Initiation into our true existential condition

Initiation into our true existential condition
Extracted from book 'Flight of the Garuda, Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol'

EHMAHO! Again, beloved children of my heart, listen! "Mind", this universal concept, this most significant of words, being no single entity, manifests as the gamut of pleasure and pain in samsara and nirvana. There are as many beliefs about it as there are approaches to Buddhahood. It has innumerable synonyms.

In the vernacular it is "I"; some Hindus call it "the Self"; the Disciples say "self-less individual"; the followers of Mind-only call it simply "mind"; some call it "perfect insight"; some call it "Buddha-nature"; some call it "the Magnificent Stance" (Mahamudra); some call it "the Middle Way"; some call it "the cosmic seed"; some call it "the reality-continuum"; some call it "the universal ground"; some call it "ordinary consciousness". Since the synonyms of "mind", the labels we apply to it, are countless, know it for what it really is. Know it experientially as the here and now. Compose yourself in the natural state of your mind's nature.

When at rest the mind is ordinary perception, naked and unadorned; when you gaze directly at it there is nothing to see but light; as Awareness, it is brilliance and the relaxed vigilance of the awakened state; as nothing specific whatsoever, it is a secret fullness; it is the ultimacy of nondual radiance and emptiness.

It is not eternal, for nothing whatsoever about it has been proved to exist. It is not a void, for there is brilliance and wakefulness. It is not unity, for multiplicity is self-evident in perception. It is not multiplicity, for we know the one taste of unity. It is not an external function, for Awareness is intrinsic to immediate reality.

In the immediate here and now we see the face of the Original Lord abiding in the heart centre. Identify yourself with him, my spiritual sons. Whoever denies him, wanting more from somewhere else, is like the man who has found his elephant but continues to follow its tracks. He may comb the three dimensions of the microcosmic world systems for an eternity, but he will not find so much as the name of Buddha other than the one in his heart.

Such is my introduction initiating recognition of our true existential condition, which is the principal realization in Cutting Through to the Great Perfection.




--------------------------------------
Technorati: Buddhism Buddha Buddhist Dharma Compassion Wisdom Religion Meditation Zen Philosophy Spirituality Inspiration Peace Insight