Whom Can We Trust?

The ultimate decider to this question must be…us! Even if we are trusting something or someone outside ourselves, it is still ‘we’ who is trusting our own acknowledgement. We should, in fact, put ourselves on our shrine!

The question then arises, “Which ‘us’ are we talking about?” The word ‘ourself’ implies two being present – ‘our’ and ‘self’. If something goes wrong, we say we blame ourselves – but who is blaming whom? Confusing isn’t it?

There are two aspects to our being – awareness and emptiness: empty awareness.

Our mind can be blamed for getting something wrong because it is confused. This is awareness running round in circles trying to make it all work – the mistaken I that has forgotten its empty aspect – and this is what all sentient beings do.

Empty essence does nothing, so it cannot be wrong. It is just aware; empty awareness. Our empty aspect cannot blame or praise: awareness blaming itself is daft as it’s mistaken to believe that awareness truly exists when it is, in essence, empty.

Awareness knows only some thing. Empty essence merely knows; it is this knowingness that is to be trusted. If not, then what?

“But…but…we can trust the teacher who is the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha!”
“But how do you know?”

Place your self on the shrine with your teacher(s) above your head
as a reminder of your true nature.