LONGCHENPA
The Great Perfection
Meditations on Awakening — Inspired by Longchenpa
The Buddha has said
All things are the emanations of the mind
Listen closely
I will explain
From the vast luminosity of primordial awareness
Through ignorance
Through clinging to self
The mirage of samsara appears
These shifting visions of joy and sorrow
Like apparitions in a dream
Appear
Yet do not exist
...
Just as a shadow arises from form
Yet is different from the form itself
So too the radiance of awareness shines forth
When this radiance is recognized
It manifests as the Three Bodies of Buddhahood
A spontaneous display of wisdom
Untainted
Clear
When it is not recognized
The mind grasps at self
And solidifies its projections
The world then appears as a theater of illusions
Joys and sorrows dancing in the six realms
Like reflections cast upon water
...
Just as a magician conjures illusions
So too habitual mind weaves appearances
Just as hallucinations arise from confusion
So too samsara arises from grasping
If you do not chase thoughts
If you leave everything as it is
You will not be deceived
Rest in the vast expanse of natural awareness
The ground beyond birth and death
...
Everything
Bodies
Possessions
Emotions
Movements
Appearing
While not truly existing
Are like phantoms in a dream
They arise without origin
They pass without ceasing
They change without being real
This is the nature of emanated apparitions
They lack any core
Yet they appear effortlessly
Like a mirage in the desert
The more you seek them
The more they vanish
...
The world of appearances is neither in the mind
Nor outside it
The universe of forms
Sounds
Thoughts
Elements
All of it is merely the mind’s projection
And yet the mind itself though appearing
Is empty from the very beginning
In reality nothing is separate
No object
No subject
No division
Samsara and Nirvana are the same in essence
Both are merely projections of the mind
...
Childish beings grasp at what is unreal
Taking concepts as truth
Naming
Defining
Clinging
But words are only echoes
Labels like rabbit’s horns
Or castles in the sky
To name something
Is not to capture its essence
All things are like reflections
Empty from the very outset
If you examine them closely
They dissolve into space
...
Since all appearances are rootless
What need is there to grasp or reject
To cling to something as real
Is to be bound by illusion
To cling to nothing as real
Is to fall into nihilism
Instead rest in the middle
A vast luminous openness
Beyond extremes
No need to negate
No need to affirm
Simply rest in the way things are
...
The nature of the mind is not found through thought
The more you analyze
The more you weave a net of concepts
But when the blessings of a true teacher enter your heart
It is like the sun rising in a cloudless sky
Then without effort
The vast expanse of awareness is revealed
...
First practice Guru Yoga
Pray that you may see all things as illusions
Then take your stand
Recognize the mind as an emanated apparition
Recognize that all appearances are the same
Let thoughts rise and fall like clouds in the sky
Without grasping
Without pushing away
Rest in luminous undistracted clarity
A vast expanse of effortless awareness
...
When realization dawns
Samsara is recognized as an illusion
Nirvana is recognized as already present
The two merge into one taste
Meditation and non-meditation become the same
The yogi moves through life like a drifting cloud
Free of care
Free of clinging
Without hope
Without fear
All things appear
Yet leave no trace
This is the state of the awakened ones
Resting in the great expanse
The luminous space of wisdom
...
May all beings awaken from illusion
May they see through the mirage of mind
May they rest in the vastness of unborn awareness
May the luminous truth reveal itself
Effortlessly
Like the rising sun