(bell dings) - So no matter where you
look on the surface level, you're not going to arrive. And the Buddha recognized
that, because he said, "Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will encounter suffering." (groans)
(audience laughs) And that if only read as a statement sounds very pessimistic on the holistic, which means you are condemned
to perpetual frustration. So other translations for the
term that the Buddha used, which is Duḥkha, other
possible translations of that term would be
misery, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, frustration. Nothing is ever good enough. And that manifests in
some people more extremely than in others, that
state of consciousness, but in many people, it manifests
as a continuous discontent, a continuous sense of
something wrong here, except for brief moments,
brief interludes. You've just arrived at
your vacation destination, until that feeling comes up again. Duḥkha, it's a very profound
realization that on that level, there is no ultimate
fulfillment or happiness. And so you cannot look
for it in the future because when you look at it
on the surface level of life, to fulfillment through a
situation, through a new place, a new activity, a new way
of relating to people, suddenly becoming important,
getting recognition by others. All these things are surface
phenomenon, which are Duḥkha. And so I've met some people,
famous and wealthy people, have actually achieved all that, and then they realized
it actually it got worse because they could no
longer be under the delusion that when they finally have enough money, that they'll be free. Finally they got all the money
and they could go anywhere and they tried it out
and wherever they went, they found themselves,
(audience laughs) and they found their own
state of consciousness, the unrealized state of consciousness. And wherever they went,
because they found themselves, they found frustration. (chuckles) And they were unhappy
sitting in their private jet. (audience laughs) And that's a good point to reach, but the good news is
(audience laughs) you don't need a private jet
to get to that realization. (audience laughs) Because otherwise the chances
for most of us would be slim. If realization were only possible through the acquisition of a private jet. Or at least a timeshare in a jet, which you can buy, but
that's still very expensive. So the surface level is
not to be totally denied, because undoubtedly you exist here on the level of form also, and there are things to do and to acquire on the surface level,
as part of who you are, on the level of form. So you need to be able to operate
well on the level of form, learning new things,
trying out new things, creating things on the level of form, whatever it is that
you may want to create, or simply being engaged
in certain activities on the level of form, having a personality that's
not going to totally evaporate. So there's still things that are in you. You need to honor also
that level of who you are, which does not mean being
totally absorbed by it, trapped in it, and only
know yourself as that. So to do, to be active, that happens on the surface level of life. That's fine. If you live in a place
that is not the best, perhaps it's noisy or not nice enough, why not see if you can find a better place to live or get a better job. These things still operate. Where it doesn't work is expecting some ultimate fulfillment
through whatever you achieve. Because if you expect
some ultimate fulfillment, ultimate happiness, then
you're telling the world, the world in whatever
form it manifests to you, you're telling the world, make me happy. You place expectations upon the world that it cannot meet. So the world, the world includes
whatever happens to you, whether other people, places,
activities, relationships, It's all the world. What you own. Experiences on the level of form. All that is fine, is part
of the dance of life. But if you expect it to make
you happy, it's frustrating. If you no longer expect these
things to make you happy, they actually are quite pleasant. You can experience many things
as very pleasant things. You visit new places. It's nice. You don't expect that someplace, you should find some ultimate fulfillment just because it was moved from A to B. Or you meet a new person or relationship without placing impossible
demands upon the other person. Looking for the ultimate spiritual
partner to make me happy, please apply here.
(audience laughs) Send your photo to...
(audience laughs) When you don't have the expectation that this person should make you happy, then the relationship
actually works much better. But how can you not have that expectation? Only if at the same time that you operate on the level of form, you also are connected with
the essence of who you are. You also realize experientially
in the present moment the meaning of the letter E. The inscription, you are. So what the inscription is telling you is to have that realization in
the background of your life, so to speak, continuously, to have that inner spaciousness continuously as the backdrop,
so to speak, to your life. So when you do things, not
just when you meditate, although it's nice to have
glimpses of it, or realizations. I mean, there are people
who've been meditating for 20 years and never
even had a glimpse of that, because they always try to get somewhere through their meditation, not realizing the
meditation is not a doing. So if you practice meditation as a doing, you'll continuously miss it, because doing implies,
you want to get somewhere, which means it keeps you
trapped on the surface level. Because only on the surface
level, you can get somewhere. On the depth level, you
already are somewhere. Or nowhere.
(audience laughs) On the depth level, it's letter E, you are the beingness. And that is the inner spaciousness where that consciousness that you
are transcends the person. And that is where the
sense of being at home, or to put it in a more
conventional language, to be comfortable. There's an expression in English to be comfortable in
your own skin. (laughs) But of course it's more than that. It's deeper than in your own skin, but it points to that, to
feel that sense of rootedness in something indestructible. And that is knowing that you are, and it's nothing to do with thinking. It's not a concept. It is knowing yourself as consciousness. (water rushing)
