RETURN TO SIMPLICITY

November 8, 2000

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Any moron can complicate that which is simple, but it takes a special

kind of genius to simplify something (e.g. life, or any seemingly

difficult question, like Who am I?) that seems to be complicated. Why

do most people on the so-called spiritual path persist in

complicating things, and insist on making things difficult?

In the Diamond Sutra, Subhuti asks Buddha about his enlightenment.

The Buddha's response is very simple and yet very profound: "Through

the consummation of incomparable enlightenment, I acquired not even

the least thing; wherefore it is called `the consummation of

incomparable enlightenment.'" Those who know the truth of

enlightenment firsthand will agree that although it usually comes

after a long period of seeking, striving, practice, inquiry and

discipline, it will not happen as the end result of the seeking and

striving, but as a result of unshakeable, sudden, realisation that

all seeking and striving for enlightenment is futile.

"Self-realisation is nothing to be gained afresh" - says Hindu sage

Sri Ramana Maharshi, "it is already here. There is no `reaching' the

Self. You must only get rid of the idea that you are an ajnani

(ignorant one)." Zen monk Hakuin said in Zazen Wasan: "All beings

are from the very beginning Buddhas. Not knowing how near Truth is,

people seek it far away – what a pity!" Zen Master Huang Po

said: "You have always been one with the Buddha, so do not pretend

that you can attain to this Oneness by various practices… Refrain

from seeking Budhahood, since any search is doomed to failure."

St. Thomas Aquinas stated, "Knowledge comes only in so far as the

object known is within the knower." William James remarked: "The

paper seen and the seeing of it are only two names for one

indivisible act." Wei Wu Wei wrote: "As long as we are identified

with an object: that is bondage. Self is not an object to be known."

Krishnamurti kept saying that "the knower is the known." Modern

science confirms that "the observer is the observed..."

Since Self, Oneness (Non-duality), One Mind, Buddha's (or Krishna's,

or Christ's, or Universal) Mind, Cosmic Consciousness, Tao, God,

Brahman, One, All, Absolute, Infinite, Omnipresence... cannot

possibly exist anywhere but in THIS timeless present moment, right

now and here, any effort to `get' to It in time, or through

any `doing', is quite useless. To the extent that you are looking

for your "Self", to that extent you are lost indeed; you `find' your

Self the moment you stop looking for it as an object that can

be `lost' or `found'. To the extent you think that God is elsewhere,

to that extent God is remote. To the extent that you are `looking

for' Oneness, you will abide in `duality'. You become `enlightened'

or `saved' the `moment' you realise that you are already enlightened

and saved, and that all striving after enlightenment or salvation is

only taking you away from it. To seek the timeless, eternity,

infinity, Nirvana, One, All... in the past or future time (or place)

is an impossible task.

Life is simple. It simply is as it is, here and now. May all human

beings be free from clinging to any misconceptions and fancy beliefs

that complicate — rather than simplify — life.

Love,

Ivan.

November 8, 2000

Ivan,

Bravo!

Applause, Applause!

With a standing ovation,

I bow to you.

Thank you.

Simply loving it all, Mary

Ivan Frimmel wrote:

RETURN TO SIMPLICITY

--------------------

Any moron can complicate that which is simple, but it takes a special

kind of genius to simplify something (e.g. life, or any seemingly

difficult question, like Who am I?) that seems to be complicated. Why

do most people on the so-called spiritual path persist in

complicating things, and insist on making things difficult?

In the Diamond Sutra, Subhuti asks Buddha about his enlightenment.

The Buddha's response is very simple and yet very profound: "Through

the consummation of incomparable enlightenment, I acquired not even

the least thing; wherefore it is called `the consummation of

incomparable enlightenment.'" Those who know the truth of

enlightenment firsthand will agree that although it usually comes

after a long period of seeking, striving, practice, inquiry and

discipline, it will not happen as the end result of the seeking and

striving, but as a result of unshakeable, sudden, realisation that

all seeking and striving for enlightenment is futile.

"Self-realisation is nothing to be gained afresh" - says Hindu sage

Sri Ramana Maharshi, "it is already here. There is no `reaching' the

Self. You must only get rid of the idea that you are an ajnani

(ignorant one)." Zen monk Hakuin said in Zazen Wasan: "All

beings

are from the very beginning Buddhas. Not knowing how near Truth is,

people seek it far away – what a pity!" Zen Master Huang Po

said: "You have always been one with the Buddha, so do not pretend

that you can attain to this Oneness by various practices… Refrain

from seeking Budhahood, since any search is doomed to failure."

St. Thomas Aquinas stated, "Knowledge comes only in so far as the

object known is within the knower." William James remarked: "The

paper seen and the seeing of it are only two names for one

indivisible act." Wei Wu Wei wrote: "As long as we are

identified

with an object: that is bondage. Self is not an object to be known."

Krishnamurti kept saying that "the knower is the known." Modern

science confirms that "the observer is the observed..."

Since Self, Oneness (Non-duality), One Mind, Buddha's (or Krishna's,

or Christ's, or Universal) Mind, Cosmic Consciousness, Tao, God,

Brahman, One, All, Absolute, Infinite, Omnipresence... cannot

possibly exist anywhere but in THIS timeless present moment,

right