The Heart Mirror of the View

An Excerpt from The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

The mirror of the view is boundless, naturally clear, and unchanging. It has the ability to accommodate and fully connect with appearances no matter what is happening, particularly when we feel what is happening is challenging or not good. The ability to open, accommodate and connect is the view, the first mirror.

Having a boundless view is difficult, almost impossible for us. Who has a completely boundless view? I don't. My practice in this life, in one single word, is to open, more and more and more. That is my practice. Our true nature is boundless; our experiences are bounded. When we are able to understand one boundary and clear it, we are getting closer to our boundless nature.

The view says that our true nature is open. Often we close, though, because we fear losing something and want to protect ourselves. We may be facing a particular challenge, and there is some pain and effort related to it. But that doesn't mean we have to stop opening our heart. This is what I always tell myself. Our heart, our attitude toward other people, our approach to life, what we do, how we do it, closing is not an option. We can have some compassion for ourselves and take a break. But we have to come back and open our heart.

Recognizing who we are, our true nature, is not easy. Even having a teacher introduce or point out your true nature might not help. It depends on your readiness. This is why we speak about pain identity. Pain identity is who you are not. Each time you recognize a pain identity, you begin to realize its limitations and the possibility that it can be overcome. With every specific situation you can see how open you are and how closed you are. You realize there is a way to let go of the pain identity, and then you realize there is something bigger and wider and more boundless than that. This is spiritual development. You are going deeper into that boundless essence, who truly you are, a place where you are free from your own created conditions.

It is very important to bring awareness and understanding of the view into our own lives. We are not trying to learn philosophy. We are trying to be more open in all areas of our lives.

Kuntu Zangpo, All GoodThe text of the first mirror begins with these words: Homage to the Self-Liberated and Supremely Realized Teacher, the ever excellent one, Kuntu Zangpo. In the Tibetan Bon tradition, Kuntu Zangpo is known as the primordial Buddha. The ancient texts refer to Kuntu Zangpo as being primordially pure, naturally clear self-awareness, the unity of emptiness and awareness. This is the dharmakaya (bon ku), the true nature of who we are. Kuntu Zangpo means all good, the sense that we are naturally clear and pure, impartial, and unbiased. In this nature of great wisdom, even samsara and nirvana have no root.

We are not talking about something outside ourselves here. The teacher within is Kuntu Zangpo. In the dzogchen teachings this is really important to understand. We are not separate from the essence, from reality, society, or collective unbounded consciousness; we are one with that. Being more open means being unbiased rather than separate and destructive and egoistic. We are meant to be open, connected, and self-healing, to help others.

I'm not saying there is no value in connecting to outer refuge and outer deities or teachers. We don't want to connect with any teacher, though, and lose connection with ourselves. The whole reason a teacher is here is to help you so you can connect with yourself. Every good teacher would say the same thing. Your own experiences, regardless of how difficult they are, can teach you far more than advice from anyone else, if you are a good learner. Advice from other people is their experience of what is right. Since it might not be your experience, it doesn't help as much. But if you realize something from an experience you consider challenging, it has so much more power, so much more blessing, so much more capacity to teach you.

For the past couple of years I have been thinking a lot about Kuntu Zangpo. Even if a situation looks dark and difficult, something is good in that situation. What has been challenging to you recently? Can you see any good in that challenge? If you focus on what the situation is trying to teach you, you will learn so much. Whatever your experiences are at this very moment, someone is being difficult, or a situation is difficult, or you, yourself are being difficult, look at how focused you are on trying to see something wrong with that situation. Can you see that pattern?

You may think, Oh, I get it, but you have no idea what I'm going through. We all have gone through a lot. If you really see the goodness in it, or at least are more open to it, in that very moment you are opening the door. It is becoming a mirror. You are seeing something in yourself that you have not seen before. That seeing, that knowing, by itself will open up more space.

Awareness of the space of being is the greatest processor of things. Whatever experiences are happening, self-arising, and staying, if you don't grasp they go away. Whatever your experiences, are you able to rest in the nature of mind and not be affected by them?

We often hold the idea that something is inherently wrong or bad. How can something be fundamentally wrong? It is wrong only when we cannot accommodate it. All species, all trees and flowers, have friction among themselves when they are not able to diversify or accommodate each other. Not one is wrong fundamentally. It is the same with a virus; we are trying to develop immunity. From the dharma point of view, we are trying to be immune to our ignorance, our ego, our pain. We are trying to be immune to all the difficult situations in life. These challenging situations don't have to destroy you; they have the potential to make you stronger and clearer, to open up more possibilities.

In order for that to happen, we must follow this important instruction: leave it as it is. All the experiences you are going through at this particular moment, leave them as they are. There is something good in them. Maybe it is difficult to do, but at least try to see how fixated you are on seeing something wrong in them.

Look at the experiences in your life. Don't look at anybody else, your kids, spouse, boss, other people. I'm not talking about other people; I'm talking about you. Have these experiences been a mirror to see yourself, who you are, more clearly? Or perhaps they have been like a mirror to see who you are not. Either way is great if you are really seeing yourself. Also pay special attention to all the effort to avoid, to run away, to hide, to connect, to feel or not feel. Pay attention to your relationship to all the appearances, experiences, and efforts in your life. Bring more light and awareness to them.

(The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen is published by Sacred Sky Press, a division of Ligmincha International committed to making the sacred teachings and practices of the Tibetan Bon Buddhist tradition more widely available. It is available at the Ligmincha Online Store.