to proceed is by familiarizing ourselves with the unelaborated truth—the
emptiness that is the true nature of all experience whatsoever. Buddha
Shakyamuni said unequivocally that he taught the four noble truths for the
common people. Of course, it is unthinkable that the Buddha Shakyamuni was
incapable of teaching the inconceivable and inexpressible meaning of Dzogchen,
but insofar as the moon’s reflection needs a pool to shine in, so the recipients of
the profound teaching of Dzogchen need primal awareness and a very broad mind
to comprehend it. The eye cannot know a form unless it comes into the visual
field. So it is with the other four senses: people cannot know what is beyond the
field of their perception.
Modern youth might question that assertion. Airplanes and other wonderful
things that were unknown to the senses in the past are now taken for granted. One
can even fly to the moon. Many great things have already been invented, they may
say, not to mention others—heretofore unperceived by the senses—that are in the
process of being discovered.
Of course, they are right, but from the omniscient scientist to the ignorant fool,
everyone’s beliefs are based on their present knowledge, which is derived from
the five senses and the mind. Whatever is newly invented is first projected in
mind and then through close focus is developed; after this, based on various kinds
of materials, it is manufactured. Whatever exists at present, whatever will exist in
the future, whatever appears or will appear—it is all bound to the mind. For this
reason, no one can go beyond the boundary of his or her mind, from famous
scientist to ignoramus; in this we are just like a fly captured in a glass bottle—
whether it flies up or down, it can never leave the bottle. And as long as we are
bound by mental delusion, whether we are high or low, famous or anonymous, we
will have no choice but to swim in the vast ocean of samsara’s suffering. As it is
said,
Wealthy people complain of their suffering—
Just like beggars:
Every mind has a load of suffering—
There is not a moment of happiness in samsara.We give ourselves suffering all the time. And if we ask, “Is there a way out of it?”
the answer comes, “Yes, there is!” The answer is the realization of the nature of
mind, of reality itself. Our eyes, at present blind to primal awareness, need to
borrow from the Buddha the eyes of supreme primal awareness. If we need to
venture out into the complete darkness of a moonless night when we lack night
vision, either we must obtain a torch or travel in darkness. Can we borrow the eyes
of the Buddha’s primal awareness? Shakyamuni Buddha himself said in Ananda’s
Sutra,
I will show you the path of liberation,
But you must walk down it by yourself.As the sutras of definitive meaning say, we must rely upon the ultimate path