propensities have become mountainous. Is it possible that our obscurations might
evaporate without difficulty and we could become buddha in a moment? Even our
Shakyamuni attained buddha only after collecting merit over three countless eons,
and if you think that the sutras and tantras assert that buddha cannot be attained
without effort, you are indeed right! Those scriptures maintain that without
purifying defilements we will not attain buddha, and that logic is irrefutable.
However, as discussed above, what we call “obscuration,” “defilement,” or “veil”
is not a concrete thing with a substantial nature; if it were so, it could not be
eliminated by any antidote, because no antidote will be effective against
something permanent and truly existent. The antidote as skillful means is
recognized not only in tantra but also in sutra as the method of purifying all
defilements accumulated over eons; defilements accumulated over eighty
thousand years can be purified in a moment. The degree of the method’s efficacy
determines the speed at which the defilements can be removed. A thousand men’s
labor can be performed by a machine in a few hours, and similarly when we enter
upon the tantric path of skillful means, the introduction to naked empty pure
presence instantaneously purifies the defilements. Eons of accumulated
defilements are removed in an instant, just as a cave that has been in darkness for
centuries is illuminated in a moment if we simply light a lamp. Is it more difficult
for a lamp to light the darkness of centuries than the darkness of a single day? Of
course not. The point here is that the illumination depends upon the power of the
antidote not upon how deep the darkness or how long it has reigned: a mere
instant of pure presence in its spaciousness purifies, and buddha is attained.
The primal awareness of that instant of pure presence is “intrinsic.” In the Voice
of Vajra Awareness, Ju Mipham says,
It’s so simple that we miss the point,
So difficult that it is above our heads.Primal awareness does not require any effort or exertion on our part; it is
inherently spontaneous. This crucial point is taught by the lama in secret because
it is self-evident and easily understood. We consider that the teaching of the
Buddha is so profound that it must be, we think, impossible to understand so
easily; what is so easy to come by does not inspire confidence, and therefore the
secrecy is necessary. On the other hand, through a lack of education, we may not
be able to understand the explanations according to the scriptures or the logic of
sutra and tantra.
If we could originate intrinsic presence by effort and exertion, then necessarily it
would be something material, and, if material, then impermanent. If it is
impermanent, it partakes of suffering. If pure presence could actually be
established anew by effort, the implication is that reality could be realized by
dependence upon a path. But it is not the case that pure presence can be
established anew. Although conventionally it may appear that we need to learn
something on a temporal path, in actuality the path, purification, and the
traversing have no substantial existence. When clouds vanish from the sky, it is
not the case that new sky is produced. The sky is primordially clear and