“I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment.”
This statement by the Buddha exclaims the recognition of Truth. Statements like these by Self-realized masters are direct pointers to Truth. Nonetheless, when we read this, we immediately go about trying to attain that state. Our mind skips right past the “I attained nothing,” blindly trying to attain Enlightenment. As long as we stay in the conceptual mind, we will miss the recognition of the unchanging, eternal Truth. If Self-realization was an attainment, it would mean it is not True right now.
There is only the unchanging, eternal Awareness/Truth. We need only notice that which does not change. This is what Nisargadatta meant by the statement, “When I look inside and see I am nothing, that is wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that is love.” The nothing and the everything are both the unchanging, eternal Awareness.
This is what was meant by Christ’s statement, “The Kingdom of God is spread upon the Earth and men do not see it.” Christ also said, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
All we need to do is drop our belief in our conceptual thought and recognize what has always been. If we drop the belief we can “attain” Enlightenment, we can recognize the truth of the Buddha’s words.
Stop, notice the unchanging, boundless Awareness that sees the effort to “attain” Enlightenment. Remember, in the words of St. Francis of Assisi, “What you are looking for is what is looking.” Attain nothing and rest as what we always are.