The Glass Is Not the Water

Is spiritual practice only for those who have already “made it”?
Those with financial freedom, grown children,
spacious calendars, and the luxury of silence?

What about the ones in survival mode?
Working two jobs, counting expenses,
carrying aging parents, raising young children,
living inside the pressure of just getting through the month?

So… is enlightenment a privilege?

Let me dismantle this illusion.

First, the method is not the teaching.
“Buddhism,” for example,
was never meant to be a religion
or a culture-bound performance.

It is Dharma.
A truth that runs underneath culture,
language, geography, and time.

Culture is the glass.
Truth is the water.

The glass matters
because you need something to hold the water.
But illusion begins when we start polishing the glass,
displaying the glass,
collecting different glasses…
and forget to drink.

Shrines, offerings, rituals.
These are cups shaped by different cultures.
But you don’t awaken by collecting the container.
You awaken by drinking the truth.

So what is the truth?

The Buddha taught three core principles
that require no money at all.

These three are awakening
in its rawest, cheapest, most direct form.
You don’t even need incense.

One — Impermanence (Anicca):
Everything changes.
This meal. This mood. This relationship. This identity.
Tonight, when you say goodbye to someone you love,
quietly think:
This may be the last time.

Suddenly, the ordinary becomes sacred.
Suddenly, presence becomes priceless.

Two — Unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha):
Nothing gives 100% satisfaction.
Not money. Not success. Not love. Not even purpose.
Knowing this doesn’t make you hopeless.
It liberates you from chasing illusions.

You stop begging life to complete you.
You meet it honestly.

Three — Non-self (Anatta):
Everything you experience,
your values, judgments, beliefs, fears,
are all projections and opinions.

When you truly see this,
a quiet humility arises.
You realize there are multiple realities.
You accept: this is my view,
and that is yours.
And they can coexist.

When you integrate these three teachings into daily life,
you are practicing enlightenment every day, through every action.

You practice Dharma when you:
answer an email without ego,
let go instead of proving,
pause instead of reacting,
love without possession,
walk away and forgive without hatred.

This is enlightenment training in civilian clothes.

So is enlightenment expensive?

Only if we mistake the glass for the water.

You don’t need a shrine to bow to impermanence.
You don’t need offerings to accept that all experiences in life are for you.
You don’t need a temple to see through your illusions

You only need the courage to drink the water, every day.

Special thanks to DJK Rinpoche for sharing his wisdom.

With purpose and light,
Ryion P.
Author of Awakened Purpose
Grab your copy of Awakened Purpose here.