Beyond Seeking

In the Great Perfection, contemplation is uncontrived. It is systematic. It bears fruit. We embody just this and express it in a voice beyond dispute. Consider these three things: the real meaning of material phenomena; a path free of seeking, our eternal heart; and the fruition that comes on its own, not due to seeking or striving. These three are equal and inseparable but require three different modes of setting forth. The ground, the way and the goal come about by virtue of a Wisdom that is self-existent (uncaused). This Wisdom brings radiant joy to contemplatives, and the light of clarity to their thoughts.

This Wisdom arises naturally in its own way. It is uncreated and uncontrived, present within us primordially, not encountered or lost. It is inherently perfect. It is an unperturbed clarity, a domain that comes into being on its own, a continuum of tranquility of which we become aware, but which we cannot grasp using (intellectual) conceptions. It is unobstructedly radiant, an awareness of which we become cognizant and which we come to recognize as the essence of our understandings. It is self-luminous, beyond visualization, not part of any object. The radiant spaciousness of flawless Wisdom cannot be expressed in words. Beyond thoughts of self or other, it is self-perfected tranquility, utterly free of extreme positions. Nothing need be generated, and there is no reason to practice deity generation. The heart of enlightenment is uncaused and unceasing.

Where all is one, how could there be differences? In the heart of enlightenment, in clear self-awareness is perfection beyond our seeking and striving. There is no need to generate anything, no requirement for causes and results. In the perfection of the heart’s core, all is instantaneously self-perfected. The true condition has no location and cannot be visualized. Uncontrived, self-originating, beyond conditions, there is nothing about it that has anything to do with a material view of Reality. It has no connection to words, representations or expressions as we can see from our direct experience. We see this from our (firsthand) knowledge arising from familiarization. It bears no relation to the extremes we fall into when using conceptual designations. There is nothing that can designate it, which places it outside the domain of our intellectual certitude or uncertitude. It cannot be expressed by words and their specific meanings, or meanings arising from letters (of an alphabet).

Right from the beginning, the true nature of our Wisdom has been emptiness. Rejecting no definitions, the clarity of our heart’s essence sustains its self-perfection. It is ever perfect in a realm completely removed from the fantasy of our thought-bound minds. It is ever present at all times, come what may.

Present in all appearances, a singleness that is uncompromised, it pierces our preoccupation with appearances, and is far beyond anything that could be the object of our seeking. Because of its invisible equanimity, whatever we intend appears, and although the true condition is nothing (no thing) whatsoever, it can bring forth the appearance of any thing whatsoever. Like the radiant heart of the sun, it is beyond measurement, relatedness and comparisons. The precious jewel of mind itself (consciousness) is intrinsically pure, beyond conceptual designations which we use to take in and grasp appearances. The heart-essence of our Wisdom, sustaining our knowledge, knows nothing (no thing) at all, yet is aware of its very own intrinsic clarity. This Wisdom, clear within itself, is inseparable from perfection and as we experience it, comes to us as both appearances and consciousness (the light of awareness).

The abode of self-arising Wisdom is a treasure of (precious) gems, a point of entry for many other portals. Though incomprehensible, if rightly recognized it is an abode where we dwell in oneness.

The supreme secret of the Bodhichitta is a treasury of jewels with many doors and is to be understood through its radiance. Self-radiant awareness is perfection itself and affords us the possibility and method for discussing the blissful heart-essence. This we can do, as regards results, but with no reference to striving and seeking. The supreme tantra is not written down and has no relation to form, colour, movement and the rest. It may be called the Greatness that has never been captured in words. This tantra is vast as the sky, a treasury of all secrets. It alone represents the supremely great perfection that makes it possible for us to abide in our way and realize the stages of enlightenment.

This is the most precious preserve of our contemplation, an all-pervading spaciousness. The secret whispered instructions are all summarized in this, and it gives us the impetus to go beyond our book learning. When we get involved with vows, techniques, samaya, good works, mandalas, stages and paths and enjoy the results of it all, we are inadvertently cherishing and holding on to the small self. We think of the supreme truth in terms of categories and are bound up in our chosen practices. Everything that we appropriate or renounce in this way constitutes a deviation and an obstruction. The principal point to understand is that by connecting causes to results we go astray. Reality is non-dual. When we get involved in “this” versus “that”, we are going backwards. We break up and misunderstand the essential unity of truth. We strive to build up something pure within the emptiness of the invisible clear light, which is a fundamental contradiction. The ultimate view is utterly unchained from preoccupations here-below. At the same time, struggling against responsibilities in life is a form of delusion.

There are certain dharmas that complicate our lives and dim down our Wisdom. This jewel of a teaching is free of them. Just know that seeking and striving with notions about purity is a mistaken path. When we seek and strive, we are separated from the inner treasure of our heart’s essence.

The Great Perfection view is self-radiant and quite unconnected to what happens on the various planes. There are limitations obstructing the light of Wisdom, but the clear light of awareness is perfected in and through all of this. The All-Good is endlessly playful. Inherently perfect, unstoppable awareness arises from its own beingness; so it is that the spontaneous play of our uncontrived heart-essence fills the whole of space, beyond all our concepts of center or perimeter. This play is our practice. The Wisdom of this awareness dawns on us instantaneously. Your spiritual teacher can clarify the timing of this.

Without any action on our part, the perfection of Wisdom becomes obvious (to us). The samadhi which arises out of this naturally appearing Wisdom comes about spontaneously and is inherently luminous. When it arises, do not let it be disturbed. It pierces through all forms of seeking and agitation.

Samsara is Wisdom unrecognized. Inconceivable fruition comes to its skylike fullness within samsara. Offering all that we have and are, we melt into the self-originating luminosity of Wisdom. Through our spontaneous self-offering, free of calculation, we taste the blissful radiance of the omniscient. We are to immerse ourselves in this without hesitation. It is for this that the most secret and sacred teachings, beyond any form of symbolically expressed meaning, have been transmitted to us.

In the domain of the inherent luminosity of all things, we are perfected. This transmission comes into play on its own, cutting through aggrandizement and aspersion. It is known as the heart-essence and has no center and no boundaries. It is a condition of conscious equanimity beyond all reference points, like a heap of precious jewels. Radiantly present in all, it has no preferences and no (fixed) positions.

The heart-essence is a treasure, boundless as the sky, a wish-fulfilling jewel that abides in its own pristine space all by itself. One who opens this portal of radiant and complete comprehension will come upon a treasure trove of precious gems. One who is qualified to teach this Wisdom will use his speaking skills to reveal connections between words and their meanings. He will be a master at conveying (true) meanings through (verbal and non-verbal) symbols. He inwardly abides in a domain (of consciousness) that transcends conceptual designations. His intuition is all-pervading like space. His Wisdom encompasses that which is without center or boundary. His is the power of transmission of a contemplation that transcends words (and concepts). Upon meeting such a one, you will have confidence. His self-awareness is radiant, and his presence manifests it. In transmitting the light of Wisdom, he simultaneously manifests it to himself. The precondition for our growth in understanding is a transmission that shines light on our learning, our meditation and our contemplation. Its source is the self-arising light of Wisdom, the luminous awareness that grows within us. It is an inexhaustible treasure, a magic treasury of priceless jewels. Now is the occasion to possess the key which opens any spiritual path (you may choose). This Wisdom encompasses all the particulars of the various teachings and paths.

There is a self-arisen continuum that has no location and no boundaries, a unitary perfection of non-dual awareness. This glowing treasure of the mandala of awareness is unaffected by our notions. It reveals its full perfection in our field of experience in the beatitude of unperturbed samadhi. Abiding in an equanimity that transcends complexity and contrivance, we have let go of our grasping at duality’s appearances. Primordially we are liberated from thoughts that cling to reference points and preferences. Here in the luminosity of our heart’s core, we are liberated from any cherishing of opinions concerning meditation, non-meditation (and so on). The flawless transmission of radiant insight pierces through notions based in dualities. In manifesting the unspeakable light of awareness, we relinquish our notions about speech and silence. This luminous Wisdom is a unique treasure that harbours no intellectual opinions. The eye of Wisdom has no dualistic knowledge and does not see in terms of duality. It arises in the heart’s inmost intent (for our lives), something we cannot lay hold of by thinking. Being the treasure of all that is, it has no intellectual views or preferences. The nondual nature of Reality overwhelms our predilection for seeking and active practices. Unconcerned with what transpires here-below, awareness is pristine in its own space of being. The light and the appearance of everything (that appears) unfolds within our awareness. Like the stars in the sky, self-luminous, undefiled, it is perfect in its own domain. Vajrasattva is (in Reality) a continuum of (pure) uncontrived awareness. Come to firsthand knowledge of the joy that comes untrammeled, free of complexity, unrelated to causes and conditions. Make no attempt to visualize the clear light of pristine awareness. It is precious equanimity that abides beyond agitation and grasping. This treasure, this fullness, this self-radiant (inner) sun abides in all. It is a continuum that has no connection to our thoughts and notions.

In general, the non-dual truth is expressed in a distorted and diminished manner, and this veils it in obscuration. It is a perfect circularity, undistorted, in which samsara and nirvana have never actually transpired. In the heart of enlightenment, samsara and sorrow are merely the play of the All Good (Samantabhadra), and the five poisons of lust, aversion, dullness, arrogance and jealousy reveal themselves as five Wisdoms. Wisdom is all-pervading like the light of the sun. It is an all-healing flow of compassion that washes away our five defilements. The realm of the Great Perfection is an inherently luminous and mirror-like space that has no objects. Within the clear light of the true condition, the non-dual Reality will reflect itself to us in just the way we see and think about it. Our notions about the true condition are always too inflated or too circumscribed, but it is always beyond these distortions. Being infinite, it always transcends the material perspective from which we conceptualize.

Pristine awareness is utterly transparent. This inherently luminous awareness is undefiled, un-adulterated (by our notions). This treasure of equanimity has no relation whatsoever to any point of reference that we could conceptualize, and exists as it actually is, unadulterated regardless of whether we turn to it or not. Our human happiness and our human sorrows are both confusions of samsara. They are non-dual in their true condition and perfected in the light of our heart’s Wisdom. Whether we know it or not, we abide in the sphere of inherently luminous awareness and are continuously perfected. The Ground of Being is unmanifest, but the clear light of Wisdom that unfolds from it is a ninefold treasury of gemlike spaces that shines in our hearts. The perfection of awareness abides in this treasury, a store of precious wish-fulfilling jewels that blesses us and brings us all fulfillment. It is the treasury of the sky, unobstructed, wherein the five elements arise and move, actively present in all things, not inherently real, but emanating from the Reality of their source. It cannot be seen, for it is inherent luminosity, pure like the sky, an unobstructed flow of blessings. It unifies all into its innate clear light. It is the treasury of all blessings, the very nature of the Dharma’s manifestation.

There is nothing that needs to be done. Everything has already been accomplished, primordially. Beneficent energies flow from the inherent luminosity where nothing needs doing, and this efficacious flow (of good works) is self-effulgent, making no demand that we renounce anything whatsoever.

The enlightened beings are the lords of the treasury of the sky, the treasure-store that brings us total fulfilment. They abide in continuous recognition of their eternal nature, but in their thoughts words and actions they participate in the play of energies which is the cosmic flow. Within the sky of infinite consciousness, the heart of our hearts that has no center or border, appearances will arise and appear to us in just the way we think of them. Living in right relation to their spiritual master, those who with heartfelt sincerity devote their awareness to the jewel in the heart (of Reality) will fulfil the requirements of service and be introduced directly to the treasure of treasures. Gradually learning the true meanings behind the symbols, they will be introduced by the master to instant enlightenment, the timeless continuum (of being-consciousness). In the realm of pure consciousness beyond their exaggerated or limiting ideas, they will come face to face with non-conceptual inherently luminous awareness.

We fabricate the concepts which fill our minds in order to designate and grasp the utter simplicity of the true condition. When we abide in the light of Wisdom, however, the obscurations of our limiting notions melt away and our innate clarity is uncovered. We no longer need to approach truth through the fog of definitions and grammar. We know the meanings behind the symbols. In the heart of luminous Wisdom, we abide in clarity, free of concepts.  In this spacious domain which is the origin of all that appears, beyond any association with meditation, we are perfected. We abide in luminous awareness, untroubled by (the stress of) contraction or (the thrill of) expansion. We cut through (trekcho) concepts about this pristine luminosity.

It is not something we ponder, nor has it any association with material things. The light of Wisdom shines with no points of reference and no preferences. Inconceivable are the blessings of this clear light. Fortunate ones are able to abide in the samadhi of (infinite) luminous Wisdom, the awareness of totality which dissolves aversion and ill-will, dullness and craving, pride and jealousy. The delight of the single taste in all appearances enters into our every experience by way of a Dharma requiring no practice or comprehension. We are not required to think. Our evenly balanced mind need not search. In the clear light (of Wisdom), in the heart of the sky (of awareness), we come to know the true significance of what could never be expressed in written words.

The significance of uncontrived pristine awareness cannot be unraveled by means of concepts and narratives. There are no reference points or predilections in pristine awareness. Its equality is equal in all. Its equanimity can appear as any form whatsoever. However things may appear to our human minds, there is no such thing as a “this” or a “that” for pure (non-conceptual) awareness. A true teacher is a living embodiment of Vajrasattva. The magic of his words is a lamp revealing to us the awareness (that is our true nature). He opens the doorway of the precious treasury of jewels that he carries in his heart, revealing the meanings of the symbols of the ineffable. He brings us to planes of inner experience that we arrive at without going anywhere (outwardly). He reveals a deathless manifestation of the Dharma. He conveys to us the secret Wisdom by a form of awareness that has no need of sounds, placing us in the sunlit radiance (of the true condition). He brings us to a realization that is not the outcome of any seeking or active striving. Such teachings as these should be given only to those of enlightened attitude and never to the naturally evil, the ignorant or the disdainful.  

Revealing The True Meanings This Tantra Equal To The Farthest Reach Of The Sky, is an elixir which carries you into the heart-space of the Great Perfection. Here, you possess a treasure which is as vast as the kingdom of the sky. Its meaning is not fixed and cannot be grasped conceptually by way of thoughts or ruminations. Nor does it have any relation to any form of active practice. Awareness abides in a realm that is utterly uncontrived and imponderable. This is nothing that we need to reflect on or practice, and there is no need to visualize any special levels (of practice, or attainment) either. (Be clear on this point): the intellect is not to conceptualize or grasp with words. Uncontrived awareness is the way we engage the Wisdom that transcends all obscurations. We abide naturally in a continuum of awareness where there is no searching and nothing to do. This awareness, something that we do not try to search for or grasp, is that into which we enter. We do not see awareness as a goal to attain. We simply settle into a consciousness of uncontrived light, not following methodologies or seeking for any (specific) objective.

The intrinsic radiance (of Wisdom) is flawless. Free from self-centered thoughts or considerations, it seeks no designated results. It is clear light, completely beyond (any notion of) desired outcomes. All-inclusive, it is not something which can be visualized. Here, in this pure space, the hopes and fears we typically cherish are present no longer.

The Intrinsic Radiance of Awareness Wisdom shows us that all appearances are free from the imputations of our concepts. All appearances are luminous and beyond defilements. Wisdom makes clear the singularity that underpins the multiplicity of appearances. It frees us from grasping and from thinking in terms of “things”. In the nonduality of the true condition we are liberated from the mental conditioning created by our concepts. All appearances arise spontaneously in the mirrorlike luminosity which is the nature of mind. This Reality is utterly unfabricated. Here, we abide in an undistorted continuum of awareness that is inherently radiant, uncontrived and pristine, like the sky. The domain of primordial purity is skylike (in its spaciousness), beyond (intentional) abiding, inherently radiant, a non-dual way with no boundaries or center. It is pristine awareness beyond fixations, a crystal palace of utterly clear light beyond anyone’s capacity to describe or measure. With no need to conceptualize or take any actions, we have the ultimate proof of a pure manifestation of timeless awareness. Indescribable, inherently radiant and all-pervasive, the ineffable continuum has no conceptual activity. It requires no active striving, and is luminous in all possible ways. Pristine awareness neither contrives nor fabricates. It does not seek or grasp. It is spacious and luminous equanimity, total lucidity with no need for active striving on our part.

The Reality of inherently radiant awareness cannot be (indicated or) represented (to the human mind) by way of words or concepts. It can come through transmission, but never by explication, and (when it comes) it carries the taste of bliss. We take leave of the many palaces built up from awareness to abide eternally in the clear light itself, something quite impossible to define. The self-transmission of Wisdom’s light cannot be distorted by playing it up or playing it down. We accept what is, the way it is, with no attempt at manipulation.

Once we have direct experience of the nature of mind (Bodhicitta), we will be wary of any attempt to define it. We would never dream of trying to actively practice it. We choose rather the way of non-striving. We simply allow the true condition to dawn by itself without interference. We do not conceptualize nirvana and then strive for it or entertain notions that foster samsara. Our liberated intellect abides in a luminous samadhi that has no horizon. Being undistracted, we pay no regard to anything that comes and goes, arising only to disappear. The bounteous power of our uncontrived heart-essence outshines all other preoccupations, drawing (us) into the light of the sun. Samsara is simply the play of the light that is Wisdom. We make no effort to accrue merit or expunge negative karma, or to fabricate desired outcomes in the way that goldsmiths do when they shape objects out of gold. We are like birds abiding in the vastness of the sky, happy to navigate the ups and downs of samsara and its magical illusions, not apart from the continuum of the true nature.

Inconceivable is the power of the light of the divine. The radiance of Wisdom is constant, beyond alteration, beyond coming and going. The light of compassion equally is beyond all reckoning in its scope. The wind of thinking activity is nowhere to be found in the luminous continuum of Wisdom. Wisdom knows no bondage and requires no liberation. Just as an oil lamp without fuel does not generate fire, a mind that is concept-free is not engaged in thinking activity. We are free of ideation. We do not reflect on any topic. This is nothing special, just the way that Wisdom is.

When we give voice to some topic of concern within the sky (of mind), we have set foot on a false path. The mind of equanimity has no interest in boundaries, centers or designated areas. The essence of our hearts comes to the fore as the sun of Wisdom dawns and in the treasury of self-revealing awareness it achieves its perfect expression. Non-dual awareness is the sole instrument by which we grow into that which cannot be grasped. Non-dual living is like water flowing into water. Samsara is actually Wisdom (that we misperceive), free of darkness or constriction primordially. The sun of radiant Wisdom burns away samsara and pervades all that is. This is not something to be visualized. It is not a dogma to be grasped or believed. It is simply the true condition of all that appears. The highest Reality cannot be apprehended by points of view or anyone’s preferred notions. There is nothing fixed in any fashion whatsoever in the way that Reality actually exists, contrived or uncontrived, centerless and borderless, neither in this location nor in that, but rather abiding in its own realm, an uncontrived ground of (supreme) peace. This primordial equanimity does not conceptualize emptiness or its opposite. The furthest reach of thought is transcendence of thinking activity altogether. Wisdom cannot be reproached for having no center, boundary or demarcation. The obscurations of ignorance have never existed (in actuality). Nothing is outside the mandala of radiant Wisdom. The world of the all-good, the continuum of pristine awareness, is not anything (any discreet thing) whatsoever. It is ceaseless, unstoppable, imponderable, beyond anything that can be contemplated or studied. We abide in the state of self-liberation, uncontrived supreme mind, not focusing or opening our minds, at rest in the depths of a samadhi that naturally overflows with fullness.

From: Gospel of Garab Dorje: The Highest, Secret Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Lotus Press. By Yeshe Donden Roger Calverley.