Zen Master Seung Sahn:
What is enlightenment? If you want to understand, you must
let your mind become clear like vast space. All thinking and all
desire fall away, and you have no hinderance anywhere.
To let your mind become clear like vast space -- what does
this mean? Do you understand? This is true enlightenment.
------------------------
(The following is an excerpt from the book "The Life of
Shabkar - The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin" translated by
Matthieu Ricard. Published by State University of New York
Press.)
Kunzang [Shenpen] asked again, "What should one do when,
while remaining in evenness, one does sink into that oblivious,
ordinary state (leading to an animal rebirth but often mistaken for
Mahamudra)?" I (Lama Shabkar) replied:
When clouds form, they obscure the stainless sky.
If they are blown away by the wind
And scattered in the ten directions,
The natural blue color of the sky reappears.
In the same way, when a state of vague oblivion
Obscures one's meditation,
One should straighten one's back,
Raise one's gaze,
Widen one's perspective, heighten awareness.
Let it extend into infinity,
Then let it be.
Thus one separates the pure essence from the dross;
This mental haze will clear away like clouds that just
vanish,
Leaving the royal samadhi,
Vividly transparent, like the immaculate sky.
This is the supreme method
For dispelling difficulties and enhancing
practice.
Rigdzin Shri Singha said:
The mind of sentient beings remains fragmented,
While the mind of the Buddhas is all-encompassing;
To let the mind become vast and open like the sky
Is the key instruction for enhancing practice.
From time to time, examine the mind with analytic
insight;
Ascertain that mind is not something graspable--
That it has neither center nor boundary--
And let this discovery expand.
Sometimes, merge mind
With a clear, cloudless sky;
Make it vast and lofty;
Leave it wide open
As an immense, all-encompassing expanse.
Doing this, you will avoid the flaws
Of slackness, obliviousness, and somnolence;
Your experience of the view will be enhanced.
Then, when mind contracts again,
Like an old scroll rolling itself up,
Examine mind thoroughly, time and again:
This is a profound instruction.
Wondrous--remaining in lucid serenity,
The state of sky-like evenness!
Joyous--when day or night, indoors and outdoors,
Eyes open or closed, makes no difference to your awareness.
Wondrous--when the world of form appears
Like a rainbow in the unchanging sky of dharmakaya!
Joyous--to dredge the depths of samsara,
Bringing all beings to enlightenment!
All you whose wisdom is vast as the sky,
Brilliant as the unobscured sun,
Limpid as crystal, firm as an unshakable mountain--
To you I pay homage, go for refuge;
Grant me the waves of your grace.
After I had said this, his understanding of the view progressed
greatly and his realization became as vast as
space.