When you quiet down, many capacities begin to emerge. We usually do not notice them. Many situations like this are part of a process. As you sit here cultivating, these are all perfectly normal phenomena. Do not concern yourself with them; they are simply changes in the energy channels.
The energy channels too are an illusory realm; in the end, the energy channels too are false marks. Do not concern yourself with them. When you reach the end of those states, when you cultivate all the way to the end, you sit there, as if you were the void, and see all kinds of constellations in the sky—those kinds of stars; you cannot see a thing, and space is full of planets. In the end, you will sit, sit, sit, and come to feel that all those planets fall from the sky, all fall down. When all the stars have fallen, you can experience such a state. Then you are still sitting here saying, “Not yet—the self is still here. Oh my.”
Because in the end, you are that void, one with the void; you are the universe. All the stars in the universe have fallen, but you have not yet fallen—that is the solidity of the self. If you cling to appearances, you still think you are that void; this void is still very hard to break through. Do not keep seeing it all the way to the end. In the end, you still need the view; ultimately, the void too is a false mark.
If the Buddha had never spoken of these views, you simply could not get out. In the end, even when you have become empty of everything, you still feel you have not attained it. Why? Because you already are. You already are; if you do not acknowledge this principle, in the end there will be nothing for you to attain, everything will have become illusory, and you will still feel you have not attained enlightenment.
You feel you are like the void; all the stars in the void have fallen, yet you still cannot wait any longer: “The Buddha has not come yet.” That is how it is. “Where is the Buddha, anyway? This is not going to work.” Then, suddenly, you come back: It turns out you were already that all along; you were only watching a movie. Everything in the universe is you watching a movie. Then The Mad Mind Ceases, and in an instant your mind drops with a clunk—just like that. The stars have all fallen, and the mind falls too.
What is most important is that you have not fully broken through the attachment in your mind. A great mass of thoughts in your mind has been turning, lifetime after lifetime, and has not yet come to a stop. The rewind machine is still running. So when you see the stars of the universe fall, it is still the final scene on that tape of yours running backward, and you are still watching. You are still watching a movie; it is just that the movie becomes more and more spectacular. That is how it is. Each person’s state is different. Your movie is different from mine. I hope your movie will be even more spectacular.
When All the Stars Have Fallen, All Is Illusory #10661@20130228
Note: This text was prepared from a teaching video by Yang Ning. If it differs from the video, the video takes precedence. Watch the video.
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