Chop Wood, Carry Water

As the Zen Proverb goes, “Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” It is easy for one to assume that according to the proverb, if the action is unchanged, then what changes?

Herein lies the paradoxical explanation, nothing changes, because there was nothing that needed to be changed. The action is untouched but it is the perception of the action that appears to be changed. Upon realizing your True Nature, the action is seen for what is. Before Enlightenment you were identified with your mind-body apparatus, but after Enlightenment you have realized that you had assumed a mistaken identity. Previously when you watched yourself chopping wood and carrying water, you were thinking that you were chopping wood and carrying water but essentially you are doing nothing, for you are the immovable apperception that is perceiving the perception of movement arising.

While this may be interpreted as confusing, the very nature of the Mind is to create this confusion, because the essence of what you are, the occurrence of Enlightenment isn’t a thought or an understanding but it is a realization. While the concept of Enlightenment can be intellectually understood, the direct experience of Enlightenment cannot. For this specific reason, expressing anything about Enlightenment, as an attainment or as a subject matter is merely prattle. This is why many Sages, Sadhus and Buddhas alike have taken to a sacred vow silence because through the duality of speech and text, words alone cannot touch the true essence of what Enlightenment is, let alone describing the direct realization of being Enlightened.

Since there are many texts written about this subject, the devout seeker who has taken to acquiring this wisdom through books and literature will find a multitude of contradictions and varied expressions on what Enlightenment is and how to attain Enlightenment. Even this article, which is intended to shed light on this subject, it may contradict the knowledge that you have already acquired on your search. Discernment is paramount in utilizing the information that you intuitively feel will be a benefit to you as a seeker on your path to awakening. Naturally as you accumulate this wisdom, you can refine your path through several different methods, discarding what is unimportant and keeping what is.

The subject of Enlightenment becomes packed with several connotations, most of which is conditioned by society, media and religion. Depending on how you were raised, by awakened or unconscious parents or within a compassionate or ignorant society, these factors and others included will alter your perception of Enlightenment. Either it is a significant goal for you to achieve or it matters not in the least, but if you are here reading this, then obviously this subject matters to you. To whatever extent that you will take these words, as a reflection or as an initiative for you to proceed forward upon your path or whether these words will serve as mere entertainment, fodder to feed your roving mind, this is all entirely up to you.

Before I became aware of my True Nature, I was asleep and ignorant to the fact of who I am. As I became familiar to the conceptual understanding of what Enlightenment is, I did everything in my power to facilitate this realization as my direct experience. Naturally, as a sincere seeker I was engaging in many methods until the realization hit me, like a thunderous bolt of lightning, completely shattering every concept, belief and value that I was conditioned to identify with. The world, myself and all that I had considered to be separate and important, instantaneously become void of any meaning, purpose or distinction. As my mind and body were groomed in the making, several months in preparation, it happened suddenly and without warning. When the moment of Enlightenment came, I was truly ready to surrender and accept it as per the fulfilment of my destiny.

Marked in the relative measure of time, I can say now that there was a moment that came, a resounding occurrence that changed my entire life but on the converse, from vantage of the Absolute, nothing has ever changed. It is in the convention of language in which I am expressing myself and as all language is in duality, everything spoken about It can never be It. Seemingly as you continue further and further along your path, you will see that all words inevitably become superfluous. At best words can only be pointers, external references guiding you within yourself. Any advice unsolicited or requested can only be regarded with as much benefit as you are intuitively destined to receive, notably suited to wherever you are at currently upon your path.

Through the records of history and the advancements of technology, we have the luxury to have documented examples of beings who have realised Enlightenment both past and present. With sufficient research one can find a colourful myriad of beings who have shared their path, their unique pitfalls and consequently the moment when their Enlightenment arose. And as there are many perspectives that reflect the various distinctions and interpretations of Enlightenment, the essence of the direct experience speaks for itself, for it is always the same absent of all inference. There are many different paths to the mountaintop but no matter what path you take, when you reach the top, it is the same top that everyone else reaches.

Relatively so, spiritual pursuits hold no greater merit than the counterpart of material pursuits, for it is your intuitive decision to take this path and to stop at nothing until you have acquired your goal. If you are willing to do whatever it takes to become Enlightened, then most assuredly you will. Just as it was my destiny, so is it yours. If you are ready to start your path or if you have already started your path, and you are seeking encouragement, and clarity then I am here to support you. Give yourself the permission to accept The Invitation and find the answer to your question:

What happens when I cease doubting myself and
I start giving myself the freedom to be everything that I could ever imagine?