The Great Secret of Mind

of naked pure presence unadulterated by the mystical experience of bliss, clarity,
and no-thought.
Think about our enemies and look with pure presence; examine the attachment
to our near and dear and look with pure presence. In the advent of negative
situations, look with pure presence. In this way we will discover the “heat,” or
effectiveness, of our practice, and we will discover whether external
circumstances can still harm us, and we will gain confidence accordingly. That
confidence is the product of our practice. If we grow immune to misfortune now,
then later, in the bardo, we can remain indifferent to the visions and gain release.
Here is an instruction for a session of formal contemplation: while pure
presence is still, we gain the aspect of clarity; when pure presence is clear, we gain
looseness; and when pure presence is dynamic, we gain release. That is realized
through the instruction of the lama.
In brief, detached from its still, clear, and dynamic aspects, the naked reality of
pure presence in the view alone clears away all obstruction. When we have
attachment to the stillness, the formless realm is created, when we have
attachment to the clarity, the realm of form is created, and when we are attached
to the dynamic, the realm of desire is created. These three are the obstructions that
bind us in the three realms. If we are free of attachment to these three, then
dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya arise respectively.
After we rise from formal contemplation, our ongoing state is called “informal
contemplation.” During formal contemplation, “the knower” and “the known” are
both free of all conceptual references and are lost in the one intrinsic presence.
When we come out of it, our experience is fully purged of every conceptual mark
and is like the middle of the sky, apparent yet nonexistent: we see all the
appearances of samsara and nirvana as nonexistent, naturally arising forms of
empty appearance, and in this we are supremely confident.