leave no stone unturned

Leave no stone unturned

You will not find enlightenment under any stone

Nevertheless, leave no stone unturned

The search for enlightenment is a frustrating undertaking. We need to seek wholeheartedly. We need to dedicate ourself to the search for enlightenment. We need to be totally committed to it. It needs to be the most important thing in our life. We need to put much time and energy into this quest. We need to look everywhere, try everything. From all this striving, all this effort, we will discover for ourselves that enlightenment is not to be found through seeking.

However, even knowing this in advance does not help, for if we do not undertake the search, or if we seek half-heartedly, enlightenment is very unlikely. We cannot say impossible, for in principle enlightenment is possible at any time, but for sure the chances of enlightenment are very low if we do not undertake the search. It is strange, perhaps, but the rational understanding helps very little. Enlightenment is all about direct personal experience, not about thinking, not about mental understanding, but about direct experience. And so, even knowing that searching is futile is not enough. We have to search, we have to look everywhere. We have to try everything. When we have searched everywhere and discovered, for ourself, that enlightenment is not to be found through effort, through searching, then in that frustration, in that failure, we make a space, a space in which enlightenment can be given to us.

So my friends, leave no stone unturned. You will not find enlightenment under any stone – it is not that well hidden – but nevertheless leave no stone unturned in your search, in your quest. For this is the way to make the likelihood of enlightenment much greater. In fact if you give all of your effort to this futile search, then your frustration will be total and in that total frustration, enlightenment is guaranteed. So, leave no stone unturned.