Buddhism is not Mysticism

Buddhism is not a mysticism. Rather, Buddhism is a toolkit to relief psychic suffering. As part of that relief, it teaches transcendence of ego — the self which arises through ignorant craving.

That transcendence of ego is called the transcendent Self and is also known as the Diamond Mind.

Rejection of the transcendent Self is rejection of the Diamond Mind, and of the Buddha himself.

For the true Reality of the Self is often occulted by academics whose commentaries on the Buddhist sutras sometimes leads the skeptics to the false belief that Buddhism is a form of mysticism.

By hiding the fact that Adi Buddha is reflected in the Five Wisdom Buddhas, so too is the fact that personal experience is reflected in the experience of everyone.

Yet academics who have no experience in Buddhism, who have not heard the Buddhadharma, and who then write of the Diamond Mind and the transcendent Self, suggest that each of us has the potential to become bodhisattvas and ultimately Buddhas.

For the fallacy of potential nirvana is that the average person is often adverse to exercise his potential under the mistaken assumption that it's not for him and that it's all a bunch of hogwash, too.

However, I beg to differ and present you with the following analogy to encourage the willing among you to exercise your potential to become awakened and achieve Nirvana.

When we were children, we had the potential to graduate from high school. We learned to read and write, and to do math. Today, we are able to read and write, as well as add, subtract and multiply.

Likewise, in learning about the Four Noble Truths, and dependent arising, it is then possible to go on to learn about the Diamond Mind and the transcendent Self. It is even possible to understand that the spiritual nature of Adi Buddha is reflected in the 102 Buddhas of Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana).

For Buddhism is not mysticism, for the Four Noble Truths is proof of that.

Learning about the Diamond Mind and the transcendent Self helps us to go beyond meditating to achieve the clear mind to see that the Diamond Mind is achieved through meditation and study of the sutras. Such learning is also not mysticism.

As well, Adi Buddha is not mysticism.

For mysticism requires only one thing: a mind confused by the ego lost in ignorant craving. Since the purpose of Buddhism is to remove confusion by pacifying ignorant craving through meditation to achieve the mind of clarity and the heart of peace, the result is the true heartmind which is able to see that Buddha-Nature is in all sentient beings.

Indeed, the heartmind is able to see that all sentient beings are originally bodhisattva who have the potential to become Buddha.