The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

THE GROUND 267
so, the more our habits dissolve, and the less of a difference
there is between meditation and everyday life. Gradually you
become like someone who can walk straight out into the garden
through the glass door, unobstructed. And the sign that
the ground of the ordinary mind is weakening is that we are
able to rest more and more effortlessly in the nature of mind.
When the Ground Luminosity dawns, the crucial issue will
be how much we have been able to rest in the nature of
mind, how much we have been able to unite our absolute
nature and our everyday life, and how much we have been
able to purify our ordinary condition into the state of primordial
purity.
THE MEETING OF MOTHER AND CHILD
There is a way in which we can prepare completely to recognize
the dawning of the Ground Luminosity at the moment
of death. This is through the very highest level of meditation
(as I have explained in Chapter 10, "The Innermost Essence"),
the final fruition of the practice of Dzogchen. It is called the
"union of two luminosities," which is also known as "the
merging of Mother and Child Luminosities."
The Mother Luminosity is the name we give to the Ground
Luminosity. This is the fundamental, inherent nature of everything,
which underlies our whole experience, and which manifests
in its full glory at the moment of death.
The Child Luminosity, also called the Path Luminosity, is
the nature of our mind, which, if introduced by the master,
and if recognized by us, we can then gradually stabilize
through meditation, and more and more completely integrate
into our action in life. When the integration is complete,
recognition is complete and realization occurs.
Even though the Ground Luminosity is our inherent nature
and the nature of everything, we do not recognize it, and it
remains as if hidden. I like to think of the Child Luminosity as
a key the master gives us to help us open the door to the
recognition of the Ground Luminosity, whenever the opportunity
arises.
Imagine that you have to meet a woman arriving by plane.
If you have no idea what she looks like, you might go to the
airport and she could walk right past you and you would miss
her. If you have a photo of her that is a good likeness, and
you have a good picture of her in your mind, then you will
recognize her as soon as she approaches you.