your ambition and see a little bit of the truth. And getting tired takes a few spin cycles in the washer. It's something that has to wear out, you can't throw it out. And that's why you can't get enlightened in a weekend.
