As Astonishing as it Appears...

Looking around I see,

A world not how it is,

But rather how my mind,

Has made it out to be.


What is seen,

A mental formulation,

The mind itself - a magical display,

A singular equality transposed within apparent opposition.


The mind does not have a body,

And the body does not have a mind.

There is only mind,

And within mind a body appears.


The body is not separate from mind,

And mind is not separate from the body.


Solidity and form, the marks of true existence,

Mere mental construction, only shadows of what's real,

Along with all the senses,

They too are mere appearances.


Characteristics do not exist separately,

But only arise within the field of awareness,

Together with perceiver as a unity,

Even though appearance suggests otherwise.


The self as actor in a play, arises in dependence on mind,

Purely mental construct, or projection;

The sense of self arises within the context of awareness,

As an object of mind, yet inseparable from mind.


Throughout it all,

True inner essence shines deeply from within.

Hidden only by virtue of eyes,

Facing outwardly instead of in.


While such a sense of self appears as separate and fully independent,

This self is, in fact, the mere product of unconscious cogitation.

The end result of mind experiencing itself,

As both awareness and object of awareness.


At all times, the personal self is illusory.

Therefore, one recognizes the imprint of delusion whenever the personal self appears on the scene.

For delusion means that what appears one way,

Turns out to be another.


Objects, for example, appear to exist inherently,

Yet only arise while in perception with a perceiver.

In truth, perceiver and what is perceived are a singular expression of mind.

Duality is therefore a misperception, and separateness a myth.


The appearance of inherent existence is a complete fabrication of mind.

All distinction is imagination solidified over aeons of time into the habitual perception of characteristics.

This is the secret of the appearance of objects found within day to day perception.

However, upon close inspection such objects cannot be found to exist as concretely as they appear.


Delusions are created and sustained by habitualized mental constructions known as concepts.

Such constructions are learned and developed over time,

Eventually becoming the totality of one's experience.

They are then reinforced through unconscious habit.


Such mental constructs are directly unreachable by the conscious mind.

This is what it means to be unconscious.

They are not easy to find,

And difficult to modify.


The personal self lives in a world of concepts which it cannot move beyond.

It is imprisoned in a world of pure mental construction,

And yet it believes that such a life is truly real, truly solid and truly separate,

Never tasting freedom, and never knowing a true life's potential.


Within the landscape of mental constructedness,

One experiences "heaven" or "hell" where no such things exist.

As neither are purely objective, or inherently and separately existent.

Appearing only in dependence upon the mind, and upon its current, relative persuasion.


The experience of heaven or hell is only that of the illusory personal self.

And even so, within this context one of pure subjectivity,

Heaven and hell depend on one's particular conceptual map,

An active framework of concepts functioning day and night from one's unconscious mind.


It is therefore only one's "map" that determines the nature and quality of experience.

As this map is completely invisible to those who aren't aware,

Or to those who don't look,

Most never find it.


It is, however, findable and can easily be seen,

By simply observing one's immediate experience.

While the map is NOT the territory it is supposed to represent,

It IS precisely one and the same as the territory of one's personal experience.


So to find the map,

All that is needed,

Is to look directly at one's current experience.

They are one and the same, indivisible.


And then it's best to let it go completely,

Or at least as much as one can.

For believing that one's map is identical to reality,

Is the cause of much confusion and needless suffering.


Reality can be experienced directly,

But not in the way that most have become accustomed.

Reality arises only when the conceptual activity of the mind ceases.

For many, such activity never ceases.


Because reality transcends conceptualization,

One cannot describe it or understand it with concepts.

One can only point towards it,

And even this can at times be problematic.


None of this is new,

Discovered by saints and holy beings long, long ago.

Even so it still seems new in the West,

Where clinging to Newton is more popular.


In spite of the fact that for over a hundred years,

Western scientists have observed phenomena in much the same way,

Confirming what was taught by the wise,

Over two and a half thousand years before today.

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