‘Are there any enlightened people?’ — What a Zen monk told me.

gray monk statue in between plant pots

I once asked a Zen monk whether there were any people who were enlightened. He told me there were millions, hundreds of millions, even.

Someone who is enlightened is living in the now. They are living entirely on instinct. They are doing what they want to do, when they want to do it.

And they don’t care either which way about it.

Can you think of anyone that fits that category?

Babies.

Babies are living in the now. They sleep when they want to sleep. They eat (or cry) when they want to eat. They poop when they want to poop.

Babies don’t give a rat’s arse.

Because they’re enlightened.

As we grow older, not only are we trained out of our creativity. Turns out we are also trained out of our ability to be in the now.

There are obviously practical benefits to this. It takes a lot of effort by others to raise a baby. Plus, no one likes the people with a silver spoon up their arse.

But the focus on living in the now still needs to be there. We still need to focus on doing what our soul is trying to tell us to do.

Otherwise, the universe will let us know one way or the other.

Get back to being a baby.

Get back to being enlightened.

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MOUNTAINS OF WISDOM

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Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

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Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan 

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