The escape from samsara is hardly easy. It is so, because of how we are bound and entangled with our body which is quite subtle. The Buddha says that while an ordinary person, who lacks any spiritual depth, might feel a disgust or revulsion towards their physical body; even believing that they are actually liberated (nirvana) from its misfortunes, they still remain in bondage to their thoughts, their cognition (manas), and their sensory consciousness (vijnana). In other words, this ordinary person takes the subjective part to be their true being thinking, “This is mine, this I am, this is my self (atman)”.
If one might so put it, this amounts to a kind of reductionism in which the person merely shifts the previous value of the physical body to the more immediate and undeveloped subjective side as if to believe, “I am free of the physical body here in my thoughts.” What they overlook is that the tissue of the physical, which they are apparently rejecting is, in the subjective life, present as physical inner tissue. This is why the person, in their subjective world, is still embodied (samsara). The inner tissue, that is like an internal black screen displaying mental artifacts which are captivating, still belongs to the physical body. Such can be easily verified by introspection.
By further introspection there also occurs a lag between the direct animation of a mental sound and the subsequent sub-vocal sound, for example, “om”. The sub-vocal sound of om that is reflected upon by consciousness (vijnana), is the basis for attachment and bondage. In other words, the bringing to consciousness of subjective phenomena such as thoughts, experiences and emotions, and clinging to them in the belief that they are real, as my self (atman), is the crux of the problem. To reiterate, in subjectivity one is merely shifting the previous value of the physical body, as my self, to the more immediate and undeveloped world of the subject, as my self. Now the subject is of great value. This is also subjective vanity or what might be called egoism.
If we wish to attain complete liberation we must also transcend the subjective tissue. But we are quick to inquire, “What detaches from the physical body and subjective mental phenomena?” The only way to answer this is by reaching the limitation of both the physical and mental (i.e., the subjective). If the inquirers were physicists we might suggest that one has to reach ‘zero-point’ or the same, ‘zero-phase’. In Zen this is ekakara samadhi cittasa in which our mind (citta) singularizes itself, self-resonating (samadhi). This resonation (samadhi) is with the pure Mind (which is never plural) which is naturally liberated and has been this way forever.
Usually, when access is gained, and mind restores itself, there is a sense of being engulfed in pure light or spirit which can be quite strong. This indicates that we have remembered (smriti) the animative power of pure Mind; without which we would be, of course, quite dead. As a result, we are suddenly catapulted into the undying realm of nirvana. We have broken through the tissue (both physical and subjective) which embodies us; binding us to ever ending rebirths and suffering. Alternatively, we have broken through the spell of being captivated by phenomena appearing on the dark inner screen of the brain’s tissue. Even though we continually excite it, the subjective displays are not who we are. Our true being is pure Mind. We are intrinsically, Bodhisattvas.
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