Afterthoughts About Self-Deception

There are many layers of self-deception. The more you investigate, the more you see things clearly, the less likely are you to feel the need to claim to know.  You’ll simply see the harm of your own many facetted ignorance and foolishness. Your examination of your mental viruses will become more and more subtle.

Before you began to practice you simply did not know. In this ignorance you took you views to be knowledge. You thought you knew. Actually, these things aren’t real knowledge. They are understandings that come from labels. Still, we think they are knowledge and we think we know. This in and of itself is a very intricate self-deception. You have to keep watch for them, to keep contemplating them. Sometimes they fool us right before our eyes. This is particularly bad for us. We become entangled in the notions and opinions we take to be real and true.

Most often our “knowledge is just the memories we have of labels. We take the label to be the things we are looking at. We think that labels are discernment. We convince ourselves that thought fabrications are discernment too. We even find ourselves believing that awareness of sensory consciousness is discernment, even wisdom. No wonder we are mixed up.

In the end we become enamored of all the bits of knowledge that slip in and fashion the mind. They are only illusions with awareness. Genuine awareness is rare but deceptive awareness encircles us on all sides.

We have to keep investigating so as to see through these illusions of awareness. This is what will allow us to read the mind. If awareness arises don’t just blindly follow it. Stop and turn inward. We have to be conscious of whatever slips in to fashion the mind. We can’t simply forbid it to happen. It’s a natural function of the mind to create these illusory awarenesses.  Just keep watch on awareness to see how far it will go, if it is true or not and how it disbands only to arise again. You have to watch it over and over and over again.

Watching in precisely this way enables us to read ourselves thoroughly. We come to understand cause and effect within ourselves and contemplate ourselves. This allows us to actually know our own mind. If we don’t practice in this way the mind will be dark. We may find it a little less crowded and a little still and we can mistake that for emptiness, call ourselves arahants and let it go at that.

If you look at the Buddha’s teachings, no matter how far he went he was never satisfied to stop at whatever level of knowledge he had. He continued. He enjoined us to continue as well.  He continually said, “There’s more.”  He developed mindfulness and clear comprehension in every activity. He then said, “There’s more to do.”

As for us, we are always ready to brag. We develop this factor or that one, attain a certain jhana for a few minutes and then believe we have become masters. Some of us even use the label “Arahant” or “Living Buddha”. Now that’s just plain bragging and proves that we are not what we say we are. As result, the principles of our awareness grow weak.

To train one’s self on awareness and discernment is not easy. Indeed, it is difficult. That is why so few do it. Yet, it something you can do. Millions before you have.