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

THE UNIVERSAL PROCESS 349
1. The Ground Luminosity, the absolute nature of mind, is
the primordial state of Rigpa that exists before any thought or
emotion.
2. Within its unconditioned space, a fundamental energy
stirs, the spontaneous radiance of Rigpa, which begins to arise
as the basis, the potential, and the fuel for raw emotion.
3. This energy can then take on the forms of emotions and
thoughts, which eventually propel us into action and cause us
to accumulate karma.
It is when we become intimately familiar with meditation
practice that we can see this process with unmistakable clarity:
1. As thoughts and emotions gradually fall silent, and die
away and dissolve into the nature of mind, we may momentarily
glimpse the nature of mind, the Rigpa itself: the primordial
state.
2. Then we become aware that out of the stillness and
calm of the nature of mind unfolds a movement and raw
energy, its very self-radiance.
3. If any grasping enters into the rising of that energy, the
energy inevitably crystallizes into thought forms, which in
turn will carry us back into conceptual and mental activity.
THE PROCESS IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Now that we have looked at the way this process reproduces
itself in sleep and dream, and the very formation of
thought and emotion, let us see it at work in our day-to-day
experience of our everyday life.
This is best done by looking closely at one movement of
joy or anger. Examine that movement and you will see that
there exists always a space or gap before any emotion begins
to arise. That pregnant moment before the energy of emotion
has a chance to arise is a moment of pure, pristine awareness,
in which we could, if we let ourselves, have a glimpse of the
true nature of mind. For an instant the spell of ignorance is
broken; we are totally freed from any need or possibility of
grasping, and even the notion of "clinging" is made ridiculous
and redundant. However, instead of embracing the "emptiness"
of that gap, in which we could find the bliss of being
free from and unburdened by any idea, reference, or concept,
we grasp at the dubious security of the familiar, comforting
drama of our emotions, driven by our deep habitual tendencies.
And this is how an inherently unconditioned energy