Sublime

suddenly gained an understanding of all teachings, the ability to see things as they really are and not how others see them, how to examine things with his own wisdom while remaining free from discursive views, and all the abilities of a great yogin38 no longer dependent on others:

“I [say your name] see and draw to me, through divine love, those Beings who seek enlightenment through my process. The sharing will elevate us both now.”

The goal of the Zen koan is enlightenment, which is a profound change of heart. This change of heart makes the world seem like a different place; with it comes a freedom of mind and an awareness of the joy and kindness underlying daily life.

Becoming enlightened, in the Buddhist sense of the term, would entail wholly ridding yourself of the twin illusions from which people tend to suffer: the illusion about what’s “in here”—inside your mind—and about what’s “out there” in the rest of the world.

One of the core meanings of enlightenment is liberation from false and spurious value attachments that blind the individual to his or her true essence. When and if I learn that ultimately I am my mind and my manner of using it—when and if I understand that ego is only the internal experience of consciousness, the ultimate center of awareness—I am f