When one breaks through to the wisdom that sheer consciousness itself is not “I” (subjective identity), not “me” (objective identity), and not “mine” (possessive identity) — in fact, that even pure consciousness itself is not an “it” or a “thing,” then nameless freedom with no landing place dawns. Nibbana is just this unborn, unfindable, unnameable freedom.
When we observe carefully our experience from moment to moment, which in fact is always the timeless now, what do we see? Actually, “moment by moment” is a cliche phrase that applies only to the object of experience, which is content, but not to the pure knowing itself, which is the field or context of experience. For pure knowing this, there is only the atemporal present or timeless now. Back to the question of what we see: there is mere seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, sensing, thinking, feeling, and willing. Anything else? No. What about the objects that are seen, heard, tasted, smelled, sensed, thought, felt, and willed? Nominally these objects are there in conjunction with the act of experiencing them, with the assumed existence of someone “in here” who experiences.
But closer inspection reveals that in the experiencing there is only the mere experiencing. For instance, in the seeing of the seen by the seer, there is only the seamless experiencing of, in, and as the seeing, nothing else. Again. In the thinking of a thought by the thinker, there is only the seamless knowing of, in, and as the thinking. What remains is only the naked knowing or experiencing or aware-ing of whatever is known. Both the so-called “knower” and the “known” are none other than constructs and labels superimposed upon the empty flow of knowing itself. What else is there? Hence, there is nothing in the experiencing that is “I” who does the experiencing. This “I” Is a construct and a label. There is no “me” to whom experience happens. This “me” is also a construct and a label. And there is no “mine” to whom experience belongs. This “mine” is, you guessed it, a construct and a label. This is the stark inconvenient truth of the identitylessness of persons — a truth when ignored or denied causes us suffering of every kind.
We arrive at knowing or experiencing or aware-Ong itself. Is this knowing a “thing”? Does it have substance? Is it itself a substance or essence that is permanent and impervious to anything else that might impinge upon it? Is this substance of knowing the only eternal reality that there is? It is tempting to say “yes” to this rhetorical question but that would be a grace error. For knowing itself is not anything whatsoever. Nor is it some kind of eternal substance that persists beyond time. But what is it exactly? The answer is best discovered not by thinking about it but by direct immediate recognition or realization of knowing. This is best done by realizing what knowing is not — it is not “I, me, mine” or even a substance or thing. At least provisionally this approach can propel you closer to your “enlightenment” which is really not captured by time, place, person, distance, and self.
So, what is it?
I leave you to find out for yourself. This discovery will be a most important breakthrough if only you can open yourself to this innermost adventure costing not less than everything. I wish you all the best and “bon voyage!”
Image credit: Nilambe Meditation Centre.
