Pure Vision
“My nature—the reality that gives birth to all that is living and nonliving—is manifest everywhere. Without performing any actions, it is primordially enlightened; without effort, it is primordially magnificence—such is the evident manifestation of enlightenment. Here is the manifestation of my essence: being the primordial foundation of everything and all, it, the essence, is the true state of everything. With no need to act, it is the primordial state of enlightenment; without effort, it is primordially magnificence. Such is the magnificence of enlightenment in the perfection of its own true state.”
A monk was asked:
“Reverend monk, what do you think when you look at a tree?”
He answered:
“I think about the complex structure of the tree, about how sap flows through the capillaries, how a seed turns into such an enormous tree. I am amazed at what a miracle the Lord has created! Then I think about God and enter into great ecstasy from contemplating this miracle.”
Then he was shown a sculpture of a saint and asked:
“And what do you think when you look at the saint?”
He answered:
“I think about how great were the people who were able to know God, and, remembering God, I also enter into ecstasy.”
Then he was shown a brick and told:
“And what do you think when you look at a brick? About God?”
He answered:
“Of course, I also think about God.”
He was asked:
“And what is the connection between a brick and God?”
The monk answered:
“You know, I simply always think about Him.”
Something like this state also exists in a practitioner, if he is a true practitioner. Only, unlike the Christian monk, we do not use logic in order to attune ourselves to absolute Reality. Instead, we use an even subtler instrument—awareness. Such awareness, if maintained correctly, inevitably leads to the essence of the Absolute. And such contemplation fills the yogi with immense delight in relation to energy.
The unenlightened view sees heaps of disparate things, but such perception, from the point of view of a saint, is delusion. For example, to see men and women, cats and dogs, cows and trees is delusion.
What does a saint see when looking at cats and dogs, cows and trees? First, he sees everything that exists as if in a dream, as something that does not exist in itself. Nevertheless, he sees that in this dream various energies manifest, which can be interpreted differently depending on the state of his mind. Second, he sees that everything that manifests is the energy of the Absolute, of the absolute Source, that is, he perceives everything in the purest state.
What does this mean? He perceives a tree as if he were seeing a statue of a saint; he perceives a cow as if he were seeing the Buddha; he perceives an ordinary person as if he were seeing Ramana Maharshi or the Dalai Lama. He sees that people are very majestic beings. In the same way, he also sees animals. He sees this way not because they are majestic in themselves, but because even behind every stone and leaf there stands an enormous power. And what he sees first of all is not people, not stones, not leaves, but this enormous power. He sees that people or some other beings are in themselves inseparable from this power. Moreover, they are merged with it, they are it, although they cannot realize this belonging. And then he abides in pure vision. Pure vision means that he continuously abides in a state of open magnificence.
What else does a saint see? He sees that everything he perceives is his own energy, himself. He feels himself as an invisible presence dwelling in every atom, every molecule, every star, every sound, every speck of dust, every segment of time. And at the same time he perceives himself not as some local point with a specific form, but as an invisible presence.
One practitioner once read a yoga magazine. He has a tendency for his consciousness to be drawn into what he reads and to change. When he read the yoga magazine, he was impressed and said:
“Those who practice yoga—those are real professionals! But with us...”
I answered him:
“With us? No, that is with you! I have nothing in common with you. I also feel like a professional, and I would argue about what is more professional and in what capacity. Some are professionals in the body, and some in consciousness. It is your dissatisfaction that is projected outward, because you have not discovered yourself and have not become a professional in the field of yourself. Until you do this, you will never come close to me, and so I have no intention whatsoever of sharing your opinion.”
Until we have discovered our nature of Mind, we tend to project our own state onto the world. For example, a person may think: “Why is God so unfair to me?” But God has absolutely nothing to do with it here; there is the law of cause and effect (karma): in this life you reap as much as you created in the past one. And you have the opportunity either to practice or to undergo what you reap.
But a person who has not discovered their nature is completely within karmic vision; they are completely seized by it. They are influenced by events, they think according to logic, they have a certain sense of the world. To attain enlightenment means to completely change oneself, to change one’s feeling of oneself from the ordinary to the absolute.
This can be done if we constantly remember our meditative practice, if we achieve perfection and immersion in the practice. And then it begins to give us energy, changing the image of ourselves within us.
What does it mean “to abide in the natural state”? It means to constantly feel awareness like the space of the sky. When a yogin abides in such awareness, his sense of himself also changes, and then he begins to feel himself in the same way as described in the text. He no longer feels like some small, petty personality.
The Three Dimensions and Divine Pride
“Listen, O great one! The three dimensions are contained in me, the Source. The essence, the nature of any perceived phenomenon, is the natural state of my three dimensions. Apart from me and my natural state, there is no one to exalt as enlightened or to belittle as a living being. The natural state is equality beyond concepts; apart from this there is nothing. None of the buddhas has ever received from me, the source of the teachings, anything higher than this. Apart from this equality of the natural state beyond concepts, I myself, the supreme Source from which everything arises, have absolutely nothing to show myself.”
In the process of meditative practice, divine pride arises in the yogin. How does this state arise? It comes by itself when we continuously contemplate the source of consciousness. For those with an inflexible mind, it is difficult to realize how one can simultaneously feel divine pride and feel oneself to be a novice; how one can think that I am the source of all universes and at the same time sweep the kitchen floor or wash dishes.
But if you have assimilated the principle of the unity of relative and absolute truth, then there is no contradiction in this. The point is that even an ant, a dog, and a human being abide in the same great state as you do. Nevertheless, they carry out their own karmas and play their own roles.
The Root of Being and Liberation from False Identifications
“I am the heart of all that exists; I am the seed of all that exists; I am the cause of all that exists; I am the trunk of all that exists; I am the foundation of being; I am the root of being.
I am the very heart, since I am present in all phenomena. I am the seed, since I generate all phenomena. I am the cause, since all phenomena come from me. I am the trunk, since the secondary circumstances of all that exists branch off from me. I am the foundation, since all that exists abides in me. I am called the root, since all that exists is me.”
In the process of practice, the coarse parts of our “I” sometimes try to deceive the yogin and pass themselves off as the foundation and the root. If the yogin truly contemplates, he must not be mistaken. For example, emotions and thoughts—that is, something coarse—try to pass themselves off as the root of being. In reality, the root of being is within them, but it can be seen only if you contemplate and see the core of the emotions. If, however, the emotion is not connected with contemplation and is not liberated, then the root of being is lost. Sometimes thoughts, logic, and judgments that you make try to pass themselves off as the root of being. In reality, the thoughts themselves arise from this root, but they are not it; they are simply energy at play.
If your mind is inflexible, it is difficult for you to understand contradictory statements. For example, you are used to adopting one fixed point of view: it is this way and not otherwise. Or you unequivocally make some judgment and then fall under its sway yourself. Suppose that if you think about something good, you will feel good; if you think about something bad, you will also feel bad. You must understand how ridiculous this is. It is like approaching a mirror, making a scary face, and then frightening yourself. Something like this happens to people when they become colored by their own thoughts.
And when we discover the root of being as such, it is like discovering a mirror on whose surface all phenomena occur. To discover the mirror means to attain such unchanging consciousness.
The Primordial Purity and Perfection of the Mind
“Listen, O great one! I am the supreme Source, the mind pure and perfect. It is said, in order to name this in some way, that from my three uncorrected natures the three dimensions are born.”
This Source is primordially pure. This means that there are no defilements in it. Purity points to subtlety and harmony. In other words, the mirror of our mind is primordially very pure. This should be remembered when all kinds of impure thoughts arise in the mind, so as to be liberated from them by the mere recollection of such purity. If we do not have enough faith in this purity, then we need purification practices, repentance, prostrations, and so on. But true liberation occurs differently. The yogi simply remembers that his mind is primordially pure, and such remembrance eliminates all impure states even without the need to recite purification mantras, perform rituals, or do other things. But if the yogi has not yet attained such remembrance of his purity, then he needs all these things.
At a higher level, the yogi is completely permeated by this purity and abides as the very embodiment of purity; therefore self-liberation occurs even more simply: whatever appears immediately mixes by itself with such purity and also becomes pure. It is said that the lotus grows out of mud, yet it itself is always pure; it is not stained. In the same way, when thoughts, emotions, and the perception of objects manifest in the yogi, he instantly transforms them into a state of purity. He does not even make any effort; they become pure by themselves. This is like the touch of the mystical Chintamani stone, which turns everything into a jewel and gold.
Where does such a state of purity come from? It comes from continuous immersion in the Source, in the natural state. Such a yogi, even when encountering coarse and impure energies, is able to transform them into pure ones. In the beginning, if there is no strong presence, the practice of an antidote is required, that is, pure vision. The yogi does not see that it is pure, but at least he practices by changing the attitudes of his mind, thinking that it is pure. In this way, after some time, his impure state becomes pure. At a higher level, he does not even need to perform the practice of pure vision, since it arises by itself, because he cannot see otherwise; he directly sees what is. This is analogous to the fact that when you look at a tree, you do not have to convince yourself that it is a tree. To one who sees a tree, it is directly clear that it is a tree.
The second aspect of the mind is perfection, when there are no flaws, when there is no need to improve or add anything. That is, the perfection manifesting at that very moment and in the very state in which you are right now. Because we cannot understand the principle of the perfection of our mind, we constantly try to add something to it and improve it; we like to dream that in the future there will be something more perfect. But we need this only in order to realize the perfection of the present and enter into it. Such perfection is not discovered if we do not abide in awareness. It is concealed.
The dualistic mind undergoes many fluctuations. In one second it produces sixty acts of division. However, in contemplation we penetrate beyond the limits of the dualistic mind, and these limits begin to be discovered by us.
The perception of perfection endows us with another sense of the world, bhavana. Abiding in such a feeling changes the yogi’s image, changes his vision of himself from human to a higher one. When the yogi’s ego and kleshas are completely transformed, it is said that the yogi has attained liberation.
The Unborn Nature of the Mind and the Three Dimensions of Being
“But although the three dimensions manifest, in reality they are nothing other than the natural state. I, the Source, the mind pure and perfect, am beyond birth and the duality of subject and object. This is called the unborn nature of the Mind—jnana-deha.”
Here it is said that the three dimensions flow from this Source. The three dimensions are the formless world, the world of forms, and the six worlds of passion (the world of samsara). In the worlds of samsara, the earth element predominates. In our human world, prithivi-tattva, the solid element of earth, predominates; in the astral worlds, the water element predominates. In the worlds of the gods of passion, the element of fire, light, predominates. In still higher worlds, the element of wind predominates, while the other elements are absent there or are very few.
In the formless worlds there is only the element of space. These are very pure, very sacred worlds in which rishis live. They have no need to acquire coarse skandhas unless that is their mission. All these worlds are inhabited by various living beings; their bodies consist, in different proportions, of different elements according to the karma of each of them. But all the elements and living beings with their karmas have emerged from one indivisible, nondual state. This means that when we enter it, we cut off the karma of birth and transcend the conditioned existence of living beings in all these samsaric worlds. All these worlds, even the highest, are considered samsaric.
The Three Bodies of the Yogi
“But in reality, the primordial Reality is simply a name, and it is nothing other than the natural state. When I, the Source, the pure and perfect mind, manifest my pure nature, this is called pranava-deha. But this too is simply a name. Pranava-deha is nothing other than the natural state.”
Jnana-deha is a state similar to space, when the elements are unmanifest. When a yogi enters samadhi without subject and object and stops thought, he enters his wisdom body and abides as a space of light. When a yogi can steadily remain as a space of light for a long time in samadhi or meditation, he enters his subtle spiritual body, or wisdom body.
When various kinds of energies and images begin to manifest from this empty body, and pure states are created in the form of the illusory body of a deity, this is called pranava-deha, and in Buddhism, sambhogakaya. And then the yogi can see deities. The pure, perfect energy playing and emanating from the empty state is sambhogakaya. However, this too is a manifestation of the empty mind.
“When I, the Source, the pure and perfect mind, manifest my creative energy, it is said that from the uncorrected state of this energy Shuddha-deha (Nirmanakaya) emanates.”
Finally, the physical body is called nirmanakaya, or shuddha-deha. This physical body, from the point of view of Anuttara Tantra, is already pure; it is already awakened in the sense that it has emerged from the energy of the Absolute and right now possesses a luminous nature. However, this is difficult to understand if we are in a distracted state, and the energies of the physical body manifest as ordinary, that is, impure.
