“Alright… you will clearly know and see the various details through your journey, but
now I want to reiterate the main points of what we were discussing earlier, because it
is like a state that has been overlooked for over two thousand years,” he said.
“What is it?”

“It’s about the state in which the Buddha discovered the ‘being’ of Buddhahood within
himself. This is the most direct and shortest process, and it is this process that
produced hundreds of thousands of noble monks or enlightened ones during his
lifetime. Some could understand it just by listening to the Buddha speak once,” he
suggested.

“Good, good,” I replied.

“In summary, when the Buddha fully realized the ‘being’ of Buddhahood, the states that
automatically followed, without going through a step-by-step process like general
‘learning,’ were:

1.) He would immediately become one with love and compassion because the Buddhamind or God-mind inherently ‘is’ love and compassion. Therefore, he didn’t need to try
to ‘have’ love because he had already ‘become’ love. This would happen from the very
first moment he decided to ‘be.’ The resulting phenomenon was that whatever he
thought, said, or did would be filled with pure love and goodwill, without any hidden
agendas.

2.) He would be freedom. This freedom refers to the courage that he would no longer
rely on anyone. He would not be shaken by any beliefs if those beliefs required him to
be dependent. He would reject them because he knew he already ‘was’ the greatest
thing. Therefore, nothing could be greater than what he was.

3.) He would be beyond time. This means that once he knew he ‘was’ Buddha, he no
longer needed to wait for any particular state or use any particular method to lead him
into that state again, because he already ‘was’ that.

4.) He would have oneness. This oneness means that because he knew he ‘was’
Buddha, and he also knew that everyone in the world was also Buddha, he could not
separate anyone from anyone else, could not act as if he were superior to anyone, and
at the same time, could not act as if he were inferior to anyone.

5.) He would know directly by himself. This direct knowing is completely different
from knowing by hearing or being told. It’s like the difference between theoretical
knowledge and practical knowledge, or taking action. And once he knew this directly,
he no longer needed to teach knowledge to anyone, because he had directly realized
that knowledge does not make people realize. What he should teach was the method to
enable people to realize for themselves.

6.) He would naturally remind himself. This means that when he was in the state of
being Buddha, that state would remind him to live with conscience, with feelings,
thoughts, and to live fully in the physical world. The resulting phenomena were that he
would create new and good things, he would have only inner peace, he would have only
joy, and he would remain stable in this state without being subject to any rules or
regulations.”

“Another problem for most people is that they are often fragile and unstable in this
approach, stemming from the aforementioned basis of weakness and fear. Even if they
know they must rely on themselves, they are often not firm and easily deviate from
self-reliance when swayed by the many fears that exist in society.

Therefore, one important quality that everyone must have, which I will collectively
define as non-hesitation, confidence, determination, or ‘courage’ to steadfastly pursue
this path of self-reliance, even if there are mistakes along the way, sometimes success
and sometimes failure. But all of it is a skill that will eventually lead to success. No
method is more important than ‘self-reliance.’ It only requires determination and
continuous effort,” he explained.

“Alright, the Buddha’s journey from this point, which was like a conspiracy with you,
has begun. At that time, the concept of being Buddha was not yet a religion; it was just
a principle that freed people from fear. Being Buddha was just beginning amidst strong
mainstream religions that were intertwined with every activity from birth to death of
the people at that time, and it arose amidst numerous ascetics, monks, hermits, and
heads of schools and sects. The way of life of the master of being Buddha, or the
Buddha, was like that of rebels, not following traditional customs, focusing solely on
the path of being Buddha,” Lord Phoche began to explain.

“From what you’ve told me, Lord, I feel that those ascetics, monks, and Brahmin priests
also seemed to be wise and capable of advising and solving problems for people. Do we
have any indicators to show who has the qualities of a Buddha, or to put it directly, how
was the Buddha different from others at that time?” I asked.

“In addition to all the qualities I have summarized for you, I will give you these criteria
to categorize people in the world into five groups:

The first group is ‘those who do not know that they do not know.’
The second group is ‘those who do not know that they know.’
The third group is ‘those who know that they do not know.’
The fourth group is ‘those who know that they know.’
And the last group is ‘those who know and tell others so they may know’…” he replied.

“Lord, are you just playing with words to make it sound fun? Because I must say, it
doesn’t help me understand anything more,” I commented.

“Even though it may seem like I’m playing with words, it has a meaning that is far
deeper than you realize,” he replied.

“Alright… let me see if these words you’ve coined can explain anything profound for me
to understand,” I challenged.

“No matter what you say to me, I will always be truthful to you. Whatever you desire,
that shall appear to you,” he said, as if conveying something significant.

“The first group I call ‘those who do not know that they do not know.’ The first
ignorance is not knowing who they are, where they come from, what they are doing,
where they are going, and how to get there. Because of this first ignorance, it manifests
as a second ignorance: they think they are separate, their consciousness is separate. So,
they live under that separateness, such as judging everything by touch, knowing,
seeing, doing everything with tangible and provable logic, behaving according to the
stimuli that affect them, letting emotions and feelings arising from the five senses drive
their bodies. When any event makes them sad, they are ready to be sad. When any
event makes them angry, they are ready to be angry. They are thus called to be in a
complete cycle of ignorance and are trapped in the cycle of beginning, existing,
decaying, and starting anew endlessly, because they do not know how to get
themselves out of this ignorance,” he began to explain.

“Wow! If you put it that way, I think the number of people in this group must be almost
the entire world!” I observed.

“You can assess for yourself how many of the over eight billion people on your world
right now would be classified as ‘those who do not know that they do not know,'” he
added to what I said.

“Hmm… that’s true. I was just wondering if there would be enough people left for the
other four groups you mentioned,” I asked.

“It’s not about the quantity, because some of these groups I’ve identified may have only
a few people,” he replied.

“I’m starting to get curious about the qualities of the remaining groups,” I said.