The Clear Light Nature of the Mind
Sonam, Ruth, trans and ed. "The Clear Light Nature of the Mind." In Buddha Nature: Oral Teachings by Geshe Sonam Rinchen, 19–28. New Delhi: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2003.
The Madhyamika school draws on the Essence of Those Thus Gone Sutra and on Maitreya's Sublime Continuum, according to which the nature of our minds is not affected by the temporary stains which are present, such as the disturbing emotions. The fundamental nature, namely the emptiness of our minds with these stains, is the innately
abiding disposition. Nagarjuna in his Praise of the Sphere of Phenomena[1] and Maitreya in his Sublime Continuum compare our minds to a cloudy sky, polluted water and alloyed gold. But the clouds are not an intrinsic part of the sky, nor are pollutants intrinsic to the water, and the alloys are not an integral part of the gold. The mind is not affected in its nature by these temporary stains but is clear and cognizant. This is its conventional nature. The Sublime Continuum says
Like that which is precious, the sky and pure water,
Its nature is always free of disturbing emotions.[2]
No matter how muddy and polluted the water is, those pollutants do not affect the actual nature of the water. When the water is muddy, a reflection will not appear clearly in it. Similarly, while our minds are affected by these temporary stains, nothing can appear to them very clearly. The pollutants are extraneous to the water. Just so, the mental stains are extraneous to the clear and cognizant nature of our minds. That clarity is its natural condition.
According to the Madhyamika school, the innately abiding disposition is the reality or suchness of the mind with stains,[3] namely its freedom from the so-called natural stain of true existence. Only the suchness of a mind with stains is called the innately abiding disposition and not every instance of suchness such as the emptiness of a table.
To the Madhyamikas, the Chittamatra assertion that the seed for uncontaminated mind is the innately abiding disposition, which is simply another name for the cause of the truth body of an enlightened being, is unacceptable. They say that if that were the case then because the developmental disposition is merely another name for the cause of the truth body, there would be no difference between it and the innately abiding disposition. Proponents of the Chittamatra view rebut this by contending that while the seed for uncontaminated mind has not been activated, it is the innately abiding disposition but once it has been activated through hearing and thinking about the teachings, it is the developmental disposition. Thus the two are not the same. They claim that the same fault of there being no difference between the two would apply to the Madhyamikas, who assert that the innately abiding disposition and the developmental disposition are other names for what becomes the truth body of an enlightened being.
The Madhyamikas answer that the fault does not apply to them because the innately abiding disposition is another name for the reality of the mind, which will eventually be the nature body of an enlightened being while the developmental disposition is the cause of the wisdom truth body. They argue that the seed for uncontaminated wisdom cannot be the innately abiding disposition because according to the proponents of true existence this seed is a product which comes into existence through causes and conditions. The Madhyamikas assert that the innately abiding disposition—the clear and cognizant nature of the mind—is a non-product whereas the developmental disposition is a product, so there is a fundamental difference between these two aspects of the disposition.
The presentation of Buddha nature according to Maitreya's Sublime Continuum consists of a concise explanation of the topic, its elaboration and the reasons for explaining Buddha nature. The Sublime Continuum presents seven topics or sources of the adamantine.[4] Sources here refer to the collection of syllables, composing words and phrases that act as a source or basis for the elucidation, revelation and understanding of the seven adamantine topics.
They are said to be adamantine because they are impenetrable and cannot be understood exactly as they are by an understanding derived from hearing and thinking about them. Words cannot fully express them. Nor can conceptual thought completely comprehend them in the way that they are experienced during the meditative equipoise of an exalted one directly perceiving their emptiness or as they are understood by such a one in the period which follows that meditative equipoise.
The first three are the three objects of refuge: the jewel of the Buddhas, the jewel of the teachings and the jewel of the spiritual community. The fourth topic is the constituent,[5] which here refers to Buddha nature; the fifth is enlightenment; the sixth is qualities, and the seventh is enlightened activity.[6] The first three are the result which is only possible through the presence of Buddha nature, the disposition for enlightenment.
The Sublime Continuum mentions what is said in the Essence of Those Thus Gone Sutra, namely that all embodied beings have the essence of Those Thus Gone, which is to say that they always have Buddha nature. The Sublime Continuum says
Because the fully enlightened body emanates,
And because suchness is undifferentiated,
And because they have the disposition, all the embodied
Always have the essence of Buddhahood.[7]
The three ways in which they have the essence of Those Thus Gone, also referred to as the constituent essence of Those Gone to Bliss,[8] are that they share receptivity to enlightened activity, that they have the same fundamental nature and that the disposition is present in them. The first is their receptivity to the enlightened activity which emanates from the truth body. The enlightened activity here refers to virtue. There is no living being who has never created any virtue. To create virtue one must have the potential to do so. This potential is the disposition, the essence of Those Gone to Bliss. All living beings have at some time been born as human or celestial beings, so they have been receptive to the enlightened activity which is a cause for high status, namely the happiness experienced in a good rebirth. They also have the potential to receive the enlightened activity which leads to liberation or enlightenment, states referred to as definite goodness.[9]
- Dharmadhātustotra, Chos kyi gbyings su bstod pa, P2010, Vol.46. The Indian master Nagarjuna (Klu sgrub, first to second century) was the trailblazer who established the Madhyamika or Middle Way system of philosophical tenets which propound that while nothing has true existence, the conventional existence of actions and agents is feasible. His most famous work, the Treatise on the Middle Way (Madhyamakaśāstra, dBu ma'i bstan bcos, P5224, Vol.95), also called Fundamental Wisdom (rTsa ba shes rab), is a work in twenty-seven chapters which presents the explicit content of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. Employing a wide variety of approaches and lines of reasoning, it emphasizes dependent arising and explains the paths of insight related to the understanding of emptiness.
- rin chen nam mkha' chu dag bzhin // rtag tu rang bzhin nyon mongs med
- The reality of the mind with stains: dri ma dang bcas pa'i sems kyi chos nyid, the suchness of the mind with stains: dri ma dang bcas pa'i sems kyi de bzhin nyid
- Sources of the adamantine: rdo rje'i gnas
- The constituent: khams
- The seven vajra topics are: the enlightened ones (sangs rgyas), the teachings (chos), the spiritual community (dge 'dun), the constituent, (khams) which refers to Buddha nature, enlightenment (byang chub), qualities (yon tan) and enlightened activity (phrin las).
- rdzogs sangs sku'i ni 'phro phyir dang // de bzhin nyid dbyer med phyir dang // rigs yod phyir na lus can kun // rtags tu sang rgyas snyingpo can
- The essence of Those Thus Gone: de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po; the constituent which is the essence of Those Gone to Bliss: khams bde bar gshegs pa'i snying po
- High status: mngon mtho; definite goodness: nges legs
