Expert: Stuart Resnick - 4/10/2007

Question
Hello Mr. Stuart!

Some martial artist described his experience in this way:
"The first enlightenment experience I had was the most significant, but this one was the deepest or most profound.
It was the last exercise, and I thought if I hadn't gotten it in fourteen days what difference could this one exercise make? So, I was just enjoying myself. For some reason, I decided to go up out the top of my head a distance that felt like several feet above me. It felt like I would go up there and meet my diad partner, Neil, like we joined up there. And then, quite to my surprise, I had an experience of what the Zen people call the Void. That of Absolute Existence. There was no distance, no time, no space . . . nothing.

I guess my appearance changed dramatically at the time, since, after we were done with the exercise, Neil started jumping up and down and pointing, exclaiming how different my face looked, saying, "You should look in a mirror!" I hadn't looked in a mirror for fourteen days. When I got home, I walked up to a full-length mirror and looked at myself and it was a deep shock to my body. It was a shock because I saw a body that I had known before, and it wasn't me! Not that my appearance had changed. The familiarity is what shocked me. In some sense, I had forgotten that I had a body. It's like the body reflected my history, my character, my ideas, my personality, all the things I had thought I was. All the things I had been being. Without thinking about it, I guess I really expected my reflection not to show up."

What did he exactly experience? What did he see in a mirror if it wasn't him? Is it possible to explain it in simple terms? What does it mean that his body reflected his history, his character...?
Thanks


Answer
The body is more or less like a piece of clothing, or like a rental car. If we don't question, we can fall into the assumption that the body is "I." But if you take up the great question "What am I?", there's just one thing that becomes strong and clear: Don't Know.

We don't know what this "I" is. Originally, it's like empty space, or a clear mirror that reflects what's in front of it -- white appears, only white; red appears, only red.

You don't need to wait for some special experience to see this. Just now, at any moment, strongly and sincerely take a look at "What am I?" and see for yourself.