I Am That

"...One who is ascended has achieved [the] Christ's injunction to be in this world but not of it." --The Path to Love by Deepak Chopra


I am that,
You are That,
All this is That.

These seemingly simple statements, from the Upanishads of India are thousands of years old; together they express what Hinduism calls Moksha, or liberation. Some see Moksha as freedom in love, enlightenment or ascension. Moksha ends karmic bonds. It is a freedom to be empty, but emptiness is not nothingness.

Many persons commonly suppose "they are what they eat," and in a little way this is true but not literally. Because one likes ice cream, for example, or chocolate doesn't make one an ice cream or a chocolate; because cowboys ride horses that doesn't make them a horse either. Nor is one either male or female by the simple wearing of any particular article of clothing. The same is true with ones' profession; the job one performs on a regular basis does not define the soul or the body; so it does not create Moksha either.


So often we fall into these notions of defining ourselves in literal, unskillful ways. It's easy to do and for many the application of a label is comforting; it provides a box or a stage from which to operate our daily lives, but it is not Moksha which is without limits. Moksha initiates one into a new birth of wholeness, of fullness. It states quite profoundly I am That, you are That, all this is That. Mokesha draws one close to the Divine.

The seeking is done. You find God is within; love enfolds  into pure religious devotion. You are simply an observer, a witness or a seer to life's journeys. The moment you are able to look deep within and see that I am That, meaning you see your lightness along with your darkness, your virtues and your sins as one, equal-- everything that matters is now a part of Being itself.
In other words, I am Being, and not anything else. 'I am as I am; you may love me or hate me; I aspire to no other. I am only myself.'

You are That tells the seer that they too are part of the Creation, both sacred be-loved and the lover. Creation becomes personal.

All is That tells us that as part of Creation, co-creators, we are all intimately and divinely involved in infinite consciousness. The possible expands, and very much-- because you are so much more than what you eat.

The Precious Jewel

"Don't covet the leftovers of others while losing the precious jewel that hangs around your own neck."  --Zen Master Bassui

Prayer versus practice: As many others before and since him, the Zen Master Bassui wrote
"A monk is one who leaves the house of delusion. He is a liberated person. One who recites prayers from the sutras and performs various formal practices but does not have an alert mind and creative mind may well experience happiness and prosperity in his next life; if however one whose mind remains in this dull state, and who commits evil acts... will finally in his own body sink into hell."
So for this reason "foolish prosperity" can be called the enemy of all time."

A liberated person may not always recite invocations from the Sutras and may not perform memorial services, but all those who have contact with this one will eventually become believers in the teaching of liberation... That's why even in the teaching sects, the true purpose is studying the commentaries of the sutras and practicing the teachings set forth to attain Buddahood. paraphrased

Why so? the Simple mind asks. It seems that the Master seeks to instruct in the difference between belief and faith. Many of us see religion strictly in terms of belief. We are instructed and do seek to self-instruct in the tenets and the sutras of any given sect. We seek merit and we seek to learn prayers, yet Bassui insists that the one who is liberated may not always aspire to master these things and yet attain Buddhahood.

How so? It is because as Bassui also observes that belief without the conjunction of faith is insufficient to "leave the house of delusion." One must live those beliefs in a real, concrete way, the way of experience and then faith enters one's practice as community. The community of believers is Sangha. This practice life is as important as any idea one might read. It is "a precious jewel which hangs readily available about each person's neck."