Télos
Preface
I want to begin by pointing out that what we're exploring here is in no way groundbreaking. There are no new discoveries or insights being revealed here. That especially goes for the last two posts in this series (Epistēmē and Archē) where I move away from acting as the mouthpiece of an ancient tradition towards using my own words. The texts that I have been referencing and the characters in them have expounded on this matter to death.
I tend to write in the style of the writers whose works I have spent a lot of time studying. I'm like a human ChatGPT in the way I immerse myself in these texts to a point of having the ability to speak on behalf of the traditions they are transmitting. It makes a lot of sense to me that I should emulate their writing style if I want to preserve their message.
The language of the Zen texts is in a sense cryptic. It is a tradition and lingo that filters out the people that it wasn't intended for, almost by design. I think that the utility of doing that was preservation across the ebb and flow of imperial and cultural dialectic. But then that ends up making it inaccessible to people today that might be interested in that conversation. What I'm doing here is basically exploring that same subject in a language that I'd like to think is a little bit easier to digest.
This whole blog is a record of things that I want to address while I'm still here. There are things about me that people in my life will probably not understand while I'm alive. But for the sake of the people in the future that will want to know what I was really about, I want to address these things.
Having said that the nature of reality is beyond the mind's grasp, how can truth be realized? What is the nature of this realization?
If the questioner's intention is to have experiential understanding of reality, then he has to see the futility of verbal explanations. If he can't see the futility of verbal explanations, he will either pursue theories and ideas endlessly or he will settle on a particular explanation as the ultimate truth. He will not have an experiential understanding in either case. Experiential understanding means to have direct insight into the nature of reality. Is such a thing possible?
Explanations can sway and perplex mortals, but when your faculties leave you at the final moment of your life, what do power and fame amount to? At that moment it dawns on you that having fulfilled all of your desires is as good as having had a dream. Only then do you seek to set things right. But at such a time it's too late to repent. Death knows nothing of worldly concerns and waits for no one. That is why sages of the past said that worldly status and wealth don't compare to having your affairs in order when you take your last breath.
The point of verbal explanations is just to grab your attention. It's like this. This is not a plaything. This is not for people who are looking to get into arguments over which path is right or wrong. It's not for people who are looking to be wowed by eloquent speech or creative writing. It's not for clout chasers. And it's certainly not for people who want to be teachers and gurus, that want to be surrounded by followers fawning over them. Each of these people can only see a way to fulfil their desires when they hear this kind of talk. But there is a person who hears a little bit of this and immediately understands the gravitas of this matter. Such a person wastes no time in applying effort and doing the inner work. Among the countless multitudes of beings in all the worlds, if one such person emerges, he or she makes it worth all the trouble.
Having said that the true nature of reality is beyond the mind's grasp, this nature doesn't need realizing. The true nature of reality is inherent. Everything is contained in it; every thing is a manifestation of it. While events appear to be concrete and discrete, all things are possessed of a singular formless essence. Naturally that applies to this very mind that can hear and understand speech. The original essence of your mind before there occurs the slightest hint of differentiation or fabrication is the very same nature as the source.
Though even as the mind flows into ideation and is taken in by what is projected by the senses and conceived by the intellect, whatever arises is essentially empty (or illusory). Whatever is seen, heard, or imagined has no substance. That being so, the persistence and transformation of whatever has arisen is also empty. And that being the case, the cessation of what has arisen is also empty. To see the emptiness (or illusory nature) of what arises and ceases is to realize the true nature of reality.
If you see that arising and vanishing are empty, the realization of this emptiness is also empty. Finally, having seen that the realization is empty, point this realization back to the source and see that the source is likewise empty. Since it's all empty, what's the fuss? The mind functions perfectly without leaving any traces anywhere. But because people fixate on imaginary things, they lose themselves and go astray. The very act of conceiving truth as something to seek turns it into an object. And in fixating on seeking an object, even people with good intentions can't help going astray.
One who understands this seeks nothing and gains nothing. Going about your daily activities is like the moon and clouds reflected in the mirror-like surface of a pond not making waves. But even then, if you fixate on seeking nothing, this too becomes an object and binds you. Whatever your consciousness fixates on will trap you. Having said that the true nature of reality is inherent, you don't need to seek reality. Just let go of what is false and truth will shine of its own accord.
Having settled this matter, why not eat when you're hungry and sleep when you're tired? You take having food and a safe place to sleep for granted when you have them. After you have settled this matter, you still have to take of yourself.
