So how is this mind, really? In essence, it is empty — 100% so. There is no doubt about this. It is empty, and has primordially been so.
The analogy often used here is that of space. Space is primordially empty. There is no maker or creator of space. The mind, as it really is, is empty.
How it appears, or seems to be, is that there is a nature that cognizes. This cognizant quality of empty mind is ever-knowing. Whatever takes place can be known, whether it is संसार (Samsāra), the path or निर्वाण (Nirvāṇa).
These two aspects are called the real and the seeming. The real is empty. The seeming is that there is something that experiences whatever is.
The essence of mind includes the three Kayas of the Buddhas: you can say there is the Buddha which is empty essence, the Buddha which is cognizant nature, and the Buddha which is all pervasive capacity.
Rather than being three different types of Buddha, they are indivisible — and this indivisibility is itself the essence-body. This indivisible nature is present in every single being, as the continuity of one’s mind. If we recognize this indivisible nature as our natural face, we don’t need to seek a Buddha elsewhere. If you do end up seeking a Buddha in some other place, there isn’t any defined. This is what is meant by the famous line: although my mind is the Buddha, I fail to see it.
The Buddha nature is present in everyone: the extent to which we can comprehend this makes an incredible difference. Some people, by simply hearing one sentence of this teaching, will immediately understand. Others don’t get the point, they don’t comprehend — no matter how much is said. Whether one understands or not is dependent on what particular body supports, and what particular type of mindset this Buddha nature is connected to; but Buddha-nature itself is present in everyone, with no decrease or increase, change or alteration between individuals. It is not that one person has an eminent Buddha-nature, or someone else has a low-grade Buddha-nature. It is not that बुद्ध (Buddha) Samantabhadra has a really wonderful Buddha nature, while a dog, or a pig, has an inferior Buddha nature, or maybe none at all. There is actually no difference, whatsoever, between their essential Buddha-natures. Our task is to recognize and realize our own Buddha nature.
However if we are in a body that is incapable of this, we can’t do so. Even the strongest animals like elephants and tigers, have no way to realize their own nature. We may be living in a dark age, but we still have the ability to recognize our own nature. An old prediction has it: when the age of degeneration is rampant, the Vajrayana teachings will spread like wildfire. When the three poisons are ablaze in people’s minds, it is easier to acknowledge their antidote: which is the recognition of Buddha nature.
Everything is included within the seeming and the real. As for the real, remember that mind is primordially empty. It is original wakefulness that is empty in essence, cognizant by nature and all-pervasive in its capacity. This original wakefulness is not a blank void: it is cognizant, it has the ability to know. When we talk about the real, the original, this is what it is.
Mind is also the unity of experience and emptiness. You could say that the seeming and the real are a unity as well, and that mind is the unity of experience and emptiness. It is like the sun and the sunshine, like the body and limbs, like the sky and clouds. The seeming is the expression of the real in the very same way. Right now, we experience the elements of earth, water, fire, wind and space as external to ourselves: they appear to us through our five senses. The seeming presence of that which experiences is mind. Without mind, would there be anything that appears? To what would these appearances manifest? Because mind experiences, you cannot deny that there is appearance. To say that there are no appearances is a lie. You cannot deny the seeming reality of appearances, because what experiences is mind. But remember, this mind is empty.
But its way of being empty is not the same as that of appearances. Mind can experience anything, but it cannot be destroyed. Its original nature is the Dharmakaya of all Buddhas. You cannot actually do anything to mind: you can’t change it, wash it away, bury it, or burn it. What is truly empty though is all the appearances that appear to the mind, because all these appearances are ultimately empty, and will vanish completely, we really don’t have to worry about them too much. They’re really just a magical display, just like when demons conjure up some magic to fool you. All appearances are a magical display, experienced only by mind.
In fact, we can say that the experiencing of appearances is the magical display of mind. Self-existing wakefulness is in all beings. It simply needs to be known. Our inherently present wakefulness is not something we’ll find in the future, nor something we had in the past. It is present right now, and it is something that we don’t have to accept or reject. Don’t do anything to it. Don’t adopt it, don’t avoid it. Don’t entertain any hope or fear about it. Don’t try to change it or alter it or improve it in any way. It is not necessary at all.
Recognizing self-existing wakefulness is not the same as looking at the thinking mind, which means simply to notice what is occuring in one’s mind: now I am happy, now I am sad. And after noticing, we get involved again in whatever is taking place within our confused thinking.
Sentient beings roam about in Samsara in exactly this fashion: by chasing after their own thoughts. When they feel happy, they get engrossed in that and laugh and laugh. When they feel sad, they sit and cry.
Simply let mind recognize itself. Like cutting through the thinking. This emptiness is not something we imagine by meditating, it is naturally and originally so. There is no need to merely think it is empty. Simply remain, without imagining or thinking anything.
The moment you think: “now it is empty” — a thought has already snuck in. This is unnecessary. The continual process of forming concepts, and being attached, is itself the root of संसार (Samsāra). You don’t have to think: “this is right, or this is not right.” Be free from even a hair-tip of conceptual thought. This is called recognizing present-wakefulness.
Mind is in essence empty. However it has a cognizant nature of clearly knowing whatever is at any moment. These two aspects, being empty and being cognizant, are a primordial unity. You don’t need to grasp at mind-essence as something, like you, the subject knowing that, an object. Empty and cognizant are a natural unity, just as water is naturally wet and fire is naturally hot. There is no need for an observer, and something observed. Or for the making of a thought: “now I see it” — that would be holding a concept in mind.
Recognize the thinker, and the thought vanishes by itself. Because a thought has no inherent stability. Every thought is empty. When you truly look at it, it can only vanish naturally. Once you truly discover this, there is no need to look here and there. Just let be.
In the moment of experiencing mind-essence, isn’t it impossible to find any word for how it really is? If you do form words about it, “now it is empty, now it is cognizant” — aren’t those simply words that crowd the mind? When the whole point is to allow our thinking to dissolve, what is the use of forming more thoughts?
Transcendent knowledge is beyond thought, word and description. The moment you recognize mind-essence, it is impossible to find words and descriptions for how it is. Allow your thinking to vanish, to dissolve — to simply disappear, naturally.
There is only one way to dissolve thinking, and that is to recognize your nature. The thought, at that moment, vanishes all by itself, without any trace left.