Three Times

Three times I have tried to write about the ‘end’ of the path. Each time begins well, until I attempt to describe the emergence of primal wisdom once conditionality ceases. Then, words become clumsy, and explanation, unsatisfactory.

The path ends, but it is impossible to describe how or why in any truly satisfying way. With the realisation that even words are transient symbols of limited accuracy, one must rely on poetic absence to approach what ultimately cannot be resolved conceptually.

The premise is this: once one realises one’s own Buddha nature, one recognises that all phenomena are tricks of the mind. Phenomena are not real, but they appear real. What we take to be real are mental copies of what is real. All phenomena are threefold:

• The true phenomena, based on mental emptiness — an awareness that hides from itself, a field of knowing awareness appearing empty to itself.
• The shadow of phenomena — the first layer of perceptual superimposition that creates the sense of object and subject.
• The mental reflection of phenomena — the layer where meaning, evaluation, and attachment are attributed.

To illustrate, consider hearing. When we hear background noise — sound lacking definition — we are aware of Alaya: dull, non-specific awareness. But when someone speaks, we no longer hear raw sound, but instead their words. This seamless mental adjustment occurs in fluent speakers without effort.

Similarly, if we hear unfamiliar music or an unknown language, we experience raw sensory Alaya. But when we recognise familiar words, our perception shifts. The original, raw awareness becomes eclipsed by the shadow — in this case, the words themselves. Furthermore, unless we are arahants, we automatically assign meaning to the words — creating the reflection of phenomena.

The arahant perceives only the shadow of phenomena, liberated from emotional projection. The Buddha, having eliminated even the subtlest skandhic residues, recognises only the true, empty nature of phenomena — like optical mirages: apparent from certain angles but lacking any true substance.

There. I will finish it now before I go too deep and run out of words.

“Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Form is not other than emptiness; emptiness is not other than form.”
— The Heart Sutra