Dzogchen—
Shown but not visible;
Explained but not comprehended.Buddha’s ineffable meaning cannot be expressed in words, and when it is
spoken, it is as if it were being heard by cattle. Even the tongue of primal
awareness cannot express it. It cannot become anyone’s object of perception.
People may think, therefore, that primal awareness of intrinsic presence as such is
an aberration of the mind, but of course that is not so. The ineffable is the
objective field of perception of the primal awareness of intrinsic presence in each
and every individual being; it cannot be understood as an object “out there” or a
subject “within” or as something that has color and shape—it can be perceived
only by the Buddha. Based on Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching, if by logic we
establish all things, from form to omniscience, as mere illusory mental projection
or mental labels, then there is no way whatsoever to avoid gaining confidence in
the inexpressible teaching. Even though there is no substantial existence in objects
of knowledge, according to the manner in which the ground of being is defined by
the particular inclinations of the various schools, there are many different
varieties of appearance—samsara and nirvana, good and bad, rejection and
adoption, god and demon, happiness and suffering, beautiful and ugly, inner and
outer philosophical views, and so on—labeled and held by the mind. The mind’s
functions assert the actual existence of mind and all those various imputations,
and the mind provides thousands of reasons, with scriptural authority, to support
this contention and prove itself right, as well as thousands of reasons, with
scriptural authority, to prove others wrong. Mind is thus convinced of its own
existence and proclaims it with a loud voice in every corner of the country. Now
check whether the distinctions we make and the imputations and beliefs we insist
upon are mental projections or not.
1.20 SICKNESS AND PHYSICAL PAIN ARE RELIEVED BY MAKING A HABIT OF RECOGNIZING PURE
EMPTY PRESENCE
Knowing that the world is a magical display of mind, convinced that the world is a
magical display of mind, realizing experientially that the world is a magical
display of mind, with no trace of disbelief remaining, trust in the ineffable arises
automatically. If we have such trust, we are not surprised when we hear that
sentient beings are the Buddha and that there is no pain in hell and no happiness
in the buddha fields.
Shantideva, in Entering the Way of the Bodhisattva, says,
Who made the blazing grounds of hell?
Whence do these fires come?
All such things are created
By the sin-ridden mind.