unchangeable by nature, the clouds are adventitious.
When we train on a path over time, what to abandon and what to cultivate, what
to realize and realization itself—all these are conventionally distinguished. In
reality, intrinsic awareness has never been produced from a cause or conditions
but abides naturally, absolutely unconditioned. It is seen as nondual subject and
object, and this seeing that is nonseeing is called “the realization of the essence of
buddha-nature.”
In the tantra The Lamp of Immaculate View, it is said.
Inasmuch as the inconceivable
Appears as an object of mind,
The experience is true
But the object is not real.Just as we say we see form with the eyes, implying that the object and subject are
separate when in reality they are not, we may say that we see the essence of
unelaborated pure presence, reality itself. But that is not yet the realization of the
real pure presence, it’s only recognition of subtle mental attachment. Until there is
complete exhaustion of mental concepts, there is no realization of the
dharmakaya. But it is a good sign that self-arising primal awareness has been
understood. When we have sufficient faith to see our lama as a real buddha, when
we see him as a siddha who has the power of blessing of the three transmissions—
mind to mind, symbolic, and oral—in the instant of meeting him face to face, we
may taste that profound reality that otherwise would remain unknown to us for
eons. In that instant, we can experience the spaciousness of intrinsic presence in
which subject and object are nondual.
Belief may be difficult because the broad exposition—innumerable
transmissions and very subtle logic—in this and previous lifetimes has been
unequal to the task of spurring sufficient and effective exertion in hearing,
reflecting, and meditating. But even if we strive in training through these, still we
cannot absorb the meaning of reality just as it is. Logic is sufficient to establish
what is here and what is not here; if we examine that logic, its root is the rational
mind of the ordinary being. But when we compare that rational mind with the
primal awareness of the noble ones, it is seen to be merely the delusive dialyzing
mind. In Entry into the Middle Way, Chandrakirti says,
If worldly cognitive truth is valid
What need of the noble one’s vision?
What use is the noble path?
Worldly truth has no ultimate validity.Furthermore, The King of Samadhi Sutra states, “The eyes, ears, and nose are not
ultimately valid.” As Chandrakirti said, the inferences of mundane logic are not
ultimately valid. In short, ordinary people cannot cross the fence of dualistic
perception, just like a fly in a sealed jam jar cannot fly out of it. Until all thoughts
dissolve in the matrix of the great dharmakaya, pure from the beginning, even the