yourself. Dharma isn’t philosophy. Dharma is basi-
cally a good recipe for how to cook yourself, how to
soften the hardest, toughest piece of meat. Dharma
is good instruction on how to stop cheating yourself,
how to stop robbing yourself, how to find out who you
really are, not in the limited sense of “I need” and
“I’m gonna get,” but through developing wakefulness
as your habit, your way of perceiving everything.
We talk about enlightenment as if it’s a big accom-
plishment. Basically, it has to do with relaxing and
finding out what you already have. The enlightened
“you” might be a slightly different “you” from the one
you’re familiar with, but it still has hair growing out of
its head, still has taste buds, and when it gets the flu,
snot comes out of its nose. Enlightened, however,
you might experience yourself in a slightly less claus-
trophobic way, maybe a completely nonclaustropho-
bic way.
Familiarization means that you don’t have to
search any further, and you know it. It’s all in the
“pleasantness of the presentness,” in the very dis-
cursive thoughts you’re having now, in all the emo-
tions that are coursing through you; it’s all in there
somehow.
Seed of virtue. The third strength is called the seed of
virtue. In effect, this is buddha nature or basic good-
ness. It’s like a swimming pool with no sides that
you’re swimming in forever. In fact, you’re made out
Teachings for Life and Death 119