The basis of the illusion of the wheel of fire is nothing other than the firebrand,
but the firebrand itself does not partake of the illusion of the wheel of fire—the
firebrand does not “see” the wheel and is not “deluded.” So be sure that while the
intellectual mind’s delusions are not other than the nature of mind and the
creativity of pure presence, luminous mind itself should not be mistaken for the
intellect—it could not be the intellect because luminous mind is free of
adulterating dualistic perception. In The Medium Matrix Perfection of Wisdom
Sutra in Eight Thousand Verses, it is said,
The mind has no substantial existence—
The nature of mind is clear light.Mind can be understood as manifesting under two aspects: the delusive mind that
is the intellect and the real mind that is its nature. These two aspects are like the
wheel of fire and the firebrand, respectively. The fictive mind is primordially
insubstantial and without inherent existence. It is limited by conceptual delusions
of dualistic perception that appear everywhere and move constantly, never
standing still. Leading us all, selfrighteously, this fictive mind believes itself lord of
everything, and, as a result, through the concepts of “I” and “mine,” it finds
samsara everywhere.
Real mind, the nature of mind, mind in its natural aspect, is primordially free of
the discursive elaboration of subject and object, of grasper and the grasped. It does
not consist of substance or material things. On the contrary, the essence of the
nature of mind is uncompounded and immutable. The primal awareness that is
the true nature of mind is profound clarity abiding in the Vase Body of Eternal
Youth, the dimension of eternal life in pure being and primal awareness.
Just as a wheel of fire is nothing other than the firebrand, the fictive intellectual
mind is nothing other than the real luminous mind. As Longchenpa says in The
Treasury of the Supreme Approach, “The appearance of external objects arises
naturally from mind’s magical display; internal appearances of mind arise
naturally from the creativity of pure presence.”
All external seemingly concrete phenomena arise from mind’s magical display,
while the internal appearance of mind, our seeming subjectivity, arises from pure
presence’s creativity. In mistaking what is nondual as two, in mistaking the field of
experience as object and subject, attachment arises, along with the rest of our
emotional afflictions.
To cure human illness, first we must diagnose the disease; only then can we
take appropriate medicine. In the Supreme Tantra, Lord Maitreya says, “To know
the disease is to eradicate its cause.” So, first, investigate this fictive intellectual
mind. Our mind in this present moment is seemingly seeing and knowing
appearances very clearly, but the mind is not at all what it seems to be. It cannot
be found on top or under our flesh or fat, or in the blood or lymph, or in the hair or
nails, and so forth. Likewise, it cannot be found in the forms of material objects, in
white, yellow, red, or green colors, or in square, triangular, half-moon, or circular
shapes. It is not merely that our eyes cannot see it, but its discovery is beyond even
the most advanced technology. It cannot be found inside or outside or in between.