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By Root 932 0

masters teach that within each of us there is always a fire. Sometimes this fire is quietly smoldering; other times it is raging out of control. This fire is caused by the friction of duality rubbing against itself, like two sticks. This friction is generated by me (as subject) wanting other (as object) and the interaction between the two. This ever-present friction that irritates us blazes up into the fires of suffering. When we realize emptiness and perfect oneness with all, the fires of duality go out. When even the embers themselves are cool, when conflicting emotions are no longer burning us—this is nirvana, the end of dissatisfaction and suffering. This is liberation; this is bliss; this is true freedom.

The freedom from craving spoken of by the Buddha is an inconceivable inner peace, a sense of at-one-ness and completion. Yet many people are terrified by this concept because they associate craving with passion. “What!” they say, “no passion? No passion equals no life! No passion means I might as well be dead!” This is a nihilistic, or extreme, version of what freedom from craving means. The mind that is free of craving is much more abundant and fruitful than such superficial notions might suggest.

All freedom from craving really means is peace and contentment. When you are momentarily satisfied, don’t you feel even more aliveness and enlivenment? Fearing desirelessness is akin to running from lasting happiness. The lasting happiness the Buddha speaks of does not mean having no personality or passion. Desirelessness means lacking nothing. Consider this possibility with all its implications for your life and behavior.

The point is that you are much more than your cravings and desires. Enlightened people have preferences. I don’t know if you know any people who you believe are enlightened. I have known a few, and they all have their own likes and dislikes, their own individual, personal style. This tells us that enlightenment, freedom, Buddha-nature, lives and expresses itself through each personality. Each of us is different, thank God, not uniformly bland like some kind of fake dessert topping.

When they are visiting in this country, enlightened lamas still prefer their Tibetan noodles over pizza. But they don’t get upset about not being able to attain their preferred food. They are not invested or identified with their desires. Spiritual masters are able to be in the world, but not of it. They are sometimes likened to graceful, snow-colored swans who travel the lakes of this world without making waves.

In the World, but Not of It

One of the principal Buddhist images is the lotus, which grows up through the water and raises its face to the shining sun; it is in the mud, but not of it. The Buddha is most often imaged sitting on a lotus. In fact, the sitting position with legs crossed and the soles of the feet upturned on the thighs is called the lotus posture. The lotus symbolizes purity, development, and transcendence; the fully blossomed lotus represents our fully unfolded innate Buddha-nature.

Achieving freedom from craving and being in the world, yet not quite of it, is up to us; achieving liberation, lasting happiness, and freedom is up to us. We are the fire starters; we are the troublemakers; our clouded vision and limited understanding creates the duality of subject and object, grasper and grasped. That’s why the Dzogchen meditation instruction of resting at ease in the natural state is so relevant. When there is nothing wanting, there is nothing working against anything. There is no grasping at anything; there is no grasper and nothing being grasped. There are no karmic sticks rubbing together igniting these fiery conflicting passions; there is no clinging to sights or sounds or smells or tastes or touches. There is just the unimpeded, spontaneous, free experiencing of things just as they are, moment after miraculous moment. This is the natural great perfection.

As Buddha said, “In seeing, there is just seeing; no seer and nothing seen. In hearing, there is just hearing; no hearer and nothing heard.