you are the problem

Because of our language, everything that is said about such profound things becomes false. We say... 

Gautama Buddha became enlightened. This is fake. Gautama Buddha never became enlightened. Only when he was no more, when he was absent, did enlightenment happen. When suddenly one day he realized that he was the problem and whatever he did would create more problems... And it's not a question of right or wrong, this or that. Everything you do will strengthen the ego. So when Buddha understood this – and this understanding took many years of effort – when he understood that whatever he did would be strengthening his ego even more, he just stopped doing it. In that moment of understanding, it became a no-do.

Realize... You can be silent, standing or sitting. But if you make any effort, it will be false. You will not be standing still, you will be moving. If you sit silently and strive for it, if you are wanting to be silent, that silence will be false. You will not be silent.

So when Buddha understood that he was the problem and that any activity on his part would give more substance to the ego, he simply stopped. He made no further effort to create a state of inactivity. He did absolutely nothing. Everything that happened was happening by itself.

The wind was blowing and the trees must have been dancing. Then came the full moon and all existence celebrating. Breathing in and out, heart pounding, everything was happening! But he didn't do anything. And in that non-doing Siddhartha Gautama disappeared.

In the morning, there was no one there to receive enlightenment, but enlightenment was there. Under the Bodhi tree, an empty vehicle sat. Breathing, of course. Everything worked perfectly without anyone doing anything.

Buddha turned into a white cloud. Enlightenment happened. And it can happen to you too. But don't make it a hope. On the contrary: seeing the point, abandon all hope – lose all hope. It's hard to lose hope. When you lose hope you feel desperate. And immediately, to cover up despair, create new hopes and despair happens. You see... People go from one Master to another, they move from one hope to another. They look for a Master with the hope that, through his energy, something will happen. They try, they wait with a tense mind – because a hopeful mind is never relaxed – with an impatient mind – because a hopeful mind cannot be patient. Then they start to get restless because nothing is happening. The master must be wrong, someone else must be found. People change from one religion to another, they convert. But only because of hope. And you can go on doing this for many lifetimes. And that's what he's done.

Now, try to see the point! It's not a matter of Masters. It is a direct perception of what is happening, the reason for hope, the reason for not being able to live without it. And what have you gained with all your hopes? See the phenomenon. And it will disappear by itself. It can happen at any time. This means that the phenomenon of enlightenment, egolessness, is not caused by anything. It is a simple perception. It may happen to a sinner and not happen to a saint. Therefore, no condition is even necessary. If he can see it, it will happen even to a sinner. If he loses hope, if he feels that there is nothing to gain or achieve, if he can see that it is all just an absurd game, it could happen to him.

And it might not happen to a saint, because saints are always trying to get it. They haven't lost hope yet. The world became futile, but the other world became important. They understand that they have to leave this earth, but there are paradises beyond which they will have to arrive. Even people who are close to a Jesus or a Buddha keep asking for things like that. Exactly on the night before his death, when Jesus was about to be arrested, his disciples asked: Master, answer: in the Kingdom of God, when you are seated at the right side of the Father on his throne, what will our position be? People who lived with Jesus and asking such silly questions! But the human mind is like that. Even before Jesus people have hope. Hope has deep roots in you. 

Everything you say converts into hope. You are a hope-creating mechanism, and that hope-creating mechanism is the ego. So what to do? In fact, there's nothing to do. You just need to brighten your eyes, make them more perceptive and piercing. You just need to look at yourself with new eyes, look at your being, see everything you've been doing and waiting for. A new look is needed.
And I tell you: with that new look, with that innocent look, the ego will disappear by itself. This is the easiest and at the same time the most difficult phenomenon. But remember well: I am not giving you any hope.