Seeing Emptiness...

In the face of directly seeing emptiness, the thought cannot remain just as no object can remain in mid-air. When we do not recognize emptiness, we are carried away continuously by thoughts. One thought after another is how the mind of sentient beings works, day and night. From beginningless lifetimes until now, thoughts have incessantly followed one another, like beads on a string. Yet the essence of each of these thoughts is emptiness, if we could only recognize it.

Repeatedly, you hear, “Recognize mind essence; attain stability in that.” What this really means is that we should repeatedly look into what thinks. We should recognize the absence or emptiness of this thinker over and over again, until finally the power of deluded thinking weakens, until it is totally gone without a trace. At that point, what remains to prevent the state of enlightenment?

Buddha nature is something we already possess. It is not a product of meditation practice; nor is it something we need to accumulate or achieve. However, unless we recognize it, we gain no benefit whatsoever from possessing it.

All of our thoughts come out of the buddha nature as its expression, like rays of sunlight emanate from the sun. It is not that the sun comes out of the rays. That’s why, in the beginning, you should look into mind essence until you have clearly ‘established the natural state’.

Once the natural state is established, there is no point in looking here or there. It does not make any difference any longer. At that level there is an inherent stability in emptiness. Nowhere on the face of this earth, nowhere under the heavens, can you find a more effective training for attaining buddhahood.

If there were a better path existing somewhere, you could at least search for it. But as it’s said, “Scan the entire universe. You will not find a path superior to this.” Even if you were to examine every single thing in the universe, you would not find a better method. So, train in exactly this.

Chris Collins...