91 The Essence of Buddha Nature or Sugatagarbha - Bodhicitta

Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen

To introduce the essence of Buddha nature, Alan reads and explains the final parable of the chapter “An Introduction to Parables and Their Meanings” from page 94 to 96 of Naked Awareness. There is an analogy between Buddha mind and our mind: like the essence of gold is immutable, even if you can melt it and mould it into many different forms, similarly the essence of our mind is immutable all along, while we wander in the cycle of existence. If the essence of our spiritual awakening were not present in our mind-stream, the fruition of spiritual awakening would not be possible. Once we know this, there are 3 steps to be taken to enter into the practice: first hear the teachings. But the mere acquisition of knowledge alone will not suffice, it will not purify or transform your mind. The second phase is to contemplate the teachings and try to understand their meaning. This pondering on the teachings may give rise to a mere theoretical or intellectual understanding which cannot truly eradicate the source of suffering. Therefore the third step to be taken is meditation. By doing this practice, meditative experiences will arise, and at the beginning they will be sporadic intuitions and they will easily fade away. By continuing the practice there will be a deepening of our previous experiences and meditative realisations will arise. These first realisations are defined “togpa” and they still may fade away. However here you know you have nailed your previous understanding and by continuing the practice these realisations will be nailed down even deeper and they will become “den-togpa “, and you will have identified with certainty your own mind itself as the Dharmakaya. Meditation is on ultimate and relative bodhicitta and begins at 26:00 ___ Please contribute to make these, and future podcasts freely available.