You Are No One and you Get Nothing

Chogyam Trungpa, Tibetan Buddhist master, liked to talk about being a grain of sand.

The Talking Heads have a song, “Heaven,” which says, “Heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens….”

Likely one reason why Buddhism is not more popular is that it is a source of hard truths. Buddhists will tell you that you are certain to die and you might as well prepare for that eventuality.

A lot of Buddhist teachers also talk about how addicted we are to drama. We notice and love to talk about all of the big, eye catching, dramatic events of the day while overlooking the boring background.

But the boring background is peace, and it is exquisite. If you meditate enough, you will find heaven in your head in the form of a great, black void that is deliciously peaceful and surpassingly beautiful despite being nothing.

All is impermanence. Whatever you are chasing in this world will end up disappointing you because even if you get it, you will not get to keep it forever.

The only thing that does not change is what I am calling consciousness, what lots of different teachers have different names for, such as the unborn, the deathless, nirvana, awakening, enlightenment.

Getting there takes work, even though it is always immediately available if you can just notice it. But the reward, nothing, is well worth the effort.

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