There are two phases of enlightenment. One is a sudden flash of knowing, the Zen Satori, as the Japanese call it. I suppose most people experience a degree of this at least sometime in their life. I mean, oneâs bastion of belief is bound to crack a bit and let in the light of darkness (ç xuĂĄn) at some point in oneâs life.
The other phase is a rarer impartial âunbounded knowingâ. Impartiality opens the window of awareness wider. The wider this window, the more awe-full the view, and the more essential impartiality becomes to preserving equanimity. Indeed, without impartiality, seeing the âbig pictureâ is emotionally dreadful. This can be a virtuous circle. Impartiality opens the eyes and opening eyes necessitates increasing impartiality. The more literal translation of Chapter 16âs hints at thisâŚ
The Zen Satoriâs sudden flash of knowing may kick-start âunbounded knowingâ. It helps get the ball rolling. The Bhagavad Gita describes the challenging nature of such âunbounded knowingâ. This dialog is between two characters, the noble warrior Arjuna and Krishna (a Hindu deity corresponding to Jesus Christ).
Arjuna asks, “If thou thinkest, O my Lord, that it can be seen by me, show me, O God of Yoga, the glory of thine own Supreme Being“.
Then Krishna says, “See now the whole universe with all things that move and move not, and whatever thy soul may yearn to see. See it all as One in me.”
Krishna allows Arjuna to see what all fear to see, âI am allâpowerful Time which destroys all things.â
After Krishna reveals all, Arjuna freaks out and says, “In a vision I have seen what no man has seen before: I rejoice in exultation, and yet my heart trembles with fear. Have mercy upon me, Lord of gods, Refuge of the whole universe: show me again thine own human form.”
Krishna replies, “By my grace and my wondrous power I have shown to thee, Arjuna, this form supreme made of light, which is the Infinite, the All: mine own form from the beginning, never seen by man before.”
After Krishna returns Arjuna to normal vision, Arjuna says, “When I see thy gentle human face, Krishna, I return to my own nature, and my heart has peace“.
As we see, everything has its price, including âenlightenmentâ. By filtering what we see, belief helps us avoid seeing the âall-powerful Time which destroys all thingsâ. We only see what we are looking for, and belief largely determines what we look for. âIgnorance is blissâ is the price we pay for any beliefs we cherish.
How do you feel about enlightenment now?
If ignorance is no longer blissful, enlightenment may seem to be the only path forward in life. Not surprisingly, promised paths to enlightenment are more cultural hoodwink than not. As chapter 65 confides, Of old those who excelled in the pursuit of the way did not use it to enlighten the people but to hoodwink them.
Such hoodwinks offer safe harbors of belief that promise enlightenment, or other versions of salvation, but in fact deliver safety and sanity. Moving beyond this safety net requires nearly rising beyond oneself as chapter 16 puts it. I find it helps greatly to know the difference between, believing what I see and seeing what I believe. The former is an experience common to all life. Names and thought are not required. The latter requires names and thought, and thus uniquely humanâ as far as I know.
For example, when I see the Sun rise, I believe that experience. I can say I believe the Sun rises in the morning because I see it happen every day. If it stopped rising in the morning, then I would believe the Sun had stopped rising every day. This so-called belief follows experience. It states the evident, and when that changes so does belief. Thinking is not a prerequisite, so even calling this a belief is inaccurate. It feels like the essence of science.
What is uniquely human is the intangible mental world we inhabit alongside the concrete physical one. For example, a belief that the Greek Sun God, Helios, rises from the ocean at dawn each day in the East and rides in his chariot, pulled by four horses â Pyrois, Eos, Aethon and Phlegon â through the sky to descend at night in the West, doesnât depend on experience. This belief originates and manifests itself in the imagination, tradition, education, fear, and so on. Here, you need to think to believe, and believe what you think.
So, how can we know whether we are believing what we see, or seeing what we believe? For one thing, the former tends to be a more balanced view. For example, seeing an imperfect perfection is closer to impartially seeing âwhat isâ, and not simply a projection of your own needs or fears. Chapter 2 spells out nicely what a balanced view can look like:
It is because it lays claim to no merit
That its merit never deserts it.
Like all animals, we have an innate difficulty actually seeing life impartially. To do so would be unnatural. Like all animals, we are biologically set up to notice differences more than similarities â itâs survival 101. (See Balancing Difference With Similarity, p.120.) Indeed, sensing distinction is how the nervous systemâs neurons function. It is distinction, not similarity, which stimulates neurons. Having perception so skewed to see differences makes us innately biased and very un-enlightened. For humans, unlike other animals, this causes us difficulty. As chapter 71 cautions, Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty. Actually, it is more serious than that, as the more literal translation reveals, Realizing I donâtâ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. This explains why we, unlike other animals, feel a need for salvation, be that Enlightenment, being born again, doing drugs, getting drunk, or whatever!
Chapter 56âs reference to Mysterious sameness is useful for it shows us a way to transcend this difficulty â this disease â to a certain extent provided we truly want that. I find regarding everything I see as merely a symptom of some deeper underlying forces usually points me in that direction and gives me a better chance of channeling what chapter 14 calls the thread running through the way.
Finally, along with this talk of enlightenment itâs essential to recognize that enlightenment doesnât make us less human. It doesnât change us, our DNA, or the emotions than flow from DNAâs instruction set. Our core emotions and our original nature remain unaffected. Enlightenment simply and essentially neutralizes who we think we are, and in doing so returns us closer to our original nature. Chapter 16 describes it beautifully:
Returning to oneâs original nature doesnât mean life becomes blissful ease. That ideal, like the myth of Santa Claus, is only helpful to those who need it. In truth, difficulty and ease are inextricably linked. The difficult and the easy complement each other as chapter 2 puts it. Thus, as chapter 73 confides, even the sage treats some things as difficult.