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The Great Vehicle of Embracing – Do Not Place Too Much Trust in Your Own Ability
The aspect of imagined projection is the manifestation of things that do not possess a true, inherent nature, yet appear as if they are real, causing us to mistakenly grasp at an independent reality; in contrast, the aspect of perfect reality is the complete absence of the notion of an inherent nature within the sphere of dependent arising. All phenomena are only consciousness, only manifestation, without a fixed self-nature: like electrons or photons in atomic physics, which elude us like ghosts, “impossible to grasp”; when we observe an electron with light, it changes immediately; similarly, mindfulness is the energy that transforms both the object and the subject, both merging as one in the manifestation-only.
The nature of dependent arising emphasizes the interdependent relationship among all dharmas, making it impossible to separate any element:
- the first three manifestations are the six sense bases (the body, the subject of the body, the subject that receives)
- the six manifestations as objects of reception are the six external sense objects
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the six manifestations as the subject of perception are the six consciousnesses
the remaining manifestations are distributed from these three groups, all within the limits of sense experience. Practitioners are invited to let go of attachment through the images of a snowflake melting in the hand, a dream, or a wave on the surface of water, to dwell peacefully in the present moment, transcend imagined projection, and live happily in the reality of perfect manifestation.