Shine

"Eating, sleeping and moving about
Are common to all animals,
But the honoring of whores,
Delight in the life, wealth and feasts of others,
The distractions caused by the clamor of war and plunder,
And risking one's life by ocean travel --
These are merely what distinguish
The higher forms of existence.
Please know this!"
                                                                                --Jigme Lingpa,
              lHo-phyogs rgya-gar-gyi gtam brtag-pa brgyad-kyi me-long,
                                                                                                1789.

People say we are followed here by karma. Other people say it isn't so; we are merely adorning this-way, that-way propensity. There being no universal agreement, maybe it isn't  completely inaccurate to think we all have a chance at unencumbered chancefulness. 

Yet again, maybe it just is what it is, without a whole lot of art and angst.

You cannot solve, by self-conscious means, a problem that requires no solution. To employ such means merely exacerbates the illusion of a problem. 

Nevertheless, we try. 

I know we try.  

We think about spiritual stuff. We think about religion. We take up reading commentaries on commentaries. We frequent the company of magicians. We begin dressing differently, behaving strangely, and cleaving to diverse, odd propositions. We believe in an ocean, so we get in a boat.

Whatever we think is happening, is not happening. The notice of "happening" is, in fact, the crux of the problem that requires no solution. The very idea that you can sit around and discover or record something or anything is a thoroughly mistaken approach. Similarly, intellectual recourse to labeling or dismissing everything as emptiness is also a mistake.

The greatest single obstacle to meditation, is meditation. Meditation clutters up clarity. It is like cops and robbers. There are "good" thoughts; there are "bad" thoughts. There is the mind that wanders away from Meditation Jail, the mind that is dragged back to Meditation Jail. There are even lawyers who can plead the case, and come up with an excuse for anything.

Try as you might, you cannot wish yourself out of that prison.  The thing is, you are already out of  prison, but unwilling or unable to let the imaginary walls dissolve naturally of themselves. Your imagination may be quite rich. Your fortitude may be remarkable. But, no matter what you do, you are analyzing. You are engineering. 

You are trying to escape.

Better you should sit and shine. This is not shine like "shine your shoes." This is shine like luminosity. Who or what can imprison luminosity? 

Really, in such circumstance, escape is unnecessary. You could even say escape is impossible. How do you escape from space?

Shine, and stop wasting your time.