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What are the masters referring to when talking about 'true nature' and 'essential nature'?
Originally posted by realization:What are the masters referring to when talking about 'true nature' and 'essential nature'?
If don't know mean not yet realize it and ought to practice meditation and dharma reading up etc to cultivate both blessing and wisdom. This is the only way to develop the potential of past "true nature" so that the masters referring to is clear.
Originally posted by realization:
What are the masters referring to when talking about 'true nature' and 'essential nature'?
I asked this question because I am confused by all the differing terminology.
If my memory doesn't fail me I've heard of: True Mind, True Nature, Essential Nature, One Mind, Original Nature, No Mind, etc.
and in some cases, they have been described as eternal and infinite.
At the same time, I have to remind myself that there is no spiritual intelligence or essence that is changeless. Hence, I'm wondering if this True Nature/Essential Nature is more the "backdrop" against which phenomena arise and cease, and that True Nature/Essential Nature itself neither arises nor ceases.
Questions...
Because different masters may have different insights and way of explaining, there could be somewhat differing explanations.
So far I like the Dzogchen explanation as it talks about the inseparability of Emptiness, Luminosity and natural manifestation of dependent origination. This concurs with my understanding.
Btw since the nature of mind cannot be separated from manifestation, I would not say it is a 'backdrop' against phenomena. But this becomes apparent only when dualistic tendencies dissolve due to non-dual insight - not when there is an initial insight into the luminosity of mind (the 'I AM'). This is what I and Thusness have gone through, and Ken Wilber has gone through: http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/search/label/Ken%20Wilber
As for the nature of mind as explained in Dzogchen -
http://www.keithdowman.net/books/fg.htm#Flight%20of%20the%20Garuda
(this book is a great read for those interested in Dzogchen)
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.
Maitripa's Concise Summary of Mahamudra
Sanskrit: Mahamudra-sanca[ya]-mitha
Tibetan: Phyag-rgya chen-po tshig-bsdus-pa
Homage to Great Bliss!
Mahamudra is knowing that
all things are one's own mind.
Seeing objects as external is just noetic projection.
The whole of "appearance" is as empty as a dream.
The mind as such is merely a flow of awareness,
without self-nature, moving where it will like the wind.
Empty of an identity, it is like space.
All phenomena, like space, are the same.
That which is termed Mahamudra,
Is not a "thing" that can be pointed to.
It is the mind's own nature
that is Mahamudra [i.e., the Absolute State].
It is not something to be perfected or transformed.
Thus, to realize this, is to realize
that the whole world of appearance is Mahamudra.
This is the absolute all-inclusive Dharmakaya [i.e.,the Ultimate Embodiment of Buddhahood].
Uncontrived and just as it is,
the inconceivable Dharmakaya,
is itself effortless meditation.
Trying to attain something is not meditation.
Seeing everything like space, like a magical illusion,
Neither meditating nor not meditating,
Neither separate nor not separate:
Such is the Yogin's realization.
All virtuous and evil actions
Become liberated through this knowledge.
The sinful defilements become the Absolute Gnosis itself;
becoming the Yogin's friend, this is a fire consuming the forest of trees.
Where then is going or staying?
Who then needs to run to a Monastery to meditate?
If one does not understand this point,
liberation will be but a temporary event.
When the true nature is realized,
one abides in the unwavering state.
Whether or not one is in the state of Integration or not,
There is nothing to be corrected by antidote or meditation.
Whatever arises is devoid of self-nature.
Appearances are auto-liberated into the Sphere of Reality (Dharmadhatu).
Conceptual creation is auto-liberated into Absolute Gnosis (Mahajnana).
The non-duality [of these two] is the Dharmakaya.
Like the flow of a great river,
Whatever occurs is meaningful and true.
This is the eternal Buddha state,
The Great Bliss, transcending the Worldly Cycle.
All phenomena are empty of self-identity,
Wherein even the concept of emptiness is eliminated.
Free of concepts, clinging not to mental projections,
is the Path of all the Enlightened Ones.
For those fortunate to connect with this teaching,
I have uttered these words of heartfelt instruction.
Thus, may all sentient beings
become established in Mahamudra.
Colophon: This exposition of Mahamudra (in thirteen four-lined stanzas)
was given orally by the Master Maitripa to Marpa Chos-kyi-lodro, who
translated it into Tibetan. It was translated into English from the
original Tibetan text belonging to Bardok Chusang Rimpoche of Tingri by a
Ngakpa-Yogin of the Dharma Fellowship.
AEN, thanks for the info.
Np. Forgot to mention the source: http://www.naturalawareness.net/mahamudra.html
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