First Part, Buddha from A Three – Part series about Buddha – Dharma – Sangha

nice to see you all so what I wanted to address in this three-part series is uh it's a very big difficulty that a lot of serious spiritual aspirants struggle with which is staying conscious of Consciousness which you staying awake and this is something that I've been noticing for over 35 years I continue to notice that people most people go those people who are interested in Consciousness who interested in Enlightenment who have a spiritual practice and to go in and out in and out of being connected to their own capacity for absolute depth [Music] and it seems that it seems very rare for human beings to reach that level of spiritual attainment where the where they're going in and out has come to an end in one one rare people usually they become teachers not always but most of the time become stabilized and having access to this absolute depth of their own Consciousness and as most of you I think know because you most of you are probably in the in the category that I'm speaking about most of you know that when you when you wake up even it's even if it's for the Thousand time or the 10,000th time it's always wondrous amazing miraculous how could I have forgotten this is this is the most important thing and then one one reason or another we fall asleep back we fall asleep again and forget fall into a state of forgetfulness and when we're awake we're awake to that dimension of oursel that's deeper than the small self it's deeper than the frontal self is deeper than the ego and we fall back to sleep we fall back into the small self back into the ego and uh are lost in the dark night of our own ignorance once again so the fact is that the fact is that most of us need structure to remain connected to our own depth structure um my own Guru the great hwl punja was not a believer in structure or practice he was he he transmitted with ferocious intensity what do you call it that's what's called called instant Enlightenment or sudden Awakening and he had a unique capacity to wake people up like he did me after meeting him just spending 10 minutes with him I had a huge wake up experience so but he didn't believe in spiritual practice he didn't believe in doing anything that took time that happened in time to stabilize yourself Beyond Time made any sense so he was a a transmitter practitioner and a Exemplar of radical Enlightenment that's totally unsupported by anything the one could ever do in time but he was an extraordinary radical character unusual and outrageously free but most of us need structure in order to stay connected this is what I wanted to address because the experience of inner freedom is the experience of inner freedom and freedom itself is a state of consciousness it's a it's a perspective it's an it's a way of seeing knowing and understanding and feeling it's it's an experience freedom is an experience it doesn't happen it's not not it's not the result of being supported by any kind of structure Freedom itself is unconditional but to it seems for most of us to remain connected even to the memory even to the memory of enlightened awareness that usually we need to be connected to a structure that uh values higher Consciousness the attainment of enlightened awareness as a highest value because when you're with a group of people who value the evolution of Consciousness more than any other more than anything else in life then when you get together with those people you that's what that's what you tend to focus on that's what you tend to talk about that's what you tend to share and when you leave that that that living context where Consciousness is being held as the highest value and enter and enter into a different kind of context where there are other values that are being shared that are held high at high level most people tend to forget about Consciousness so after think about it for some time and I've been thinking about this for a long time I came to the conclusion that the this Buddhist idea of the three jewels the Buddha the Dharma the S was the most ideal and most profound structure inter subjective spiritual structure that could help everyone in in that structure to stay awake and to stay connected to the memory of Enlightenment the knowledge of Enlightenment the the living knowledge that there is a miraculous truth the knowledge of which unconditionally liberates us instantaneously inherently absolutely and completely when we're conscious of when we're connected so this this this these three jewels the idea of the three jewels of the of the enlightened master the teachings and the community that practices the teachings when they work together at a very high level I believe that they are the most profound support structure that we've come up with so far in this in human history to help us to maintain our capacity for Spiritual Enlightenment and spiritual awakeness so what I wanted to do on these three calls was to spend a little bit of time on each one of these called dwelling on one of the jewels and why what it unique value was in the context of the three jewels together excuse me so on this call I wanted to speak a little bit about the N the Buddha and what what the role of the Buddha plays for all of us in this support structure called the three jewels the triple gem so the the Buddha represents for all of us for me for most people the Buddha represents the highest attainment of enlightened awareness so when we think of what that word represents to us in our minds and in our hearts it represents a human being who has attained the highest realization and is absolutely stabilized there so the know know that any human being has reached what is understood to be or believed at least believed to be the highest level of Consciousness attainable and St has has become stabilized there even if that person lived two and a half thousand years ago gives us confidence that Enlightenment exists and that it's attainable because the Buddha after all was a human being just like you and me it was an imperfect human being that's what we all are and somehow through his own efforts and his own passion and conviction he attained he he attain with profound Enlightenment so the knowledge that he that he made it that he arrived on the Yonder Shore as he like to describe it that he was stabilized there and catalyzed to spiritual Revolution as a result can becomes a source of uh inextinguishable inspiration for us so the Buddha represents in this context the the fact that Enlightenment exists itally if you're a Christian you you understand that that Jesus walked that someone like Jesus walked this Earth is has one faith in the truth that he died for so in the same way the this knowledge that that that there was a living human being to thousand years ago that attained the highest level of Enlightenment can Inspire us to do what he did to follow in his footsteps so the Buddha represents Enlightenment the enlightened one after all and just knowing that he I'm just I know I'm repeating what I said but I'm doing it because it's important just knowing that he just knowing that he lived that that he that he made it that he succeeded and that he walked this Earth of itself is a profound source of spiritual inspiration and I think on the spiritual path I think this is something to take seriously because enlight like but Enlightenment is so mysterious it's so ungraspable by the mind it's so immaterial it's so utterly transcendental that it's hard to kind of get your head around what enlightment actually is when you're not awake when you're not awake to enlightened awareness Enlightenment is is a thought not the thing itself but some thoughts about Enlightenment can be very can be source of can become source of spiritual Soul strength source of uh soless and a source of inspiration for us so the knowledge that another human being arrived on the Y Shore and reached the highest level of Enlightenment in in and of itself is enough to keep us believing in our own potential for awakening is one of the biggest Miracles I witness all the time when I'm teaching is I see people who are interested in Enlightenment interested in their own potential for Liberation but who don't really believe in it they don't really believe that they got what it takes to do what he did to go where he went I understandably so when I see a apparently ordinary person whatever that means suddenly wake up to their own extraordinary spiritual potential and then and as they wake up to their own extraordinary spiritual potential they realize that that that that potential actually exists within them that they have the potential to bloom spiritually just like the Buddha did and they they actually they they experience the the vibration of that potential coming alive within their hearts and Minds Minds realizing that Enlightenment is real it's attainable and it's an experience that is nearer than near and that's when we start believing in our own as I said potential for awakening that's when people change in the most dramatic way even even even if it's a brief transformation seeing people wake up to their own potential for transformation in this way and believe in themselves believe in their own spiritual potential is is inherently liberating it's so spiritually liberating it's so inspiring it's so lifechanging so so what the Buddha represents in this context he represents our own Enlightenment or he represents our own potential for enlightenment and because if you think about it it would be hard to believe in Enlightenment without the Buddha but the enlightened one Enlightenment wouldn't mean anything without some some some a great realiz like him as an Exemplar so so in the context of the triple Gem and the structure that the triple gem represents we cannot underestimate the need for exemplars or or an Exemplar of one who has arrived with on the Yonder Shore and who has become stable and they're Awakening to enlightened awareness because it it seems that the on the spiritual path it seems that we need this is the point of what I'm trying to say that we need exemplars that as much as Enlightenment is about Consciousness and it's about the experience of a higher state of consciousness it's also very much about being human it's very much about the extraordinary capacity of Being Human and facing into the extraordinary limitation limitations in limitations in our in Being Human so for most of us this has very much been true in my case in order to believe in our own capacity for this kind of extraordinary Awakening we need to have contact with examp with an Exemplar or exemplars who demonstrate to our satisfaction they are in the very State of Consciousness that we wish to attain that they're that they demonstrate the transformation on a human level that is becomes palpable and tangible for us they they they represent uh explicitly clearly and obviously a difference in their very being in their very nature of their Consciousness in the very nature the way they express their Humanity that that reveals to us that Enlightenment is here because because it's being lived it's being demonstrated it's being embodied by by flesh and blood human being that we can see that we can actually relate to and engage with so we can't underestimate the overwhelming significance of having a relationship with the Buddha in real life now any any human being who's realized a very profound degree of enlightened of enlightened awareness one which they become deeply stabilized and has the power to transmit this awareness to other people plays that role for us they they play they play the role that the Buddha plays the lives of all truth Seekers or and all exemplars do and it's it's the context of a relationship with a living Buddha which should which is a living expression of Enlightenment it's engaging in the relationship with the living Buddha or a living relationship with enlightened awareness that we can be we can become most deeply touched and affected by the presence of enlightened awareness in itself and the most immediate way imaginable infinitely more directly than just sitting on a meditation cushion by our for days weeks months or years in most cases because a living Buddha can bring us face to face with the truth and ways that just sitting by ourself rarely can do and and a living Buddha can challenge us at a human level and challenge us to let go of any negative Notions of self so we can liberate our our own our own potential for for greatness in ways that's very very very hard to do in other contexts in this context we we realize our potential by letting go of all any and all Notions of oursel as the ego and we need to have the courage to trust in someone who is calling us to let go of of fear and like of attachment to all these crazy small ideas about have about who we are have the courage to let off all of them and leap into the leap into the unknown leave to the Future leave it to the glory of our own Liberation Here and Now and so if you can trust in a Buddha a living Buddha if you have the courage to trust in a living Buddha that that trust can take you all the way to the Yore now it's important to understand that the Buddha in the way I'm using the word is not Is Not a Human Being or the human being Enlightenment is a is a field of of Awakened awareness and intelligence Enlightenment is a field of Awakened intelligence and awareness and that a a Buddha figure someone who's become deeply deeply established and enlightened awareness and whose heart has been utterly liberated from fear and self-c concern can awaken us directly to that feel of field of liberated awareness and intelligence because because the Buddha well they can seem to be a human being not they're not really a human being this this Buddha Consciousness manifests itself through the body mind vehicle of human of a human being but it's not the human being it's not limited to the human being because if you ever have these kinds of the the kind of experience I'm speaking about if you ever awaken to enlightened awareness within yourself or in the company of someone who stabilized and the awaken into L awareness it becomes apparent sooner or later that they have access to What's called the source of everything the source of reality there is there is it seems in these higher states of transcendental Consciousness transcendental awareness there see it seems that there is a there's a level of Consciousness where there is a you gain access to the capacity for knowing awakened knowing that's radically and shockingly and terrifyingly and ecstatically impersonal and one finds one finds oneself in that kind of State of Consciousness Awakening to What's called the mind of the Buddha but the Buddha once again is not a unique individual in this case it's a field of Awakened intelligence and awareness that is somehow very embedded in the very ground of reality it is the source of reality and in these contexts the source of reality seems to or appears to speak to us through the body mind and personality of a living Buddha but it's not it's not it's not the human it's not merely the human being it's not merely the unique individual it's the conscious ious that he or she is gting access to that's speaking through them and there's a this this Consciousness is universal in its nature there's only one Buddha in the universe and then that Buddha is this awaken intelligence or Consciousness and when when when we when we have our deepest spiritual insights deepest spiritual experiences deepest spiritual episodes we gain access to the same Universal Mind Universal intelligence Universal Simplicity and Clarity and liberated knowing that the Buddha that the Buddha expresses naturally and un subconsciously all the time so the Buddha is not really an individual the Buddha is a state of consciousness or is is the is that State of Consciousness that awakens us to the very source of our own our own existence very source of reality itself what we find there is as I've been saying in awakened intelligence there's a Godlike sence and a Godlike intelligence is a source of reality that becomes self-aware through our Awakenings that's what it means to know God or to awaken to nervonic self self-reflective awareness nervonic knowing the knowing of abs absolute reality another knowing absolute reality knowing the unbelievable potential there is in in our in in as human beings to create a beautiful Universe to create a perfect world to create a world that full of beauty and love and unimaginable Grace and glory and it all comes from the source of reality itself that's where it's it's streaming from the source of reality this in conceivable positivity and goodness compassion and spiritual inspiration that's utterly overwhelming so who and what the Buddha is is all these things we all can gain access to this same awakened intelligence and spiritually liberated passion if we have the courage to let go of our own small selves and sit in the company of the bud himself that's what the path is all about so so I think that a living Exemplar is stabilized in this kind of extraordinary Awakening and having a relationship with such a one is the very foundation of the path to Enlightenment and um and I think it's important in this in this in this in this postmodern time that we're living in where where the Buddhist famous famous statement be a light to yourself has been taken too little taken a little bit to to extreme proportions we need to we need to I think we need to begin to return back to the basics here and realize that Enlightenment is something that happens to us and within us we St need to start looking to each other in order to find it's within our own self of course but also within within each other order to awaken this profound way ideally in a in a spiritually realized culture a spiritually realized s the highest form of human relationship would be when when the Buddha when the awaken Buddha within me was having a relationship with the awaken Buddha within you so the Buddha could have a relationship with himself between us and through us and that would be a very different kind of relationship that would be a very different kind of Human Experience to have so the Buddha represents all these things but [Music] um but most of all the Buddha represents absolute stabilization and enlightened awareness what it means to have landed on the Y Shore is that because the Buddha is grounded in lighten awareness here she is not interested in coming back to the way things were but it's utterly and totally focused on creating the most beautiful future possible in a in a Heavenly context where where where everyone has become everybody has awakened and now we're co-creating awakened Paradise together Paradise or Heavenly Realm where Consciousness has been has awakened to itself in through each and every individual that's there so we live in a magical Paradise of Awakened Consciousness where all where all all that's all that's good and and and beautiful is being realized and manifested through the most pure and beautiful beings that have ever existed this is the this is the metaphysical fantasy it's a metaphysical it's a spiritual Dream It's a yearning it's a yearning of all true Buddhism bers I believe to co-create such a Heavenly Heavenly realm here on Earth to create heaven on Earth to create a neonic world space and when we are awake to enlightened awareness when we are deeply awake to enlightened awareness together it often feels like it's really possible that it's just around the corner that we can actually do this one of the most extraordinary things about this the state of Enlightenment the state of Enlightenment awareness is inherent in it is it's it's always seeking for its own self-reflection through with us and through us and seeking for its own seeking for the utter and unconditional liberation of its own potential transform some Sor into Nirvana I believe this with all my heart this is what I feel like and those feelings are not coming from my mind and not come from where you go they coming from the best part of me and I notic that when most when when people wake up in the most traumatic ways and they want everyone else to wake up they want the whole world to wake up they want the whole universe to become liberated and self-aware that's what that's that's an inherent aspiration of desire and consciousness itself one will discover sooner or later and it's an aspiration doesn't come from the small self so because a Buddha is so so utterly given over him or herself to this possibility all they're saying is what's possible we just let go of our our individual Collective ignorance what we want to do then is make the universe the most beautiful possible Heaven Realm that it could be so having relationship with the Buddha as an ideal and as a living Exemplar awakens us to this kind of ecstatic spiritually mad I mean in the positive sense aspirations this it's an aspiration to transform the whole universe into heaven heav real and these kinds of thoughts only come from the source of reality they couldn't come from anywhere else so so the Buddha represents the highest highest possible expression of Enlightenment the Buddha represents the stability of Enlightenment the Buddha represents the fact that Enlightenment is actually the foundation of reality itself and the Buddha and the fact that the Buddha lived the Buddhist live and walked the Earth challenge all of our materialistic conditioning and narcissistic self-obsession because they're stay because they stand forth to so much dignity and spiritual power and spiritual self-confidence said our not so subtle materialistic beliefs and narcissistic self-obsession cannot withstand the challenge of such a reflection of beauty and goodness and Truth so remember you know the Buddha lived 2,500 years ago but um what he realized is timeless Enlightenment Enlightenment is timeless Enlightenment didn't happen two 2 and half thousand years ago Enlightenment is timeless and formless and beginningless and endless is an eternal truth so because the Buddha was able to realize Enlighten awareness and awaken to Enlighten awareness that means that you can also and I can also that's his challenge to all of us so having a relationship with everything that he represents to us consciously and unconsciously and spiritually forces us to take him and his example and his Enlightenment seriously when we begin to take him in his example and his Enlightenment seriously and we have to take our own Enlightenment seriously that's that's the beginning of our transformation I believe that e e e e e so the Buddha represents the goal so having a relationship with the goal which is Enlightenment itself is the beginning and the end of the past e e e e e e e e e remember the Buddha is not the is not the human being the Buddha is a field of Awakened awareness and intelligence that the Enlighten one means access to for the Buddha is a state of consciousness not a unique individual e what Mak what makes Enlightenment so powerful and so challenging is that some human beings have the capacity to to do it to do it I'm saying because I know this is something that we often think about a lot we think about the enlightenment it becomes very abstract but when Enlightenment awakens to itself in a in a profound way in another human being just like us becomes unmistakable and unavoidable it's something very deep profound miraculous is happening it become T it becomes tangible through its expression in the other that's the that's the greatest metaphysical challenge we can you can receive because a real Buddha has given has given up their personal life and their life becomes an invitation rathers to join them in that in their state of consciousness in the liberated relationship to to reality and to life itself real Buddhists are living for what's possible for for all of us the living for what's possible for all of us so their example is like an open invitation to join them in their Awakening let we have something better to do [Laughter] than most people usually have better things to do Haring gets burned when you realize you don't have anything better to do that's when things speed up really quickly in the most beautiful way does anybody have any questions if you have questions please write them into the chat box that you find at the bottom of the zoom window and I will read them out like have a question here okay from Mari she is saying if it is true that in order to remember one must first have forgotten then one could perceive that there is purpose in the forgetting Consciousness exists in both forgetting and remembering the Forgotten becomes remembrance yet once you remember can you ever really forget does Consciousness exist in the unconscious can we experience awareness in the mundane well that's beautiful so yes it seems people can forget they do it all the time that was one of the re those one of the one of the reasons I'm giving this series of talks about the Buddha of the dharm and the song because I see that my ever since I started teaching in 1986 I've been seeing people wake up REM remember and then forget fall back to sleep so if you say at the level of the true self is the true the true self never falls asleep because it's always awake so from the perspective the true self no there's no forgetfulness because the self the true self is always absolutely conscious and unwavering but um but in all the Brokenness and the fractured Natures of our egoic cells we do a lot more forgetting than we do remembering so so yes we can't forget and we do all the time most people do that's why as I was saying at the beginning of the of our time together today that we most of us need to be connected to or involved with a some kind of structure some kind of spiritual structure that will help us to stay awake help us to remember help us to help us not to not to forget so I was saying not in every case there are R rare cases where it's not true but most people need need to be involved in a in a in a structure an inter subjective structure that will help help them help us to stay connected to the deepest dimensions of our own capacity for Consciousness and our capacity for in a freedom and of our deeper and connected with our deeper spiritual values because whenever we reawaken to Consciousness our values change once again oh my goodness how could I forgotten about this this the most important thing that I that exists I seem to I know I knew this before but I forgot about it how did I do that I don't ever want to forget again I'm going to join a triple [Music] gem do it goes through association with the living Buddha the living Dharma and the living group of practitioners this this this the Quest for enlightenment is becomes this this shared Collective Endeavor that um it gains its own momentum and so being involved in such a context Keeps Us awake helps us to keep us awake it ways a few other things can actually do hello can you hear me I sure can yes thank you I apologized for my camera being off um okay I I think I'm maybe you know perceiving these words in a slightly different context or um maybe taking a slightly different uh posture or perception about these things um I'm just curious about you know when we go to sleep at night there's a sort of unconsciousness that that happens within you know we we kind of surrender to that uh we let go of conscious uh Consciousness and we go we go to sleep so and and there's purpose in that and there and it's it's a it's a place and opportunity where where kind of things can come into our our um conscious awareness if we remember the dreams or if we remember something from that time of a Consciousness sleep and so I think I'm kind of receiving the words of awareness and forgetting or um conscious unconscious of um the sacred and mundane uh they profound and mundane um and kind of you know seeing them in sort of a sort of a a polarity um but in a sense that that they are both [Music] happening within in this realm of being here on Earth um as a human being and that there is um purpose for all of it and or maybe I don't know purpose is the right word but just there is there is something about all of it that is beautiful and that um it feels as though I don't have to be 100% consciously aware and and yet I can still be aware you know in other words I can go throughout my day I can be in relationship I can sometimes you know fail as a human being I can I can uh my Humanity you know is going to do within me whatever whatever it does as a human being I'm not always going to be perfect and I'm not always going to be able to function uh 100% you know from that pure place of of awareness and yet it and yet it's okay you know I mean it's Mar you I'm not I'm not clear what you what you're trying to say I can't follow okay can you just I don't know if there's a question there I think I'm just trying to bring in a perspective of both and yeah but we don't want that's yes that's fine but in this context we don't want to confuse what we could call mundane awareness with transcendental awareness okay can you can you um speak about the difference as you perceive that yeah because the awareness when you when you awaken to the self or the grounded being there is a there is a radical there's there's a radically the radical recognition of that which is Ultimate and the radical recognition the radical Awakening to that which is Ultimate change is absolutely everything when so when we're aware of that which is Ultimate we we we know that we are we know who we are we know why that we are the mind is the Mind stops having any doubt about any about anything anything important suddenly suddenly we feel at one with reality in a way that is utterly liberating utterly liberating utterly [Music] clarifying overwhelming in its immensity and incomprehensible to the rational mind and that's nothing mundane about that experience so so so when you experience a state of consciousness that's so vivid and profound and so inherently meaningful and transformative there's nothing mundane about it there's nothing ordinary about it that's when we begin to understand things that the rational mind can't begin to understand without this higher state of consciousness and that's what enlightenment is it's not yes I I hear you it's not it's not as some people say totally ordinary it's totally extraordinary there's nothing ordinary about it so oh thank you I I sure I'm I'm just wondering for myself that is there um room for uncertainty within awareness there's room for everything okay that's what I'm that's what I'm perceiving also I know but but my point here is how your ego feels doesn't make any difference in this context how the ego feels what the ego thinks good bad right wrong true true false conf confident insecure all becomes totally irrelevant none of it suddenly none of it matters there's of it ever really did it's a completely different way of seeing and perceiving and experiencing reality and relating to reality it's truly [Music] absolute but we don't know want to underestimate this the word I'm using liberating UNC it's unconditionally liberating unconditionally liberating unconditionally liberating so what you're describing is how your ego might feel one one moment to the other which is all fine and good there's no judgment we all have egos and we all know what the ego feels like but in relationship to what I'm talking about the ego is so utterly mundane and uninteresting and unimportant in comparison to what I'm trying to share well thank you that make sense yes it does okay very good nothing personal I I understand yeah I understand where you're coming from thank you thank you the next question comes from Adam he's asking what are you experiencing inside you in those moments of silence me me personally yes talking about now or yes in the last few minutes yes [Music] um I've been experiencing kind of Stillness a peacefulness a lack of self-c concern and also because I have Parkinson's disease I've been I've been experiencing an annoying shaking in my body which is very distressing that's what I've been experiencing thank you but main but mainly I'm feeling a um the presence of of an open space that feels infinite a lack of self-consciousness feeling very peaceful and uh very trusting no fear no doubt no worries how's that sound pretty good good one thing I just want to add to it I remember something that Ken Wilbur said he was saying is making a distinction between uh States Of Consciousness and a permanent trait so for you is this something to come to the point where it's not just intermittent it's a permanent trait where you're there most of the time it depends upon what else is happening in my life when I'm when whenever I focus on this it's it's it's it's always right there but I'm not always focused on this right I see but uh but if you would get to know me people would get to know me find that uh at the deepest level there's a there's a there's a tremendous stability that I'm never that I'm never distracted from from this I always know who I am what's most important and I never forget that whereas I might go I might experience different states of Consciousness some some deeper than others and at times more mained States Of Consciousness I'm always I'm always I'm always there and ready to be here I never need to be reminded of what's most important so so my my Guru said to me and I often repeat this when I'm teaching because a lot of people think that uh that a stable attainment of enlightened awareness would be the presence of a of a particular State a particular feeling all the time right that's what you're asking about yes the presence of Peace the presence of a vibration of being Etc some spiritual kind of feeling other the feeling of peace that peace that passes all understanding and this just is not true a lot of people get very hung up because what happens is then when when people who believe that think that when people who believe that feel peaceful feel the vibration of being they say this is it this this is it now this is the thing this is what God is when they don't feel it they're not when for some reason they're not feeling that vibration they not feeling peaceful the mind is agitated they feel oh no I've lost it so they make Enlightenment which is not an object into into a mind object and Enlightenment is not a mind object it can't be found anywhere with the mind it can't be located it doesn't exist here or there not a feeling so the problem is when we associate Enlightenment with feeling States particularly the feeling States become an obstacle to the thing itself so my Guru told me he said he told me that the difference between Enlightenment and unenlightenment is doubt so in other words he made clear to me that when you become stabilized and enlightened awareness when you become stabilized and enlightened awareness you'll have no doubt he didn't say you'll always feel a particular way he said you'll have no doubt to repeat he didn't say he'll always feel a particular way so when your Enlightenment is no longer dependent upon feeling any particular way but on the absence of Doubt changes the ball game it means that we never have an excuse not to be in enlightened right even if we don't feel peaceful for example or even if we're feeling anxious for whatever reason there's all kinds of causes and conditions that will affect our emotional states from mundane things to kind of to very challenging personal issues to all kinds of things that can shake us up emotionally but none of that needs to mean anything about the deepest State the the deepest State of Consciousness and the deepest truth about who we are so if we have no doubt and I'm and I'm saying most people do have most people do have have doubt only people that become very very stabilized have no doubt and the reason I have a lot of spiritual self-confidence people get to know me they realize that I have a lot of spiritual self-confidence I have that spiritual self-confidence not because I'm in in a particular State of Consciousness all the time it's because I have no doubt about who I am about what the ultimate truth is in that that in that I never waver and then I realized that my Jesus my Guru is right this is really this is really about not having any doubt that has not that has nothing to do with the presence or absence of any particular State of Consciousness because he's talking about a deeper state of Freedom that's not dependent upon any particular State of Consciousness now what happens is interestingly is it which is that if we can let go of doubt in the way in just the way that I'm trying to describe to you it just so happens that you will experience these deeper and higher of Consciousness much more often for longer periods of time than most people do yeah that that that'll be the gift that you receive as a result of being doubtless about who you are which is more more more and more constant experiences of higher and deeper States Of Consciousness but one won't be one won't be grasping at these higher States like M like it's a material objects and one won't be drawing any conclusion about that they necessarily mean anything in other words lot of people think well if my if my mind is quiet it means something about me if my mind is agitated it means something about me realize nothing that happens in the mind means anything about who you really are nothing that happens in the mind means anything about who you truly are and if you know that doesn't matter what's happening and it it also gives us enormous room to be fully human to embrace the full complexity of Being Human including our inse fears and insecurities and frustrations and all kinds of suffering for all different reasons and still be doubtless about who we are of course I of course if the thing is if you are truly awake in the way that I'm speaking about you should you should the result should be a much deeper state of happiness than most people experience and and but but it's not really happiness it's what I call self it's spiritual self-confidence I like to speak about it that way spiritual self-confidence being confident in who you really are and if and if you you have spiritual self-confidence you'll express it in the way you behave it means it's means you there's something that you know and that you don't have there something that you know and in this I'm being very bold there something that you know what you know is the ultimate truth about the nature of reality which is quite a bold thing to say and you know that you know it and you know that you know it in a way that your own mind can't even understand but you have no doubt about it and nothing that you can experience in relative reality nothing that your body mind and personality can experience in relative reality could convince you of anything different you you've become doubtless and that doubtless is is this the stability becomes the source of stability for your Enlightenment for your Awakening and if it's for real other people are going to notice it so so please have the courage to let go of the belief that Enlightenment is a feeling because if Enlightenment is a feeling we make it into we make it into something because Enlightenment includes everything but it transcends everything and it's the transcends everything part that's the most interesting so the mind that hasn't transcended anything can't understand this part of it that make sense to you yeah definitely I mean what you're saying is have no doubt and anything that my mind ask you about what the meaning of something is has absolutely no meaning I understand that yes that's great well in the context of Enlightenment there's all kinds of things that where the meaning is important but we're trying to say that the Mind cannot understand what enlightenment is because it's a it's a mystery that exists beyond the mind yes and just to repeat Enlightenment is not a feeling the Awakening to Enlighten awareness will bring with it feel experiences of bliss and ex y joy and happiness that are [Music] unimaginable but then but they're they're the pro they're the products of Enlightenment they're not they're not the enlightenment itself are you ready for a next question Andre yeah it's coming from krie she is asking is the guru an outer Guru or an inner Guru or both both car I I don't know if you've ever seen my first book the title the title of my first book is called my master is myself no I haven't read that one that's the answer to your question it's called my master is myself oh okay yes answer to the answer to your question yeah you talk about perfection and and uh how Enlightenment is a the ultimate Perfection is perfection in ordinary life perfectionism is a source of great suffering um in order to help people if you're in a teaching position do not have to understand where we're all in our separate uh states of development and Karma and in order to help somebody come out of suffering or come out of their how do you help them well the way we help them we help them is by demonstrating a demonstrating a confidence in the ultimate truth in the ultimate truth is that that things are okay the ultimate truth is that things are okay how do you resonate with their inner Guru to lift them out to do you not have to go to their place never do that I can't no I know I know you don't I can no car slow down I can only help people if people come if people meet me where I am so I encourage people to come up to my level when they do that they start feeling better right right way so I I never meet people where they are I always insist lovingly if people meet me where I am because where I am if they meet me where I am their problems will disappear temporarily at least they'll evaporate temporarily they go oh this is a whole this is a completely different perspective this is a completely different way to see reality it's a completely different context of meaning and existence now I know I know what he's talking about so when people come when people meet me where I am their perspective changes and the State of Consciousness changes and their intellect becomes well ordered remember I'm not a psychologist well you understand things about psychology there's I know it's true but I'm not a psychologist so I I I only have one remedy I have a one size so it's all teachings for all human beings so so if you're bringing somebody to uh an experience of Awakening um I had a slight experience a couple of weeks ago where I kind of it was a bodily experience but it was also in my mind where a door opened and there was all light and then I Heard a Voice said Dharma in my mind and I closed the door I didn't go through and into the light and um I thought why did I resist going through and there were two things that came up was one was uh I didn't want to go crazy and the second one was um I wanted to honor the to sat the vow and not become enlightened before I brought all other living beings to Enlightenment so that that's beautiful but next time why don't you go why don't you enter the light and see what God has in store for you yeah yeah I think it' be a much more powerful bodh satra if you do that do it that way than waiting around okay it took me about two days to really realized that I should have I I I should have taken the risk and gone through it's okay there'll be next time next time next time you'll be ready yeah thank you nice to see you Carrie okay the next question Andre is from Tanya and she says what would be the function of Life once everyone is awakened as for now big part of the motivation to live is to alleviate suffering whether one's own or collectively but what then when there is no more self-caused suffering and when we all know who we are have you envisioned how life would look like then I want to be able to Envision that thank thank you for the presentation today apologies for not being able to have my camera on well Tanya there's um there's two different ways to understand Enlightenment one is to come to the end of suffering but there's a new and emerging understanding for the context of Enlightenment and that has to do with Evolution or the evolution of Consciousness Evolution happens when greater complexity emerges from lesser complexity so after we come to the end of our own personal suffering in the context of the Awakening to Enlighten awareness we've become interested in the evolution of Consciousness the evolution of the interior of the cosmos the interior of the cosmos interior of the universe is sence or subjectivity or interiority and and this the interiority or the inside of the universe is trying to evolve and trying to become more conscious trying to become more complex more sensitive more intelligent more extraordinary more profound more miraculous so once we solve the problem of our own personal suffering then we can become that we can focus oursel and dedicate ourselves to the evolution of the interior of the univers ierse and the evolution of the interior of the universe is a infinite aspiration it comes from that comes from the energy and intelligence that created the universe in the first place or to use Mythic language from God so using this Mythic language God's trying to evolve also so once we solve the problem with our own suffering then we want then we would come to that point where we want to do use our own the gift of our own life to help God evolve through us and that's quite a big commitment so of course first we have to solve the problem of our own suffering but when we once we've done that then we want to then we want to take on this challenge of the evolution of the interior of the cosmos with the foreseeable future and that should help the help to change everything in the long run how does that sound yeah how would life look like after that an exciting Adventure an exciting Adventure that was going to last [Laughter] forever that's that's really something that I would like to be able to Envision very good well yeah well and I don't see any like text or anything discussing this almost at all well my I wrote a book called evolutionary Enlightenment it's called evolutionary [Music] Enlightenment evolutionary [Music] Enlightenment and it's it's all about this it's all about what I just described very clear language but what would we do after like when that there is no after there is no after there's only [Laughter] forever there is no after do you believe that that is a state that we can achieve as a Humanity that everyone is awakened uh not anytime soon no but for a long long long long long time oh yeah yeah sure but sure yes absolutely absolutely yeah and I think it would be really really valuable to be able to really see that or imagine that because it's like a pointer to actualization exactly Tanya and the more of us said that they are imagining this glorious possibility for Humanity are are carrying this this this this feeling or this thought of this this this vision of the possible for all of humanity for ourselves and for all Humanity that is purely positive that's that's that's the medicine we all need to take right now just carrying that vision of the possible that's purely positive it's about the evolution of Consciousness for all sensient life and in case for for Humanity as a source of spiritual inspiration and spiritual positivity and uh spiritual self-confidence absolutely yes this is what I'm trying to do with this teaching with this work is to turn people on and to awaken people to this perspective so that people can become exemplars of the possible and beacons of the possible yeah and I do believe that it's possible that everyone is one day awakened and I have my placeholder there so thank you very good you're keep that placeholder there for all of us keep it for me too yeah but what what's beautiful T is that you care so much and that's what that's that's what I'm speaking about that you care that much about all of us and that's that's real spiritual inspiration that's the kind of inspiration we all need it's to care for is to care for everyone else and to care about the the human project and the life project on Earth for its own sake to care about what's possible not just because of all the things that seem to be going so terribly wrong right now but but because of what what can feel so terribly right because of the goodness truth and Beauty and the glory of God that's at the very center of all this that's driving the whole process this miraculous energy and intelligence that I was describing before as the mind of the Buddha it's the Awakening to that and the when we awaken to that we begin to express that manifest that through our own personality and that's what helps to inspire other people this was the last question and so that's cool thank you so I've enjoyed this um my time together and uh I realized that speaking about the Buddha or in this way is a little bit provocative but uh I wanted to take the risk I'm glad I did so I hope to see you all in two weeks and we'll continue this discussion of this with the uh triple Jem of the three jewels next time we'll talk about the DAR and the significance of the Dharma in this miraculous spiritual structure called The Triple G for the three Jews that I believe is the ultimate vehicle e