Fri, 02 Oct 2009
Untouched by Evil
Today's verse from Ganges Mahamudra is easily misunderstood:
For example, space transcends color and form. It is immutable and without a tinge of black or white. Similarly, the mind itself, beyond color and form, is untainted by the white and black phenomena of virtue and evil.
Here's another analogy to explain the analogy. Suppose a jeweler was carrying a sack of diamonds and dropped the sack so that half the diamonds fell out and were covered by mud. He wouldn't think the diamonds covered with mud had any less value than the diamonds that were clean. But, before he sold the diamonds, he would make sure he had cleaned off every last speck of the mud. The point of the analogy is that we all are buddhas. When we are bad, we are buddhas behaving badly and when we are good, we are buddhas behaving well. From one perspective there is a big difference, from another, none at all. When you see your mind from the perspective that sees no difference, you will see that there is nothing to do or accomplish. But, paradoxically, you are motivated to do it anyway.
Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen is visiting Malysia and has a short interview in a paper there.
