No Person

Delusion is to think you can attain the perfectly realized awake state as a "person, among other people."

Wouldn't that be wonderful. Then you'd be King of the Roost, and everybody would shower you with rose petals -- and you could reincarnate in whatever form you wanted, maybe as the future Dali Lama/King of the Universe or something, and always have wonderful friends and mobs of followers.

But you can't. The perfectly realized awake state has nothing to do with a person. You can't be a person if you're just Clear Awareness.

You can be charitable and good to people, but that doesn't mean they won't misunderstand you and hate "you" sometimes. However, you won't be able to get excited about it nor take it personally, which means about ninety percent of the adrenaline-soaked, heart-pounding dramatic entertainment will be gone from your life. Gone, just gone. Like that. Since you don't respond to them, they'll wander off like chattering monkeys and leave you to your rustic pursuits.

Someone stealing all your money won't cause you any special thrill, except maybe a secret sensation of delight that your money is gone. One less thing to worry about!

People cursing you out or saying you're a fool will just draw a shrug and a smile. Nobody's home to accept hate mail. As for "maligning the Dharma," there is nothing to malign. Even Buddha said so.

Nor will people "loving" you create any surge of enthusiasm. You'll know very well the "person" whom anybody could ever love or hate or desire or despise was just an illusion, and the illusion's gone. Maybe that feels sad sometimes, but you get over it quickly by just banging your drum.

You won't be able to "help other people" because you won't see other people to help. You'll just see pure Awareness, nothing else, and you'll be free to feel blissful knowing everything is empty, that other people are their own projected worlds of illusion. Wake up, or not. Who cares?

With no intention to help "other people" you'll find that you can offer them whatever they seem to need with no fuss or regret, and you won't feel upset when they don't fall all over themselves thanking you. But since you have nothing, you won't be able to give much, and when it's gone, well.

The perfectly realized state just wants to be realized perfectly and in that there is no problem; the realization is an essence that just takes care of its own functioning. It's natural and clear, blissful, the heart nectar of Emptiness. Bees do it, birds do it, and now you do, too. So-wa-ka!