Flight of the Garuda, Songs Six to Nine
SONG SIX: Initiation into our true existential
condition
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.
SONG SEVEN: Assertion of our Intrinsic
Buddhahood
EHMAHO! Once more listen attentively, my noble sons
and daughters. The three modes of Buddha’s being - essence,
nature and responsiveness - and the five modes of being, as
well as the five aspects of primal awareness, all are completed and
perfected in the naturally luminous intrinsic awareness of the here
and now.
The essence of Awareness, indefinable by any term such as
colour, shape or other attribute, is the dharmakaya; the inherent
radiance of emptiness is the light of the sambhogakaya; and the
unimpeded medium in which all things manifest is the
nirmanakaya.
The three modes are explained figuratively like this: the
dharmakaya is a crystal mirror; the sambhogakaya is its
nature—brilliant clarity; and the nirmanakaya is the unobstructed
medium in which the reflection appears.
From the first, people’s minds have existed as these three modes
of being. If they are able to recognize this spontaneously, it is
unnecessary for them to practise even so much as a moment of formal
meditation—the awakening to Buddhahood is instantaneous.
In this introduction to the three modes they are defined
separately. In truth, my heart-children, do not fall into the error
of believing them to be separate, belonging to different
continuums.
From the beginning, the three modes of being are empty and
utterly pure. Understanding them as a single essence that is the
union of radiance and emptiness, conduct yourself in a state of
detachment.
The triad of essence, nature and responsiveness, again,
corresponds to dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.
Understanding these three as the mystic union of emptiness and
radiance, conduct yourself in a state of detachment.
Further, since the primal awareness of self-existing Awareness
manifests everything whatsoever, this awareness is the pure-being
of the Creator, Vairocana; since it is unchanging and unchangeable,
it is the pure-being of Immutable Diamond, Aksobhya-vajra; since it
is without centre or circumference, it is the pure-being of
Boundless Light-form, Amitabha; since it is also the gem that is
the source of supreme realization and relative powers, it is the
pure-being of the Fountain of Jewels, Ratnasambhava; since it
accomplishes all aspiration, it is the pure-being of the Fulfiller
of All Ambition, Amoghasiddhi. These deities are nothing but the
creative power of Awareness.
The primal awareness of Awareness is mirror-like awareness
because of the manifest clarity of its unobstructed essence. It is
awareness of sameness because it is all-pervasive. It is
discriminating awareness because the entire gamut of diverse
appearances is manifest from its creativity. It is the awareness
that accomplishes all actions because it fulfils all our ambition.
It is awareness of the reality-continuum, the dharmadhatu, because
the single essence of all these aspects of awareness is primal
purity. Not so much as an atom exists apart from these which are
the creativity of intrinsic Awareness.
When a pointed finger introduces you directly and immediately to
the three modes - essence, nature and responsiveness -
and the Five Buddhas and the five aspects of awareness, all
together, then what is experienced is brilliant, awakened Awareness
unaffected by circumstance and uninfluenced by clinging thought; it
is cognition of the here and now, unstructured and unaffected.
All the Buddhas of the three aspects of time arise from this
Awareness. Constantly identify yourselves with it, beloved sons and
daughters, because this is the spirituality of all the Buddhas of
the three aspects of time.
Awareness is unstructured, natural radiance your own mind, so
how can you say that you cannot see the Buddha? There is nothing at
all to meditate upon in it, so how can you complain that meditation
does not arise? It is manifest Awareness, your own mind, so how can
you say that you cannot find it? It is a stream of unceasing
radiant wakefulness, the face of your mind, so how can you say that
you cannot see it? There is not so much as a moment of work to be
done to attain it, so how can you say that your effort is
unavailing? Centred and dispersed states are two sides of the same
coin, so how can you say that your mind is never centred? Intrinsic
Awareness is the spontaneously originated three modes of being,
which is achieved without striving, so how can you say that your
practice fails to accomplish it? It is enough to leave the mind in
a state of non-action, so how can you say that you are incapable of
attaining it? Your thoughts are released at the moment of their
inception, so how can you say that the antidotes were ineffective?
It is cognition of the here and now, so how can you say you do not
perceive it?
SONG EIGHT: The Method of Attaining Conviction
EHMAHO! Once again, beloved sons and daughters,
listen with devotion! “Mind in its insubstantiality is like the
sky.” Is this true or false, my children? Confirm it by relaxing
completely and looking directly at the mind, gazing with your
entire mind, free of all tension.
“The emptiness of the mind is not just a blank nothingness, for
without doubt it is the primal awareness of intrinsic Awareness,
radiant from the first. Self-existent, natural radiance is like
sunlight.” Is this indeed true? To confirm it, relax completely,
looking directly at the nature of your mind.
“There is no doubt that it is impossible to objectify or grasp
thought or the movement of memory. This capricious, changeable
movement is like the cosmic wind!” Is this indeed so? To confirm
it, relax completely, looking directly at the nature of your
mind.
“Without doubt all appearances whatsoever are our own
manifestation. All phenomena, whatsoever manifests, is like
reflection in a mirror.” Is this indeed so? To confirm it, relax
completely, looking directly at the nature of your mind.
No experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is
nothing to see other than that seen at the moment of vision. No
experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is
nothing to meditate upon other than mind. No experience is possible
anywhere but in the mind, so there is nothing to do other than what
is done in the mind. No experience is possible anywhere but in the
mind, so there is no samaya to be sustained outside the mind. No
experience is possible anywhere but in the mind, so there is no
goal to be reached that is not in the mind.
Look, look, and look again. Look at your own mind!
Project your attention into external fields of space, and,
attentively watching the nature of your mind, see if it moves. When
you are convinced by observation that the mind does not move,
retract your attention and concentrate upon the mind within, and
look carefully for the projector of diffused thought. When you have
decided that there is no entity responsible for thought patterns,
look carefully for the colour and shape of the mind. When you
arrive at the emptiness that has no colour or shape, look for a
centre or circumference. Certain that middle and margin are the
same, search for an inside and an outside. Finding no distinction
between inside and outside, you arrive at Awareness, which is as
vast as the sky.
“By virtue of its all-penetrating freedom this Awareness that
has no centre or circumference, no inside or outside, is innocent
of all partiality and knows no blocks or barriers. This
all-penetrating intrinsic Awareness is a vast expanse of space. All
experience of samsara and nirvana arises in it like rainbows in the
sky. In all its diverse manifestation it is but a play of
mind.”
You need only look out from the motionless space of intrinsic
Awareness at all experience, illusory like the reflection of the
moon in water, to know the impossibility of dividing appearances
from emptiness.
“In a state of Awareness there is no separation of samsara and
nirvana.” Look out from the motionless space of intrinsic Awareness
at all experience, illusory like the reflection in a mirror, and no
matter what manifests it can never be tasted, its existence can
never be proved. In this dimension samsara and nirvana do not exist
and everything is the dharmakaya.
All beings wandering in the three realms of samsara remain
trapped in dualism until they realize that within their own
perception resides the primal awareness that is the ultimate
identity of all experience of samsara and nirvana. Due to the power
of the delusive subject/object dichotomy, they hold samsara and
nirvana to be different states of mind. They remain bound because,
where in truth there is nonduality, they see a duality.
In reality no distinction between samsara and nirvana can exist
in anybody’s mind. However, when the worldly fool rejects some
things and indulges in others, avoiding the “bad” and cultivating
the “good”, despising one while loving another, then due to
partiality, prejudice and bias, aimlessly he wanders through
successive lives.
Rather than attain the spontaneously accomplished three modes of
intrinsic Awareness without striving, thick-headed aspirants
explore the techniques and stages of many time-consuming methods of
“self-improvement”, leaving them no time to reach the seat of the
Buddha.
“Emphatically, all phenomenal appearances whatsoever are one’s
own vision.” Look out from the state of motionless intrinsic
Awareness and all light-form and animate existence is like
reflection. Appearances are empty, sound is empty and indeed one’s
own nature is originally empty.
Similarly, turn your attention inwards to the mind that is the
viewer, and your thought processes, naturally subsiding, are empty
like the sky, unstructured, free of conceptual elaboration, utterly
indeterminable, beyond description, concept and expression of any
kind.
All events whatsoever are an illusory magical display of mind
and all the magical display of mind is baseless and empty. When you
have realized that all events are your own mind, all visual
appearances become the empty dharmakaya.
Appearances are not binding. It is through attachment to them
that beings are fettered. Sever all delusive attachments, children
of my heart!
SONG NINE: Mist Dream and Optical Illusion
EHMAHO! Best beloved, fearless sons and daughters,
without applying the spur, the horse will not gallop; without
thorough churning, the butter will not separate; without detailed
explanation you will not be convinced of my meaning. So while I
sing my long but lyrical songs, listen in comfort, relaxed, without
drooping ears!
Until you perceive all appearances as mind you will never
realize the meaning of emptiness. To facilitate this understanding,
you favoured children must apply yourselves fully to a diligent
analysis and thorough search. Firstly, where do appearances come
from? Secondly, where are they now? Lastly, where do they go?
During your examination you will see that just as mist arises
out of the sky and dissolves back into the sky, appearances are the
magical display of your mind, arising in the mind and vanishing
back into it.
Take as an example the shimmering effect seen by a man with an
impaired sense of vision when he gazes ahead. Although the
shimmering appears to exist in front of his eyes, nothing is
there—it is an optical illusion.
In the same way, when mental functions are impaired by negative
propensities that cause clinging to apparently external objects as
discrete and substantial entities, then visual and auditory
phenomena appear to exist where not so much as an atom can be
proved to have ultimate reality. Everything is a figment of the
mind.
All these figments of mind are baseless and empty. They are
non-existent light-forms, apparition and magical illusion, like the
reflection of the moon in water. Compose yourself in the reality of
inseparable appearance and emptiness!
Now in our sleep we may dream of our native country, our
parental home, and our relatives or friends, as if they were
actually present, and an appropriate strong feeling may arise.
Although our family and friends are not actually present and we
have not stirred an inch from our beds, we may experience a
face-to-face encounter with them of the same vivid intensity as in
the waking state.
Each and every sensual experience of our lives is an experience
similar to last night’s dream. Just as we attach labels to dream
entities, objectifying and clinging to them as substantial
entities, so appearances are modified and apprehended by mind in
the waking state. In the same way that dreams have no substance, so
the figments of the mind, all appearances whatsoever, are also
empty.