Little Tail

Goso said: “When a buffalo goes out of his enclosure to the edge of the abyss, his horns and his head and his hoofs all pass through, but why can’t the tail also pass?”

Mumon’s comment: If anyone can open one eye at this point and say a word of Zen, he is qualified to repay the four gratifications, and, not only that, he can save all sentient beings under him. But if he cannot say such a word of true Zen, he should turn back to his tail.

If the buffalo runs, he will fall into the trench; If he returns, he will be butchered. That little tail is a very strange thing.

Recognize Ego

Not only the buffalo but we all are stuck in a tail, called Ego. Also we try to get rid of our ego. In that case if we try to resist ego we will fall into the trench and if we are awakened towards our Ego – that’s what Mumon is saying if you awake then you can drop the ego. But if you can’t awake towards yourself then go back to Ego, be with it. If you can be with your Ego in totality you will be able to drop it also. But never try to run away from Ego, or resist the Ego.

Never Underestimate the Ego

From the Ultimate perspective, the Truth which Enlightenment reveals is not something particularly subtle, obscure, or difficult to apprehend. On the contrary, it is the most intimate and obvious thing in the world. It is simply the Truth of our own Identity. In reality, we are that Infinite and Limitless Consciousness (known in various traditions as “God,” “Brahman,” “Buddha-Mind,” “Tao”) which is the Transcendent Ground and True Nature of all things. All we have to do to become Enlightened, then, is to Realize who we TRULY ARE – right now, right here, in this very moment!

But if Enlightenment is really that simple, we might well ask: Why, as a matter of historical fact, have so few seekers ever managed to attain it?

The reason so few seekers have attained Enlightenment lies not in the Truth of Enlightenment per se. Rather, it comes from a failure to clearly identify and completely destroy the main obstacle that obstructs its Realization. This is the delusion that we are not that Infinite and Limitless Consciousness but, instead, some limited and finite entity, ego or self. Even though this ‘ego’ or ‘self’ has no real existence, as long as so much as a trace of this delusion remains, the Truth of Enlightenment cannot be Realized.

In the East, this situation has been compared to someone who sees a piece of coiled rope and mistakes it for a snake. Even though the apparent ‘snake’ is an illusion, as long as that is what the person is perceiving, he or she cannot apprehend the rope. Only when the appearance of the snake has completely vanished can the reality of the rope be seen.

The same applies to the spiritual seeker, only in this case the delusion of being an egoic self is far more complex and, therefore, difficult to dispel. This is because the ego possesses a kind of will of its own which seems opposed to what the seeker wills. To use a modern analogy, it is as if the seeker were playing a computer game against an alien from outer space. Even though the ‘alien’ is an imaginary creation of the human mind, it nevertheless has been programmed to employ various tactics and strategies designed to thwart its human opponents. Similarly, even though the ego is an imaginary creation of our own minds, it also comes programmed with an array of tactics and strategies which it uses to prevent us from Realizing our True Identity.

Learning from the story Little Tail: Recognize Ego

Experience Learning

As long as we remain deluded, then, the ego appears to be very real and constitutes a very formidable foe. This is why so many mystics have characterized the spiritual path as a kind of warfare in which the seeker must strive to subdue and ultimately slay his or her own ego. Rumi, for example, defined the true jihad (holy war) as “the killing of the ego and the abandonment of personal wishes.” Catherine of Siena insisted: “No matter what your state in life it is essential to kill this selfish-love.” Likewise, the Buddha declared: “One may conquer a million men in a single battle; however, the greatest and best warrior conquers himself.” And here is how the great Hindu saint, Lalleshwari, described her own internal struggles on the path: “With great effort I rooted out the enemies – lust, anger, and ego.”

For the spiritual seeker then, the old adage, “You are your own worst enemy,” is quite true. Moreover, this is an enemy that is both incredibly tenacious and extremely cunning.

There will be many times during the course of our journey when we think we have finally vanquished the ego, only to find that it pops up again in a new guise. For this reason, our number one rule must be: Never underestimate the ego!

On the other hand, we should not underestimate the powers inherent in our True Nature, either. As Consciousness Itself, we already have within us qualities which, if we can but awaken and develop them, will prove more than a match for the ego’s machinations. So what are some of the main strategies the ego uses to impede us, and what are the qualities we need to overcome them?

In the early stages of the path, the ego’s most common strategy is outright resistance. Whenever we try to conduct a focused inquiry, for example, the ego will produce a host of idle musings and obsessive fantasies. When we try to train our minds in meditation to be stable and calm, the ego will respond with feelings of restlessness and boredom. When we try to check our selfish behavior by keeping moral precepts, the ego will conveniently forget to apply them to concrete situations in our everyday lives. And if we want to foster devotion by praying to some manifestation of the Divine, the ego will greet our attempts with skepticism and scorn. In such cases, we may actually hear the voice of the ego saying things like: “This meditation is a waste of time. You’d be better off doing something constructive!” or, “This prayer business is ridiculous. Only suckers and simpletons believe in a God!” Obviously, if we succumb to such thoughts, our journey is short-circuited even before it really begins. So what can we do to overcome resistance?

One way to deal with resistance is to ignore the ego and simply try to muscle our way forward. However, this method often yields little more than discouragement and fatigue. A more skillful approach is to arouse our own natural curiosity and apply this quality to our practices. Curiosity is actually an expression of Consciousness’s innate Wisdom, which is forever prompting us to discover the truth for ourselves. So if we can arouse our natural curiosity, about meditation for instance, then when the ego objects that it is a waste of time, we can admit it may be right. Nevertheless, our curiosity will motivate us to continue practicing so that we can find out from our own experience what benefits it may hold.