Sublime

As Foucault tried to tell us, any dissemination of information—which the dharma is—is inherently an exercise of power. As such, any claim that “I’ve got the answer” is also a claim of authority, of “listen to me.” Yet for all the venerable guru traditions in Buddhism, I am struck by how different the Buddha himself was when it came to questions of

He emphasizes that “truth” is not found by going from teacher to teacher, church to church, or discipline to discipline, but by looking within the self.

‘You yourself are creating the world and God. Both God and the world, that arise when you arise as a man and subside when you do not, are impermanent. Hence leaving research on those aside, you should investigate the source (base) in which you subside and live a deathless life. The path to achieving this is discussed in the first part.’

‘The body is not I; who am I? I am he!’ (dēham nāham, kōham? sōham!) – this is the quintessence of the self-investigation found in the scriptures, to facilitate which they lay down the following four practices (sādhanas): Discrimination (vivēka) between the eternal and the ephemeral Desirelessness (vairāgya) towards enjoyments in this world and oth

Whatever states, whatever powers, whatever perceptions or visions may come, there is always the question of to whom they come until the Self alone remains.

Don’t those who wish to follow his path need to abide by his discipline? Therefore, where and why should I go anywhere? Does not my jñāna-father, who brought me into his house of truth, know how to conduct other sincere seekers similarly? Why should ego develop in the form of “I have to show them the way”?

Meditation should be on the Self. Everyone knows ‘I am’. Who is the ‘I’? It will be neither within nor without, neither on the right nor on the left. ‘I am’ – that is all.