If you study the real life of Gautama Buddha, you will realized that he does not start with religion nor ideologies because all ideologies are just the product of the mind. In order to drop the mind, all ideologies need to be dropped.

He does not trust ideal as well because any ideal situation will be accompany by tension and repressive nature in man. Man is very easy, once they are divided, they are torn apart. Ideals create misery and craziness.

Buddha is purely non-repressive and non-ideological. He does not talk about God (God is the ideal or idol of man). He does not talk about the future, about goal or objectives. When he is giving talks, he just wanted to take away everything from you, not to give you anything to hold on. Finally, if you understand him, he is trying to take away you, the I, the ego away from yourself. This is extremely difficult. People used to say, I take food, I take a rest, I take a partner. The word I is very big to oneself. Think seriously, anybody had the wisdom will know that there is no way that the “I” can take a rest. Rest came when your body is tired, not the “I” that is decided to take. Now you see the difference. The “I” is just the ego that tries to be in control of everything that one do.

Buddha has been trying to take the “I” away from you in order to let you witness the nothingness and pureness. This is called nirvana. Nirvana is not a goal but just pure emptiness. When you had dropped everything accumulated, does not cling to anything became a great man and not a miser then emptiness will comes up, the emptiness has always been there. All the life, you have been collecting dust, money, prestige, power, until emptiness is no longer in sight.

You are like a room, along the way, you are trying to fill in a table, then a few chairs, follow by more and more junks until the whole room is filled, then the emptiness is no longer exists.
Buddha teaches how to live in awareness, he is not teaching you to achieve nirvana or heaven. You can decorate your heaven with beautiful girls, riches and full of food but these are all in the mind, not real life. Real life is awareness in this life. Buddha does not talk about other world, he is talking about this world in nirvana. To live here in full awareness, to be alert and mindful, your nothingness and emptiness should not be poisoned or decorated in this world.

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