Teaching Session Fifty-Eight

The nature of the sky
Transcends all color and shape
So light and dark clouds cannot block it
That’s the way with mind
The essence of my mind
Leaves all shape and color far behind
So good and bad deeds cannot block what it is
They can’t fix it, break it, make it good or bad!

You can say that space
Is totally empty
But what space is really like leaves words behind
Just so with your own mind
You can call it luminous
But the mind that you’ve just named, you cannot find
The nature of the mind
Has always been like space
Containing everything that there is
—Tilopa

The root of everything in existence and beyond
Is, oh yes it is, it is mind
When you realize this, there’s no meditation to do
Just relax, take it easy, let it go!
Resting in what I am—why look for something else?
That would be a foolish thing to do!
No thinking, “it’s like this”
No thinking, “it ain’t like that”—
Everything is great in the native state!
—Saraha

While nothing ever moves from equality’s expanse
Appearances magically shine
Many rivers flow into the great ocean where the water has the same salty taste
Many they may be, but they taste the same
In this, there is nothing different
Everything there is, all of existence has the flavor of the native state
Oh how wonderful, how wonderful
How happy, as happy as can be!
—Shantarakshita

This great variety is mind’s magic display
But we can’t show that mind is “this” or “that”
So samsara has no ground and nirvana has no root
And this is dharmakaya, you should know!
—Nyimay Tsal

Existence and peace are equality
Free from all conceptuality
So striving and straining to accomplish some goal—
Oh, what a tiring thing to do!
Body and mind—non-duality
Spacious and relaxed transparency
To think that body and mind are two different things
Is a neurotic, crazy, afflicted thing to do!
Self and other not two in dharmakaya
To cling to good and bad—I pity the fool!
—Dombe Heruka

Look at your body—it was never born
Look at mind—simplicity
Reality, non-duality
Leaving thinking mind far behind
So I don’t know anything, I don’t know anything!
—Nyima Bepa

All phenomena, each and every one
Are empty, just as empty as can be
And the mind that clings to this emptiness
In its own place is purity
Concepts are all gone, there’s no work for mind to do
And all the buddhas go down this road!
—Maitripa

Look at your mind—nakedly
You won’t see anything, because there’s nothing to see
—Lord Götsangpa

If you don’t let mind rest just as it is
No other remedy will make things right
All my doubts about whether mind’s like “this” or not
Have disappeared completely, blown away!
—Lingje Repa

Mind left as it is—that is dharmakaya
So let your mind relax just as it is
Thoughts that contrive are free right where they are—
Practice this point that thoughts can never know!
—Tsangpa Gyare

All phenomena are like reflections
To think that they are real is missing the point
All of existence is mind’s dance and play
To turn it into objects is uncool
Every single thing is a magic illusion
To think there’s something there is being a fool!
—Orgyenpa

Under the guidance of Dechen Rangdrol, translated by Ari Goldfield, June 2000, Greece. Translation revised July 2004. Translation copyright 2012, Ari Goldfield.