Think about the Buddha and his quest for awakening. His teachers taught him the dimension of nothingness and the dimension of neither perception or non-perception — very refined attainments. But he had a clear idea of where he wanted to go. He wanted the deathless.

"Again, think about the Buddha and his quest for awakening. His teachers taught him the dimension of nothingness and the dimension of neither perception or non-perception — very refined attainments. But he had a clear idea of where he wanted to go. He wanted the deathless, and he could see that neither of these were deathless. When he saw that these weren’t what he wanted, he moved on. If he hadn’t been clear about his goal, he might have been waylaid. After all, they offered him the position of teacher, but he didn’t want to teach unless he had something that was really of value to teach, something outside of the ordinary. So he was clear about his intention, and as a result he was able to succeed in the path.

That’s how he got to the point where he didn’t have to be anybody and didn’t have to go anywhere. But you get to that point by being somebody and going someplace. So as long as you’re on the path, remember that this is a path, it’s not a place to lie down. If you lie down on the path, it’s like lying down on a road. Who knows what’s going to come along and run over you? But you keep walking and, as long as you’re confident that this is the right path and you’re heading in the right direction, you keep focused on each step to make sure that it stays in the right direction. You’ve got the breath right here. This is your path. Keep on the path, and it’ll take you where you want to go."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Being Somebody, Going Somewhere"

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