“You” and “I” Will Never See the Buddha

     In Mahayana Buddhism there are many Buddhas portrayed who depict certain special qualities and characteristics. Vairocana is perceived by all sentient beings in accordance with their developed capacity to properly discern Reality.  But Reality, when seen with a tainted perception, one lacking in the understanding of selflessness (absence of the ego-notion) then the Buddha cannot be seen or known.   When the superimposed notions of “you” and “I” disappear, then the Buddha appears.

   The ego cannot be done away with; it cannot be gotten rid of.  The ego cannot be destroyed, annihilated, or dissolved because the ego does not exist as an objective entity. The ego is nothing more than a conceptual notion, just a notion, a mistaken belief.  The notion is a real notion and can be gotten rid of, dissolved away, because a notion is a temporary conceptual structure, always modifying, always changing. It can be de-structured.   A real ego cannot be overcome because there is no such thing as a real ego. An ego-notion can be overcome because it is a temporary, fleeting mental structure.  This ego-notion is the tainted perspectival filter through which we habitually perceive our gross and subtle worlds.   Continually looking through this filter we cannot see things as they actually are, but when the subject ceases its identification with one of its objects then the filter is absent and apperception of reality happens.  Then, obviously, the Buddha appears as always having been there.