Dear Rupert,
My belief is that there is a moment called awakening. I believe this moment happened to your body-mind and this moment is so special that it allows you to say the search is over. If this is true for you, could you please describe your feeling at that moment? Did the way you view the world change completely?
Thanks much,
Nguyen Quang Ninh.
Dear Nguyen,
Awakening is the realisation that what we are, that is, the awareness that is seeing these words and experiencing whatever else is being experienced at this and every moment, is neither limited nor located. This realisation does not happen to a body or a mind. It happens to itself, awareness.
Yes, until this realisation, we believe that what we are is a limited and separate entity located in and as a body. With this belief and subsequent feeling, our true nature seems to be veiled, just as a screen seems to be veiled by the appearance of an image on it.
With this apparent veiling of our true nature, the peace, happiness and love that are inherent in it seemed to be lost. From that moment on, the apparent entity is condemned to search in the apparent separate world for peace, happiness and love.
The recognition of our true nature brings this search to an end and reveals itself as the peace, happiness and love that seemed to have been lost.
The feeling ‘at that moment’ has no objective qualities. It is more like a falling away. Have you ever felt love for someone? Of course, yes. What does that feel like? I do not mean to ask about the effect it has on the mind or the body, but the love itself. Are we not lost for words if we try to find it as an object, let alone describe it? But we know beyond all doubt that it is present and real.
Do not look for awakening in any kind of objective experience of the mind or the body. If you want to look for any signs, look in the direction of peace, happiness and love.
Yes, my view of the world changed completely. First of all it became clear that the world appears in me. Later it became clear that the world is made of me, that is, made of awareness. And then it became clear that experience and awareness are simply ‘not two’.
The realignment of the mind and the body with this clear seeing takes time and varies from case to case.
With love,
Rupert
