In 17th-century Europe, a window tax drove people to brick up their windows to avoid taxes. Some even painted fake windows on walls where no light could enter.
Our lives and spiritual practice are no different.
Forgetting the very nature of a real window that lets in light and air, we waste our lives painting convincing imitations, trapped in worldly calculations of other people's opinions, wealth, and prestige.
No matter how skillfully painted, a fake window can never let sunlight in.
As long as you are drawn to external thoughts, staring at painted windows and mistaking them for light, awakening will remain ever more distant.
It is like mistaking the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself.
Seon points directly:
Stop painting fake windows. Break down the bricks that block the light.
The essence of life lies not in decorating the surface, but in tearing down the walls of concepts and allowing your originally clear and luminous nature to reveal itself.
-Nim-