No path that's the path

Enlightenment is so obvious and simple that people approach it in a difficult and profound way.
Even for those who don’t go down the right path after realization, this can lead to many years of wandering in second thoughts.

I often say that whatever it is you want to realize, you have to be 100%, without 0.01% doubt.
Because if everything is “one,” including you, whatever you are, then it’s impossible to think of anything other than one.

For example, if the world is all “sky blue,” there can’t be any other color, so there can’t even be the word “sky blue,” let alone any other color.

In awakening, there is no such thing as discernment, which is why many people who have had awakening experiences have said that they experienced the void.

So if we were to use a ball as an example, we would say that it came from a place where we don’t even have a body.
But this understanding is only knowledge, not wisdom.

There are no stages of enlightenment, so someone who listens to a dharma talk for five minutes or someone who listens for 50 years is on the same starting line if they haven’t awakened.

Even people who claim to have had an experience of enlightenment often have the delusion that there are stages of enlightenment, which is why we say that it’s important to have an experience of enlightenment, but it’s also important to find a teacher who can guide you on the right path and listen to the right dharma talks after enlightenment.

This doesn’t mean that you need to do anything different before or after enlightenment.
The difference, if there is one, is that before enlightenment you need to listen to dharmatalk until you suddenly see that all the things you believed to be there were not there in the first place, and after enlightenment you need to listen to dharmatalk until the whole becomes clear to yourself, including the things that are still visible, audible, and present in the world.

These subtle words of truth, which seem to be the same but different, different but the same, are not the object of study by unenlightened Buddhist monks and scholars, but their vain efforts to discover them through inquiry and make them instruments of knowledge continue through the centuries, but in the end, until one experiences enlightenment, the words of the Buddha cannot be understood, and even if they are understood, they cannot be correct.

Truth can never be understood through words or writing.
There are contradictions in our speech and writing.

For example, when we hear the word ‘apple’, we see a picture of an apple in our head or heart.

The words written on a white piece of paper are not the ‘real apple’, nor are the words exhaled through the breath, or the picture drawn in the heart or mind.

As the founder of Zen, Master Dharma, said, “Everything in the world comes from the mind.

So the more concise and clear the question of enlightenment becomes, the closer it is to being answered.
If that one question (Who am I) is always steadfast in our lives, it won’t be hard to see the answer.

The Buddha was not the founder of enlightenment; he was one of many people who identified the enlightenment or self that has always been there.

He didn’t say that enlightenment was something that only specially selected Buddhist monks who endured years of rigorous training could achieve.

“Enlightenment,” in the sense of identifying the real you, is the birthright of all of us, regardless of religion.

There is no one specific way to reach enlightenment.
Rather, you don’t have to do anything, but you shouldn’t do nothing either.
Because even doing nothing is doing something (trying to do nothing).

If there is a way, it’s simply to let go of your own thoughts and opinions and listen to dharma talk.

Dharma talk is best listened to like rain.
Then, when the time is right, like a flower blooming, you’ll find your mind opening up when you least expect it.