Radical Creativity
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Samantabhadra's radical creativity is the miracle of illusory display
emanated in every moment. It lies in the freeform field of reality that is
the dynamic of nonaction. In a more limited sense, however, radical
creativity is evident here in the soft touch of Samantabhadra's breath of
inspiration that informs these pith instructions. This is a transmission
that embodies specific instruction. It teaches that there is no path to
traverse and no distinction to be made in pure mind reality.
Hey, Mahasattva, Magnificent Being, listen!
1
All and everything emanates from me,
so all and everything, whatever appears,
is revealed as transmission,
revelation of the timelessly pure reality-field.
The path is the process of Samantabhadra's entire emanation in a timeless
moment. In this respect every moment is identical and complete in itself and
there can be no progress or development in or of pure mind. There can be no
gradual increase or decrease of realization through time. Further, if all is
one in the moment, how can there be any valid differentiation of pure mind
from reality or, indeed, any distinctions whatsoever? Samantabhadra's
all-inclusive momentary emanation is the nonreferential field of reality,
which is his transmission and his instruction. The here-and-now is pure
mind, the field of reality and Samantabhadra's complete transmission. There
is nothing else.
2
All outer and inner is the timeless field of reality
and in such an immaculate field of play
buddha and sentient beings are not distinct-
so why try to change anything?
Pure mind and reality are one in the reality-field and it is quite
impossible to make any distinction. We say that all phenomena, whatever
exists, composed of earth, water, fire, air and space, is external, and that
pure mind and the nature of reality are internal. But this is idle
speculative thought imputing mere nominal meaning where there is no real
basis for it. The field of reality is an all-inclusive unity. In this
timeless sphere of activity there is no distinction between buddha and
sentient beings. It is impossible to improve on the timeless moment - it is
already perfect and complete, the all-good Samantabhadra. It cannot be
altered or transformed because it is the immutable Vajrasattva.
3
There is no ambition in effortless, fully potentiated creativity
and such freeform spontaneous perfection is always the same;
in the pure field of reality, where the conception and the act are one,
however misguided how can we innocents do any wrong?
A moment of bodhi-reality is primordially perfect and lacks any
goal-orientation or ulterior intent; it has no desire. It is free of all
aspiration. It is uncontrolled and uncontrollable freeform display. It is
always the same in the ultimate equality of pure mind. The meaning is always
the same. Since it is complete and perfect as it stands, there is nothing at
all to do, and there never was anything to do, and thus activity is freeform
display. All strenuous practice is rendered effete. Here, both impulse and
its simultaneous actualization and both immaculate subject and object are
the pure field of reality. In this milieu it is impossible to err,
regardless of our naive beliefs and intractable habits. Nothing we fools can
do can defile this pure space.
4
The pure-pleasure union of sentient behavior,
conceived by the deluded as a perverse path,
is identical to the pure process of Samantabhadra:
whoever understands such equality is buddha, lord of all.
Pure-pleasure union, sensory or sexual, as an integral part of human
conduct, or as a tantric path, is reviled as immoral or perverse by the
ignorant. But the course of human behavior, from the beginning, is
inseparable from Samantabhadra's transmission as revealed above - freeform
play. These two paths are actually one. The lord of past, present and future
buddha is he who realizes these apparently incompatible modes as identical.
All dualities, all dualistic structures, are spontaneously resolved in the
absolute equality of Dzogchen. This includes the duality of the delusive
path of gender union and the pure mind modality where the vision and the act
are one. The apparent duality of the gender principles of skillful means and
insight united in pure pleasure is actually always a unity from the
beginning, a primordial unity, pulled apart (in anuyoga) only in order to
recognize it as a unity and always for the first time.
5
On the delusive, extremist path, thinking, 'I' and
'Mine',
deluded innocents enter a structured path of dharma practice
with no chance to realize that it leads nowhere:
how can reality ever be found by seeking?
The teacher who talks in terms of 'I' and
'Mine' implies the
existence of a substantial self - or soul - in an individual who must strive
to gain and hold something that he lacks. This conventional way of thinking
is called 'extremist' because of its lack of a sense of middle way where the
'I' is deconstructed and the notion of possession becomes a fallacy. Such a
teacher draws his students into a conceptual, progressive, goal-oriented
dharma practice, where there is a presumption that the graduated path has an
attainable goal and that realization can be obtained through analysis and
where there is no possibility of spontaneous realization. The path of ritual
performance and religious practice has no end. In the Great Perfection there
is no path - only the timeless modality of momentary unfoldment. Thus the
nature of reality cannot be found by seeking; it is already present. The
mind cannot objectify its own nature, so reality cannot be found by
searching for it. Seeking it would be like a dog chasing its own tail.
6
The instruction of monkey-like masters who lack direct insight
is fraught with false concepts of preparation and technique;
so the master who cleans the tarnish from pure gold,
the authentic teacher, the most precious resource,
he is worth the ransom at any price.
A monkey mimics without understanding, like a teacher who gives precept and
transmission without the valid basis of understanding that is direct insight
into the nature of mind. Such teaching induces a conceptual notion of the
path, a specific starting point and a goal in the mind of the disciple,
involving preparation, supports and technique. The master who sees the
nature of mind has eradicated any implication of a conditioned path. This is
likened to removing any fine film of tarnish from pure gold through the
application of black alum - a traditional
practice. No refinement, like separating the dross from pure gold, is
necessary. The teacher's transmission of this pathless path is worth to his
students whatever price must be paid. In early times the student proved his
commitment by offering gold to the master.
The Great Garuda in Flight
The garuda is a giant mythical bird, like an eagle. In the mountains he
glides high in the sky, wide wings outstretched, riding the currents of air,
occasionally beating his wings in unison. He seems to put no effort into his
flight. He is utterly alone there. He appears to be flying purely for the
joy of it. He has mastery.
Samantabhadra, Pure Mind, taught this seminal transmission on effortless
perfection, undirected freeform action, so that the mind can rest at ease.
It shows that there is nothing substantial in the mind, that there is no
quest to pursue and no possible progress on a path towards a goal, that
reality cannot be demonstrated or proven in any way and that it is immune to
inflating or deflating evaluating bias.
Within this uncompromising description of the great garuda in flight - the
Dzogchen yogi in a nondual modality - there appear references to glitches
and veils and also allusions to the keys to the doors through which
existential miasma may be forsaken.
Hey, magnificent immutable being, listen!
1
Hey! This freeform field, illusive like space,
nowhere located, has no object of focus;
an unstructured experiential process
it occurs in the slightest subtle projection:
the concept of pure being, indeterminable,
itself is self-sprung awareness,
an ubiquitous, unthinking, authentic presence,
and this illusive freeform field needs no alteration.
The field of nonaction, a freeform field of reality, is the dharmadhatu
itself, and its pristine awareness is everywhere naturally present. The
projected fields of dualistic perception are instantaneously transcended as
a spontaneously emergent, nonobjective field of reality. Therein lies the
process.
Pure being, the dharmakaya, conceived as an object in contrived meditation
has no content, no specific qualities and no actuality and hence the
ubiquitous self-sprung awareness. Think of pure being - a thoughtless,
boundless space of equality - and the mind is filled by the nondual
actuality of spontaneous pristine awareness. Pure mind is at once the sole
cause and effect and for that reason, when relativistic thought-forms arise
in pure being, they spontaneously emerge as a freeform field of pristine
awareness.
The reality of nondual perception is an integrated field in which objects
cannot be located or focused as discrete entities. The innate tendency of
the intellect to concretize and reify is perceived here as a subtle
projection or 'dedication' that is immediately recognized as the field of
reality. It is as if the structuring, conceptualizing, tendency of
conditioned mind instantaneously unfolds into an insubstantial,
unstructured, inconceivable, field of reality. Thus the dualism of
subjective knower and any objective factor never arises. There is only ever
pure being, simultaneously a concept of emptiness and an existential
reality. Any slight projection that gives intimation of a putative duality
is immediately released by itself. Each thought and concept has intrinsic
its own automatic release function: as pristine awareness it swallows
itself.
Thus the natural field of reality cannot be improved upon and there is
nothing at all to be done to attain it. Indeed, there is no object to
address in this field, so how can anything be done to it? Any goal-oriented
meditative technique employed to discover it is a vain counter-productive
attempt that seeks to turn it into an object; but the nature of the causal
method itself cannot but find the reality of the pure essence of mind.
2
Seeking the essence through derivative phenomena,
enjoy it only through its nonconceptual aspect:
the manifest essence is just pure being.
The field of experience is perfected as it stands and nothing needs to be
done to actualize it as pure being. In whatever manner the pure essence of
mind appears, the appearance itself finds its own intrinsic reality. Its
seeming appearance is recognized as inconceivable and so its manifestation
is free of mental structuring and only as such, free of constructs, can it
be enjoyed. 'Derivative phenomena' is to be understood as the relative world
that arises through the mutual dependence of twelve causes and conditions
(ignorance, habitual tendencies, consciousness, name and form, six sensory
fields, contact, feeling, craving, existence, birth, old age and death). But
what appears to be interdependent phenomena is the freeform field of the
pure essence of mind. 'The field of reality, unchangeably empty, is known
through reflections in the nature of mind.' The analysis of samsara as a
twelve-fold causal chain may be employed in the meditation technique whereby
the emptiness of each link is established and the source of samsara
revealed. But in the view disclosed here the twelve concepts in themselves -
nothing but pure being - are the means to their own immediate consummation
(see also verses 24 and 25).
Relaxing into every concept with an empty mind, the pristine awareness of
pure being, which is the individuated pure essence of mind, is spontaneously
present. Thus the marvelous display of Samantabhadra is enjoyed as its
inconceivable, unstructured nature. Since the pure essence of mind is
intrinsic to all, nothing but pure being can ever arise out of it and there
is nothing else to achieve. To put it another way, the natural expression of
pure being is its own antidote and it is reflexively released into itself.
3
This one nucleus, indivisible, unpatterned,
is the nonspecific actuality of pristine awareness;
in that vivid, unthought, wide-open essence,
on the path of purity lies sovereign equality.
This one indivisible nucleus that can never be particularized or localized
is the pure mind essence evoked in the previous verse. Within it pristine
awareness, being noncomposite, arises by and from itself. The singularity of
this reality is the nonspecific meaning that is the exaltation of pristine
awareness. Pristine awareness arises spontaneously in and as the unitary
significance of things. This primordial awareness of pure being suffuses all
seemingly concrete phenomena in a unitary cognition. It is vivid direct
perception, unthought and unstructured, an open-ended expanse. In the
modality of utter purity that is immersed in this perceptual nonduality lies
effortless awareness of sameness, the natural equality of all things, and
this is the nature of the pure essence of mind.
4
Changeless and unchangeable, there is nothing to desire,
no object of perception, no perceiving mind;
impulsion towards direct self-perception implies fixation on a cause,
but no ultimate equality can come in the bliss of meditation infatuation.
This naturally arising pristine cognition precludes attachment because it
has no object within it to grasp and to cling to. In the absence of any
object of attachment there is no mind to cling and no mind to grasp and so
mind is unlimited. There is only the here-and-now. Subjective and objective
factors are resolved in unitary cognition. The unchangeable nature of that
awareness is like a timeless, primordial absence of object to be grasped and
mind to grasp. If, nevertheless, we are still struck by the imperative to
seek and find the nature of mind - that timeless primordial absolute - on a
path of direct vivid gnosis, then that implies fixation on a causal path of
meditation. Employing such technique, most likely we will become intoxicated
and obsessed by the pleasure that arises in the projective function of
meditative absorption. In that pleasure-attachment the possibility of
attaining the famous sovereign equality is denied.
5
To the one buddha-dimension, all-embracing, nothing can be added,
and since the field of reality is unlimited, it cannot be diminished;
in the reality-display there is no place of heightened mood,
for pleasure resides everywhere equally in the vast self-sprung field.
In this nondual perspective 'the one-buddha dimension' is all-inclusive pure
being (dharmakaya), which subsumes the dimensions of clarity (sambhogakaya)
and compassion (nirmanakaya). From the beginning it is complete and perfect
in itself and nothing can augment or improve it. Likewise, since the reality
of self-sprung awareness cannot be reached by movement in any direction, its
field of reality is the limitless here and now and cannot, therefore, be
circumscribed. Thus, in nondual pure mind experience there is no variation
in mood, only the one taste of pure pleasure, for reality is the play of
pleasure and the field of reality is the playground of pleasure.
6
There is no marvelous vision to be seen here with an eye of insight,
and nothing specific to be heard since nothing can be explained;
here the sacred and profane are always inextricably intermingled,
and an ultimate goal, a superior place, cannot be articulated.
There is no particular understanding or insight to be desired above any
other, for all cognition is equal in pure being. There is no particular way
of seeing that will provide insight into the here-and-now, for the
here-and-now is always present. It is useless to wait to hear something of
particular significance because, in the moment, meaning remains unelaborated
and cannot be expounded. If the 'sacred', the 'real', is seeming appearance
and the 'profane', the 'unreal', is pure fabrication, because verbal
expression is an inextricable mixture of these two, it is impossible to
articulate the ultimate reality which is, supposedly, a superior state. The
ultimate reality of 'absolute emptiness', being expressed and defined, does
not exist in reality and cannot be established existentially.
7
The path of pure mind cannot be conceived as true or false
because self-sprung awareness itself cannot be defined;
in the direct vivid presence of timeless inclusive identity
thought arises but like a shadow.
Any attempt to determine the manifest pure mind, the appearances that flit
across the mind-sky, as real or unreal, authentic or contrived, true or
false, is purely academic. Such discussion is informed by mental constructs
which cannot comprehend the spontaneous nature of mind. The self-cognizing
mind-sky itself surpasses its content. In the freeform identity lacking
directed activity, gnosis does not seek to identify itself. In pristine
awareness constructs and discursive thoughts are like gossamer shadows
without weight or substance. They are the shadow of buddhahood and a shadow
is all we can see of it. They are like rainbow-hued figments of mind,
neither existent nor nonexistent, neither coming into existence nor ceasing
to be.
Every verbal expression in mind or speech is transcended by its nature as
the pristine awareness which occurs at one with the verbal formula. Thus the
alphabetic glyphs of thought and speech - whether they express positive or
negative meanings - are buddha-speech and it is pointless to discuss with
oneself the validity of any given experience with a view to any imagined
conclusion. Attachment to any particular premise, hypothesis or formula over
any other is thereby pre-empted and argument or discussion becomes a dead
issue. Every experience is consummate in itself.
8
Its nonexistence is not unqualified - its essence emerges as an absence
and its emptiness is not voidness - it is present as empty objects;
through recollection of the nature of space, without desire,
the pleasure of consummate freeform action is enjoyed
and in that untargeted field pristine awareness emerges.
The essence does not exist as any thing, but it emerges as an absence of
anything else. Likewise emptiness is not voidness because it is present as
an empty field. The 'nonexistence' and 'emptiness' of the pure essence of
mind are conceptual tools that deny it substantiality and create an
ineffable space in which nonaction and spontaneous creativity occur.
'Absence' or 'nonexistence' describes the source - the pure essence of mind
- of a non-objectifiable field or object. 'Emptiness' indicates only the
absence of anything concrete or specific in that field and, further, implies
the infusion of such an indeterminate reality by a vital fullness. Space is
its best analogue and, indeed, by evoking the experience of the nature of
space, free of any desire or intention the pure pleasure of pure mind
emerges in a freeform field suffused by pristine awareness.
9
The ancient sages, focusing a passionate will,
became utterly lost in the torment of strenuous effort;
the omniscience that is immersion in the natural process,
when articulated, engenders conceptual meditation.
Referring back to the sages of yore, to exemplify a nonproductive,
self-defeating mode of meditation, it was not so much the strenuous,
passionate, effort that doomed their endeavor but the construction of goals
fixed by conceptualizing the undoubted state of omniscience of those who had
recognized the true nature of mind. Omniscience is the quality of
nonconceptual pristine awareness; when such natural understanding is defined
as knowledge of this or that through metaphysical speculation and conceptual
fabrication it is turned into a desirable goal and spontaneity is precluded.
The rishis pursued a futile temporal path of conceptual goal-oriented
meditation.
10
Craving pure pleasure is an attachment sickness;
if it is not cured by the panacea of imperturbable equality,
even the causal bases of higher states are infected by passion.
Desire for happiness or pleasure through meditation is as much an extraneous
attachment as desire for sensual pleasure or material objects. Hunger for
pure pleasure is chronic heart disease. The universal panacea for desire and
attachment is our inborn imperturbable sense of the equality of all
experience. Without this natural recognition, desire nullifies even the
merit accumulated for the purpose of attaining a higher state of being.
Without it, social virtues such as generosity, patience and morality are
infected and skewed. So the desire that fuels the ambition to attain a
spiritual goal is self-defeating.
Desire in itself is self-liberating, but with craving and addiction - like
diseased attachment to the bliss of union - desire becomes a glitch in the
process. It is the presence of equality that takes the sting out of desire
and allows it spontaneous liberation. Even if it is desire for the virtue
creating states of beatitude that is infected by goal-oriented craving, the
same applies.
11
Those enmeshed in a negative process by this virulent disease,
aching for progress, are like animals stalking a mirage -
their goal has no existence anywhere in the universe;
even the causal bases of the ten stages obscure the purest mind.
Goal-directed craving entails a negative process that is like pursuing a
phantom - the goal is a figment of the imagination and cannot be reached no
matter how long the journey. Nirvana can never be reached by striving. The
principle applies equally to those seeking a mundane goal as to those who
strive to traverse the ten stages of the bodhisattva path - the stages and
levels cannot be traversed so long as they are separated from the starting
point in the here-and-now where pristine awareness is an immediate source of
fulfilment. Even when the goal is one of the ten stages of purification on
the bodhisattva path or buddhahood itself, ambition to attain it is a glitch
in the natural process.
12
Ultra-fast pristine awareness, beyond thought,
like a spiritual friend - a fountain of gems,
unmotivated, independent of changing circumstance,
by its very nature fulfills all wishes.
Goal-oriented striving is redundant because pristine awareness itself,
moving so fast that fulfilment is simultaneous with the need, is totally
satisfying. Such pristine awareness is like the wish-fulfilling gem of the
masters that is the source of infinite virtue, the precious jewel that we
carry in veneration upon our heads. It is like a soul-mate who responds to
our unspoken wishes, has no self-directed or ulterior motivation and remains
constant in all circumstances whatsoever. It is not something that can be
imaged or is contingent upon circumstance. It is gnosis arising from within
as our own nature - that is what is totally satisfying.
13
Analyzed it is nothing - letting it be, fine exaltation;
it is truly invisible, yet it gratifies every need:
the master, innocent of self and other, a treasure trove;
the happy isles, revealed in selfless compassion.
This precious wish-fulfilling gem of pristine awareness cannot be examined
under the microscope or it appears nonexistent. But naturally relaxing into
it, it spontaneously emanates a multiplicity of positive qualities; it is
the invisible matrix that emanates all our needs and here the great way is
revealed to all. In pristine awareness, where the duality of subject and
object, self and other, is resolved, there is the master, the guru-buddha,
and the teacher. That is the land of milk and honey, where everything is
fulfilled, a field of instantaneous accomplishment. The master is a
bodhisattva in his pure land which is an emanation of selfless compassion.
This is the emanation body (tulku) that never leaves its pure mind source
and never becomes a concrete object and this is the wish-fulfilling gem.
14
Unmoving within, it is nothing that can be found within
and turning outside, it cannot be imaged or isolated;
neither extruding nor intruding, this selfless compassion
is inalienable - it abides here timelessly.
This precious jewel of selfless compassion is identical to pure mind and
like awakened mind it is said to exist within but cannot be discovered
within or indeed anywhere at all. Certainly it cannot be found outside
because what appears outside is a projection upon an empty screen and has no
substantial reality whatsoever. So this selfless compassion can be neither
radiated nor absorbed, neither applied to another nor soaked up from
outside, for it cannot move out of its own sphere, which is all-embracing.
In no way can it be intentionally or conscientiously applied to an external
human or material field or it reduces itself to mawkish pity. It cannot be
focused upon a specific target of sympathy. It is a primordial, universal,
constant .
15
To yearn for pleasure precludes its dawning -
pleasure is already here, yet still it strains for itself;
in pure delusion we ardently crave nirvana
but such a grasping self has no buddha-vision.
Incessant desire towards a future end frustrates itself because the actual
process of desire in this moment is the end itself. Consummation cannot be
attained until desire is recognized as the pure pleasure that it always is.
The desire for pleasure that looms out of pure mind strains towards what is
always ineluctably present in the here-and-now as pure pleasure. In the same
way, the desire for nirvana that arises in clouded pristine awareness is
consummated only when it recognizes itself as nirvana. So long as it strains
towards nirvana the aspiration alienates itself from nirvana and in such a
bind the nature of the aspiration as the goal remains obscured. Rather than
trying to perform the impossible task of standing aside and admiring pure
mind, we jump directly into it!
16
Where there is no buddha there is no buddha to name
and buddha revealed, to label him is error:
to try to catch buddha 'out there' is a false path
for all things are formless without an iota of substance.
So long as dualistic perception maintains a gap between desire and pleasure,
so-called 'buddha' cannot be seen. In the absence of 'buddha', to employ the
concept is to suggest something that does not exist which creates a
dichotomy between what is and what might be. To strive for what might be is
a chimerical, mistaken quest because 'buddha' has no color or shape and does
not exist anywhere. 'Buddha' has no substance or continuity whatsoever, so
the label does not refer to any entity or state. Then, when 'buddha' is
revealed, there can be no objectification of nondual buddhahood. It cannot
be conceptualized and 'he who knows does not speak'. So the word 'buddha'
remains phony in any context and whether in a delusive or nondelusive state
'he who speaks does not know'.
17
Consummate, beyond desire, serene,
insubstantial, and utterly foregone,
the nature of the miraculous ambrosia
does not depend upon any technique.
The 'miraculous ambrosia' is nondual perception where conscious subject and
animate or inanimate object are indissolubly joined in the totality of
pristine awareness. This ambrosia (amrita) is, therefore, pristine awareness
itself which is spontaneously, effortlessly and ineluctably present in every
moment. There is no need to apply any technique whatsoever to attain the
release and it matters not at all what the shape and color of the immaterial
form that is abandoned there. The neurosis of clinging and the pain of
attachment is naturally and primordially assuaged.
18
This sublime reality, free and open, all inclusive,
provides recourse for the little ones;
and when concepts dissolve in the vastness
there is no distinction between great and small.
The antidote to the goal-oriented aspirations of adherents to the lesser,
causal, levels of Hermits, Disciples and Bodhisattvas, is the vast expanse
of naturally perfected reality. In this space all ideas about the nature of
reality dissolve, all desire, aspiration and ambition dissolve, all concepts
projected upon the sensory fields dissolve. There is only one recourse,
technique or antidote, and that is primordial pure mind - which is not to be
sought after.
19
Articulated transmission, emergent vision,
which is like an illusionist's trick,
arises in pulsating misty awareness.
Extempore verbalized transmission augmented by secret instruction, or a
vision taking momentary form, is like a conjuror's magic, mere illusion. Now
you see it; now you don't! It appears to have content but it is utterly
insubstantial. Such creativity arises by the power of pristine awareness
pulsating in sameness, creating a skein of illusion at each beat, at each
beat engulfed in its own purity. Through the self-recognition of ultimate
sameness in a torpid mind, pristine awareness is freed from its seeming
dullness and cloudiness.
Within seeming delusion pristine awareness emerges spontaneously. In the
very process of the volatile fluctuations of delusive energy, in its
dispersion and absorption, expansion and contraction, alternating between
creative output and ultimately deconstructive rest, in sameness pristine
awareness arises. In this way, verbal transmission is the inspired
revelation of a dynamic pulsating pristine awareness. Vision arises by the
same process. Poetry and art arise likewise. Scripture has the same source.
Out of a languid, torpid mind primal awareness shines through and therefore
can be said to be the source of spontaneous creativity. This precept is
restated in Pure Golden Ore verse 5 and Victory Banner verse 44.
20
In this universal sovereign approach,
released, accepting, our nature
aspires to nothing and appropriates nothing,
and induces not the slightest presumption.
Self-sufficient we are released from all conceptual supports and mental
crutches, free of a spiritual base or port. With presence of equality we are
undiscriminating. We have no desires and no needs. The ingenuousness of our
pleasure assures that no complacence or arrogance can be generated and this
frees us from the seeming womb-like security of the gods. The universality
of the process where the upper and lower realms are one, and buddha and
sentient beings are indivisible, denies the possibility of the gods'
exclusivity as also the sage's divine pride.
21
As with the soaring garuda in flight
no complication, no simplification,
nothing to lose and nothing to gain.
The garuda, the mythological king of birds, is egg-born to full maturity and
at birth he can glide across the universe with a single movement of his
wings. Utterly self-sufficient, fearless, lacking any anxiety, he needs no
output or input, radiates nothing and absorbs nothing, without diffusion or
concentration, and flying high and free he is completely happy in himself
without expectation or trepidation, hope or fear.
22
That ultimate space, like an ocean,
gives rise to the multiplicity of things;
creative potential, coextensive with space,
is unpredictable in the forms that it takes.
The ocean is the source of all variety. Still in its depths, its surface
spontaneously takes on all peaceful and wrathful forms that represent every
kind of human experience. Just as the shape of the ocean's surface is
capricious and variable, so the form of creation, the shape of our
experience, is changeable, variable and unpredictable. The creativity of the
pure essence of mind is all-pervading like space and where it appears to
manifest as this or that is always uncertain.
23
In the pure essence of mind, spontaneously,
ultimate sovereign samadhi arises;
and vision is like a vast ocean,
unstructured, as extensive as space.
The creative dynamic of the pure essence of mind is ubiquitous although its
point of apparent manifestation is uncertain. In every adventitious thought
or construct, the ultimate samadhi always arises without concentration or
relaxation. With that, then, vision is like a vast ocean or like the sky.
Vision has no structure; or it is simultaneously structured and destructured.
Thought-free with the sense of equality, it is co-extensive with space. That
is the vision.
24
In this freeform field of Samantabhadra
nothing is born and nothing transforms;
the twelve fold causal chain
denigrates and demeans it.
In Samantabhadra's field of activity, which is the space of equality,
nothing is born and nothing dies, nothing comes into being and nothing
ceases to be, so nothing can transform or transmigrate and there is nothing
at all that can change. Causality is denied, so there is no karma and no
reincarnation. The twelve-fold chain of interdependent origination
(ignorance, habitual tendencies, consciousness, name and form, the six
sensory fields, contact, feeling, craving, existence, birth, old age and
death) is an analysis of samsara, the wheel of life. Entertaining such a
theory denigrates and demeans the original buddha, Samantabhadra, by
imputing a causal process to what is timeless. Causality precludes the
perfection of the here-and-now by the presumption of causes and conditions.
It is the premise of an intractable pessimist. But to deny the causal chain
diminishes samsara while to affirm it reifies its fleeting appearances - and
neither is appropriate to recognition of its nature.
25
Let the wise recognize the twelve-fold chain
as a door into delusion for the ignorant,
while experience of the six kinds of beings
should be recognized as the primary path.
If we believe in samsara, affirming the existence of its causes and
conditions, a door into samsara's six realms of suffering opens and endless
transmigration from realm to realm begins. The ignorant who walk through
that door are trapped by delusive appearances. But whoever recognizes the
nature of reality understands the twelve links and samsaric appearances as
mere concepts and constructs. At the same time, delusory samsaric experience
of the six personality types, or six kinds of beings, who populate the six
realms of the wheel of life, recognized by the wise as pure mind itself,
constitutes the enlightened modality. In this way, what is a trap for those
who affirm or deny samsara and its causal analysis is a lucky break for
those who understand it as the pure mind process.
26
Since sensual pursuits are whetted by compassion,
the pleasure of pure mind is enacted in them all;
butchers, whores and taboo-breakers,
unspeakable sinners and outcastes,
all can know nothing but pure pleasure
through inclusive perfection, the nondual elixir.
When there is no gap between vision and action on the wheel of life, when
vision and action are congruent and simultaneous, whatever form the sensory
continuum takes, regardless of social opprobrium or taboo, there can only be
pure pleasure. In nondual perception the apparent form is always mere
gossamer illusion of pure mind. All activity is suffused by compassion for
others. This includes the activity of butchers and all erotic indulgence -
all is pure mind action and pure pleasure is its inevitable feeling tone.
Even the breaking of social taboos is suffused by compassion, regardless of
whether it is a single action or lifestyle. The five taboos, or inexpiable
crimes, of the Buddhist tradition, are matricide, killing an arhat,
patricide, creating schism in the community and letting the blood of a
tathagata with malice - these actions are said to result in immediate
rebirth in hell without a moment for absolution. The elixir of nonduality
absolves, absolutely, all guilt and in ultimate equality there can only be
pure pleasure.
27
This unstructured, unthought, pure essence of mind
cannot be hidden in the continuum of mind:
for indiscriminate pure mind yogis
pure mind is present in every situation.
Our actual identity, being all-inclusive, perfect and complete, our identity
as pure mind, is inseparable from pure pleasure. It is known as 'the
inconceivable essence'. It is not something discrete concealed somewhere in
the continuity of being, or in the personality. It is there for everybody to
see in every situation that arises. As we act without discrimination,
neither rejecting nor adopting whatever arises, it is implicit in the sense
of total fulfilment. Nothing lacking, nothing superfluous, it resides in the
absence of motivation. It is the equanimity that exists in experience of the
thing-in-itself, the essence of unstructured experience. It exists as the
nature of mind in the continuity of thought.
