How To Face Yourself With MoojiLaughing Buddha/Crying Buddha
A moment of hushed silence and presence surrounded the hall.
Mooji, with his penetrating, yet kind eyes began by embracing each and every attendee like a laser beam of love, understanding and security. Each felt individual and part of the whole at once, as if he were spraying positivity all over the satsang*…
Mooji speaks about freedom and knowledge with his well-known humour, triggering laughs from the audience at certain times along with their cries of sudden realization when they ask him something and suddenly realize the simplicity of the answer lies within them.
Mooji elaborately explains that the mind is not what we are but what we use, so we should stop seeing it as an entity that leads us; as he explains, the mind should be not a lion but a puppy…
Take a minute to visualize a lion’s head roaring from the top of your head ordering you around. Even better, imagine having an “unpleasant conversation or argument” while that lion roars inside your head. Meanwhile, you have to keep a straight face in front of your opponent or enemy. However, if you listen carefully, you can hear your vocal chords emitting a soft, yet menacing growl, as if you were waiting to pounce on your prey. Next time you’re in such a situation, take a minute to notice that lion and try to tame it into a puppy: woof woof…
Time to Question?
We all feel the need for the mind to go, but when it comes back, do we go? Mooji presents this question to us: do we really release the mind? When it challenges us again, do we succumb to its wishes, or do we just disregard it? It is as if we are always ready and waiting for this trigger called the mind to wake us up, wake up our old identities of pain, anger, suffering, anxiety and worry. This is why he emphasizes, “the more you get rid of you, the more you become you.” In other words, the more we get rid of our egos, the more we become our true selves.
A major issue that humans face is our loyalty to self-image. We so identify with it that if someone merely touches on it, our whole bodies shiver with resistance and annoyance, as if our self-worth has been rocked. We extend our feeling of worthiness out from this self-image. In the end, it is like falling in love with a cloud: our self-image is not who WE are but who we envisioned ourselves to be. So, he says, “let one beating (suffering) happen, not you (your true Self) be beaten and your self-image (idea of who you truly are) be beaten.” No, this doesn’t mean you have a split personality, just in case you sceptics are thinking that way. It merely means that we should not be identified with the image of ego we have created of ourselves and let it affect us in every way.
Facing our Self
For example, someone might tell you that you’ve gained weight. You know that you haven’t—or maybe you have added a couple of pounds! Can you visualize what happens next between you and yourself? Don’t let the image of a thin you depress you until you starve yourself to death again!
In the end, consciousness should be not a destination but a state of presence
We present you with a small exercise from the laughing Buddha.
Try to be in a state of witnessing the witness. In other words, try to be a witness of your actions and your Self. Watch it, notice how it behaves. Realize that you are two different entities: in this manner, you observe your actions and reactions to any situation and are centred in the present moment.
Just as in the weight-gain example above, use this opportunity to watch your mind, actions and mood. Try to realize that you are not how much you weigh. You can use this exercise in anything that happens to you.
* Satsang (Sanskrit) means “association with the highest Truth” and usually takes the form of a gathering with a teacher or master who guides those with a genuine urge for freedom into the discovery of our timeless Self. Satsang is the invitation to step into the fire of self-discovery.