Our ambitions tell us that “effort” is needed if we want to achieve something, but with Enlightenment it is different. Actually enlightenment is so natural that it is without goal or end. It isn’t something to be attained selfishly, for if all we try to do is reach the goal we are missing the point entirely. The path is the goal. We need to enjoy what we do, down to the smallest detail. We need to rejoice in the activity itself. We get overly hung-up in the details and we forget the essence. We attach these heavy concepts to our practice - to something we should absolutely love to do - and instead it becomes work because of the supposed “attainable result” at the end. Something joyful has become work. We must instead revel in the innate goodness of what we are doing - and the reason we are doing it - not for the gift we think we will receive after doing it. The path is the goal. We must change the pray, to play.
KIBI - Karmapa International Buddhist Institute
