World-Honored One, what must I do to attain liberation?
Subhuti, you have not yet grasped the bottle of spiritual Ibuprofen; much less have you twisted off its child-proof cap. Still further are you from shaking out the Immortal Pill into your Buddha palm. And further yet you are from washing it all down with the Water of Life.
Master, if I may not gain instruction from one such as You, then I must give myself up as lost!
Subhuti, you begin to understand. For who is there that seeks liberation? And where shall it be sought?
Those who believe in a path mistake the effect for the cause. They see the calming of the mind, the quelling of desire, the dispelling of Karma as a path to a state, rather than the symptoms or behaviors caused by a state or consciousness field.
Subhuti, do you know the expression, "Seek first the Kingdom of God"?
World-Honored One, this is a saying of the Christ-followers. It is from a passage that states that the things of the world will be provided to believers, but that they must seek the most important thing first, rather than pursuing the things of the world.
Subhuti, you speak rightly. Do you see the problem with seeking the fruits of attainment, rather than attending to the root? The self that you believe in seeks mastery, enlightenment, peace and other states of being, but in so doing, do you not see the flame of desire burning just as brightly?
What the Christians refer to as the Kingdom of God, we might do well to refer to as Original Mind. If one can regard the self and the phenomena of this world as a sort of dream, one can find shelter in the Kingdom of God, that quiet place that has always remained at the back of your so-called mind. We call this "Abiding in the Golden Abode of the Real."
I begin to see, World-Honored One; one does not need to study the wisdom of the ancients. It is necessary only to "stand where they stood"! The field of consciousness supplies all the rest.
Subhuti, I believed we are finished.
