If seeking enlightenment, awakening, nirvana, Buddhatva is very individualistic - the goal & the path for each is his/her own, why do the (wannabe) Buddha's need the Sangha or folks around?
Masters say, the worldly manifestation of the awakened state is to live in the moment, here & now, without being burdened by the memories of the past & fears of future ... to hear/see all things 'as is', without allowing the conditioning of the mind to judge ...
and, the key to understand everyone/thing as is, is to understand oneself - to see 'who am i' as is, not who i could've been or who i wish to be - meditation being the most suggested & sought way to understand the self.
Guess, its most difficult to understand oneself since it requires observing oneself without being affected by the conditioning of the mind that is the observer ... so, some Masters say, one has to observe oneself in the mirror of relationships with the others. Guess, one can observe one's own conditioning by its effect in our transactions with the others.
Seems, hence, the serious seekers of Buddhatva reach out and gather Sangha around, actively engage in relationships with myriads of variety of lives with all their problems & conditioning, and observe themselves in the mirrors of those relationships as a means to self-understanding.
But then, wouldn't the observations in those mortal mirrors be affected by the conditioning of the others too - the other end of each relationship? So it seems, more often than not, the (wannabe) Buddhas struggle with the dilemma between seeking the bliss through meditating with oneself and understanding oneself through the myriad of mirrors of relationship with the Sangha or disciple-folks.
Or, does one engage in both alternatively - observe oneself through the mirrors of relationships AND contemplate the observations through mediating with oneself?
