Forest Path - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

218 forest path
even imagine that we could possibly ever dwell on the same level as
monks like that. But the essence of the practice is not — what a relief!
— the gradual perfection of character and personality; it is the
understanding of character and personality as conditioned phenomena.
Certainly, unwholesome features like selfishness, jealousy, anxiety
etc., inevitably abate through practice, but the idea is not to
mould our self into a new more ‘spiritual’ being. Character and personality
are not and never have been, who we are. They are not self.
They are not anything ultimately real. So we have to learn to stand
back from the idea of becoming an enlightened being. Otherwise
when we contemplate, “Is enlightenment really possible
for me?” — and we are unsure: is this hubris, worldly ambition,
spiritual materialism? — then we may decide, “No, not me”, and
then falsely dignify that wrong view by calling it humility.