The Lamp That Dispels Darkness: An Instruction Pointing Out the Nature of Mind According to the Tradition of the Old Realized Ones.

Homage to the Guru and Mañjuśrī Jñānasattva.

Without needing vast study and reflection, by guarding the mind’s own face according to the pith of the experiential lineage, even those engaged in common mantra practices proceed to the vidyādhara level by the power of the profound path. But this, too, is done by leaving this very mind to settle in its own natural way without imagining anything at all, maintaining an undistracted continuity of recollection in that very mode. Then there arises a darkness that is unconscious, inert, and dense, a cognition that is blank.

At that time, so long as no clear seeing—the special insight of "knowing this and that"—has arisen, from that point it is proper for masters to apply the name "ignorance." Again, from the side of not knowing how to identify it—saying "it is like this"—they give it the name "indeterminate." And since there is no taking up any object or entertaining any thought, they call it "common equanimity"; in fact, it is simply abiding in an ordinary state within the all-basis.

Although one must rely upon such methods of equipoise in order to generate non-conceptual pristine consciousness, because the pristine consciousness of knowing one's own state has not yet dawned, such methods are not the main basis of meditation; as stated in the Prayer of Kuntuzangpo:

A dense state where nothing is recalled, That itself is the cause of the error of ignorance.

Thus, when such an unconscious, inert, dense consciousness is experienced by the mind, since, in it, the cognizance that knows that and the thought-free abiding are directly observed there, instant presence—free from discursivity—shines as pellucid, without inside or outside, like a clear sky. Although the object of experience and the experiencing agent are not two, if a thought arises thinking, "I have decided that it is my own nature; there is nothing else other than this," since it cannot be stated or described as "It is like this," it is permissible to call it "primordial radiant clarity free from extremes and expression" or "instant presence." Because the pristine consciousness to which one has been introduced has dawned, the cloying dense darkness clears; just as one sees the inside of a house when day breaks, certainty arises regarding the intrinsic reality of one's own mind.

This is the pith-instruction called "Opening the Husk of Unknowing."

In this way, when realized, one knows that the intrinsic reality is, by its own nature, unconstructed and has, from the very beginning, abided without being compounded by causes and conditions, and is not subject to any transition across the three times; one does not observe even a single atom of something called "mind" that is other than that.

Although I have not spoken earlier about that unconscious, inert darkness, the very inability to say anything about it means it has not been decisively determined. And although I have also not spoken about the nature of instant presence (rig pa), still, as to the point that cannot be thought or described, the decisive determination is this: like the distinction between blind and sighted, the difference in what cannot be told lies right here; thus, the division between the all-basis and the dharmakāya is gathered into this very essential point.

Therefore, terms like "ordinary consciousness," "not attending with the mind," and "free from expression" have two sides—authentic and unauthentic. If, with sound and meaning fully aligned, one fixes the essential point, one will gain the profound realization-experience of the Dharma.

When leaving mind to settle in its own way, some try to "guard just clarity" or "guard just knowing," placing themselves in the mode of thinking that this is the clarity of mental awareness. Others hold to a blank vacuity, taking "knowing" to have vanished and "emptiness" to have occurred. However, since both of these are attachments within the scope of mental cognition, clinging to the facets of apprehending clarity and apprehending emptiness, at that time, based on how the stream of memory and attention is functioning, you should look: if there is clinging to apprehended and apprehender, cut the tether of that conceptual consciousness. Then instant presence—clear-empty, beyond extremes—decisively settles by itself, and a lucid vividness arises. To this, you may apply the name recognition of the face: it is instant presence, pristine consciousness arising nakedly, free from any sense of ownership or appropriation.

This is the pith-instruction called "Cutting the Net of Cyclic Existence."

Likewise, without companion factors such as analysis and so on, instant presence, which is free of elaboration like a tip of butter or a point of gold, should be recognized through the gate of self-settling, self-clarity, as intrinsic reality.

Because the nature of instant presence cannot be known by mere "knowing-about," one must establish the locus of footing in that very state; hence, it is crucial to guard un-distractedly the stream of recollection that has left knowing to settle in its own way.

When it has been trained like this, at times there will be dull non-conceptuality where one doesn't know what is what; sometimes a transparent non-conceptuality where the clarity of special insight has not emerged; sometimes one with attachment to blissful experiences; sometimes one without attachment to blissful experiences; sometimes one holding to various experiences of clarity; sometimes one clear and lucid, unpolluted and free from holding; sometimes rough experience that is disagreeable; sometimes smooth experience that pleases the mind; sometimes, because conceptuality becomes very coarse, one will be carried off into outward discursivity; sometimes, because drowsiness and clarity are unseparated, it is murky. Beginningless habituations of conceptuality and the various gusts of karmic winds arise without certainty or fixed measure. It is like seeing various places of ease and ruggedness when traveling a long road; therefore, whatever arises, without deliberate holding, strengthen your own path.

Especially, when untrained, there will be times when the many thoughts blaze like fire and periods when the experiences sway. Do not reject them; keep relaxed and pliant, without breaking the continuity; then later on, various experiences such as attainment will arise in stages.

At this time, in general, regarding the analysis of instant presence and ignorance, all-basis and dharmakāya, consciousness and pristine consciousness—once one has gained confidence in the introduction based on experience through the Lama's pith instructions, when sustaining it: just as water becomes clear if not stirred, when consciousness is left in its own place, unmoved like a still pool, the key point is that its intrinsic reality, self-arisen, self-luminous pristine consciousness, becomes clear by itself; this should be made the main practice. One should not expand proliferations of taking and abandoning, nor swell the movements of scriptural study and inference, thinking "Is this object of my meditation consciousness or pristine consciousness?" Doing so slightly obscures both calm abiding and special insight.

When the training is stabilized as a fusion of the cultivation of calm abiding that keeps steady the stream of recollection which leaves mind to settle, and the self-powered special insight that knows one's own face as self-clarity, then natural settling and the innate radiant clarity of one's own nature will be known as indivisible from the very beginning; the self-arisen pristine consciousness—the intent of the Great Perfection—will become manifest.

This is "The Instruction on Resting in Equality like Space."

Thus, strictly in accordance with the Glorious Saraha:

Having utterly abandoned thought and objects of thought, One should remain like a young child, without thinking.

And regarding the method of resting:

If one strives with tension towards the Lama's speech...

And if one possesses the pith instruction pointing out instant presence:

There is no doubt that the co-emergent will arise.

Thus, the co-emergent nature of mind, instant presence, self-originated pristine consciousness, arises from the very beginning together with one's own mind; since that is not different from the intrinsic reality of all phenomena, it is also the genuine primordial radiant clarity.

Therefore, this way of sustaining intrinsic reality—or the essence of mind, or instant presence knowing its own face, and resting naturally—is the pith instruction that condenses a hundred key points into one. This is what must be guarded continuously. As to the measure of cultivation, it is grasped by the radiant clarity of the night. As for the signs of the right path: faith, compassion, and wisdom increase naturally; one knows that it is easy to realize and involves little difficulty through one's own personal experience. As for it being profound and swift, one attains certainty by comparing the measure of realization with those who enter into this or other paths by accomplishing them with very great exertion.

As for the fruition to be attained by meditating on the radiant clarity of one's own mind, when the obscurations of conceptual thoughts upon that mind and their habitual tendencies naturally clear away, the two knowledges expand without effort, the primordial everlasting dominion is seized, and the three bodies are naturally perfected.

Profound. Guhya. Samaya.

On the 12th day of the full moon of the Pleiades month in the Fire Horse year, this profound instruction, which accords with the easy-to-understand dharma language of direct guidance from the experience of most old realized ones, for the sake of village tantrikas and so forth who wish to practice the nature of mind even though they do not strive much in study and reflection, was arranged by Mipham Jampal Dorje. Maṅgalam.