Summary: <p>Can you experience enlightenment right now? The great masters have told that you already have this enlightened state as your essential nature. You've just forgotten. You're just asleep. But then, who are you, really? Unfortunately, it is impossible to answer this question using words or concepts. So today, instead of giving a lecture on who you really are, I am going to guide you in a way that you might just be able to begin to get a sense of it. This model was taught to me by my teacher George Falcon and I have adapted it into a method of contemplation and meditation that you can use to begin to grasp this ancient teaching on the nature of self. It will give you a more intuitive understanding of what it is these masters are talking about when they say things like ‘you are free’, ‘you do without doing,’ and ‘you are not the self.’ </p><br><p>You may wonder why it is so important to understand who you really are. It is because this confusion is the source, in one sense, of all your problems in life. Buddha tells us in the Diamond Sutra, for example, that "Nirvāna and samsāra are, for the human mind, merely the ultimate pair of opposites, and like all lesser pairs of opposites, such as ego and nonego, they are unreal. Only in the transcendent state, beyond the domain of opposites, is truth realizable." (The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui-neng (Kindle Locations 193-196). Shambhala Publications.)</p><br><p>But never forget that this is just a model and, as Buddha said many times, these teachings "of the Dharma is to be likened unto a raft." and just like any model or teaching, or Dharma, "the buddha-teaching must be relinquished." (The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui-neng (Kindle Locations 395-396). Shambhala Publications.)</p><br><p>This is a 45 minute version of the Letting Go of Who You Think You Are episode.</p><br><hr><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> See <a style="color: grey;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
