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

THE NATURE OF MIND 51
1. The nature of mind is just too close to be recognized. Just
as we are unable to see our own face, mind finds it difficult to
look into its own nature.
2. It is too profound for us to fathom. We have no idea how
deep it could be; if we did, we would have already, to a certain
extent, realized it.
3. It is too easy for us to believe. In reality, all we need do
is simply to rest in the naked, pure awareness of the nature of
mind, which is always present.
4. It is too wonderful for us to accommodate. The sheer
immensity of it is too vast to fit into our narrow way of
thinking. We just can't believe it. Nor can we possibly imagine
that enlightenment is the real nature of our minds.
If this analysis of the four faults was true in a civilization
like Tibet, devoted almost entirely to the pursuit of enlightenment,
how much more strikingly and poignantly true must it
be of modern civilization, which is largely devoted to the pursuit
of the cult of delusion. There is no general information
about the nature of mind. It is hardly ever written about by
writers or intellectuals; modem philosophers do not speak of it
directly; the majority of scientists deny it could possibly be
there at all. It plays no part in popular culture: No one sings
about it; no one talks about it in plays; and it's not on TV. We
are actually educated into believing that nothing is real beyond
what we can perceive with our ordinary senses.
Despite this massive and nearly all-pervasive denial of its
existence, we still sometimes have fleeting glimpses of the
nature of mind. These could be inspired by a certain exalting
piece of music, by the serene happiness we sometimes feel in
nature, or by the most ordinary everyday situation. They
could arise simply while watching snow slowly drifting down,
or seeing the sun rising behind a mountain, or watching a
shaft of light falling into a room in a mysteriously moving
way. Such moments of illumination, peace, and bliss happen
to us all and stay strangely with us.
I think we do, sometimes, half understand these glimpses,
but modern culture gives us no context or framework in
which to comprehend them. Worse still, rather than encouraging
us to explore these glimpses more deeply and discover
where they spring from, we are told in both obvious and
subtle ways to shut them out. We know that no one will take
us seriously if we try to share them. So we ignore what could
be really the most revealing experiences of our lives, if only