What Do I Do?

Firstly, we have to designate what the ‘I’ is purported to be: there are expedient and literal explanations. In expedient terms, we may think of it as our entire experience, but from a literal sense, this is an illusion as an ‘I’ cannot be said to be found. That which is looking for the ‘I’ has no name but is pure awareness. If we want to call that the ‘I’, we might confuse ourselves because that which we are is beyond designation. In absolute terms, we are watchers. Pure awareness that is just aware and actually does nothing but merely shines clear light. It just is.

However, we have reduced this pure awareness to an illusory entity that thinks and feels in a karmically-produced body. Where focus goes, attention goes, and mind enters. We are clear light energy within an electro-chemical body, with a programmed mindset that has skills and limitations due to karma. This mindset is something with which pure awareness became fascinated and so ignored and forgot itself: pure awareness believed it was an entity with parts. This produced the emotions of pride, jealousy, hope, fear and anger.

Confusion arises because we are unsure which one of these two is ‘me’ and what this me should be doing. This produces inner conflict. We are, in fact, virtually oscillating – seemingly instantaneously – between the two. On the relative level, this mind and body has to look after itself, and therefore interacts with its environment. This relative body is a perfect vehicle but when absolute reality identifies too strongly with this relative side, it becomes imprisoned, and spends its entire existence entertaining itself. This merely perpetuates the creation of more programming, and more karma. Karma is habitual behaviour that creates more of the same. Karma is not a punishment; it’s just a product of previous actions.

So what do I do? Merely allow this karma to play itself out. It can’t be avoided. We allow it to exhaust itself by not holding on; by being aware of our habitual reactions and so loosening our grip. This occurs because of the light of clarity. That which is beneficial brightens and that which is unnecessary subsides.

When we understand this, we stop worrying and thus reduce our anxiety and stress. We don’t have to be scholars and we don’t have to see ourselves as stupid, thinking “I don’t understand this.” Merely watch, see and sit back.

The Buddha’s teaching is very simple: do good, do no harm, tame the mind. That is just being relaxed about everything; as modern people, we need to be more relaxed. We don’t need to do complex practices, which merely keep the engine running, and turn us into hungry ghosts, constantly feeling that we don’t have or do enough.

What do I do? Merely go through the routine that karma brings up, and take a back seat; this allows the light just to shine on everything we do, and gradually things refine. Unnecessary distractions naturally fall away.

Love what we do.
If there is nothing to do, do nothing.
Just love being.

When doing prayers or chanting, words are involved, and words have meaning. This serves to convince the relative mind to focus and understand, but ultimately it is just a sound in which we rest. In its purest sense, appearances, sounds and awareness are inseparable from emptiness. Emptiness is pure light. Clarity without further comment. This is the fruition of practice that tames the mind, does no harm and is beneficial.