The Path of Meditation (part four)
There are interesting transformative analogies found in the relationship between a cocoon and the butterfly. If we think about it, ordinary mind is held tight in an almost impenetrable web, like a cocoon. In order to get out of this web, once nurturing, but now unendurable cocoon, the mind, like the butterfly is going to need a lot of strength. It must be another kind of strength because in human terms, how much strength does a delicate butterfly actually possess? It could not punch its way out of a paper bag, as they say, and yet I have seen photos of the tremendous exertion the butterfly expends in order to free itself. This is like the tremendous energetic effort that you will need to make at the time of your enlightenment. There is continuous inner effort begun at the time of initiation or inner activation of spiritual connection with the Buddha. I suppose we actually do not need to worry about making too much effort at this stage because people are usually not capable of ma...