Awakened

Awakened

The evolutionary state subsequent to human evolution as an individual is the birth of the awakened: one who has awakened to the fact that s/he is one inseparable “life,” or love itself.

One can say this is exactly what our “life” wishes and that “life” has created and evolved the universe for that purpose.

The birth of the awakened advances the evolution of the universe to the final stage, which I don’t think is an end.

This is because the depth of the awakening is unlimited and the level of awakening includes various stages.

Anyway, one can say that inevitably, humans face great hardships along the way to the final stage, at present.

In the near future, however, many people will awake to their true selves.

This is the birth of “Neo-Homo sapiens” that has a new awareness.

The awakening would happen automatically, as evolutionary inevitability at the intrinsic request of “life,” without the need for special practices.

We are now on the verge of an unprecedented historical stage.

By the way, how do individual human thoughts and acts lead to the next evolution?

Perhaps it is easier to understand if you consider the evolutionary process in which a creature that used to live underwater becomes amphibious.

Suppose an underwater creature tries to crawl to land, urged by something.

Unlike in the water, ultraviolet rays are strong, and the creature dries up and dies in about an hour.

After a while, another one of the same species comes out of the water, hangs in there for three hours, and then dies.

Another one stays for half day, the next one for three days, the next for a week… The creature gradually adapts to life on land, and finally evolves into a creature that lives half the time underwater and half on land, like an amphibian.

So what happens to data of each one of them that was unable to adapt well to the land environment and died halfway through the process of evolution?

Because they died halfway, their data cannot be passed onto the next through their genes.

Nevertheless, the creature that adapted to the land eventually came to be born only because data of each one of them, which represented the result of their deadly efforts, was accumulated, passed over to one after another, and the next one became more adapted to the land environment on the basis of this data.

In other words, data of acts performed by each one of them in line with the direction of evolution is stored and accumulated in the “life” databank, where the data is accessed and utilized by others.

All living organisms are “life,” so the data of their individual acts and thoughts is naturally stored in “life” itself, and shared by everyone.

This means that what each and every human being wishes and does as an individual is not temporary, but reaches all humanity and also the entire universe.

In this sense, we each exist not only as individuals but also as the entire universe.

Consequently, there’s not a single wasted thing in what we wish in our hearts and implement in line with the direction of evolution.

We should live our lives daily and act positively as one inseparable “life,” or a person of love itself. We should do this with sincerity, fully opening our hearts in peace while caring for all people (regardless of whether they’re directly connected to us or not), desiring peace for human society and praying for the happiness of all humanity.

Living like this is really true happiness.

Your true self (part 2)

Your true self (part 2)

Who are you?

Are you the sound outside your house?

That can’t be right.

Because you hear the sound, you are separate from it.

So, are you the sensations in your body?

No. Because you feel these sensations, you are separate from them.

Are you the cloud floating in the sky?

No. Because you’re watching the cloud, you are separate from it.

Are you the fish you’re eating?

No. Because you’re eating the fish, you are separate from it.

Are you the computer you’re touching?

No. Because you’re touching the computer, you are separate from it.

Are you the thought surfacing in your mind?

No. Because you’re conscious of the thought, you are separate from it.

You are thus neither the sound, the smell, the thought, the sensations in your body, the fish, the computer, nor anything else.

But this is exactly why you are the sound, the smell, the thought, the sensations in your body, the fish, the computer, and everything.

The reason is as follows:

All things in this world arise and then fade away.

You are deep inside these things, just embracing them gently and watching everything intently.

You never arise nor fade away like all other things; you exist all the time.

You are affected by nothing.

You just quietly accept everything arising and then fading away.

You are infinitely silent, transparent, open, and free: absolute peace.

You are a completely silent, transparent space transcending size, in which everything just arises and then fades away.

This is also merely a humans’ dualistic, relative viewpoint, however.

The truth is that you, or “the space,” and everything else that arises and then fades away in you are one and the same.

You are a silent, transparent space.

Everything exists inside you.

You are everything and nothing at the same time.

Don’t try to use your brain to comprehend it, however.

Anyone who looks at the bare fact can understand.

Note, however, that the absolute condition is to look at the bare fact honestly like a baby, without adhering to preconceived notions or fixed ideas.

For this purpose, I would like you to try to practice meditation methods everyday, such as the Natural Way of Meditation or the Self-seeing Method I always recommend.

You cannot grasp the truth of existence with your brain.

What is written in this blog is also nothing but a finger pointing to the moon.

A bird is chirping now.

You are listening to it.

 “Life” is being the bird and chirping.

 “Life” is being you and listening to it.

You are the chirping bird.

The bird is you listening to it.

The fact is, neither the bird nor you exist.

Only the sound of chirping is there.

Your true self (part 1)

Your true self (part 1)

Here and now, all sorts of sounds arise and then fade away.

There’s nothing that you need to do.

Sounds simply arise and then fade away.

Sounds arise and then fade away spontaneously, without any effort.

Everything, such as the clouds in the sky, wind, sounds, smells, thoughts, and sensations of your physical body, simply arise and then fade away.

Plants (flowers, grass, and trees), animals (dogs, cats, birds, and humans), mountains, rivers, the earth, the sea, the stars, the sun, the moon, and all other things in the universe simply arise and then fade away.

I suppose even the universe itself simply arises and then fades away as well.

This is truly the world of “life” and everything is only happening here and now.

Is anything happening in time and space other than this moment and this place?

Is there anything apart from here and now?

Does yesterday really exist?

Does tomorrow really exist?

Both yesterday and tomorrow exist in your head, here and now.

Only here and now exists. This is the fact: there is no other truth.

Don’t try to think and understand with your brain, however. Just accept the fact lightheartedly.

By the way, while you are practicing the natural way of meditation or the self-observation method, you might notice that with all things that happen here and now—thoughts, sensations in the body, and sounds that arise and then fade away—there is something watching everything intently and gently deepest inside these occurrences.

This something does not arise and then fade away, however.

The thing itself remains deep inside things that arise and then fade away, all the time.

This thing is free from time and space, or cause-and-effect relations; we cannot really call it “something.”

It has nothing to do with “you,” “your life,” “your problems,” or stories made up with the intention to pursue the spiritual.

It transcends stories of the past and the future, illusions, or even oneself.

This is because “you” are merely a story made up in your head, which is not anything of substance.

If I were to give it a name, I would call it “that.”

That is the only entity; that transcends everything and is impaired by nothing.

That is exactly life itself, where all things in the world originate.

That is what makes everything simply arise and then fade away.

And, that is exactly the true identity or the real self.

Sounds, clouds, cars, trees, people, smells, tastes, sensations, thoughts, pains, your body; everything arises and the fades away.

Deepest inside everything that arises and then fades away exists something that never arises nor fades away.

That is your true self.

Everything is fine (part 3)

Everything is fine (part 3)

This world is constantly changing, or in other words, alive.

This is the world of life—revealing and unfolding itself moment by moment—neither arising nor ceasing.

We commonly think that this changing world has various forms of life that are all born and die separately.

All seemingly separate things are also a manifestation of a single life that neither arises nor ceases, however.

All things in the world are the same single life in nature, even though they differ in form or shape.

This means that the world is a manifestation of life, or a “great being,” and does not mean that life exists in addition to all things the world reveals.

That said, an attempt to search for the truth of existence or enlightenment, thinking it exists in addition to what lies in front of your eyes, is absolutely irrelevant.

In dualistic, relative thinking, life as the essence may seem to make the phenomenal world reveal and unfold itself.

Yet, these two things do not exist separately as if life were a creator and the world were a creature.

They are merely variations of the appearance of the “one and only” when viewed from different angles.

The truth is that life is the world; they are one and the same thing.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, for example.

Warblers warble, sparrows chirp, and crows caw.

White clouds float in the sky. A car roars past.

Eyes are horizontal and the nose is vertical.

In this way, life or the truth of existence reveals itself as bare facts in the world. Life does not exist as something else.

In any case, all things in the world are the natural result of an absolute, greater life force revealing and unfolding itself, and everything is complete as it is.

Individually, we worry, we doubt, and we even receive enlightenment; socially, we make a variety of serious problems—because life makes us do so.

In the end, everything is complete; everything is fine, no matter what we think.

Does that mean we should merely accept everything that happens because “everything is fine,” and should judge nothing further or take no actions based on our judgments?

You may be led to this notion if you cut out only part of the living, changing matters and consider them on a planar level, without seeing an overall perspective; like watching still pictures on TV.

The truth is otherwise, however.

The world is complete in all respects and everything is fine, including our judgments on various things and actions based on these judgments.

We tend to fall into thinking on a planar level unintentionally and see distorted facts.

Practice meditation properly in order to intuitively see correct facts.

Lastly, let me introduce a poem written by the master Shigemasa Wada.

In the world of life

Joy is found

In happiness

As well as in pain

Everything is fine (part 2)

Everything is fine (part 2)

“Life” makes the world reveal and unfold itself, moment by moment.

Life keeps everything in the world alive.

This does not mean that life and everything in this world exist separately, however.

Every moment, life reveals and unfolds itself as all things.

In short, life equals everything.

Let’s put it this way, in an easy-to-understand manner: “life” is an absolute, greater life force making the world reveal and unfold itself.

In line with this, all things in the world are essentially integral and inseparable.

That is to say, life makes no mistakes at all.

We can easily presume the fact by observing the way various elements maintain harmony and pass through cycles; we can see this in the regular movement of the sun, the moon, and stars in the macrocosm, in Mother Nature, the human body, and also the microscopic world and even atoms, for example.

In addition to the above examples, we can see the truth of existence in almost everything in the world.

Most of us, however, have mistaken perceptions of the truth of existence and mistaken ideas based on these perceptions because our cerebrums focus on dualistic, relative thinking.

The “sense of separation” is a typical example of these mistaken ideas; other examples include ideas of possession, superiority and inferiority, discrimination, good and bad, and also ideas about freedom, equality, happiness, and life and death.

A variety of personal and social mistakes then arise from our ways of thinking and actions that are based on these ideas.

Personal mistakes include worries and doubts, and social mistakes include all sorts of serious social problems.

The previously stated “almost everything” means everything except our personal and social mistakes.

As I described in the beginning, all things in the world that “life” reveal must be essentially complete.

Only personal and social problems created by our mistaken perceptions of the truth of existence or “illusions” deviate from this completeness, however.

Does complete life create something incomplete?

An absolute contradiction, indeed, but this is absolute fact.

If that should be the case, “something incomplete” seems so only by appearance but must be “something complete” by fact.

How is this possible?

What kind of secrets lie here?

Two: the fundamental reason each individual person is born into the world and the true purpose of living.

I strongly hope that you will thoroughly examine the following questions: “Who am I? What was I born for?”

I hope you can see for yourself that the truth at the heart of the matter is that “everything is fine.”

Everything is fine (part 1)

Everything is fine (part 1)

This world is a single life form (or living organism).

“Life” manifests in this world; individual beings and phenomena unfold continually, moment by moment.

Everything is complete, as it should be.

We live, in this world of life, worrying about and doubting this and that.

Yet, even with those worries and doubts, we are complete.

This is because we worry, doubt, or receive enlightenment through the act of living itself.

We worry and doubt without realizing we are inseparable from “life” itself. This arises from the “sense of separation” we have fallen into: “I” am separate from others and all beings are individual.

However, this also attributes to the act of living itself and, as such, is complete.

In other words, you could say that “life” wishes us to worry about and doubt it.

For what purpose does life require such things, however?

I suppose no one could explain the reasons objectively, but from my own experience, I think that it can be explained as follows:

We face worries and doubts so we can fundamentally solve them. By doing this, we run into fundamental questions about life, like “who on earth am I?,” and are forced to seek thorough answers to the questions.

In the end, we realize the truth: “I” am “life.” This is enlightenment (or awakening).

This is why life has created humans with developed cerebrums.

The cerebrum is only capable of dualistic, relative thinking.

That’s where the sense of separation comes from.

We, in turn, inevitably have worries and doubts.

As we try to overcome these worries and doubts, we finally realize the sense of separation is a mistake and awaken to the truth of inseparability.

Thus, even worries and doubts play a big role, no matter what we think.

The same holds true for social suffering and confusion.

They also arise from the sense of separation we feel.

The more dire straits take hold of us socially, the more we grow to overcome it.

As a result, all human beings eventually realize this sense of separation is a mistake; we become aware of the truth of inseparability and this leads to a happy and peaceful society based on this truth.

It seems to me that this is exactly what life ultimately wishes for us; everything is a grand plan life itself has devised for our fulfillment.

Whether true or not, everything, including any personal and social circumstances, has its meaning and role; everything is fine as is, in the world of life.

After all, the world of “life” is essentially, and in all respects, a world of total security.

You are born right now

You are born right now

Generally, we tend to think of ourselves as being born to so-and-so parents in such-and-such a place x years ago, and that up till the present many things have happened in our lives.

This is certainly true if we consider that the present is the consequence of the past. This is merely one aspect of a fact, however.

In truth, there exists no other you than the one living right here and now.

The past does not exist in absolute truth; there is only here and now.

This means that you are born right now.

You’re born now, completely new and free: bound by nothing.

And yet, a surprising number of people seem to remain tied to the past, living in a gloomy and wishy-washy state while they think to themselves, “I suffer so much because this and that happened,” for example.

How do you feel when you see a newborn baby?

One sees only simple innocence and radiant charm.

This is because babies and little children are brand-new.

The truth is, even your adult self is the same.

Past worries exist only in your head, as delusions or stories you have created.

Once you clearly confirm the fact that no such delusions exist, they disappear instantly.

In actual fact, it’s not only babies; it’s also you who are born right now.

Along the same lines, the truth is that you—alive, here and now—are bound by nothing. You’re innocent, radiant and completely free.

Suffering often results from comparison.

Comparison originates mentally when you believe that you were born x years ago.

In actual fact, there is only the breath you are currently inhaling, and the breath you are currently exhaling.

You are born right now. This is the truth.

Let’s say you have a physical disorder. Even with the disorder, everything is perfect when you’re born right now.

Newborn babies and young children do not make up stories or delusions in their minds, thinking to themselves “What if this or that happens?” or “Because of that, this happened.”

All they do is to accept the given set of circumstances 100% and try to live here and now to the best of their ability.

That is why any baby or child is all the more innocent and charmingly radiant.

Jesus Christ said “¼ unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”

This is by no means difficult.

This is because the truth is that you are born right now.