The Great Secret of Mind

predictable or invariable. How things look in childhood is quite different from how
they look in old age. Moreover, what appears undoubtedly pleasant and true in the
morning may become quite unpleasant by evening. Each of us can recall examples
from personal experience of such change, of diverse, unpredictable, equivocal
experiences arising from an undefined source. This fact helps demonstrate that all
phenomena are projections of our minds. On the other hand, if we are unable to
comprehend phenomena as illusion, as mere appearance manifesting without any
substantiality, we tend to believe that our enemy’s enmity is immutable and that
our friend’s loving regard will last forever.
When famous and rich people believe their fame and wealth to be something
truly existent, they are deluded, and the opportunity for release from samsara
never arises. So what is the meaning of “truly existent”? What is truly existent
must be intrinsically substantial, with a permanent, unchangeable, firm, stable,
and indestructible essence. If apparent objects are not truly existent, how can they
be a constant and certain source of suffering? How can suffering arise invariably
from an object that is not inherently substantially existent? Similarly, if thoughts
about an event that is inherently illusory are understood to be untrue, then there
can be no foundation for belief that causes suffering. Only if the essentially
unstable event is taken to have substantial existence can thoughts arise as beliefs
that cause suffering. Consider the case of a dark-colored rope mistaken for a terror-
inducing snake. Here it is the belief that a delusory creation of mind is real that
provokes our fear. Suffering arises from delusory perception of things, from a
failure to see their true nature.
Moreover, consider the experience of a man who spends a moonless night in a
place where there is no electricity or any other source of light. Covering his head
with a blanket, he dreams that he enters a large garden filled with flowers, where
a party is in full swing. He joins the crowd and converses happily with them amid
all those beautiful flowers, eating tasty food and touching and smelling those
beautiful flowers. At the time, he experiences the beautiful garden, the talking,
and the seeing as real. When he wakens, he knows that the dream was unreal and
that the garden had no substantial existence.
Suppose we assume that what we see in the light of day is true and what we see
in dream is unreal. Then consider first, where our daytime perceptions come
from; second, where they abide; and third, where they go. This examination
should result in the realization of the unreality of our ordinary experience and an
increase in the sense of illusion. What we ordinary people perceive as real,
enlightened beings see as in a dream world. Since they know that every atom is
substantially nonexistent, their perception of the illusory nature of reality is
constant. For this reason they can never be distracted by the apprehension that
happiness resides externally.
Ordinary people hold the view that the perceiver and the objective field are truly
existent—and thus they suffer. Noble beings, on the other hand, realizing that the
perceiver and the objective field are untrue and unreal, go on in every life from
happiness to happiness. The difference between these two is the vast difference
between the mundane materialistic path and the transcendental dharma path. In