Vajrayana Buddhism emphasizes the importance of pure perception, the recognition of the essential purity and sacredness of our experience. On one level, this pure view means understanding all forms as the body of deity, clearly appearing yet empty of inherent solidity, all sounds as the tune of mantra, naturally free in the expanse of open awareness, resounding like echoes, and all mental events as inseparable from their essence, substanceless knowing, dharmakaya. On the ultimate level, these points are accomplished by simply recognizing the fundamental nature of all experience, the empty clarity of awareness.
These words, composed in stream-of-consciousness fashion, express pure view’s rapture.
Swim for a while in the sacredness,
the marvelous magic of this life.
Turn the mind to its empty essence,
and allow attention to be absorbed
into pure, luminous awareness.
Constricting, deadening concepts fall away;
the insufferable weight of past and future
evaporates.
The show appears as it is,
in glorious suchness.
O Lord, the mind-shattering wonder of it all!
Dancing, radiant, rainbow light display —
fluid, ever-changing, intricate,
every leaf a jewel,
every creature the greatest wonder ever known.
Fluttering currents of air: the mystery of sound!
The rapture of music, the incredible miracle of speech!
All sounds the words of God
tumbling out from the void,
never apart from void,
melodies of mantra.
The pure land, right here, right now —
heaven on earth. Earth AS heaven.
All form the display of the divine,
an unfolding, self-aware cosmic dance.
The highest offering, the greatest gift
presented as each and every moment.
Bliss, heartbreak, the softening ache of loneliness,
furious celebration, FIRE!
The center of the sun, blazing…
and still, the devastating pain of
our violence against one other.
Wondrous machines,
the quenching beauty of rivers,
bodies
on bodies
making symphonies of pleasure.
The whole thing
an inexhaustible treasure trove of display,
indivisible from that vast,
bright expanse of knowing.
Your own sensorium: all the riches of the kingdom.
More wealth than could ever be imagined,
magically appearing with no magician.
A never-ending stream of blessings.
Filling beyond fullness,
to overflowing,
to ecstasy.
No words can contain this ever-present miracle.
All tired identities fall away,
leaving only God,
only the whole, dancing itself.
Union, togetherness beyond “one” and “two.”
Love; endless love, causeless love.
Infinity — aware, empty, blossoming.
May these words bring benefit.
Featured image by Ben Kerckx, Belgien and photo of girl by Unsplash, England.