Eastern Philosopher Letter - Personal Statement Example

Eastern Philosopher Letter Dear Vishnu, I understand your concern when conversing with people who are disillusioned with life and all that it can offer. I also find it rather tiring to listen to the same problems repeated over and over again from minds that seem to have no desire to go beyond their petty desires and problems. You speak of people who seem to have a good life, with a nice house and good food and clean clothes. Yet they are miserable in their own ways. Of course they cannot search as we search; they are not yet illumined sufficiently to look beyond the attainment of their own desires for true contentment. Desire is a good thing, as long as it is used properly. It is an effective tool when it is well fired in the crucible of longing to understand, to go beyond the immediate and into the eternal. Yet most will never see this; they cannot comprehend what could be sweeter than the fruits of their labors. You see, Vishnu, you are different in a similar way as I was. You see beyond the immediate; you even surpassed me in some ways, such as your seeing the futility of the way of the ascetics. Your questions regarding them impressed me; I will not forget when you asked me how one can attain enlightenment when continually starving, dirty and begging. You inquired of the balance in your years with me (Moore-Bruder, 2005, p. 499). It is indeed the balance between desire and self-denial that is the key to the detachment that leads to the finer levels of consciousness. There must be an incredible awareness, an ability to see beyond this world our senses recognize and apprehend. The awareness directs the senses, not the other way around; this is where the teaching cannot be transferred from one person to another through words only. Words in and of themselves do not have any intrinsic meaning, yet the way they are delivered has an impact upon the mind that contemplates the words. Each mind is unique in its ability to transcend itself. By adhering to the Eightfold Path, one’s mind unfolds and begins to align with nirvana (Moore-Bruder, p. 502). First one must become aware of desires and cravings of the senses, which are the primary deceivers of the mind. It is only when the mind is stilled and the senses are fully awake, hence overcoming their cravings, that one can begin to comprehend nirvana. This is what is the most difficult to communicate to people, and this is what makes you weary. As we grow and develop, our thoughts and cravings form a unifying force that is very powerful in the physical realm. It is this force that is the fuel of life for most people and they do not or cannot know any different. Once the path to enlightenment, true enlightenment, begins, there is no way back to the limited mind with its busy activities and desires and plots for gaining more and more material things. Power and glory become dust in the winds of time and one can begin to feel separated from humanity as you expressed in your letter. Know that this, too, is an illusion. Complete transformation of the mind is not something one can trace in hindsight. One can only see and feel the supreme stillness which erases all of the normal noise and discomfort. This is not to say that emotions do not occur, nor does it say that we become separate from the Earth. We still feel emotions, yet they do not rule us. We still think practical and mundane thoughts, but they do not consume us. We still have desire, but our very being does not depend on fulfillment of them. It might behoove you to withdraw from a time; consider stilling your own mind by having less exchanges with other minds for a time. I suggest more meditation and retracing your exercises. At times the mind can confuse itself through engaging in conversations that are too full of resistance to moving away from the illusions that drive many lives. As we have often discussed, work must be done for sustenance, so it may also do you well to seek another form of employment that will encourage your mind to calm down and collect itself. This discipline is lifelong, my dear Vishnu. There is no end to the journey; this is what the unenlightened will not understand, for the mind is conditioned to pursue a goal in a linear way. We go from here to there. Enlightenment is not at all linear, nor is it a goal or an arrival. It cannot be communicated by word or by writing, so how does one teach? This, dear Vishnu, is the key; in order to teach we must live the teaching without fail. Once the mind opens the door to nirvana and once nirvana is touched, one cannot regress. Does this mean that suffering ends? No; we must still live our lives with their unique circumstances. Suffering is part of this life, and it is through the understanding of suffering that nirvana is achieved. All too often we bring unnecessary suffering upon ourselves, and this is within the realm of the mind that functions only through experience, memory and the senses. The mind will form its thoughts around the past or the future; suffering occurs because the past repeats itself and the mind, in its illusion, attempts to rectify the past by projecting itself into the future in an endless cycle of karma. The subtleties of enlightenment are such that the noisy mind cannot conceive of them, much less incorporate them into one’s daily life. This is where many make the mistake of thinking that they are enlightened. Once the mind grasps the sense of arrival, there is no real enlightenment. This will be difficult for you, Vishnu, but please do not lose heart. Remember that you are unknowing when you think you know; when you think that you do not know anything is when your mind is the most pure and receptive. In the paltry lives of those who accept the illusions as being real, knowing things is very important indeed; if the merchant knew nothing of trade, how can he feed his family? If the ferry man knows nothing of the currents and life of the river, how can he safely take people across? We must know corporeal things in life in order to live, yet we must not become so attached to what we know that we become what we think we should be. That way is the path of despair and continued suffering and longing. Take yourself away from your angst, Vishnu, and rest your mind. Keep practicing every day what you learn, yet be open to learning more, to being more. Never settle on one thing and assume you are secure; this world is continually changing, and it is this change that causes people to suffer. When nothing is changing, people worry about what may change in the future. Release yourself from this. Be at peace with all things. Siddhartha Reference Moore, Brooke Noel; Bruder, Kenneth. 2005, “Philosophy: The Power Of Ideas.” Sixth Ed., McGraw-Hill Companies. Chapter 15, pp. 498 – 502. Read More