An excerpt from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Enlightenment, what is that?
A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over 30 years. One day, a stranger walked by. "Spare some changed?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap.
"I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked, "What's that you're sitting on?"
"Nothing," replied the beggar, "Just an old box. I've been sitting on it for as long as I can remember."
"Ever looked inside?" asked the stranger.
"No," said the beggar. "What's the point? There's nothing in there."
"Have a look inside," insisted the stranger.
The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.
I am that stranger that has nothing to give you, and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself.
"But I'm not a beggar," I can hear you say.
Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of being and the deep unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things, but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.
The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way. But it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible. Something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you, and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form.
The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation from yourself and from the world around you. You then perceive yourself, consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within & without becomes the norm.
I love the Buddha's simple definition of enlightenment as "the end of suffering". There's nothing super-human in that, is there? Of course, as a definition, it is incomplete. It only tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering. But what's left when there's no more suffering? The Buddha is silent on that, and his silence implies that you will have to find out for yourself. He uses a negative definition so that the mind cannot make it into something to believe in, or into a super-human accomplishment, a goal that is impossible for you to attain. Despite this precaution, the majority of Buddhists still believe that enlightenment is for the Buddha, not for them. At least not in this lifetime.
Publisher: You use the word "being", can you explain what you mean by that?
Tolle: Being is the eternal, ever present one-life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. However, being is not beyond, but also deep within every form as its inner-most invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deeper self, your true nature.
But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don't try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the now, being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of being, and to abide in that state of feeling realization, is enlightenment.
A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over 30 years. One day, a stranger walked by. "Spare some changed?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap.
"I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked, "What's that you're sitting on?"
"Nothing," replied the beggar, "Just an old box. I've been sitting on it for as long as I can remember."
"Ever looked inside?" asked the stranger.
"No," said the beggar. "What's the point? There's nothing in there."
"Have a look inside," insisted the stranger.
The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.
I am that stranger that has nothing to give you, and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself.
"But I'm not a beggar," I can hear you say.
Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of being and the deep unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things, but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.
The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way. But it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible. Something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you, and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form.
The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation from yourself and from the world around you. You then perceive yourself, consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within & without becomes the norm.
I love the Buddha's simple definition of enlightenment as "the end of suffering". There's nothing super-human in that, is there? Of course, as a definition, it is incomplete. It only tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering. But what's left when there's no more suffering? The Buddha is silent on that, and his silence implies that you will have to find out for yourself. He uses a negative definition so that the mind cannot make it into something to believe in, or into a super-human accomplishment, a goal that is impossible for you to attain. Despite this precaution, the majority of Buddhists still believe that enlightenment is for the Buddha, not for them. At least not in this lifetime.
Publisher: You use the word "being", can you explain what you mean by that?
Tolle: Being is the eternal, ever present one-life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. However, being is not beyond, but also deep within every form as its inner-most invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deeper self, your true nature.
But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don't try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the now, being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of being, and to abide in that state of feeling realization, is enlightenment.