On a previous retreat, I described the stages of emptiness in meditation, and how one goes step by step into a deeper state of meditation. The same applies here. It would be impossible to go from the mind of attachment directly to a deep meditative state. You have to start from a shallow meditation and then go progressively deeper and deeper. As you go into these deeper levels your mind gradually becomes purer, so by the time you reach that treasured state you will have lost the attachment. In other words, with proper application of method and technique, even with deep attachment, you can enter these realms of delight. If you don't have a good master to guide you now, you're in a lot of trouble for two reasons. In the first place, you want to enter the condition again and again. But this desire is troublesome because it can be an obstruction to further progress. Second, if you don't have the guidance of a good master you will assume you've reached the highest stage.

You want to believe that you have reached the ultimate, but in daily life vexations and attachments resurface, and you will experience doubt. "Did I really get enlightened?" After tossing this question around, you may conclude, "Yes, I probably did reach the highest state. Maybe even the great masters didn't go beyond this. "Because you have doubt, you try to convince yourself you are at the level of the masters. If you do this, you have given rise to a kind of pride that is hard to uproot.

If you get past the first two barriers, and find yourself approaching the third, you may be on the threshold of genuine enlightenment. But, unlike the first two stages, there are no words for enlightenment. Enlightened people see the world just as it is. Indeed what they see is completely different from what the ordinary person perceives. When they see a leaf they may see the cosmos contained in it. This is not psychic power, nor is it normal knowledge. If you ask them to talk about it, they can say nothing. They would feel neither delight nor aversion. It's just a state of great awakening.