FIGURE 1: THE ALPHA SEER A.K.A. MASTER BEN LAU Â **********************************************************************************************************
First, a story.
It was said that many years after the Buddha Gautama had discovered the ultimate truth on existence he returned to the palace he had once deserted in order to bring enlightenment to his folks as well. He knew that he would be facing the accusatory eyes of both his Dad the old king and his own wife, the beautiful princess, –especially the latter,– since he could still  recall that chain of events on the day  he departed from the old kingdom. Right at the moment of mounting his chariot for the forests  his wife gave birth to their first child. That was how it was. He did not bade farewell for fear that his wife would raise objection.  He was at first tempted to take one last look at the baby, but he  waived that desire. He was afraid that approaching the baby might wake his wife up. So he just ascended his chariot without looking back.
However, it would be safe to assume that the Gautama was enlightened enough to be free of guilt. It was reasonable to think that he had attained the ultimate freedom through discarding his own ego. One would feel guilty only when the ego lingers.  When the ego is no longer, who is there to answer to the guilt? So it  makes sense to believe that the Gautama was by that time entirely free of guilt.
The conversation between the Gautama and his wife was particularly noteworthy. At the reunion his wife asked him a question, one that had never even crossed his mind. It was an excellent question.
“Come to think of it , World Revered One,” said his wife, ” Do you think I would have stopped you from embarking on your search for  truth, even though knowing that your mind was already set on it ? Why was there then the need to desert all your folks here at the palace,– why was it necessary to cause the sufferance of a king in the loss of a son; a loving wife in the disappearance of her husband, and this beautiful child here, pointing to the young man the Gautama had deserted at birth, in the sufferance of growing up without a father?  “It is an excellent question, woman, one that  had never crossed my mind at all until now! You are perfectly right, none of that sufferance was ever necessary, I could still have attained enlightenment right here in the palace, but the fact was that neither you was I unsure of, nor my father, nor the burden of parent-hood, nor that of a kingdom, that  I was afraid would  deter me from my goal.” None of those considerations would have deterred me ,… .It  was I myself that I was unsure of!  I myself was the one that I was afraid of! I, and no one else, being the one that would have created enough obstruction from my goal! It was easy to answer your question on hindsight but never quite so at the moment of my departure for the forests, when I wasn’t even sure of myself!
In many ways, the search for beauty is similar to the search for truth. It was the “I” that a searcher for BEAUTY is unsure of. It was no one else but the “I” that is stopping a searcher from his goal of beauty.  It is the “I” that makes me search elsewhere, because of my own uncertainty there is created the illusion that BEAUTY is out there somewhere! The illusion that BEAUTY is always out there  has stopped the searcher on his track! Instead of looking within, he looks somewhere else, because he believe that BEAUTY is “out there” somewhere!