So we need enlightened actions, not just good intentions. This means we need insight. We need to look into the consequences of making the sun right or wrong, good or bad, ugly or pretty. But what is enlightened action? What is enlightenment? Enlightenment is not enlightenment-it is nothing. One must strive towards the attainment of nothing in order to attain enlightenment. It is the finger pointing to the moon. A teaching word, that is all-just a tool. If enlightenment were enlightenment, why would we be looking for "it?" We would already know what it is. So we must not know what we look for in order to find it. Enlightenment is that attainment of nothing, so how can you attain enlightenment? If enlightenment comes that is good. If enlightenment does not come that is good, too. This reminds me of a famous story involving Nasruddin. One evening Nasruddin was searching beneath a lamppost for something. A friend happening to pass by seeing this, stopped and asked him, "What are you looking for?" Nasruddin explained to this friend that he had lost his key and he was looking for it. So this friend decided to get down on the ground and start helping in the search. This went on for quite some time, so finally the friend asked Nasruddin," Where did you lose your key?" Nasruddin replied, "Oh, I lost my key in my house." The friend was a bit amazed by his friends answer, so he asked him, "Then Nasruddin, why are we looking for your key out here?" he replies, "Well, the light is much better out here." What does this story tell us? What are you looking for? Do you know? If you know, why don't you already have it? Sometimes we talk about life as a journey. Some believe that after this life there will be some sort of a reward. If they do good actions while here they say, maybe they can enter the Kingdom of God. If they do bad actions while they are here, maybe they will be punished for them. But helping all people is not about the accumation of merit, you do not get a reward-you don't get anything. So life the journey, has no destination-actually the destination is the journey. There is no resting point where one says, "Ah yes, I have now arrived." If you have arrived, where have you arrived? Life and death are both very apparent. But that does not make them so.
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