A EVOLUÇÃO HUMANA SEGUNDO A TRADIÇÃO ORIENTAL - Lúcia Helena Galvão (Sobre parábola da tradição ZEN)

Good evening everyone! My name is Lucia. I'm a philosophy instructor at New Acropolis in Brasilia, particularly, from the Lago Norte headquarters. Everyone is invited to visit our branch, which is the oldest in our country, where New Acropolis was born in Brazil. It is our headquarters. I was invited by the Goiânia branch to speak to you about: Human evolution according to the Eastern Zen tradition. When you arrived here, you saw the writing: ten bulls and they must have wondered: did we come to the wrong lecture? What does ten bulls have to do with this story? it

has everything to do with it i brought you some very symbolic material to reflect on human evolution, according to an eastern view, which is the view of the Zen tradition. There are several traditions that chart human evolution. Nowadays we are so without foresight of the future that we don't even know what will happen tomorrow. Some civilization of the past has already mapped the evolutionary process of humanity from your point of departure to your point of arrival. It takes patience and effort to understand these concepts, who come from an oriental school and that go to very

metaphysical and abstract levels. Imagine that the human experience was created on the plane of ideas before a single human being experienced it. There is a process, as if it were a school process. Before any student entered high school, this process as an idea already existed. So too, according to these traditions, would human experience be. You may have heard about Plato's myth of the cave. The myth of the cave is one of the most popular myths out there. Plato shows man from his most basic level, which is the one where the man is chained in the

cave, even the man who goes outside, sees things illuminated by sunlight, and returns in mercy to mankind. He makes a very long path of evolution of humanity. The Zen tradition does not start at the same point as Plato. Plato shows man from the moment he is well alienated, just looking for survival. The Zen tradition starts from the moment when man already has some curiosity to know himself, that is, man as a philosopher. It shows the human condition from man as philosopher up to the level of a complete sage. It is very interesting to know and

parallel with other versions in other cultures. I brought you ten ink drawings here for you, very small, inside circles, that contain some scenes. They are very simple drawings attributed to a master of the 12th century Zen school, master Kuoãn. This was known as a koan. What is the koan? The koan was the "vestibular" of the Zen school. Zen schools accepted the entry of new disciples. The young disciples stood around the walls of the monasteries and a very circumspect wise man came out of there and delivered the test of the "vestibular", which, in general, was an

enigma, without any logic, and left the boys outside to mull it over all night. The next morning, he went out and saw whether anyone had come to any conclusions about the riddle. In general, no one could enter the monastery. It was very difficult! Quite complex! This Zen tradition, which later declined, is characterized by being dry of words. She practically does not work with words. She would have been born of a disciple of Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who had a disciple named Mahakashyapa. Buddha always met with his disciples and delivered his sermons. On one occasion when they

were gathered to receive his teachings, Buddha arrived and did not speak a single word. He simply showed them a lotus flower. Mahakashyapa looked at it and smiled and lit up with that symbolic message, what he understood from that act of the Buddha. Mahakashyapa is said to be the inspirer of the Zen tradition, which practically does not use words. It is a direct transmission. It's very Zen here. Imagine for yourselves what ten small drawings are. At the end of the lecture, you will be able to take these drawings, that I brought you as a souvenir and

that tell the story of human experience. The ten bulls! Let's meet them! These drawings were found in the 12th century and are supposed to have been made by master Kuoãn But in general, when you find something, it's because that something had already been transmitted a long time before by oral tradition and at that time it was compiled. So we know it was from the twelfth century backwards that this would have been born. A curiosity: the Zen school has no sacred texts. She has a single sutra, a single sacred text, which is the : 'Maha Prajna

Paramita Hridaya Sutra". There are three phrases that sum up the spirit of this school very well. Let's meet the ten bulls: This is the "little boy" who will be the actor in our story. In fact, that "little guy" is you. It's us! This is the actor of the human drama, of the human experience. It's us! This one, I present to you, is you! He is the actor in this experience of man in search of himself. Plato would not start from this circle; 🇧🇷 he would start much earlier. This young man is already looking for the

bull. It might not mean much to you, but it represents a lot in the context of the story. He already knows he has a bull; just don't know where he's going, but you know he has a bull. If you reflect a little regarding this matter of the bull, you will see that it is very common in several mythologies to talk about this: associate our animal self with the bull. In Greek tradition, they were considered two mythological animals as complementary. You must have already seen their drawings in mythology books. The minotaur! What was the minotaur like?

Bull head and human body! And the centaur? What was it like? From the trunk up, human and from the trunk down, horse! Do you realize that the two Are they a mixture of man and animal? But what is the main difference between them, besides one being a bull and the other being a horse? There is a more important difference than that. Which is? In one case, it dominates the human. In the centaur, the human part dominates the animal part. In the minotaur, it's the opposite. It is the animal part that dominates the human part. All

these traditions always said that man had within himself a core of consciousness, that he is an animal, that is concerned with surviving, with procreating. Live motivated by survival instincts and perpetuation of the human species. Finally, that man would have this animal part within him, that would guarantee its survival and the perpetuation of the species. But that he would have another human part, that would not need to survive and procreate, but would need things like: fraternity, honor, justice, beauty. As Professor Luís Carlos, our national director, used to say: Can you imagine a dog looking at the

sunset enraptured? What sense would this have for a dog: (a vase of flowers)? It makes no sense a vase of flowers, a sunset. They are not within the needs of the animal self. Aesthetic, ethical, feelings need like honor, fraternity, all these elements are human. Just as there are things that feed the animal self, there are things that feed the human self. They considered that someone is a human being, it means that the human part predominates over the animal part. Sometimes we may have a human form, but within us the animal predominates. Plato has a very

beautiful image about this. He says if we could enlarge man from within, we would always see this: a little man and a little animal, both tied together. The animal just wants to run after instincts. Man wants to run after values, virtues and wisdom. Each one feeds on different things, but they are tied; therefore, they can only go together. What does that mean? Tied: they can only walk together. Everyone wants to go one way. One will drag the other. And who will drag whom? Whoever is stronger. And who will be stronger? Who do you feed the

most! Your every thought, word and deed they are a spoonful of food in the mouth of one or the other. This question is very old, very recurrent. Man has an animal self. But, at a certain point, we think the animal self is ourselves. We don't have an identity outside of it. That's why I say that this "little boy" is already a philosopher. He is already at a certain evolutionary level. You approach a person and say: this bad habit of yours will destroy your life. So, she replies: but I like to be like that. Who is

this me that is speaking? It is the animal self, not the human. This behavior you have hurts people. But this is my way of being. That's not the human self that's talking. It is the animal self. But if you tell that person that he is not that, she will disagree. That's Gabriela Clove and Cinnamon Syndrome. I was born like this, I grew up like this, I am like that, I will always be like that. There is an inertia on top of these attributes and people identify with them. The fact that this boy is looking for

the bull means that he already knows he has a bull. This is very important, although we cannot claim that he is convinced of this, because he is going out to hunt the bull with a whip and a string. He was convinced or convinced himself, because he is a philosopher, that he has an animal self, but with those guns, i think he thinks he has a poodle. For a bull, such weapons leave much to be desired. He knows he has an animal self and he knows that this animal me is not him and that you have

to master it. This is in the nature of a philosopher. He has already disidentified himself from the animal self and you know you have to master it and already started looking for him. This is very interesting and perhaps it is not very clear to you. When we say: we have to master our animal selves, this seems kind of absurd, because we have to look for it. He is here. Is not here! The animal self is not just our physical body. The animal self with its instinctive, selfish, vulgar, it is everywhere in our personality, especially in

our mind and emotions. It is not in the physical body that the animal self does most damage, but in the emotions and in the mind. Do you know where your emotions are and where is your mind? Do we know? Stop to think about it for a bit! That's why he's looking. He already realized that he doesn't know. If I ask you: did you have any selfish thoughts today? Will you be able to tell me for sure? How many times has this happened? We won't know. We don't have that much idea of ​​where our bull is

going, where does our animal self come from. It is very important to note that we don't have a clear awareness of it. I always tell a story that happened to me about an exercise I gave to a group of students in Brasilia. I spoke to them about this tendency to make negative, morbid, looking for the negative aspect of everything and how bad it was. I asked them: do you think you are critical? Most answered no. As were my students some time ago, I proposed an exercise for them: you will spend a whole day with a

sheet of paper and every time you have a critical thought, they're going to make a scratch on it. You will make the lines and close the squares. I think everyone here knows what I'm talking about. A week later, I asked them how this experience had been. and they replied that they hadn't done anything else other than scratching that little piece of paper. They didn't know they were this critical. So I proposed a more daring exercise to them. Now that you realize that you criticize, who discovered Columbus' egg: "I criticize", every thought you have this week

of morbid criticism, of someone's negative view, you will have to eliminate them, cut them. A week later, the students told me who had run out of mental matter, because every time they thought, they criticized and then they began to pay attention to things outside, because if they thought, they criticized. This experience was interesting and I always like to tell, for it is evidence that we do not know where our bull is going. Where is he? I don't know. Where are my emotions and my thoughts? So much so that when they say to us: "it's a

bull", we doubt it. We say, "No! My animal self is not like that; he's a poodle." We don't have a very clear idea of ​​that. Identity: Humanity in general today identifies with the bull. Disidentifying: knowing that there is a bull, but that I am not him; that his emotions are not mine; that I am not necessarily selfish, weak, lazy. These are things that belong to my animal self. I can see it from the outside and dominate it. I usually joke that sometimes you realize that in the way you relate to your pets. Our relationship with

the inner animal self can be visualized in this relationship with the external animal. Has it ever happened to you, who have a domestic animal, to make a huge effort to educate him, especially those who have animals in an apartment, and someone comes to your house and says: "How lucky you have a polite dog!" What do you think? Luck? It was a lot of discipline for no animal is educated by nature. He has to be trained, tamed, corrected. No one is lucky about that. This is the result of hard work. This young man realizes he has

an animal, who needs to locate it, see it clearly and master it. What is our clever "little guy" going to do to find the bull? If I ask you where your animal self is, where will you look for it? If you go looking for it in a baseless self-assessment, will tend towards fantasy. You must have already seen this. Sometimes people are talking about themselves in a way so far removed from what we know of them, who sound like they're talking about someone else. You ask someone to self-describe and her description of herself is so different

that you don't even recognize her. We tend to see ourselves in a lot of fantasy. It's something curious and sometimes even a little cruel, because, in general, the people around us know us better than ourselves, because they are used to seeing our trail. "By your works you shall know yourselves." The footprints we leave in the world they see, therefore they are able to make a very concrete assessment. "I am a fair person". Where are the footprints you left in the world? Where's the justice? "I am a fraternal person". Where's the fraternity? Where did you practice

fraternity? "I'm such a selfless person." Where are the tracks, the footprints, the facts? We don't get hung up on that. We appeal to fantasies. That's why, sometimes, the people around us judge us better than ourselves. Even the neighbor knows us better than we know ourselves. Sometimes we are able to evaluate the other and we value ourselves very little, because we resort to fantasies. Our "little boy" already knows who has to look for the bull by the trail, for the footprints he leaves in the world. Imagine that, at a certain moment, when we reach the end

of this life experience, how are we going to see ourselves? Let's look back and see the traces we left in the world. That will determine whether or not our life was worth it, whether we were a factor of addition or subtraction for humanity. What was the summary of all this? In the end, that's what we got. If he wants to meet, at that moment, goes looking for the traces he left in the world. This will be a process that will start to do bring him closer to a vision more concrete, more mature, less fanciful. No

works: fantasies, good intentions! "I'm very good". You wanted to be really good. But between wanting and actually realizing, goes a long way. A Zen Koan: One of the Zen Stories There were three frogs on top of a rock. Two frogs decided to jump into the water. How many frogs are there on top of the rock? Three! Because? Between deciding and jumping there is a very long distance. The world is full of decision makers, but, in the water itself, there is almost no one. The frogs all on top of the stone! Decided! "I'll be a better

frog"! On top of the rock! So that you are not a purposeful, but dry "frog", it's good to look at how many times you've walked on water. That is, concrete facts, concrete traces in life. This moment is dramatic. Were you emotionally impacted by the drawing? They should, because this is a dramatic moment. He saw the bull! Because, even then, he still insisted on thinking it was the poodle. And now, he's really found his animal self. By the tracks! He sees that it's a bull's tracks, not a poodle's. After so much searching, at some point, he

will see: it really is a bull! Untamed, rude, selfish. Although it doesn't seem like it, this is a dramatic moment in the human experience. Comparing with other traditions, there is a tradition called medieval alchemy, in which they speak of human evolution in three works: the work in black, the work in white and the work in red. This here is the work in black: is the finding. It's going down to the underground of your conscience and see all the "pets" that you create there, all the ferinhas, all its private zoo. Confront what you really are, what

is painful. The realization is very painful, but they say that evolution necessarily passes through there. It's "know thyself"! The ancient traditions say that there are only two ways to live the realization: the method of experience, that all human beings live, and the philosophical method, which is that of reflection, is to seek to see, which is what this "little guy" is doing. The method of experience is not easy at all. I do not recommend it, because the risk is too high. What does the path of verification through experience mean? All of life plots to lead you

to evolution. A whole set of factors are attracted by your need for experience to help you grow. Imagine that you have a fantasy about yourself. You think you're brave. It's getting in the way of you growing up, because it generates a wrong expectation about itself. Life will make you see that this is a fantasy. One day, this person, who thinks he is brave, is robbed on a street corner. and the thief puts a gun to his face. The next day, the tragedy is not so much the wallet he lost. It's the self-image he's lost. He

fancied himself one thing. Fantasy in front of a weapon is the first one that passes. He imagined himself a thing and his reaction to this situation showed that he is quite another. Any child would react better. Sometimes it's so hard to face which can generate a serious problem of denial of the experience, a trauma, a negative emotional impact. How will this person look in the mirror the next day? Finding through the path of experience is painful. It is always painful, but this realization is more dangerous. The realization through the path of reflection: I want to

see myself. Therefore, I will start looking for traces in life, I'll look for myself. It's still painful. Do you realize that the "little guy" doesn't want to look? He has his back saying: "Is this really my bull?" "Won't it be someone else's?" "Someone lost a bull?" "There's no way!" "There's no way I can hide it!" "It's mine!" In the middle of the collective, he identified his bull. It's painful to accept that this really is him, but he accepts. When we want to get somewhere, we need two references, necessarily: know where you want to go and

where you are. If, for example, you got lost in Goiânia, for not knowing the city well. This is a utopian example because everyone knows, in Goiânia, Shopping Flamboyant. But let's say you didn't know where this mall is and wanted to get to New Acropolis. Would you call the organizing team for this event to ask which route to get there. The receptionist could only give you that information if I knew where you are. You need to know where you are and where you want to go. To walk, you need this double reference: where I want to

go and where I am. This "little guy" always knows where he wants to go. He wants to dominate himself. He knows where he is. He saw the bull and accepted it. It's a curious thing this moment in which he finds himself in the midst of the collective and individualizes himself. You will see that, in this presentation, there are certain phrases, which are enclosed in quotation marks, because they are original phrases from the Zen tradition. There's a sentence that says: "In the middle of the woods, he identified the tree". In the middle of the collective, he

found himself; he saw: "this is me". Sometimes we are so equal to everyone else, so massified, that it is difficult to see each other in the middle of the collective. But he saw himself. Another feature is that the bull is hiding its head. He sees the body, but not the head. It is also an interesting feature. This is a symbol and every symbol has a reason for being. An old philosophy professor of mine used to say that when we fight a defect, that's very good. When we managed to defeat him, a mask falls and something

comes up that is further back, deeper. As we fight this mask, others emerge. In general, the head of defects, the bull's head takes a long time before we can see it. It's a long battle. You fight that pettiness what you have with that person. He wins and that mask drops. But you realize that behind it you are an extremely competitive person. and will fight this mask. After defeating her, you realize you have a huge inferiority complex and will fight it. You then realize that you are vain. An ancient treatise, which is the Voice of the

Silence, says that the head of the bull is selfishness. The cause of all problems is selfishness. But at first you don't see the bull's head. She hides. You see the most peripheral parts, i.e. the last mask you see and you have to fight with her and, due to merit, the masks are falling off. He is willing to fight. Our "little guy" is brave. It's our avatar. We are ourselves. Philosophy works with the observation through reflection: I want to know myself; I want to see. Acceptance and striving for improvement. The fight will begin. He's willing. With

that string, with that whip! Have you ever heard in a classic of the Hindu tradition called the Bhagavad Gita? It is quite an interesting book. It is considered one of the sacred books of the eastern tradition, which shows the inner struggle of man. The Bhagavad Gita is nothing but another version of man's struggle to conquer himself, to tame your animal self. That's what you're seeing here. I present to you the Bhagavad Gita. It seems like such an uneven fight and, at first, it is. A "little boy" with a string and a whip! And it's a

bull! What is the only advantage that this "little guy" has on this bull and who guarantees that he will win? He won't give up. There the battle of his life is being fought. It's a matter of life and death. He won't give up. He will be forever fighting this bull. The bull is not in the mood to fight forever. The bull will eventually give in. What guarantees his victory? is that he will not give up. This fight will go on for as long as necessary. He will not leave his post and will gain ground on

the bull. The strategy he uses is tie the bull's leg. He tries to take the bases off the bull to take him down. The bases of the bull, of the animal self, are the values ​​on which it is based: instincts, selfishness. "If I don't do this, I don't survive." "If I don't do that, I get cheated by people." These are the paws of the bull, the bases, around which it stands. He starts pulling these bases, to cripple the bases of the bull. Up ahead, you will see a fight with the bull, that Hercules caught. Do

you remember the twelve labors of Hercules? Hercules used another strategy a little different from this guy. Hercules knocked the air out of the bull, plugging its nostrils. Air symbolically represents the emotional element. What Hercules did was remove the outbursts of anger, selfishness, depression, that is, to dominate the emotional to be able to dominate the animal self, because it is from the emotional that comes the motivation of the animal self. He purged his emotions. It's another strategy. Anything goes in fighting your bull. Use all the weapons you have, because this war is long; it will go

on for a long time. Something interesting that the Bhagavad Gita says is that the bad driving of the bull, until that moment, is what makes it so difficult. The bull is not an evil animal. He was rude. Animals are well or poorly educated, well or poorly trained. There was no effort to dominate this bull. He was brought up doing whatever he pleased, without any education process. It's not that he's bad; he did not undergo an education process. He has a malformed character. This is a fight, not to eliminate it, but to tame it. Mythology sometimes

represents a hero killing an animal. This is not death as we understand it in the West; death, in the East, means dominion, overcoming and, no, elimination. He is trying to reverse this process of rebellion, of bad education of your own animal self, who is used to dominating and having various whims. This is his fight. Perseverance of purpose, gradually undermining the bull's strength. I don't know how long this scene will last. It will be for a long time. But since he won't give up, it is clear that he will win. How cute is this scene! What

a "nice" bull! Do you think this bull is reliable? He tamed the bull; beat the bull by weariness, but he cannot relax, as the bull can still drag him along. This requires constant attention and discipline, for you have not yet fully mastered it. You have to always have the rope and the whip in your hand. to pull it out carefully. Plato, a great philosopher, in his book: The Republic, said that one of the most special virtues of the human being it is temperance. What is temperance? It is a virtue of the wise. It is when

there is harmony between those who command and those who obey. It is the human self and the animal self. It's when, for example, you wake up in the morning, very early, on a Sunday, because I had an appointment and as soon as the alarm clock rings, you open your eyes and say: "Body, get up now! I have an appointment!" And the body says: "Yes, Lord!" and jumps out of bed immediately. Is this how it goes? This would be for that man who has perfect control of his bull. and the bull would not have this "little

face" in the drawing. The bull would be fully trusted. This boy is still not temperate. He still needs control, attention. There is a passage from another Tibetan holy book, which is "The Voice of Silence", which says: "Once you kill an enemy take care that the dead do not rise from the tombs." He is caring for he knows that he cannot entirely trust this bull. I'm going to show you the Egyptian tarot version of this story. The Egyptian tarot is made up of a series of cards, not to see the future, but to see the present,

for the man to be in there. One of these Egyptian tarot cards shows a boy holding the lion's mouth open, but with strength, with care, so that the lion would not bite him. It's a victory stage, but a guarded victory. It is the next step to war. It is a victory that requires constant control, otherwise you rewind to the previous scene. He has not yet reached the Platonic concept of temperance. This phrase is from the Zen tradition: "Do not allow yourself to be separated from the whip and the rope." What does that mean? Don't be

careless, because this bull is not to be trusted! See that the dead do not rise from the tomb! Watch! This is still a stage in which full mastery of the animal self has not been gained. You got some control sustained by discipline, perseverance and constancy. This is the Egyptian letter I referred to. It takes will and attention to keep the lion's mouth open. All Egyptian cards have a planet mark at the top. This is Mars, it's war! The war is not over yet. The lion's mouth cannot be released. Attention and concentration are still needed, not

to go back to the previous stage and not let the animal self dominate. This is a moment. Later, in another Egyptian tarot card, this is already fully pacified, as well as our story. What a beautiful scene! What a bucolic scene! Idyllic! This is a temperate man. He's cool. The bull is fully trained. It seems that he and the bull are one and the same. What he wants the bull does, without needing words. The bull is tamed. He plays his "little flute". This "little flute" is said to be the song of life. There is a beautiful

Tibetan oriental book called: Light on the Path, which says that the whole universe plays a single song. He who has ears to hear it, would be able to perceive it: the song of life, that it is nothing but the concept of dharma, law. All things lined up, according to a law of the universe. It is a musical note that sounds throughout the universe. He plays this song of life, harmonizing with the laws of the universe. The bull goes as if dancing. He plays the flute and the bull dances happily to the sound of the flute,

totally dominated. This is a sage. This is a temperate man. There is a perfect balance between who is in charge and who obeys. Later I will show you scenes from the mythology of various peoples. This is very interesting. If you notice, in the mythology of a people, what is sacred to them, you will see that it also appears here. You will realize the level of that people. Few peoples had this level of our history. Most represent war, trying to fight the bull, trying to master it. This is a very advanced level. But from here on

out, things get complicated. The flute plays "Song of Life" from "Light on the Path", which is the Dharma. The man is absolutely temperate. This phrase from the Zen tradition is very peaceful. Marking compass. Your heart is full of tranquility; he no longer needs the whip and rope. He plays the flute and the bull goes in the direction he wants. This is the Egyptian tarot card that corresponds to this. The planet is now Venus, it is love. Absolute tranquility! This man has in his hands the scales of justice and the sword of will. He is in

control of the situation. Just look how tame the lion is! It looks like a kitten! Very peaceful! Totally pacified! This is a sage, according to the Egyptian version. This is already territory that is starting to get complicated for us. In this tradition, they begin as philosophers, but they go up to a level of very high degree sages. According to this and other Eastern traditions, man reaches the apex of a level of wisdom. It's hard to even imagine what that is. You can only have an idea from the metaphysical point of view, but in practice it

is difficult to imagine. When man reaches that apex of wisdom, his mission is to return and share it with humanity. From here, there is no more bull. Where is the bull? He fought so hard to dominate the bull! No more bull. It's like you imagine who will cross a river and needs a boat. When you reach the other side of the river, you won't need it anymore. You will leave the boat and go your way. He went through the human experience, which consisted in taming the bull and pacifying it. He arrived from the other side

and now you don't need the bull anymore. These traditions say that we have two cores of consciousness: one that is down here, in the material, concrete part of our existence and another that is up there, which is our spiritual essence. There is a bridge between the two, which the Indian tradition calls the Antakarana. When you cross that bridge, the means that take you there, are no longer needed. He crossed the bridge. He is a man who has now found his spiritual essence. The bull was needed to lead him there. He found his essence and therefore

the concrete elements have already been overcome. This is the concept of Antakarana. We go through life, riding the bull, fighting with him, gathering experiences and now we go through these experiences and we went to meet our own essence. The boat was left behind. Like an abandoned boat on the other shore. See the phrase that is used by the Zen tradition: "Riding on the bull, he arrives at his house. His whip and his rope lie idle." He no longer needs the whip and rope. There is no longer anything to fight against. Riding on the bull, he

has come to his home, to his essence. I put a question here for you to reflect on so that it doesn't get so metaphysical, to make it something concrete for us. Who ever felt nostalgia, miss your home? You will realize that you have already felt. When we witness a very beautiful, noble and just act of the human being, we feel a pain in the heart. When we see this, there is more than admiration. It's like a thin pain in our heart. It's like it reminds us of something we once had and, for some reason, we

lost it and want to find it again. When we see a great act, very noble, very beautiful, an act of honor, justice, kindness, it's not just dazzle that this produces in us. It's like we feel a little nostalgia. Missing something we didn't have. But it lives inside us and, from time to time, I miss you. It's homesickness, our human essence; of the noblest we have, what characterizes us as human beings. This, from time to time, hurts our heart. It's what the book: The Voice of the Silence calls sacred pain. It is one of the most

important pains we have. It's like a voice inside us to call us back home. We are seeing here a person who arrived home, mastered all material elements, imposed discipline, will, values ​​on himself and came to find his human essence; came to find himself. This is a very special moment, which, later on, will become more complicated. The next circle is quite impactful. See how striking this image is! Transcending the me and the bull! He crossed the river and the Antakarana, and found that he is not that here, and, yes, a spiritual essence that dominates him like

a bullfighter dominates a bull. He found his spiritual essence and realized that now everything disappeared. He discovered that he is a drop of water, an essence. The next step will be this essence, which is this drop of water, find the ocean, which is the whole. Individuality, separateness no longer exist. The cell found the body. The cell separated from the body no longer exists. I will tell you one more story. A story that explains it more clearly so that you understand this complex scene. It's the story of a necklace. In India they call it: the story

of the sutratma, the thread. Think of an acrylic bead necklace. Now let's imagine the story of one of those necklaces: contained her trying to understand herself. The first thing she does or that we, contained, do: look at our surface and see what we are. Container looks at its shiny surface and see that it is acrylic and thinks she's the prettiest of all, the most special of all. It sticks to the surface. For a long time, she feels that way. Until one day, she feels the need to know herself more deeply. She starts to realize she's

not just acrylic and feel the need to find something deeper within yourself. And begins to search incessantly, until, at a certain moment, she looks inside herself. She is used to recognizing a type of substance, which is acrylic. When she looks inside her, does not have acrylic; has a nylon thread, which is a substance he does not know. When she looks inside herself, she sees nothing; just an emptiness, that causes you distress. That emptiness will make her seek to understand what is that. From so much trying to understand this inner emptiness, she will debug the view

and recognize the nylon that runs through it. She will find her essence, which is a nylon thread, and will look outside, to the other containers and realize how alienated they are, just stare at its surface and have no sense of its essence. She goes on to help the other accounts to find their essence: that little piece of nylon inside them. The story of the container will only end when she realizes that nylon thread that passes inside it, which is its essence, it is the same that passes inside the other containers. It's a single thread! It's

a single thread! It's a single continuous thread! Her essence is not hers alone; me in the; it's from the universe. There is no more separation. For someone who is not prepared for this, it seems empty. It's not empty! It's full! It's the cell that found the body. This is very metaphysical. It is the final path to which man arrives. Yet the Ego, as being isolated from the Whole, is overcome. It's what we call initiations. It is wisdom: when man overcomes separateness and finds the "Monad", which is his divine essence and which causes it to merge

with the divine essence of the universe. You find that a little piece of your thread is part of the big thread. This is what India calls supratma. The drop of water meets the ocean. In that position he is in, he sees the origin, the essence of everything in the world. Remembering the myth of the cave, in this myth we have a cave, where several men are chained, looking at a wall. Behind them is a bonfire. and images of people and objects are projected onto the wall. They believe those shadows are reality, because they never saw

anything else. At a certain moment, a man frees himself, come out of the cave and see the world outside illuminated by sunlight. He realizes the mistake that those men inside are living. He returns there, out of mercy to these men, to try to free them. Those men who are living looking into the shadows, to the illusions of the material world, believe that this is the only possible world. And they are vain. Those who see shadows best consider themselves superior to others. They are shadow specialists. They consider themselves superior to others, because they see shadows more

accurately. When someone comes out of this cave, they go outside and sees the source of all things, which is light, upon returning to that cave, he sees shadows much more accurately than the other prisoners. Soon he would know much more about those shadows. than someone who has been there their whole life looking at them, because he knows the source, he knows the root. He won't just describe the shadow; it will say which object generated the shadow. He knows the source. He who knows the source, can lead men to it. Upon seeing the source of the

cave's illusory reality, he has an appointment with these men. That's what our "little boy" will feel. One sees the source of reality, the exit from the cave. This is the Zen phrase: "Nirvana, the red flowers of achievement, are within reach, but does not reach out to reach them". He won liberation by merit, just like the man who came out of the cave. He could have walked out of the cave and gone, without worrying about the other prisoners. The flowers of fulfillment are there for him to pluck, but he does not reap them; he has to

go back. Your conscience demands it, because he is a human being, a fraternal being. He cannot pluck the flowers of fulfillment and forget who stayed behind. He is committed to these people. There is a phrase that is also attributed to the Zen tradition, actually, a little story. They say there was a Zen master who was very wise. and who had a very pure life and very dedicated to the pursuit of wisdom. One day, a disciple came to him and said: Master, you are already quite advanced in age; soon, you will disincarnate. A man like you

goes straight to heaven. The master replied to the disciple: You are mistaken! I'm going to hell! The disciple was very surprised: Are you going to hell? Yea! I'm going to hell! The disciple was more and more surprised by the master's words. But master, why are you going to hell? Now, disciple, if I don't go to hell, who is going to get you out of there? Do you realize how interesting this is? The essence of the human condition is fraternity. The idea of ​​individual liberation for the human essence it does not exist. Siddhartha Gautama himself said:

"I don't rest until I see the back of the last man entering Nirvana." If he wants to see the back of the last one, who will be the last? He! This man has this need communicate this departure to those who stayed. Again in the world! Again with men! He needs to go back and communicate that wisdom. Show the source of all things and try to lead men to that source. In this he is fulfilled. In this he is a great sage. There he found perfection, your diamond of the human condition, without any impurity. He reached

the peak of the human condition. Conquered the flower of wisdom, the white lotus, as the eastern tradition says. And come back to share it with the world. This is the height of wisdom. Now you can point the way to men. Can look at all things illuminated by the idea of ​​Good, that he comes to see. The Man Who Came Out of the Cave and Saw Things Lit by sunlight! Plato said: It is the idea of ​​good! This is a very beautiful idea. that we should know. The way we look at things, in general, it is

not illuminated by the idea of ​​good. It is illuminated by our interests. We only see in things what they have that can serve our interests. If something doesn't interest us, we don't see. Looking at things illuminated by the idea of ​​good, is to look and say: How can I contribute to the good of this being without wanting anything for me? It's totally delivery. This is looking at things illuminated by sunlight. The Man Who Came Out of the Cave look at things and do not think how they can serve you, but how he can serve them.

How can he direct these things in the direction of your good? without wanting anything for him. This is wisdom; it is the greatest love a man can have. It's not how it serves you, but how can he serve this. This is the state this boy has reached. He understands the shadows of the cave much better than the "experts", because he knows what they are, where they come from and their reason for being. He knows about the source of shadows, the object that causes them. He knows more than anyone inside the cave. He knows which way

leads out, which causes the illusion in the cave. He has a lot to give. This man is essential. It marks the exit trail from the cave. It marks the path of bull dominance. They are the great sages of mankind, who always have a huge accomplishment to share what they have achieved. Out of compassion, return to men lost in the world. That would be the apex of human history, the goal we have to reach. In ten circles drawn in ink of a boy and a bull! With such a simple vision, they intended to tell the whole

story of mankind. That was a koan. The master of the Zen school gave young people these plaques with the drawings in the right sequence. The next day, whoever could tell the whole story was admitted to the Zen school. That was the koan, which has parallels in various traditions of mankind. We've seen some and we'll see more. The Zen school originally had a single sacred text, a single sutra, that summed it up for them the whole intention of man in the pursuit of wisdom. "Maha Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra" Go, go, go together, beyond the beyond, until

the ultimate achievement. It's actually an invitation. This is the way. Go together! Beyond the Beyond! Until the last achievement! And that is the ultimate achievement. Return to the world with arms full of fruits. These fruits we conquer with our effort. Do it for the good of humanity and for human duty and then share it. Beyond the Beyond! Until the last achievement! Several civilizations have paralleled this story. I'm going to show you some scenes and you will tell me at what point in the story of the bull are they. Here is the myth of the cave:

the men trapped in the cave, seeing the shadows, the bonfire back there, the man who leaves, see things lit by sunlight and then come back to rescue his companions in the cave. It's the same story of the ten zen balls, it just starts from the moment where men still think they are the bulls and are totally deluded, trapped and looking into the shadows. The Zen story starts a little bit after that. The man who is already wanting to break free. Now let's go to the mythology. There is a struggle there. although the man is winning

and the bull is under his dominion. It is Mitra, undefeated of the Persians, of Mithraism. He is dominating the bull; he has the knife and is going to kill the bull. It is not death as extinction, but death as dominion. He is one of the main gods of the Mithraic tradition, of the Parsis tradition. which was the religion of the Persians. There was and still exists, to this day, this religion: Parsism. Do you think this warrior is at what point in the history of the bull? Maybe you don't remember the sequence of the story. In

the first scene, he's just looking, in the second, he only saw, in the third, he saw it and started to fight, in the fourth, he is pulling the bull with the rope. You and I agree that it's this scene, where he is pulling the string, but we still cannot release the bull. This is Persian sacred tradition. How high were the Persians in history? They were dominating the bull, but they still couldn't let go of him. Then you can see what level this civilization was at. This is Theseus fighting the minotaur. It's from Greek mythology. It

is also at the same height as the previous one: pulling the string. The bull is dominated, but is not satisfied. He still cannot be released. Here we are talking about the Greeks. They had to keep the bull under surveillance. This was the moment they were living. That's their mythology. These are the so-called Orphic mysteries, of which Greek mythology is a part. Those were the values that reflected the moment they were living. Imagine if we were to make these drawings about our civilization. It would be a circle before that first circle. The man carrying the bull

on his back. Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven! That's Mesopotamia. One more fight! Come a little earlier. It's still in the fight. Man has not yet fully mastered the bull, but will master it. In the story, he tames the bull and kills it. It should be between the fourth and fifth circle. It's struggling. In a little while, it will overpower and kill you. This myth is from Mesopotamia. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest written in human history. It was from the Sumerian civilization. The next myth: Hercules and the Cretan bull. The hero is plugging

the bull's nostrils. This bull will still survive and then goes to fight Theseus. In this scene, Hercules is plugging the bull's nostrils, taking your breath away, taking your breath away, the emotional drive that motivates the bull. That was a good strategy. He managed to dominate the bull. He took him to King Eurystheus, he did his job. Despite the struggle, the bull is still not tamed. He will still fight Theseus. Here would be the fifth circle. Here, everything is quite different. This is Egypt. Up there, we see Osiris, who represents the spirit. At his side, Apis,

who represents matter. Spirit's dominion over matter is so perfect that they merge into a single being. Look what a beautiful statue! On one side, the face of Osiris, on the other, that of Apis. This domain was so perfect that this bull was consecrated in Egypt. There were several temples there, where they embalmed and placed sacred bulls, which were the Apis bulls. Osiris' rule over Apis was so perfect that they merge into a single being: the god Serapis (Osiris-Apis). He is the god of medicine, harmony, of the perfect balance between the factors of heaven and earth,

between spirit and matter. A civilization that has a symbol like that What stage are you at in our history? She could only be in one of the circles further ahead, that is, in the one of the boy playing the flute and the bull going meekly. It has no more resistance; the bull is sacred. The bull is part of the god himself. They merge into one being, to the point of becoming a god: the god of perfect balance, of perfect health. Osiris and Apis merge into one being. The next story is that of Lao tzu. Lao

Tzu was a great sage, who liked to withdraw into his meditations. At that time, people recognized the sages and sought them out for advice and guidance. In order to make your reflections, he withdrew to the bank of the Yellow River. People went to meet him. They say that even Confucius went looking for him. Until he decided to go to India. From the Yellow River to India is a long distance. He decided to make this trip mounted on a bull. This can only be symbolic. The bull was not the proper means of transport for that trip.

He rode on his bull and left for India and was never seen again. See in this scene that he is calm and the bull seems to know the way. He's just not playing the flute. The bull knows how to go alone. It's the same myth, the same story. In this passage it is said that when Lao Tzu was crossing the border, he was approached by a guard, who asked him where he was going with that bull. And he replied that he was going to India. The guard also wanted to know what he was doing. He

replied that he reflected on life, about how man can master himself. The guard then asked him if he had come to any conclusions. Lao Tzu replied that he had reached some conclusions and the guard told him he couldn't leave without leaving this legacy for those people. The guard asked Lao Tzu to write down all the conclusions he had reached, for that was the only way to allow its passage. It was thanks to that border guard, who sheltered Lao Tzu in his house, that today we have the "Tao te King". We can then see the level

that should have that man, not that civilization, but that man, because that too is symbolic. It represents perfect self-mastery. He plays the song of life and your animal self obeys. He walks according to the Dharma. That was basically the story that I wanted to bring to you. There are several civilizations in the world saying the same thing! Is it possible that Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Egyptians, did they all want to deceive us? Did they devise a plan to deceive mankind? Or is there a path out there? that we can also use so that we know exactly

what the human condition is and what awaits us in the future. There must be a truth of nature. This coincidence of elements should indicate that this is the way. That's the human condition. This is our future. It is knowing how to position ourselves within this story and not forget where we want to go. This is a key element: know where we want to go and where we are. We have to place ourselves within the story and look forward to the next round. We fight for him. That means evolution, which is said to be the synthesis

of life. It's what we take from life. It is what we strive for to move into the next circle. And so we fulfill our role as human beings on earth.