Our most enduring source of optimism & resilience: our Buddha nature

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Photo by Cristian Grecu on Unsplash

Whether we are completely new to Buddhism or have been practicing for years, and no matter what our age or conditioning, there will be times when we come up against aspects of the Dharma that feel daunting. Practices we haven’t done but feel we ought to – or do a lot better! – complexities so maddeningly subtle that we can’t simply get our heads around them, or other challenges we find unsettling.

Many people are discouraged from exploring the Dharma at all, put off by basic things like the iconography used in Buddhist temples or seemingly bizarre rituals.

At such difficult moments it can be helpful to return to the basic truth taught by the Buddha. A truth that doesn’t require us to believe or do anything - but that we can observe for ourselves to be real . One that, whatever we are going through, is a source of abiding peace and profound wellbeing.

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Buddha’s main interest was the mind. He was the ultimate psychologist, millennia before we began taking consciousness seriously in the West. He didn’t come from nowhere but stood on the shoulders of the giants who had gone before him. What he did that was so extraordinary was to realise the ultimate potential of his own mind directly – and then to describe how we might do the same.

What he explained about consciousness is that no matter what horrors, hatreds, torments or traumas we may have endured, none of these can affect us permanently. We may have done the most terrible things for which we now suffer. Each one of us will go through our own dark night of the soul – who knows, perhaps many such nights.

But all is temporary.

Our minds cannot be permanently tainted any more than water can be permanently polluted, or the sky can be permanently concealed by cloud. The phrase ‘adventitious defilements’ is sometimes used to describe negativities. Looking up the word ‘adventitious’ in the dictionary, I find it defined as: happening as a result of an external factor or chance rather than design or inherent nature.

Which is precisely Buddha’s point. Our minds are not inherently defiled, afflicted or miserable. Quite the opposite – we are pure! Our true nature is that of clear knowing. Our minds are sky-like: a panoramic clarity enabling any thought, sensation or feeling to arise. And in the same way that the sky has no beginning or end, our consciousness cannot be defined according to boundaries. If we are able to sit in clear awareness for even the shortest time, we can also come to recognise that our minds have a quality that is naturally tranquil. Serene.

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Buddha’s most fundamental teaching is that we all have tathagatagharba – Buddha nature. This is our true state. This is who we really are: pristine clarity, boundlessness and peace.  Understanding and internalising this can become our own personal wellspring of heartfelt wellbeing.

If I was to suggest that you slip your hand into your pocket where, to your surprise, you found a gleaming, gold amulet studded with rare and precious jewels, how wonderful would that discovery be?

So too your Buddha nature, your tathagatagarbha. It has always been right there, sitting in your pocket. You don’t have to do anything to acquire it – it’s yours already. You don’t have to go anywhere, pay anyone, or manufacture anything. You have it and no one can take it away from you.

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We can confirm the truth of this for ourselves. Simply sitting and watching consciousness in the role of impartial observers, we can see how thoughts arise, abide and pass through a continuum of clarity. They have no power to remain unless we engage them with our attention. We are the masters of our consciousness, even though, for the most part, we may not recognise it. It is we who choose - usually unknowingly - which thoughts remain and recur when we energise them with our focus. The discovery of our Buddha nature inspires us to take conscious control of this process.

Saying that we have Buddha nature is not the same as saying that we are Buddhas, however. That’s where Mr. or Ms. Ego comes in saying “Well, what d’ya know? My mind is a formless continuum of clear knowing: I’m enlightened!”

An oak tree is related to an acorn, but they aren’t the same thing! Which is where training and practice come in, as we coax that acorn to germinate and an oak sapling to grow. And where we sometimes feel challenged, daunted and discouraged.

But let’s not lose sight of what matters most. Of all the many quintillions of possibilities of consciousness on this earth, from the most humble bug upwards, we possess an almost impossibly rare form: a human life with an inclination to inner growth. Even among the many millions of humans with an interest in inner growth, how few have ever heard of terms like bodhichitta and shunyata, which we explore so often here on this page, whether in stories or non-fiction posts? How few have any understanding of Buddha nature and of taking charge of their own consciousness?

So few, I would suggest, that it feels unbelievable that we are somehow among them.

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If your activities in Dharma-land are leaving you at all frazzled, frustrated, disenchanted, or depressed - relax! Give yourself a break! Among our small band of spiritual warriors, very few are probably going to make it to enlightenment in this lifetime. But we do have the power to purify limitless negativities and accumulate the most extraordinary virtue and merit, our most precious legacy not only to those we live among presently, but also to that unknown future self we will experience as ‘me.’

Let’s not lose sight of the prize that we already possess. The treasure that, once recognised, must inevitably become manifest. You and I, dear reader, are the possessors of Buddha nature, tathagatagarbha. And the opportunities this empowers in us is an unprecedented wonder!

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In the ten minute video below, I share a practice that helps us gain direct experience of the true nature of our minds.

Those readers who prefer viewing videos on YouTube can do so here.

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You can find a related metaphorical tale and further insights on this subject here.

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