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“The Fool and the Sage”

Due to their blindness, fools believe they see the truth better than anyone else and understand the truth. In an effort to gain recognition for their competence, they secretly or publicly compete with others, loudly proclaiming secondhand knowledge as if it were wisdom they have discovered themselves.

Furthermore, due to their shallow self-knowledge—because they lack self-awareness of the mind (ego) and the Self, which is not simply knowledge but awareness through direct, innermost stillness of clarity—they easily judge others, quickly labeling them as good or bad, right or wrong.

In this way, fools, who remain identified with the mind (ego), strengthen their attachment to it, keeping seeking for the reason of their existence there.

However, where such attachment, this intense mind (ego), exists, there is no self-awareness as the absolute reality of the non-dual, non-self, which is the depth, vastness, openness, and clarity of the truth.

This is because the mind (ego) is based on the false perceptions of attachment to personal memories and experiences and underlying self-identification, it can never grasp the non-duality of truth, and furthermore, because enlightenment (awareness) fundamentally requires the surrender of the mind (ego) itself completely, the mind (ego) can never be transformed through effort and discipline into the absolute reality of non-self.

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There’s a Japanese proverb that goes, “A capable hawk hides its claws,” which means, “The more ability and talent a person has, the less they show it.”

To put this in terms of a sage, it’s not that they hide their own abilities because they are aware of them. Instead, because a sage becomes aware of their own (mind, ego’s) ignorance and, at the same time, comes to comprehend that “there is no such thing as a ‘self’,” “therefore, there is no need for others to acknowledge this illusory ‘self,’” and “all people are in various stages for becoming aware of the truth of the absolute reality that is the ‘non-self,’” and an awareness of the shallowness and baselessness of self-assertion that comes from identifying with a mind (ego) that does not exist, and the dogmatic and self-righteousness of an arrogant mind (ego) that unilaterally judges a person’s way of being to be wrong, no matter who they are.

This awareness, gained through clarity in the innermost stillness by surrendering the mind (ego) (selflessness, non-self), inevitably leads to the other comprehension that such thinking, that is, viewing oneself as a “capable hawk,” is simply impossible.

Therefore, the sage no longer exists in a place where such relative, dualistic logic exists, since they comprehend that even the “ability” a person hides or displays is merely an illusion of the mind (ego).

Furthermore, even if a fool mocks a sage, they merely witnesses all because of comprehention that the fool’s words and reactions are merely based on the fool’s own illusions, projections, that there is in fact no one who is mocked or mocks anywhere, and moreover, that no one does ever become spiritually awakened through words or explanations.

Therefore, there is no problem at all, and it is perfectly acceptable for a sage, even to let the fool win.

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The illusion of improvement, refinement, ability, and so on, that there is separated existence as individuals, and that they can make these their own distinctive feature through their own efforts, further strengthens one’s attachment to the “personal self.”

However, ultimately, the strength of this attachment is merely the mind’s (ego’s) reaction to the baselessness and instability of one’s existence, and even the fear of death (meaninglessness) of existence.

Only the clarity of the innermost stillness can make one aware of these things, but that’s not something anyone can teach them.

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Everything happens the “now” for new awareness.

For everyone, the issue in the “now” always happens for the deeper awareness, not for the purpose of changing oneself, others, or the world, or accomplishing something; rather, it is simply for realizing that these are nothing more than an illusion, and for surrendering the mind (ego) completely. (OM 🙏)