Enlightenment Isn’t Unattainable
We might think that enlightenment is something they do over there, or back in the days of yore. 🙂 Something really special, with special powers…
Well, we’ve all heard the stories!
But what if it isn’t that miraculous?
What if we are already enlightened,
but didn’t notice or ignored it?
This is the simple conclusion, unless someone can actually show us something different.
Maintaining the mystery merely makes enlightenment a secret, and collects followers who like a good story. Enlightenment is the realisation of our true reality, which is pure awareness; just cognisant consciousness with absolutely no elaborations.
Living a life, satisfied with knowing what we are within all this befuddlement, is liberating. Whether there is an afterlife or not, we are making the most out of this life, seeing the befuddlement as an empty illusion for the entertainment of others.
Maybe seeking enlightenment is also an illusion.
🙂
We should be seeking whatever distracts us,
obscuring the emptiness of enlightenment.
We are all enlightened.
The level of enlightenment
depends on the constant presence of pure awareness as illusions arise.
BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. In this way, Dzogchen is practical - no bells and whistles required. 
Two questions helped me the most:
Are you present?
Are you aware?
You can’t answer no to either question and once you’ve seen you can’t un-see.
Of course, your mind can deny that it could be that simple.
Hello NHGS,
That is absolutely true.
It is funny that when asking anyone, “Are you conscious?” They will say “Of course!” then go back into their ‘normal’ routine.
Tony
Yes, but discipline, attention, and focus don’t sound very mystical.
For me it is the silence, which can’t be ignored or pushed away. When you give yourself to the silence that appears effortlessly and simply pay attention, the fog slowly begins to lift.
Allen
Humanity has been fed some very colourful stories, art, pictures, statues, buildings, religious songs….
Tony
Yes but since awareness, or consciousness is prior to all things, all things appear in and are encompassed by that consciousness. None of it seems to be any of my business anymore.
Lately it has become harder to care much about such things but I do still care, and though I’d like to tell people the “good news” I can’t find the words. “It” is impossible to describe and it doesn’t come up in every day conversation. I try to drop little crumbs on my blog now and then but few pick them up. If I did a post on how they could reside in a place that was prior to thought I’d probably lose every reader.
I’m not sure why I’m telling someone who already knows all of this about it but there it is. I got a few words out after all.
Allen
Hello Allen,
🙂
I hear every word you are saying.
Life/compassion is certainly challenging.
Maybe words aren’t so important, just being there for them is enough support.
Certain qualities shine through. That is pure consciousness.
Tony
I should thank you for your replies before I forget again. I think you are right about actions speaking louder than words and in fact I have a sense that I should not be speaking about “it” in public at all at this point. Though my mind is quiet and clear for the most part and I often feel as if I could stay in this empty, alive space for a thousand years, at other times this ego appears and makes me feel as if I have one foot in eternity and the other in the grave. I’m sure things will iron themselves out if I continue to go to the silence when it calls. Lately it seems to be calling more often and things are becoming clearer.
Since I’ve never had any formal training and have never had a personal teacher, I can only go by what that quiet space shows me.
That’s why blogs like yours are important. I’m very wary because I’ve read about the dangers of what can happen, so when things shift and something important seems to come about I always like to just stop and make sure that I’m not being fooled. You’ve helped with that a lot more than you know, and I thank you for it!
Allen
That which sees this mind/ I/ego with one foot in the grave is consciousness. When consciousness is realised as pure emptiness free of conditioning, then whatever is encountered is a reminder.
This is how heaven and hell, dark and light area unity. By virtue to one the another in known.
Tony
Thank you again, Tony. Two sides of the same coin, if I understand you correctly, and you can’t have one without the other. I remember Alan Watts explaining that years ago, and though it didn’t make a lot of sense then, it does now.
I was just thinking how I didn’t ask for any of this-it came looking for me. It got my attention in a big way and changed the course of my entire life. Every time I’ve tried to get away there was another book or something else falling into my lap, just like magic, leading me back. Trying to get away obviously wasn’t working, so finally I just threw myself at it, and what a long strange trip it’s been. 22 years to finally see something so very simple. I’m glad you’ve been here for at least part of the ride.
That’s the wonder of karma … 🙂 Tony
You really just have to laugh!