Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche 

 

Quote of the Week
November 11, 2011 

 

Mastery of the View

Commentary on "Eight Kinds of Mastery," a song by Milarepa

When appearance and emptiness are inseparable,
This is mastery of the view.

 (Song Version: Not separating appearance and emptiness
This is view as mastered as it can be.)

The spacious expanse of space, which is without center or end,
Contains the worlds and so forth, which have neither top nor bottom,
As well as all the appearances of the environment and beings.
In the same way, the expanse of mind-itself, which is beyond all elaborations, contains all phenomena.

"Mind" refers to consciousness, but "mind-itself" refers to the abiding nature of mind that is beyond all conceptual elaborations. Being existent or nonexistent, being permanent or being annihilated, being a thing or a nonthing - such conceptual elaborations have no limit or end. Because the true nature of mind is beyond all conceptual designations, it is spacious, open, and expansive like the center of space. Even if we have not realized the view, if we have a very strong certainty about it, our minds will be very spacious and open. Once we have realized it, we will experience a spontaneous spaciousness and openness. "All phenomena" refers to whatever can appear or exist in samsara and nirvana. There is nothing that is not included within the expanse of mind itself.

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Songs of Definitive Meaning, Karme Choling, Summer 1998, P. 26, translated by Elizabeth Callahan.