The penetrating insight of this inquiry must

not only lead to an intellectual or speculative

understanding, but also to an actual realization.

This profound realization then transforms our

ordinary way of understanding ourselves and

our world. This transcendence of ego and

consummate experience of oneness naturally

leads to great compassion. Ultimately we also

recognize that this pure, selfless awareness is

not separate from the content of our ego mind.

It is normally necessary to practice forms

of concentration to allow an experience

of subtle Dhyana mind to occur. Our egos,

once established, are self-perpetuating.

This continuity of ego is maintained by our

beliefs and deluded views. In the Zen tradition

this view is called “basic ignorance.” Not

ignorance as stupidity or sin, but as a natural

ignoring of the deeper truth within us.

Ego continuity is maintained by constantly

referring to and identifying with sensations,

feelings and thoughts. It is necessary for

an ego to maintain this constant level of

attachment in order to exist. In contemplation

and meditation it is possible to experience the

core nature of mind. When this insight occurs,

the ego is literally “seen through.” Without the

gathering of mind into silent one-pointedness,

ongoing beliefs and the natural process of

self-reflective ego make it impossible to

actually transcend the ego. Our goal is to

experience ego as just a temporary, self-

referencing process that arises in the pure

silent space called Shunyata or “Emptiness” in

the Zen Buddhist tradition, and “soul” in the

mystical Christian traditions.

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