The next verse starts to get to the meat of The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation. It also shows why you can celebrate your meditation practice. Meditation is meant to be totally experiential, and not one drop theoretical.
Now here's the genius of the Buddhist masters. After all what’s the thing that you experience as closest to you? It is your mind of course. And everybody knows what their mind is, right? Well in this verse Padma wants you to look afresh and see if your mind is what you think it is.
What is the secret for knowing your mind?
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The secret to looking into the nature of your mind is to know less. If you can suspend judgment and look afresh, you will we amazed at what this thing that you call mind really is.
The second secret is to look from within the mind; go by your direct experience as opposed to taking an artificial stance as if you were separate from the One Mind. I think you will find that your mind is so vast that there is no room for a separate you. And yet without standing separate, you can know Mind in its totality. This is the mystery of this meditation on the nature of the mind.
To understand this, look at the nature of a dream
If you are having trouble understanding this, the analogy of a dream will help. From the point of view of the dream character, there are many different persons and objects. But if you step outside the character and look at the dream as a whole, you find the all of the people and all of the objects are nothing but the mind of the waking one. From here the separate characters are just an illusion, and the reality of the dream is the One Mind.
Similarly, if you can step out of the character that you call “me”, which is just another thought, you will be in the perfect position to look into the nature of your mind.
Buddhist’s terms
Now for a few Buddhist’s terms to help you understand this verse.
Tri-Kaya means the three realms as follows:
The Dharma-Kaya is the realm of absolute reality or the One Mind.
The Sambhoga-Kaya is the realm of bliss.
The Nirmana-Kaya is the realm of the manifestation.
In this verse, each of Padma’s words is a pointer to the true state of your mind. If you can catch the meaning of just one of these words, you will be well on your way to seeing mind in its totality. Now let’s see what Padma says about your mind in The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation.
When one seeks one’s mind in its true state, it is found to be quiet intelligible, although invisible.
In its true state mind is naked, immaculate; not made of anything, being of the Voidness; clear, vacuous, without duality, transparent; timeless, uncompounded, unimpeded, colorless; not realizable as a separate thing, but as the unity of all things, yet not composed of them; of one taste, and transcendent over differentiation.
Nor is one’s own mind separable from other minds.
To realize the quintessential being of the One Mind is to realize the immutable at-one-ment of the Tri-Kaya.
The mind, being, as the Uncreated and of the Voidness, the Dharma-Kaya, and, as the Vacuous and Self-Radiant, the Sambhoga-Kaya, and, as the Unobscured, shining for all living creatures, the Nirmana-Kaya, is the Primordial Essence wherein its Three Divine Aspects are One.
If the yogic application of this Wisdom be thorough, one will comprehend that which has just been set forth above.
The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation
By Padma-Sambhava
Translated by Evans-Wentz
Oxford University Press
Now using Padma’s verse as a pointer, take a look into your own Mind and see what it is. Do not go by some theory that comes out of the mouth of a scientist; rather go by your own direct and immediate experience. By the way, what color are your thoughts anyway? Are they red, green, or blue? Are your thoughts round or square? Have fun in your investigation.
I can’t
If you start to think, I can’t understand this, take a new stance that doesn’t try to push this thought away, but doesn’t necessarily believe what you think either. Treat I can’t the same way you would treat the thought, I’m a purple kangaroo. Now you know that no matter how many times you think, I’m a purple kangaroo, you will never become a purple kangaroo. So you can just laugh at the kangaroo thought. Treat I can’t in the same way; just laugh at it.
Then look afresh and see what you can find. Perhaps in this little exercise you will discover the background of the whole universe, the thing that makes it seem so real. You will also find the thing that gives real meaning to life. You will know what life is, not by standing separate but by knowing your real connection to everyone and everything.
The nature of Mind contains the real meaning of life
Just find the real nature of your mind and you will experience all of this in a way that you never would have thought possible. So best wishes in the exploration into the nature of your mind. Although your knowledge will not fit into words and thoughts, it will be very clear. That clarity is the nature of your Mind.
Feel free to ask questions
Please
feel free to continue asking questions. I’m always glad to hear your
reactions and clarify my answers. Unlike the path of faith, on the path
of Self-Knowledge it is curiosity that destroys limitation and allows
you to abide in your natural freedom.
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Best Wishes,
Michael Gluckman
