But beauty, real beauty, ends where intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of a face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful.
Intelligent practice always deals with just one thing: the fear at the base of human existence, the fear that I am not. And of course I am not, but the last thing I want to know is that.
Q: Since all is pre-ordained, is our self-realization also pre-ordained? Or are we free there at least?
A: Destiny refers only to name and shape. Since you are neither body nor mind, destiny has no control over you. You are completely free. The cup is conditioned by its shape, material, use and so on. But the space within the cup is free. It happens to be in the cup only when viewed in connection with the cup. Otherwise, it is just space. As long as there is a body, you appear to be embodied. Without the body you are not disembodied — you just are.
So the most important thing to realize is this: Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose. Inner purpose concerns Being and is primary. Outer purpose concerns doing and is secondary…. Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet – because it is the purpose of humanity. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.
Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of a Soul, Self or Atman. According to the teachings of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.
The disappearance of this fundamental question [How do I know the state of an enlightened one?], on discovering that it had no answer, was a physiological phenomenon, a sudden ‘explosion’ inside, blasting, as it were, every cell, every nerve and every gland in my body. And with that ‘explosion’, the illusion that there is continuity of thought, that there is a center, an ‘I’ linking up the thoughts, was not there anymore.
on June 2nd, 2008 at 12:48 am
Tom
I like this one.If we could only keep those pure thoughts it would make life just that little bit easier wouldn’t it? It’s when you let garbage in that we can produce garbage to come out.
How do we keep the garbage out. Maybe not watch so much tv. I guess that would be a good start.
Mark’s last blog post..Justa moving and a groovin
on June 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 am
I love this. It really is our choice as to whether we drag a heavy burden behind us, or something that follows us as lightly and easily as a shadow.
Mags | Woo-Woo Wisdom’s last blog post..Developing A Relationship With Your Spirit Guides (Part 2)
on June 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 am
@Mark A suggestion: don’t worry about keeping your mind pure. Instead, just don’t believe the impurity. That helps to straighten the garbage out. Oh, and throw the TV out the window.
@Mags The Buddha got it right, didn’t he? I’m all in favor of the light and easy shadow.
on June 2nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
If it was just me I would throw the Tv out. But if I did that Momma would throw me out. Actually I do limit my watching quite a bit.I agree with no believing the impurity.
Mark’s last blog post..Justa moving and a groovin
on June 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Thanks Tom. I really like this teaching and believe it to be very true. As one who works with adolescents on a daily basis, I wish to find better ways to communicate this truth to them, helping them realize the power inherent in the moment they have been given.
Chris Kirk’s last blog post..My Inner Snob
on June 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Nice, Tom.
In a way, pure mind is no mind. Not that mind is not there, but mind simply processes what moves through us into words. Rather than jumping in and judging and making wrong or right and muddying the waters, it simply flows.
Then creativity, insight, and clarity are tops.
Davidya’s last blog post..Forms of Resistance
on June 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Oh, and joy is our shadow (laughs)
on June 3rd, 2008 at 1:35 am
Funny how mankind has evolved drastically in the last couple of hundred (and thousand) years… But still we’re just humans. It’s like we keep on “improving” with all kinds of technicalities to cover the fact that we ARE JUST humans. Emotions, feelings, feeling joy, feeling sad, it’s all human.
Fantastic quote(s) Tom
Alex Kay’s last blog post..Why Gifts and Flowers don’t work for Creating Attraction – Only for Amplifying it
on June 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
@Mark Repeat after me: don’t throw the TV out the window. Living on the street wouldn’t be so hot.
@David I agree with your assessment of pure mind. Yes, it is a no mind kind of thing.
on June 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 am
@Chris You are most welcome. If you discover a good way to teach this stuff to adolescents, please share. Although, if you really get down and dirty with them, they are far more receptive, at times, to some of this “out there” stuff than we can imagine. Their egos are in a tremendous state of flux at that age, and so they can be open. Sometimes.
@Alex I love doing the quotes. There really isn’t a time limit on great teachings. 2000 years or 200 minutes, great teachings are invaluable. Because, as you say, we are still human.