Enlightenment is not an attainment; it is a realization. And when you wake up, everything changes and nothing changes. If a blind man realizes that he can see, has the world changed?
Interpretation
Enlightenment is about awakening to a deeper understanding of reality rather than achieving a goal.
This quote emphasizes that enlightenment is not a destination or an achievement but rather a profound realization of one's true nature and connection to reality. It suggests that true insight can transform perceptions and understanding, leading to the paradoxical experience where everything seems different yet unchanged at the same time—illustrating that the mind's clarity alters how we experience life.
In practice
During a meditation retreat, you might share this quote to illustrate the inner journey of self-discovery.
Wake up! If you knew for certain you had a terminal illness--if you had little time left to live--you would waste precious little of it! Well, I'm telling you...you do have a terminal illness: It's called birth. You don't have more than a few years left. No one does! So be happy now, without reason--or you will never be at all.
You haven't yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior's way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability--to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I've shown you by example that a warrior's life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior's sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.
Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere.
Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds.
Everything you need to know is within you. Listen. Feel. Trust the body's wisdom.
In the real world, those of us who are most productive, successful, and satisfied focus not on fixing feelings or manipulating thoughts, but on what needs to be done-and then doing it-no matter what thoughts or feelings arise.
I've never been resigned to ready-made ideas as I was to ready-made clothes, perhaps because although I couldn't sew, I could think.
A dozen times a day we come to a fork in the road and must decide which way we will go. It is important to get our ultimate objectives clearly in mind so that we do not become distracted at each fork in the road by the irrelevant questions: Which is the easier or more pleasant way? Or, Which way are others going?
Though reading and conversation may furnish us with many ideas of men and things, yet it is our own meditation must form our judgment.
I always started a job with the feeling that I'd soon quit or be fired, and this gave ma a relaxex manner that was mistaken for intelligence or some secret power.
You must bring out of each word its practical cash-value, set it at work within the stream of your experience.
Freedom is control in your own life. I have more control now than in the past, and I'm learning the value of saying no. That's very important.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.