‧Written by Sheng-yen Lu‧
(continued from pg A7 , TBN issue # 1181)
When the lights become absolutely clear and transparent, and the adept is able to maintain a stable condition, the adept’s lights will merge with the compassionate buddhas’ light that encompasses the Dharmakaya Tathagatas of the ten directions. It is like the lights of two mirrors that reflect off one another. The lights from the adept’s heart interact and interconnect with the buddhas’ light in such a subtle and intimate way that no outsider can possibly perceive or understand it. The union of these two forms of light is supremely pure and sublime, and when one abides in this state of union, this constitutes the Clear Light Yoga.
I once wrote a book recounting this Clear Light Yoga, which became The Illuminated Way of Meditation. It described the following points:
1. Focusing the spirit, wherein one is absorbed with the spiritual eye.
2. Emptying the mind, wherein one sees the true nature of things.
3. Constant quiescence, wherein light appears.
The Clear Light Yoga mainly deals with the doctrine of “merging.” In my case, for example, I can merge with pure sunlight when the sun is shining bright, and merge with moonlight during the night. I am able to move in and out of the crown chakra as the light within me projects according to the will of my mind and spirit.
The Tibetan gurus who transmit Mahamudra require that disciples must first recognize the “true nature of lights,” and then learn to “differentiate between the grades and degrees of differences between the types of pure lights,” before finally recognizing the attainment of the clear light. The first part is theoretical. The second part is concerned with differentiating the differences between the lights attained by the adept. The third part maintains that, through cultivation, the adept’s light will obtain responses with the buddhas’ light, thereby attaining the realm of wisdom and clear light through the merging of the two lights.
Now I shall reveal a secret to you:
Where does light come from? Light arises from the interval of space between the end of one thought and the arrival of the next thought. Light is produced in this space between thoughts. This is the Mahamudra of Meditative Absorption, the very secret that Noble Tilopa taught: “Think of nothing, and pursue nothing. When you practice no contemplation, no thought, and do think not of the primal consciousness of the universe or the light of the primal self, the clear light shall reveal itself under these conditions. This light does not arise from the primal consciousness of the universe, nor does it come from oneself. It is an inherent pure light that already exists, which reveals
itself completely in the space between two connecting thoughts. The light is of itself spiritually clear and vibrant!”
(to be continued)
