The Diamond Sutra

“When I attained Absolute Perfect Enlightenment, I attained absolutely nothing. That is why it is called Absolute Perfect Enlightenment.” I did not understand that at first, but after re-reading that about 5 times, it makes much more sense. Absolute Perfect Enlightenment isn’t about attaining anything. I don’t think you can attain Perfect Enlightenment if you are trying, I think when you stop looking and just let go of everything, needs/wants/thoughts/belongs/whatever it may be, then you can be truly enlightened. He even says that “The mind should be kept independent of any thoughts that arise within it. If the mind depends upon anything, it has no sure haven.” What I’m getting from that is to let go of any thoughts that are just clutter or distractions. Like how personal belongings or eating much more than the body needs out of selfish want, those are just distractions just like thoughts can be. The mind wanders easily, and it’s even easier to get caught up in thoughts that involve emotion like fear, worries, hate, revenge, want, desire, ect. So it’s better just to let it all go. Then the mind will be ready to be enlightened. If you really think about it, it sounds good when you’re just thinking about it, but I think it’d be pretty close to impossible in reality today. I don’t know anybody that could let go of everything they own and forget about all of the “important” thoughts that really don’t mean anything when you look at the bigger picture. Sometimes I wish that everyone would read this book “The Enlightened Mind” so everyone would calm down and stop being so stressed out about pointless things.