The Value of Wisdom

Imagine, just by knowing the nature of our mind, we could know the nature of the universe. And yet we look right past this very important knowledge and focus on our thoughts and the objects that we see. Then we identify with these objects. At the end we feel caught in the hands of old age disease and death.

But the hope is that if we just go back the way we came, we will be able to rest in that which really supports us. We all know that we have a mind right. It is the shinning-ness of the mind that allows us to know, to think, and to remember.

What is everything anyway?
Now if you can discover the place from which this shining-ness comes from, you will discover something that is really deep. In fact you will discover the thing that makes the drama of our lives and the universe seem so real. If you ever have the question What is everything anyway?,  you can discover the nature of your mind and there you will find the answer.

The answer is not intellectual, held by a few thoughts in your mind. Rather it is your real experience, and you just look right past it. With this introduction let’s see how Padma points to the essence of your mind in The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation.
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What is Dharma-Kaya?
In this verse Padma uses the word Dharma-Kaya. This is the Tibetan Buddhists way of saying the place where reality sits. This is the place, described above that really supports us.

The Dharma Within Continued

When looking outwards into the vacuity of space, there is no place to be found where the mind is shining.

When looking inwards into one’s own mind in search of the shining, there is to be found no thing that shines.

One’s own mind is transparent, colorless without quality.

Being of the Clear Light of the Voidness, one’s own mind is of the Dharma-Kaya; and, being void of quality, it is comparable to a cloudless sky.

It is not a multiplicity, and is omniscient.

Very great, indeed, is the difference between knowing and not knowing the import of these teachings.

The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation
By Padma-Sambhava
translated by Karma Sumdhon Paul, and Lobzang Mingyur Dorje
Edited by Evans-Wentz
Oxford University Press

What is the shinning quality of the mind?
You do not know your mind like you know an object. That’s why whether you look outward or inward you cannot find the place from which your mind shines. And yet you do know this place, but you know it in a different way.

We call this way your direct experience; it is knowing by being. In the same way that you know that you exist, even before the first thought, you know the shining nature of your mind. You cannot stand separate from yourself to look at it as if you were an object. But these words can act as a mirror revealing the clear changeless essences that knows everything that changes. This is: the essence of your mind.

So clear you cannot grasp it with your thoughts
This essence of mind is sometimes called the clear light. Clear, without boundaries means that there is no place for your thoughts to grasp it. So to your thinking, it seems like this doesn’t exist. But if you can shift the place where you stand, out of your thought processes and into your boundless original nature something will come into view that you didn’t even know was there.

Although, no words can express it, you will understand that this is what life is about. Everything that you sense and all the joy that you feel is nothing but this. All motion and all stillness is nothing but this. And best of all you will have found that which is completely free of the limitations called body and mind. It is the body and mind that grow old and die, not you. You will have discovered the holly grail, meaning that which lives eternally and it is simply the essence of your mind.

This is the difference between knowing this and not
So it may seem as if nothing is there. But now I hope you can understand why Padma said, Very great, indeed, is the difference between knowing and not knowing the import of these teachings. And never give up the hope that you can find the culmination of all desires. That’s because what seems like an ordinary person is nothing but the one mind. The highest truth that permeates all of life is closer than you think.

Feel free to ask questions
Now I want you to experience your mind in its full glory. So 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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