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Are you seeking, or have you found?
111
Explorer
in Meditation
I am curious as to the community on this site, and what your individual experiences are. I know that when I began devoting practice to buddhism, I was seeking, seeking, seeking, with the goal just out of reach, but always near. I am wondering, and asking you, the community of newbuddhist - Have you found, or are you still seeking? I don't mean 'Enlightenment' necessarily, more asking if your mindstate in your practice is one of seeking only, seeking - and - finding, or found? Thank you in advance 
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I have stopped seeking for more "Intellectual" information, I think I have what I need at this moment.
The challenge now is to use and practice it in daily life...learning by doing.
Well, I do feel that the day I had the lightbulb moment and realised how piercingly Buddhism 'spoke' to me, I DID feel as if I'd come home....
Not seeking anymore. I know where to get any info I might need.
A fake Buddha quote comes to mind that stuck with me that says, "if anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart."
I don't seek, but whatever I need to know, finds its way to me.
I study, read, practise, and somehow, in my daily life, what I have learned fleshes out to life.
On a good day I'm seeking without searching...
Sounds like the Middle Path
I think it is wonderful that most of you are beyond seeking and firmly situated in your practice 
for anyone else however, there is nothing wrong with seeking, as it leads to finding. I read 'Siddhartha', and when he becmes enlightened in the story he explains to his friend Govinda that there is no difference between looking, and finding. they are two counterparts to the same thing. I probably didn't do that passage justice here though lol
@111
In the beginning "I" was seeking answers... However the more "I" sought, the less "I" found. And when "I" stopped seeking altogether, there was nothing to find...
Right that's the profound part over and done with....
Now the conventional ....
"I" now seek ways to help others help them'selves', and in doing so "I" continually loose my 'self'....( If this makes any 'sense' )
The self ...."Lost & Found & Lost again"
@Shoshin gets it. that is phenomenal cmprehension of your 'self' or 'not self'
I don't know how old you are, @111, but at a certain age, after having tread the path for years, you simply relinquish seeking, and find that the more receptive and open you are to reality, the more what you need to know comes to you.
I read a lot, but I would not call that seeking.
Don't encourage her. It will only mean more quotation marks.....
@111
"Seeking and finding" are often just barrier building exercises,
like our identity's adversarial separation of self verses others.
When anyone offers up only two doors from which to choose from,
it's usually to keep you from finding out there are more than 2 doors.
It's like having a good dog ... you can't quite remember what things were like before s/he started living with you.
When I started it was all about seeking, seeking the truth. This is coming up two years ago now. I've been very unrelenting in the search and try to separate truth from all the dogma.
I've come to realise that the one searching doesn't exist any more than a strong belief. All the roads have now turned back inwards.
For awhile there is still searching but the searching is now unsparingly observing the so called seeker.
I'm realising now that the one searching for enlightenment is getting burnt up by the search itself. And that there never was a person in the first place. Haha.
i'm with you @Earthninja . It seems to ''me'' that the Self spoken of in the bhagavad gita is closer to nothingness than to what the mind constantly tries to label 'I' or 'Me'. I appreciate all of your opinions and glimpses into your state of being.
and anyone else who jumps on this thread
I'm still looking but I'm not looking for anything in particular.
I'd like to say I'm looking for enlightenment but I don't even know what that is. That used to be my goal and then a right and proper definition of enlightenment was my goal.
I'd like to wake up eventually but at the same time I don't want to reach a place where my life outlasts my wonder.
I see the logic in compassion and plan to help when I can. Now the ideas can fall where they may and I'll have fun with trying reconcile intuitive awareness with logical investigation.
It's all a process and every question answered is two more created. I don't really care if this self and the duality that comes with it are illusions anymore because if they are, I use them as tools of exploration while remembering that we inter-be.
For me, the goal turned out to be the search.
Today oi will be mostly exploring.
I'd like to understand teachings that don't understand right now.
Seekers are those searching for Nirvana in samsara. Finders find samsara in Nirvana.
I am seeking what I found. Which sounds very cryptic but is merely descriptive.
Emptiness is Form ... anyone?
Oh, just put them round the Exit sign....
Both... Started as seeking, identifying a puzzle and finding pieces as I go. Sometimes while I'm searching, sometimes unexpected. My preconceived image of the completed puzzle often changes with discoveries, both in scope and definition.
I've sort of forgotten what I was looking for, but that's OK, it makes the journey more interesting.
There was one day where I suffered so deeply, that for a moment my suffering stopped. In that moment, I saw that I had two choices: continue to suffer, or surrender and accept. I surrendered and accepted, and because I did so during a time when I experienced such great pain, it caused a huge shift to occur within me... or, more accurately, the experience of who I actually am seemed so radically different from who I thought I was that it appeared to be a great shift.
I am still seeking. I will seek always, until the day I die. That is the purpose of earthly life. But what I seek now comes from within rather from without.
Edit: Hmm... I guess you could say that means I've found? Opposites aren't really opposites at all.
Exactly. Not said by the Buddha. Not authentic BUT true. You say sutras, I say stitch up (sutures).
“What you seek is seeking you.” ― Bodhi Rumi
"Om Mani Padme Hung!" (The Jewel is 'already' in the Lotus )
Lets just say I finally know what I need to do.
Yes, but 'doing it'.... "aye, there's the rub..."
I am not sure I know what I need to do, but I still do it anyway.
Book burning and coming over to the Sith Side of the Dharma aka Mahayana?
Nah, the force grows strong in Hinophiles!
Seeking everything but not so much enlightenment. But some kind of healing, purification, salvation - all kinds of non-Buddhist things.
So perhaps hell is the thing I'm seeking after all.
The sad thing is @Shim, they're already with you, within reach. You're just not seeing them.
But how?
^^^ half hearted, occasional interest in dharma. Meditating when in crisis. Generally not really bothering to have a solid foundation ...
... eh wait ... that don't work [Lobster puts on thinking cap] ...
"If you cannot find inner Joy, Serenity and peace where you are right now - then where else do you expect to find them?"
These aspirations are not 'somewhere out there'.
They already reside within your Mind, if you will but accept and liberate yourself from the constant struggle of believing you need to find anything.
Acceptance and letting go does not mean becoming some passive, idle, doormat, with no ambition or energy, desire or drive to do anything.
It means seeing things as they really are, and dwelling among the chaos, like a steady., constant, imperturbable lighthouse.
It doesn't matter what goes on 'out there'.
What counts is how skilfully you process it, 'in here'.
I like to found, not to seek.
All I know is that when you're looking for something, you don't see shit. So now, for me, it's not seeking or having found. It's not anymore part of the equation, so to speak.
Both are true for me.
I have found much.
I hope I will always continue to seek, as there is much I have not yet found.
Hmm what came to mind is finding, finding, finding... usually daily, and usually the same thing. At least as far as my regular practice is concerned.
I tried to quote the whole thing, but it didn't work out. Just wanted to say that's a very inspirational post...tight...well said.
Yes i'm seeking, i'm seeking that which is unconditioned, and gives supreme security from bondage.
In the Ariyapariyesana sutta the Buddha says that there are two kinds of search, a noble search, and an ignoble search.
https://suttacentral.net/en/mn26
I have found what I have been looking for but I haven't gained what I need to have yet, still working on it if this make sense to you. In other words I found the way to get where I want to be but have not gotten there yet.
May I respectfully ask if you have found the Nichiren Gohonzon/Gonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band?
Namu-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō
No. not nichren or namnyo stuff. Its Lotus Sutra practice. people really do ruin a greatness of Buddha by worshiping human. Because of those namyo or other similar school? people misunderstood the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. it really hurts when I hear Lotus Sutra practice is something weird.
I wish I could explain better but its something like learning how to swim per say. you can read about how to swim and memorize all the swimming methods but that does not mean that you can swim in the water. being a Buddhist is not memorizing and reading the sutra after sutra but learning to become boddhisattva's heart. Sorry that my English is not good enough to explain. there is expression like " read btw the lines " ? you should not take word by word when it comes to reading a sutra ( sometimes yes but not always ). That is why we need great teacher of the Law.
if you read " sutra of innumerable meaning", Buddha says " I did not tell the truth in 40 years of my previous teachings " and he also said "throw away the skillful meanings and preach ONLY the highest teachings of the Law.( by which he means the Lotus Sutra- Lotus Sutra is the english name of Wonderful Dharma = Saddharma ).
So when I speak of Lotus Sutra, I always be prepared to get laughed at or be hated or make fun of ect.
That is why its "wonderful" Law, Saddharma, meaning as in mysterious.
right now is the age of latter days of the Law. its important to know that too.
Shakyamuni buddha said not too get upset and endure when people throw rocks at you and hurt you when you talk about Sahharma Puntarika Sutra. its only natural for some people feel uncomfortable when heard of (about) Lotus Sutra. On the other hand some people gets really happy and I am the one who was so happy to have found the Lotus Sutra, Saddharma Puntarika Sutra. The greatest Law.
What I was trying to say to Lobster is that when you add hydrogen to oxygen, it became water. its not oxygen anymore. likewise, you add something that is not Shakaymuni Buddha's teaching to Lotus Sutra ( wonderful dharma ), its not his teaching anymore. so namyo horang is NOT Buddhas teaching anymore. I hope this make sense to you. again, my english isnt good enough to explain Buddha's teaching. my apology to you.
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