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When we first step onto the meditative path, we often turn to books. We gather techniques on how to sit, how to breathe, and how to still the mind. We treat wisdom like a collection, carefully building a foundation of words. But if we stay on the path long enough, a shift occurs.
The words we leaned on begin to reveal their own limits. We encounter the ancient warning: "Do not mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself." We realize that the writing on the page is not the truth; it is just a signpost. To know the moon, we must eventually look away from the finger. We must step beyond the description and into the experience, where words naturally fall away.
As our practice deepens, we start to see the scaffolding we’ve built—our rigid ideas of what “awakening” looks like, how a "spiritual" person should act, or what "nirvana" ought to feel like. We see these concepts for what they are: mental maps, not the territory. When we recognize them as only ideas, they lose their grip. The heavy baggage of "knowing" drops away, leaving us light, open, and present.
Letting go of what we think we know, let’s awaken as one.
Bob Kutter, Dharma Teacher
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