Spiritually worthy rebels
are the first to awaken,
who awaken the rest.– Stonepeace | Books
If we could, we would probably all sink completely into this dream that passes for our waking life, but something keeps rousing us from our sleep. No matter how dazed and confused it gets, our drowsy self is always linked to complete wakefulness. That wakefulness has a sharp and penetrating quality. It’s our own intelligence and clear awareness that have the ability to see through whatever blocks our view of our true self – the true nature of our mind. On the one hand, we’re used to our sleep and content with its dreams; on the other hand, our wakeful self is always shaking us up and turning on the lights, so to speak. This wakeful self, the true mind that is awake, wants out of the confines of sleep, out of illusion-like reality. While we’re locked away in our dream, it sees the potential for freedom. So it provokes, arouses, prods, and instigates until we’re inspired to take action. You could say we are living with a rebel within.
When we think of political or social rebels – historical or contemporary, well-known or forgotten – people who fought and are fighting for the cause of liberty and justice, we think of them as heroes: from the fathers of the American Revolution to Harriet Tubman; Mohandas Gandhi; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Aung San Suu Kyi; and Nelson Mandela. Today, we stand in awe of their courage, compassion, and remarkable achievements. Yet such idealists and reformers are always regarded as troublemakers by those they challenge. Their ideas and intentions, and even their company, are not always welcome. Rebels are a mixed blessing it seems – good for the movie business, but in real life, they make people nervous. They’re hard to push aside. They keep coming back with questions no one will ask. They won’t settle for partial truths or uncertain answers. They refuse to follow conventions that control or imprison them or the people of their society. Their path to victory runs through some rough territory. But their rebel character is not easily discouraged. Commitment to a cause – a greater vision of what might be – is the rebel’s lifeblood.
On the spiritual path, this rebel is the voice of your own awakened [or awakening] mind. It is the sharp, clear intelligence that resists the status quo of your confusion and suffering. What is the rebel buddha like? A troublemaker of heroic proportions. Rebel buddha is the renegade that gets you to switch your allegiance from sleep to the awakened state. This means you have the power to wake up your dreaming self, the imposter that it pretending to be you. You have the means to break loose from the champion of your own freedom. Ultimately, the mission of rebel buddha is to instigate a revolution of mind.
Rebel Buddha: A Guide To Revolution Of Mind
Dzogchen Ponlop
