This Mind is Buddha
My wife and I are sitting atop Craggy Gardens mountain bald. Emptiness is beyond measure. The Earth, Sky, Mountain and Valley express it all perfectly. This whole experience of mind is nothing but the Buddha. The grass is swaying in the breeze. If we really see it we will be enlightened by it. The song birds are on the mountain bald. If we really hear their song it will penetrate through us completely and we will experience it as our own self, our own mind, our own Silence, and it will enlighten us and erase all doubts and confusions.
There is nothing but our own mind. The Buddha shines immaculate as our own mind. Knowing this one singularity all appearances are seen through in an instant and there is no mistaking what we are. In this Oneness the whole world, which is none other than our own mind, shines as freedom, expresses the Truth of the holy scriptures and reveals our own self, reflecting the original face of the perfect one who has always been you. The mind is Buddha and Buddha is the mind. The two once merged and seen as one reveals pure vision. Huineng says, “ If you would walk the highest Way, do not reject the sense domain. For as it is, whole and complete, this sense world is enlightenment”.
The mind becomes quiet through self-introspection. We watch and observe and point the flame of Awareness on the rising and falling of thoughts, emotions, visions, all are seen as apparitions that come and go but hold no real intrinsic value. The mind is seen as empty. Nothing there to hold on to. Nothing at all of substance to what we call mind. Not thinking and nothing to cling to. What is left? Dropping all attachments to the ghosts of the mind and what is there? Empty mind. A moment of pure listening. Nothing special. Pure Awareness. Shining Buddha. Immaculate One. Peace beyond understanding.
The rhododendron blossoms reflecting our own empty mind. The grass moving in the wind. Our own mind. The cloud sitting on the mountain. Our own mind. The song of bird penetrates through me completely. Nothing there to resist it. Nothing for it to bounce off of. It reveals my true nature in an instant if I am quiet enough to receive it. The holy mountain is none other than our own mind.
This mind is Buddha.