I asked my first teacher if the purpose of practice is to become enlightened.
She said, ‘No. The purpose is to become a human being.’
But what does this mean?
It’s like a person who is a counterfeit painter, painting pictures of the world in the style of great artists. These artists are variously called Compassion, Wisdom, Presence, Enlightenment.
But the person knows that no matter how convincing the paintings appear to be, they are fake and will always be at risk of being seen as fake.
Yet what the person doesn’t understand is that these ‘great artists’ are demons. Falseness is the whole point.
This pictured world is flooding out of us at each moment; vivid, perfect. If we wish to be like human beings, we only need to be like small children: fearless, whole.