Covid 19: An Opportunity for Self-Realisation

Nature has sent us a warning. We have to change our life and our world and now. Our life has ground to a halt by Covid-19, it has been cruel and a tragedy for so many, but for mankind as a whole it could be the moment of learning, to start a new life and build a new world.

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The human race has led a material-orientated way of life ever since the start of civilization over twelve thousand years ago and has achieved a highly developed society. Huge amounts of wealth have been accumulated through industry and commerce, but at the same time it has brought with it a crippling defect, a massive imbalance. There is inequality, poverty, social unrest, devastation of the ecosystem and environmental destruction of the planet.

What is happening now is that nature has forced us to stop our present way of life so that the planet can be protected, life on earth can survive and she has presented us a chance to change our life in order to discover a more whole and harmonious way of living.

In practice nature is teaching us to change ourselves from a material orientated ego-centred self to a spiritual, altruistic self to encourage us to fulfil the purpose of life – ‘Know Thyself’ or self realisation.

Most people are not aware that the ego-self is not our real self, but a false self, a product of the mind, mental concept, and not the true reality of human beings. What is not reality is illusion, our ego-self is illusion. Our true self is the pure reality of our BEING that is life manifested in the human body which is a miracle and wonder of creation – divine.

Up until now human beings have lived on earth with the illusory ego-self and created a materialistic world of endless troubles and suffering. Ego is illusion, false self identity, illusion is ignorance and this is the true cause of suffering.

Now nature has shut down the whole world providing us time to reflect and an opportunity to transform ourselves.

Our true self is unity with the universe as being LIFE (Oneness) itself. Thus we have all the good of the universe, energy of the universe, glory of the universe, intelligence of the universe and generosity of the universe. We are endowed with the wholeness – universal mind, universal wisdom and universal love. As our True self we can lead a life in ONENESS, a harmonious life of wholeness, balanced, holistic, eco friendly, a sustainable way of life, an ethically caring, loving spiritual life.

We are not here on this planet to live and die in the world of illusion and suffering, conflict and war but to live in the world of The Truth, the Pure Reality, the glory of LIFE, with wonder and beauty, in the splendour of the universe.

Human beings have lingered in a life of materialism for so long, but now is the time to break it and step forward into a new life in the world of ONENESS and wholeness of LIFE to build a new world.

The Way of Self-Realisation: “Buddhayhana” – The Simple But Direct Way of the Truth

The way to find the truth, or one’s true self, is not achieved by an intellectual approach or philosophical understanding, because the Truth does not exist in an abstract mental field, but is the solid reality that is pure Life itself.

Hence the only way to know the Truth, or to realise one’s true self is “Be”. To be the reality with one’s whole being, that “I am”. To Be is to be Life, the pure reality, the Truth. As we “sit and be”, we are the Truth, we are our true self, which is self-realisation.

The Truth can be called Buddha, hence the meditation “sit and be” is Buddhayhana. Anyone can be Buddha in it, and every one should be, as it is the purpose of life.

Originally published at Pure Land, and reproduced here with permission.

About the author:

Maitreya (Koji Takeuchi) was born and brought up in Handa, Japan, near Nagoya. During the difficult teens he began a desperate search for truth, turning to meditation with the hope of personal contact with the truth. And so it was that he found himself on a week’s meditation course for lay people at a monastery one summer where he had the experience ‘Enlightenment’ through his total sacrifice and dedication that was to firmly lay down the foundations for his life as a meditation teacher.

In the moment of ‘Enlightenment’, he saw the absolute perfection and beauty intrinsic in all things and all beings, the essence of Life. The clarity and joy of that experience and its profundity gave rise to the strong wish to share this with everyone by helping them to experience it too by means of simple meditation. Maitreya, for the purpose of becoming a meditation master, went on to university to complete an MA degree in Buddhist Theology and lived the life of a Zen monk for a time. But he felt the monastic life was too harsh, rigid and out of date.

Maitreya left Japan to spend a year in Thailand, then went traveling in India and Nepal where he began teaching meditation for a few years.Through the invitation of a friend he came to England. He stayed in various centres and universities around the country, Reading University, Cambridge University and Lancaster University, etc., teaching and lecturing.

It was whilst staying in Teversal in Nottingham he came across a property for sale in North Clifton which became a base from which to teach meditation. Pure Land was born in 1973.