The Completeness of Self

The completeness of self refers to arriving at something that resembles having achieved nirvana, without ever actually being freed from one's personal, self-centred nature. People say things like, "my suffering in samsara has ended," "I have no suffering at all," "I have no problems at all", and you can often see individuals with exactly this kind of disposition. Many people search for nirvana precisely relative to the matter of the self feeling suffering. That is not the path the Buddha pointed to. It is rather like repainting an old house to make it look new. What actually happens here is an attempt to flee from, and eliminate, the sense-bases, karma, and mental constructs (sañña) that the sense of self has claimed as its own. This can be described as the comfortable zone one arrives at once every other problem, relative to the sense of self, has apparently been resolved.

But the Dhamma, and the natures of arahantship and Buddhahood, exist at all times entirely apart from personal, self-centred nature.

Maslow's Hierarchy, Reconsidered

This mental state can be well understood using Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Seeing the triangle from a different angle:

Once someone comes to believe, mentally, that all the elements listed in this hierarchy have been fully and finally secured, they arrive at the completeness of self. This belief is built through the fulfilment of bodily health, financial ease, the satisfaction of needs relating to love, education and social acceptance, the joy that comes from altruistic action, and various developed mental experiences.

You can arrive at the completeness of self even without ever having felt the sense of self at all: that is precisely the nature of self.

For everything that had felt, to the sense of self, like suffering or a problem, the mental state that forms in believing all of it now resolved is exactly what feels, to such a person, like nirvana. Statements like "I'm not moved by the eight worldly conditions," "there's nothing left for me to think about, no problem left," "there's nothing extra called nirvana that I need to go searching for", for such people, everything genuinely feels complete. Knowledge, information, resources, wealth, health, the power of one's circle, social standing: this is exactly the manner in which they've come to feel they've attained a state of "nirvana." What they don't know, in the end, is that all of this is simply belief constructed within the mind.

Self Perfecting Itself

It is the sense of self, by itself, that constructs the mental state whereby it believes all its own sources of suffering have been resolved, and through this, brings itself to completeness. Yet if such a person happens to hear, correctly, the actual method by which natural laws are seen, their path can develop quickly, because their life still has an urgency to it. Others walk part of the path and then turn back to cover the urgent matters of ordinary life. In time, the spiritual path fades from their memory. But for someone who has arrived at the completeness of self, once they've felt the spiritual path, there's no turning back. They have life understanding. There's nothing left for them to go back and do. Truly, they arrive at such completeness precisely because they believe in themselves. So what remains for them is simply to see Buddha. What they don't yet know is that Buddha is, in fact, themselves. If Buddha is truly seen, that means one has, in truth, seen oneself. That is precisely where seeing oneself, and one's trust in oneself, become complete.

There's another facet here too: it's possible to develop the mind relative to defilements. This often occurs among those who arrive at spiritual inquiry and mentally build a spiritual world for themselves. When the mind is developed relative to defilements, defilements no longer take hold. The five aggregates of clinging cannot take hold. They cannot be seen. Some people reach such a state and regard even that state, too, as nirvana.

What goes beyond that state of mind, which "I" constructed in going to see nirvana, is exactly what mindfulness, insight, wisdom, wisdom-vision, sincerity, and purity are meant to introduce, for the purpose of seeing Buddha. There is no such fixed thing as "Buddha" in itself. When Buddha awakens within oneself, one comes to understand the truth existing in this world. And as understanding grows, what happens is that the sense of self ceases.

Understanding, Not Elimination

If not for Buddha, what happens is: things damaging to the sense of self get suppressed; suffering is eliminated; defilements are eliminated; the pain of loss is eliminated; problems are eliminated. Buddha does not go about eliminating anything at all. Buddha understands. As understanding deepens and deepens, the sense of self becomes Buddha. Buddha means non-continuity. It is understanding that becomes complete. That is not the same as saying one has seen nirvana. At that point, one becomes able to see who "I" really am. That is precisely where cause and effect are truly brought to cessation. It is the workings of cause and effect, arisen from a lack of understanding up to this point, that ceases. It is that very workings of cause and effect that has existed as "I." That is what becomes clear to a developed wisdom. If the natural law called Buddha were absent, one would understand matters relative to the natural law called "I", and that would be advantageous to "me." But Buddha understands the underlying law itself.

If you were asked who you are: Buddha. If you let go of yourself for the sake of Buddha, what you have let go of is, in truth, let go for your own sake. Through that, cause and merit are fulfilled. If you trust Buddha, what you trust is, in truth, yourself. Through that, faith is fulfilled. If you see through Buddha, what you see is, in truth, yourself. Through that, wisdom is fulfilled.

What is Buddha? In truth, there is no such fixed thing.