Taking It All In

Taking It All In

F.S.C. Northrup’s reference to “the undifferentiated continuum” and “the differentiated continuum” suggests that these continuums meet seamlessly at their fulcrum, balancing each other out metaphorically. In its implied relationship to awareness in the human psyche, the undifferentiated aspect would seem to be equivalent to what Eastern mystics, such as Huang Po specifically, term “original mind”—awareness (as per the definition sometimes given of rigpa, in Dzochen) “which existed before we saw ourselves as a self”; that would be pre-egoic, to the extent that “ego” is a conscious construct of one’s psyche. Therefore, since thought patterns are the framework of the egoic construction, rigpa is sometimes also described comparatively as “awareness free of distorting thought patterns.” From the standpoint of Northrup’s terminology, the differentiated continuum represents the end (of the spectrum) which is not free of confused thinking. In a simplification, one might speak of a scale, with “absolute awareness” at one end, and “relative awareness” a component interfacing that. “Relative awareness” is more readily understood by most people, since it is the “state of mind” which the “individual person” identifies oneself with (and by). This cognition recognizes each form encountered as separate in its context: the “I” against the backdrop of the universe. From here, as the Buddhists suggest, Samsara arises. This is the dualistic mind, which places value on the antagonistic polarities of such contentious images as

“good” versus “bad,” “right or wrong,” “us and them,” etc. Ergo: “These are my thoughts. Some of my thoughts are good. Some of my thoughts are bad. I must retain the good thoughts and dispose of the bad thoughts.” This is a mind which limits its purview to isolated forms, each of which exists in relationship to some contrasting others. Due to the habitual separativeness of its thought patterns, it is restrained from gravitating across the continuum to its potential freedom in Absolute awareness; or the presence of the condition which rigpa implies. Rigpa being difficult to elucidate, the Dalai Lama speaks of a non-dualistic meditation “where the mind is returned to a primordial [“original”] and natural state…(where) there is no sense of subject and object”: such as ‘me’ and my ‘bad thoughts.’ With the severing of the limitation of separative identifications, such as me and thoughts, “there is no attachment, or agitation at having these ‘reflections’ in your mind…You are not pre-occupied by what arises in the mind, nor does it cause you any distress.” This “fundamental innate mind of clear light…is an everabiding continuum of mind, which is inherent within us.” Absolute awareness is not some phenomenon which we are apart from. Put another way, with the word continuum in mind, we could state: “The Absolute mind is the Buddha mind. The relative mind is the Buddha mind.” The Absolute mind, operating without limitation of form, has unhindered access to the relative mind. The relative mind, though not disconnected from Absolute awareness, is limited in its access, because of its attachment to the either-or polarities.

The entire continuum is inherent within us: the differentiated aspect is all-too familiar to us; the undifferentiated aspect is potentially also familiar to us—once the limiting tether of self-imposed separativeness is severed. At that point, one’s awareness is free to move along the continuum to be present in the Absolute and/or relative reality, as circumstances dictate.

In plain terms, the presence of non-dual awareness does not shackle the seer to an inert, vegetative stupor; nor does the presence of relative awareness consign the seer to an unrelieved future of petty concerns. His normative condition is one of unrestrained awareness, restrained when and where necessary to engage specific conditions. Rigpa is our “natural state”: “The fundamental innate mind of clear light,” says the Dalai Lama, “is considered to be the nature of mind, or the ultimate root of consciousness….

“Yet it is not some unconscious state where you do not know anything, or never think of anything at all…. When this aware aspect of clear-light rigpa is directly introduced and recognized, it can be identified even in the very thick of arising thoughts.”

So, the thought arises, “This is a bad thought. I must remove it!” And the awareness is, “This too is the Buddha mind!”

“This earth where we stand is the pure lotus land And this very body, the body of Buddha.” – “Zazen Wasan” (Song of Zazen) by Hakuin