Explanation on the Root Text

Understanding the Aspiration of Samantabhadra: A Dzogchen View of Reality

By Ajanatha

This commentary is based from the direct transcript from the oral teaching in the youtube video linked above, improved with added notes, citations and more commentary.

Introduction

“All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, Has one ground, two paths and two results. It is the display of awareness and ignorance. Through the aspiration of Samantabhadra May all be fully awakened In the citadel of the dharmadhatu.”

This text contains a summary explanation of all the main aspects of Atiyoga. In this article I will explain the main points section by section. The text is dense and not really possible to fully understand without proper explanation.

Overview of Sections

The text contains several key sections:

1. One Ground, Two Paths, Two Results – Explains the Ground of reality and the Ground of the mind, how dualistic samsaric experience arises from the Pure Ground, and how awakening happens from the same Ground.
2. The Nature of Liberation – Explores how liberation happens in the ground and what is the nature of this ground, including the two aspects of Primordial Purity and Spontaneous Presence.
3. The Origin of Ignorance – Addresses the question: if the Ground is pure, then where does ignorance come from?
4. The Path – Explains how ignorance is liberated through liberating the five disturbing emotions (anger, desire, pride, jealousy, and dullness of mind).

The Meaning of Samantabhadra

The title of this teaching is the Aspiration of Samantabhadra. Usually an aspiration is a wish for something to happen or be achieved, reflecting an intention. In this case there are two ways to understand why this text is called an aspiration:

From a relative point of view, it could be said that primordial Buddha Samantabhadra is putting forth the aspiration that by this teaching all beings may realize their real nature. However, as Samantabhadra is the ultimate nature itself, from a more concrete perspective this aspiration is: because the nature of reality is self-perfected, may all beings realize that true nature, or may the veil of ignorance be lifted so that the true nature is realized as a revelation of itself to itself.

What is Samantabhadra?

The primordial Buddha Samantabhadra is depicted as a naked blue Buddha. This iconographic representation shows the Primordial Buddha as being the Fundamental meaning of Buddha as the Ground and Source of Reality. There are several ways to understand the real meaning of the Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra:

• As the Primordial Teacher: This refers to the source of all the liberating teachings. This is the Dharmakaya Samantabhadra, the primordial Buddha. As it says in the Supreme Source Tantra: “all teachers and teachings appear from me.”
• As the Ornament: The direct teachings, the Dharma that points directly at the real nature of the mind, is also an aspect of Samantabhadra. We can say that the direct teachings of Atiyoga are like the ornament of Samantabhadra, because they cannot be separated from the Ground of reality but are an expression of it.
• As the path: Primordial awareness as the path is also Samantabhadra. This awareness as the path is the pure awareness of Samantabhadra. The pure path as in the fact that the result is present naturally. This is not the path as a cause for a result, but path as the nature of reality that is present.
• As the Knowingness (Rigpa/Vidya): Primordial awareness knowing its own nature, the result, is also Samantabhadra.
• As Realization: The awareness of the ground knowing its own nature, which is the realization of the path is the Resultant Samantabhadra.

Understanding these meanings makes it obvious that the difference between primordial Buddhahood, a path, and a result is only relative from the perspective of beings on the path. So Samantabhadra is explained at the level of the Ground, the path, and as the result—all is Samantabhadra.

When the title says the aspiration of Samantabhadra, this is not an aspiration for something that is not already here. This text explains that by relying on these teachings, the aspiration to realize our true nature is self-fulfilled by the very fact that this is the nature of reality.

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One Ground, Two Paths, Two Results

The first lines state that all that appears and exists, samsara and nirvana, have one single ground, from which manifests two paths and two results. In essence this means:

• Knowingness (rigpa/vidya) of the nature of awareness is the path of awakening
• Unknowingness (marigpa/avidya) or ignorance of our nature is the path of samsara, or dualistic cyclic existence

These two terms—knowingness and unknowingness—will appear frequently. They mean ground awareness knowing itself as itself, or ground awareness not knowing itself.

Awakening and samsara are not fundamentally different things because the Ground is the same. Consider this analogy: water is the ground of coffee and tea. Both have the same ground, pure water. If I mix water with coffee, I see something I call coffee—that’s not just water. If I remove the coffee and have just water, that is the Ground; that realization is awakening. Even if I see coffee now, the water is not gone. The water is there, pure. We just don’t see it at that moment in that way. The the nature of the water itself is beyond being coffee, tea, juice and so on. No matter how it appears, water is always water.

All That Appears

When the text refers to “all that appears,” that means all possible infinite types of phenomena and appearances. What is the source of all that appears? It is the Primordial Ground.

So all that arises, whether it appears as this dualistic experience of samsara (the dualistic mind and the dimension of limited consciousness), or the manifestation of awakening and all the qualities and wisdom of awakening—both of these have the same Ground, or are manifestations of the same Ground.

It is not like there is samsara over here, and nirvana somewhere else to be attained as the result of causes or something developed through constructing it.

The Two Paths and Two Results

The results are either the appearance of dualism and samsaric existence, or awakening.

The two paths:

• One path is the path of knowingness, or the realization of primordial wisdom—which is the realization of Samantabhadra as primordial awareness knowing itself fully and complete awakening.
• The other path is the path of unknowingness or ignorance. Ignorance here refers to the innate factor of primordial awareness not recognizing its own nature. This will be explained in greater detail later on.

Why are these two called paths? They are called paths because there is just one ground, the pure primordial ground. Based on what develops as knowingness or unknowingness, two different experiences manifest as either samsaric dualism or awakening. These are not paths in the sense of doing something to get somewhere else—they are avenues of manifestation, one leading to the experience of dualistic consciousness and suffering, the other to awakening and spontaneous wisdom.

The Path of Unknowingness

There are three aspects of unknowingness, which will be explained in detail later. Fundamentally it starts when the cognizant power of the ground awareness fails to recognize itself. From this basic unawareness, due to the secondary conditions of manifestation of the creative power of the ground and habitual karmic tendencies, it gives rise to the twelve links of interdependent arising—the process by which samsaric experience unfolds.

The twelve links of dependent arising were realized by the Buddha and explained in detail. They are part of general Buddhist teachings from the Sutra level. From the point of view of this text, these twelve links are the path of samsara because it is how samsaric dualistic experience manifests from the Ground.

• First link: Ignorance—that same unknowingness mentioned above.
• Second link: Based on non-recognition of the ground awareness, when the secondary conditions of habitual tendencies (karmic formations) arise as the radiance of the ground, they are not recognized as the radiance of awareness and become manifested karmic formations.
• Remaining links: From that moment, this karmic formations, then develop as the full manifestation of the individual consciousness as the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, consciousness, and mental factors—what makes up the individual sentient being. Appearances arise through the fields of the senses—visual forms, smells, tastes, sensations. Based on that, together with habitual karmic formations, we feel something in relation to what appears. We like and enjoy some things, dislike others. We develop craving and desire for those things and try to get them and keep them. Because of that we do many types of activities, creating more habitual tendencies or karmic seeds. Because of that initial ignorance we took birth as an individual sentient being. Because we took birth, we experience aging and death. After death, if the true nature of awareness is not recognized, ignorance arises again—we say there is rebirth, a new birth, which is just the process of the twelve links starting again. Consciousness, as the basis of ignorance where this karmic formations are stored, appears as a continuum. This continuum gives rise to the experience of the individual consciousness and the eight forms of consciousness – the 5 sense consciousnesses together with their objects, the mental consciousness, the deluded aspect of consciousness that apprehends the continuum as a “self” (the manas vijnana) and the ground consciousness which is of the nature of ignorance, and its the flow of the habitual tendencies. One moment of consciousness gives rises to the next moment of consciousness. This causal chain is never broken unless there is the interruption of ignorance. So until ignorance is dissolved, the cycle of exist continues to manifest in this way.

This is how ignorance becomes the path of samsara, and why the Buddha called it cyclic existence.

Complete details on the twelve links is available in this article linked here.

The Path of Awareness

On the other hand, the path of awareness is the path to awakening. Again, there is just the single Ground. The Ground itself is primordially pure and has no ignorance in it. The Dzogchen teachings are always rooted in the three statements of Garab Dorje. 1) Introduction to the nature of mind 2) removing all doubts about the single nature 3) integrating everything. So in this way now its clear. It must start with recognition of the nature of mind, which is non-dual pure awareness. This itself is the path. However, even if some recognition happens, usually its not sufficient because the veiling of ignorance and habitual tendencies carries a very strong momentum. So for that reason we speak of removing doubts and integration, all of this relies on understanding the meaning of the teachings, forms of contemplative meditation and integration.

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The Nature of the Ground

“The ground of all is uncomposed, An inexpressible, self-arisen expanse Without the names ‘samsara’ and ‘nirvana.’ If it is known, buddhahood is attained. Not knowing it, beings wander in samsara. May all beings of the three realms Know the inexpressible ground.”

The next part states that the ground is uncompounded, inexpressible, beyond any designations of samsara or nirvana. It also says that if it is known, then awakening and liberation is attained; if not known, then beings wander in dualistic existence.

There are several approaches to explain the nature of the Ground. For example, at the start we can say that all appearances are said to be the play of the primordial wisdom mind, manifesting from the Ground as Primordial Mind (Bodhicitta) itself and the dynamic energy. Primordial Mind itself being empty. In this way there is nothing to accept or reject, as all appearances are mere expressions of mind itself.

As it is said in the Supreme Source Tantra:

“Phenomenal existence, the universe and all its contents,
Buddhas and beings: all are made by Mind,
Are one within the Mind’s expanse”

Mind here referring to Bodhicitta, which in Dzogchen refers to Samantabhadra, the Primordially awakened Mind.

To begin with we should distinguish between the Ground as in the Basis of Buddha, and Ground as in the ground for consciousness.

The Ground, more precisely the ‘fundamental Ground’, is called the Basis because it is :

1) the great expanse of reality as it is beyond elaborations, the abode of the Dharmakaya;
2) the base as in, it is the basis of the possibility of awakening and realization, and is also the basis for delusion and samsara
3) the base as in the state of Great-Perfection itself, because if were not that, then Buddhahood would be the result of a cause. In this sense the Base in Atiyoga can be said to be equivalent to Buddha-Nature-as-ground from the Mahayana perspective

As Longchenpa explains: “As to the primordial ground [as basis] of being – naturally occurring timeless awareness itself, not subject to restrictions or extremes-its essence is empty, like space; its nature is lucid, like the sun and moon; its responsiveness is pervasive, like their light. These three aspects are essentially inseparable, abiding constantly as the nature of the three kayas and timeless awareness within basic space, which is without transition or change.”

Distinguishing between Mind and Wisdom

Longchenpa writes “The mental state arising in the distinct aspects of form, sound, and so on is consciousness The first vivid cognition of the general aspect of the object is mind. Finally, the mental factor [mental events] that discerns the features of this object, and is continuously involved with craving, aversion, and ignorance is, in this context, called intellect”

Another way to explain would be that mind is a cognition in the mode of apprehender and apprehended while Primordial wisdom refers to the luminous intrinsic-awareness, Tathagatagarbha (Buddha-nature).

“It is primordial wisdom as its present primordially”, and further that “Whatever is mind, that is the phenomena of samsara. When the faults, the mode of karma and traces, arise as stains and are associated with its intrinsic-awareness, it is called a being. When one’s intrinsic-awareness becomes free from mind, one is called a Buddha, who has become detached from the adventitious defilements. (…) [ intrinsic-awareness ] burns up the karma and traces like a fire. As it is detached from all conceptions, its nature is emptiness and clarity like space”.

Distinguishing Between Basis and Universal Ground

It is important to understand the difference between the ‘Ground’ and the ‘Universal Ground’ (or sometimes translated as Ground-of-all), because one is the basis of wisdom and awakening, while the other is the basis of mind and samsara.

The ‘Ground’ as it was described in the previous section is referring to the ‘ultimate expanse’, the self-arisen Primordial Wisdom, Bodhicitta (awakened mind), ‘the Luminous Mind’. In this sense it is primordially pure, spontaneously present, and cannot be stained or defiled, it is totally beyond conceptual elaboration or description. As it says in the Uttaratantra:

“This nature of the mind, this luminosity,
Like space, is without change.
Craving and the rest are adventitious stains
Deriving from deluded thought, and they do not defile it”

On the other hand, the ‘universal ground’ is the ground of ‘mind’; the ‘ultimate expanse as Ground’ is the abode of ‘intrinsic-awareness’, Dharmakaya.

Longchen Yeshe Dorje writes that “In the primordially pure expanse of emptiness, the universal ground (which is the basis for impure mind) and the dharmakaya (which is the basis of primordial wisdom) are one. Now in the dharmakaya is awareness, vast and deep like a waveless ocean, whereas consciousness of the universal ground is a veil whereby this same awareness is obscured. The so-called universal ground is the support both of negative propensities and of the positive propensities that purify or consume them, like rust consuming iron”.

As for the meaning of the ‘universal ground’ (or ground-of-all), Longchenpa explains it in four aspects, which again are not ‘separate’, but refer to different perspectives of understanding how manifestation occurs:

1. as the primordial universal ground
2. as the universal ground of habitual tendencies
3. as the universal ground of karmic-making-form(body)
4. as the universal ground of joining

First, the ‘primordial universal ground‘ is the ignorance that has the same nature as awareness. Just like a layer of tarnish forms upon the surface of gold, this innate ignorance arises upon pristine primordial awareness, it is the natural cognitive potency of awareness itself, not knowing awareness itself. – this unawareness IS the primordial universal ground!

Second, the ‘universal ground of habitual tendencies‘ refers to the fact that the ‘universal ground’, based upon ignorance as just explained, becomes the repository for all habitual karmic tendencies. However this can also be called ‘the universal ground of all’, because it does not just contain the seeds for samsara, but also the seeds for the path of liberation. Longchenpa writes “The universal ground is the ground of all. It is the ground of saṃsāra, of nirvāṇa, and of the totally pure dimension of enlightenment.”, – this could be said to be like the alaya-vijnana from the Sutra teachings.

Third, it is known as the “universal ground of karmic-making-form(body)”, because it provides the medium for which the seeds can ripen into a particular form of manifestation in a realm of existence.

Finally, it is known as the ‘universal ground of joining‘ because it has the cognitive-aware potency that either recognizes the nature of appearances or it does not, so in that way it is the link between samsara, and the continuation of the process of karma and dependent arising, or, it is the link to nirvana.

So one might ask how is it that if the Buddha-Nature (the gold) is not based on the primordial ground (the tarnish), and Buddha-nature is primordially pure (the gold is always gold), how is that the universal ground functions as ground of joining as a way to separate the stains from the buddha-nature? Longchenpa clarifies saying that “It is just as with a flame that depends upon a wick while yet consuming it, and like a fire that burns the wood on which it depends. In just the same way, the path of the two accumulations, which is based, or depends, on the universal ground, purifies samsaric tendencies, thus dispelling all that defiles or obscures the Buddha nature (…) Virtue leading to liberation, which is an aspect of the truth of the path, is conditioned and adventitious and is based on the universal ground of various habitual tendencies as the cause or agent of the removal of, or separation from, obscuring stains. The state resulting from such a removal has its basis in the buddha-potential. It is as when the sun is freed from the clouds that obscure it. The resultant light is grounded in the sun itself”.

The Nature of the Ground

The text says that the Ground is Uncompounded. Thatmeans the Ground is not made of anything—it is not something substantial or made of parts. For that reason it is inexpressible and self-arisen; it is not something that was created. It is the great expanse of reality which is beyond any conceptual designations or ideas.

This leads to a very important point in Dzogchen: The Ground is neither a cause nor a result.

The Ground is not the cause of awakening, and it is not the result of awakening. The Ground is as it is, primordially pure and spontaneously present. The only factor that makes a difference from the point of view of the individual sentient being is knowingness, awareness, or unknowingness, unawareness.

The ground is not the cause of awakening because it is beyond causal factors, and because it is spontaneously present it is not the result of anything either. It is not something we create somehow.

So you may wonder: if that’s the case why am I not realized right now? Because of ignorance—that factor of unawareness. Sometimes we refer to pure ground as being contained within a vase, like a lamp which is shining but covered by a veil, or like the sun which is shining but we cannot see it because of the clouds. The sun is always there, but due to relative temporary conditions we don’t see it. In this case the temporary condition is ignorance. But this ignorance is not something that really exists either, as we will see later.

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The Perspective of the Ground

“I, Samantabhadra, Know naturally that ground Without cause and condition. I am without the defects of superimposition and denial of outer and inner. I am unobscured by the darkness of mindlessness. Therefore, self-appearance is unobscured. If self-awareness remains in place There is no fear even if the three-fold world is destroyed. There is no attachment to the five desirables. In self-arisen, non-conceptual awareness There is no solid form or five poisons.”

This section explains how the two aspects of primordial purity and spontaneous presence are naturally present and are themselves the primordial state of awakening of Samantabhadra. The text speaks in the first person, from the perspective of the Ground—as if the Ground was speaking about its own perspective.

I am without the defects of superimposition and denial of outer and inner.

At the time of the primordial pure ground, it is without cause and condition. However it is not nothing, the self-radiance luminous awareness of this empty ground dwells at the basis. At the time when this inner-radiance manifests it appears as empty luminous appearances, but this is not difference from the ground itself.

Being without superimposition means that there is no dualism of self and other. At the time when this non-appearances arising, knowing their primordial purity and inseparability from the ground itself, this is how samantabhadra is liberated by realizing primordial purity.

Vimalamitra states:

“As for the natural ground of primodial purity, its essence is that its not established as anything whatsoever, its nature is what appears as anything whatsoever, its dynamic responsive energy is to be free in dawning as anything whatsoever”

Freedom is attained when the at the sphere if innate-awareness opens and rises from the pure basis and is seen as the basis’s manifestations.

Tsultrim Gampo wrote that “What is freedom? Through the power of being without stains [obscurations] freedom does not arise from anything other, but merely consists of revealing primordially free wisdom as complete freedom”

Primordial Purity and Spontaneous Presence

When explaining the nature of the Ground in Atiyoga we speak of the Ground in terms of Primordial Purity and Spontaneous Presence. The Ground is the inseparable unity of these two aspects. In general this is explained as the aspects of Essence, Nature, and Energy—or in other words, the Ground is the union of essence, nature, and energy.

Essence (Primordial Purity): This is the aspect of emptiness in the sense that the ground is not something substantial or some type of entity. Primordial Purity does not refer to something being pure in the normal sense as we think of pure and impure. It is beyond any ordinary labels of pure or impure.

Primordial Purity is the Essence of the ground. That means that the ground is not a thing; it is never a fixed thing, it has no substance, it has no fixed thingness about it. The traditional example is a mirror. A mirror can reflect anything and everything because of its purity. A very small mirror can reflect a huge mountain, or a small grain of sand. A mirror can reflect nice things and bad things. When we think of good and bad there are dualistic determinations made by the conceptual mind—for the pure mirror it is all just reflections, pure appearances in its pure surface. The ground’s essence is like that: primordially pure, never fixed into any thing, beyond any form.

Nature (Lucid Clarity): This refers to the fact that the Ground is a lucid clarity which is pure knowing. This pure knowing is unborn and uncreated. The ground is not just primordially pure; it is also pure clear lucid clarity. In the example of the mirror this is the mirror’s lucid power to reflect, or its reflective capacity.

Dynamic Energy (Compassion): This means that there is infinite potential in the ground from which infinite manifestation arises. The ground is not something dead and static. This is like the mirror’s unceasing reflections—there are always appearances being reflected in the mirror. In this way the ground is infinite creative potential. This is also sometimes called Compassion. It is compassion because it is due to the infinite creative potential that everything manifests and that is the basis for liberation.

These three aspects illustrate the meaning of the Ground as the union of primordial purity, clarity, and unceasing creative manifestation. It is important to understand that these three aspects are not separate things. They are an inconceivable unity of primordial purity, clarity, and unceasing creative manifestation. This is the nature of the Ground. And it is also the nature of the Mind.

It says that I, Samantabhadra, know naturally that ground without causes and conditions. From the perspective of the Ground as the state of awakening, the ground is self-knowing without any causes or conditions.

Then it says that it is free from the projection of outer and inner. From the perspective of the self-knowing ground, there is no outer or inner. That is to say, there is no duality of subject and object, there is no center or borders, no experience of here or there, now or later. All that appears is the manifestation of the luminous ground awareness itself.

So therefore self-appearances are unobscured. All that arises is a self-appearance of the radiance of the Ground itself, and from the perspective of the pure wisdom of the Ground that is clear—that is to say, it is clear that appearances are not separate from the ground’s awareness. So if all that appears is non-dual at the level of the ground, then there is nothing to fear and nothing to desire or be attached to. Desire and fear arise from the dualistic vision of a self that is separate from what appears, and so it desires to obtain something and it rejects or fears others. But from the perspective of the ground as there is nothing that is not a self-appearance, what is there to desire or fear?

From the perspective of the self-arisen non-dual awareness which is the reality itself, all solid forms are empty forms, all disturbing emotions are the radiance of awareness itself.

This part illustrates how it is from the perspective of the ground’s self-knowing wisdom. But from the point of view of the ignorant dualistic self it doesn’t appear like that. Instead, everything appears as separate and solid, so there are things to desire and things to fear, emotions are disturbing and there is confusion about how things are. But in reality at the level of the pure ground nothing ever changes because this ignorance itself is illusory, and so we return to the start of the text: one ground, two paths and two results. The only difference is knowingness or unknowingness.

Here in this part of the text it is speaking from the point of view of knowingness so we can understand how it really is at the level of primordial purity. From the point of view of the mirror, the mirror is not affected by what is reflected. A reflection of a hammer does not break the mirror, and a reflection of a beautiful sky does not make the mirror better. So when self-awareness—which means the pure awareness of the ground knowing itself—is present, there is nothing to construct and nothing to reject. It is primordially pure.

This realization is the self-liberation of the Ground awareness. The text also says that there is no solid form and no disturbing emotions. So in contrast, in the normal sense, there is this experience of a center of experience, of someone or something here that is the center of experience and the world appearing around as substantial and solid, and experiences of emotions that come and go and have to be negotiated somehow. From the point of view of the pure ground it is not like that. There is just the pure luminous awareness and its natural radiant display.

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The Five Wisdoms and Compassionate Display

“The unceasing lucidity of awareness Is five wisdoms of one nature. Through the ripening of the five wisdoms The five families of the first buddha arose. (…) My emanations are unceasing. I manifest inconceivable billions, Displayed as whatever tames beings. Through my compassionate aspiration May all beings of samsara’s three realms Escape the six states.”

This portion explains spontaneous presence, the aspects of clarity and dynamic energy. It is a longer section;

As we saw before, Samantabhadra is naturally liberated in the basis by knowing its nature which is the union of primordial purity, spontaneous presence and responsive energy. We also learned that the essence of the basis is primordial purity, which we looked at last time. Primordial purity is really the essence of the ground – emptiness beyond elaboration and beyond all extremes. However that emptiness is not nothingness. That is why the nature of the basis is the union of these three aspects. Now in this part we come to the second aspect, spontaneous presence.

The text says that the unceasing clarity of awareness is five wisdoms, and that through those five wisdoms the five families of awakening arise.

In short, this means that the complete qualities of awakening are self-perfected in the Ground. What we call the qualities of Buddhahood are not something that needs to be created or developed; they are already self-perfected in the nature of the Ground.

The way this is explained here is by saying that the unceasing clarity of awareness is wisdom which develops as five wisdoms. Through the expansion of these five wisdoms all the qualities of enlightenment manifest through infinite displays mentioned here as the five buddha families—but in reality there are infinite.

The Five Wisdoms

What are these five wisdoms? These five wisdoms are the real nature of the five disturbing emotions as we will see later. They are the wisdom of the nature of reality, mirror-like wisdom, sameness wisdom, all-discerning wisdom, and all-accomplishing wisdom.

This is a very deep topic. I will give now a very brief explanation:

• Mirror-like wisdom: Appearances manifest clearly and spontaneously in the pure ground as mirror-like appearances. Even though many displays arise, they are like reflections in a mirror—neither the same nor different than the mirror, all appearing in the space of the pure ground. In a mirror everything appears clearly and all is there spontaneously.
• Sameness wisdom: In that sense there is an evenness, or sameness, as in that all those appearances are of the same nature as being empty reflections.
• All-discerning wisdom: In the natural wisdom there is no ignorance, no lack of clarity; there is perfect knowing of everything that arises.
• All-accomplishing wisdom: All these wisdoms and activity for the benefit of beings manifests effortlessly.
• Wisdom of the real nature (Dharmadhatu wisdom): The pure wisdom of the ground itself that knows all as it is.

These five aspects manifest, but they are not separate wisdoms—that’s why it says that these wisdoms are of a single nature. We can say they are just different aspects of the pure wisdom of the ground.

To summarize more simply:

• The wisdom of the nature of reality is the wisdom aspect that knows the true nature of reality as it is.
• The mirror-like wisdom is the wisdom aspect that is all inclusive in knowing everything as it appears without separation as infinite reflections in the vast expanse of the ground.
• The sameness wisdom is the wisdom aspect that knows that all appearances have the same nature as awareness.
• Even though all is the same nature as awareness, there is the capacity to discern each display distinctly—that is the all-discerning wisdom.
• The all-accomplishing wisdom is the factor of wisdom that knows all that needs to be known to accomplish the liberation of beings spontaneously.

These are the root five wisdoms. From these wisdoms infinite wisdoms display and appear as manifestations of the enlightened nature.

What is really important here to remember once again is that these wisdom aspects are spontaneously perfected in the ground; they do not need to be created. It is already like that.

So then there is the next part of the text which I didn’t include in the video teaching.

The Manifestation of Spontaneous Presence: The Pure Mandala

It says:

“Through the ripening of the five wisdoms,
The five original buddha families arise.
And through wisdom’s further expansion
The forty-two peaceful buddhas emerge.
With the upsurge of fivefold wisdom’s power,
The sixty wrathful herukas appear.
Thus, ground awareness has never known delusion.
I am the primordial buddha and therefore
Through this, my prayer of aspiration,
May beings of saṃsāra’s three realms “

Connection to Tantric Principles

This explanation relates to how the manifestation of spontaneous presence arises from the luminous ground. Of course, this explanation is related to the manner in which the basis is naturally Buddha, so it speaks of wisdom display from that perspective.

The way this explanation is presented links to tantric language and principles.

In this way of looking at the enlightened dimension, it speaks of the pure mandala of the pure dimension that manifests as the 100 deities—the 42 peaceful and 58 wrathful. In short, it says that from the expansion of this lucid wisdom awareness, the pure mandala of the peaceful and wrathful deities naturally arises.

Understanding the 102 Deities

This explanation of the 102 deities is not easy to understand, and it is more related to the tantric view as mentioned. So for those not familiar with Buddhist Tantra this will seem obscure. The same principles could be explained without using the Tantric framing, but in this particular text it appears like that, so I will explain briefly.

Ordinary Perception vs. Wisdom Display

For sentient beings in samsara, how is it that they perceive reality? In ordinary perception there is:

• The five aggregates (form, perception, feeling, consciousness and mental factors)
• The five senses
• The eight consciousnesses
• The five objects that appear to the five senses

All of this can be seen as two sides—subject and object. For example, the sense consciousnesses are the subject, and the five sensory appearances are their objects. There are the five aggregates upon which a sense of personal self is imputed. There is the perception of time and space as being something real, and so on. This is the perception of a sentient being.

Now, the spontaneous awareness that arises from the ground arises, as the text states, as the natural display of the five wisdoms, which manifest as the five primordial Buddhas: Vairocana, Akṣobhya, Amitābha, Ratnasambhava, and Amoghasiddhi.

The True Nature of Appearance

These five Buddhas are in reality the true nature of what appears to sentient beings as the five aggregates. Then there are the five female Buddhas that correspond to each one. In reality, the five female Buddhas are the true nature of the appearances of the five elements that appear as outer appearances. For example, the real nature of the eight consciousnesses would appear as the eight bodhisattvas. This can depend a little on the particular system of tantra, but this is the principle.

This is the tantric way of looking at this. To explain all 102 deities in detail would require an entire teaching on its own, but I will give you a brief understanding of what this is pointing to.

In short:

• The 42 peaceful deities are more related to the true nature of the lucid ground’s appearances
• The 60 wrathful deities are connected with the active responsive energy of the awareness, or the natural wisdom display-energy of the peaceful deities

The entire manifestation in its full diversity that sentient beings perceive as subject and object is in reality the mandala of the 100 deities that arise from the development of this lucid pure awareness of the basis.

The Wrathful Deities

Then it says that from the expansion of wisdom the 60 blood drinkers arose. This refers to the wrathful deities. This sounds very strange—we should not really talk like this to people who are not studying the Dharma, or they will think we are doing something very strange and bad.

So what does it mean? The wrathful deities are called “blood drinkers” because they “drink the blood of grasping at dualism.” They consume the dualism; they break down self-grasping. That is why they are said to be blood drinkers and wrathful.

Important clarification: The wrathful deities are not angry deities. They are not angry at all. They are just very strong, very powerful, and destroy directly the life-force of ignorance and dualism. That is why they appear like that, but in reality they are supreme compassion. Just to be clear in case you wonder: here it says 60 wrathful, but normally we speak of 42 peaceful and 58 wrathful, making 100. Here two more wrathful ones are added—the wrathful forms of Samantabhadra and the wrathful form of the female Samantabhadrī—making 60.

But to really explain these deities would require an entire subject and long topic on its own. This is just to help you understand the basic principle.

Summary: The Three Aspects of the Basis

To summarize what is being said here:

Previously we spoke of the three aspects of the Basis:

1. Primordial Purity
2. Spontaneous Presence
3. Responsive Energy (or Compassion)

Last time we looked at Primordial Purity, which is the Essence of the basis—its emptiness aspect, if you will.

Now it is talking about the Spontaneous Presence aspect, which means that this emptiness is not a dead void. There is a lucid spontaneous clarity or lucid awareness which is intrinsic to the basis. The nature of this awareness is the five wisdoms.

These five wisdoms manifest naturally from the basis and develop naturally as the pure mandala of the peaceful and wrathful deities—which is the tantric way of saying that the true nature of all the diversity of appearances is beyond duality.

Another way to simplify this is – in samsaric view, sentient beings experience themselves as the five aggregates and the eight consciousnesses in an outer world based on the displays of the ground as substantial things. In reality however, the five aggregates, consciousness and all outer displays are the self-perfected mandala of Samantabhadra in infinite wisdom displays (the deities).

So the text continues by saying that the ground’s emanations are unceasing, manifesting infinite displays of activity as whatever is necessary to lead all beings to awakening. This is the compassionate energy of the Ground.

So you see, the Ground, as the primordially awakened nature of reality, is not something abstract and static; it is not just emptiness. It is the naturally perfected qualities of wisdom and compassion which manifest unceasingly to benefit all beings. Let me put this more directly: all that appears is the unceasing compassionate display of Samantabhadra leading all beings to awakening. This is primordially so. But on the other hand, this ground is not some entity or thing; it is the ground of reality and it is the nature of the mind.

A simple point to understand here, the natural appearances of spontaneous presence are the ground of freedom, however they become the basis for delusion on the non-recognition of what they truly are – the spontaneous presence of the basis itself. But if the appearances recognise themselves, they are the ground of freedom. No matter if the experience is the appearances of samsara, or the pure appearances of the pure dimension, its all the appearances of spontaneous presence. But this appearances are not something truly existing, they are primordially pure – empty of essence, but appear in the manner of the gateways of arising from spontaneous awareness.

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The Origin of Ignorance

“At first, for bewildered beings Awareness did not arise on the ground. That obscurity of unconsciousness Is the cause of bewildered ignorance. From that unconsciousness Emerged confused, blurry cognition. Self-other and duality were born from that. (…) The co-emergent ignorance Is a distracted, mindless cognition. The labeling ignorance Is holding self and other to be two. The two ignorances, co-emergent and labeling, Are the ground of the confusion of all beings. Through the aspiration of myself, the buddha, May the thick, mindless obscurity Of all samsaric beings be dispelled. May dualistic cognition be clarified. May awareness be recognized.”

If the ground is perfected, pure, and free from ignorance, how does samsara and ignorance arise? That is what is now explained in these lines.

It says that for sentient beings, deluded beings, the self-knowing aspect of awareness did not arise in the ground. So when it says that at the start awareness did not arise—when was that start? When was that beginning of ignorance and samsara? There is no when. This is not about time. At the level of the ground there is no time. On the other hand, this failure of awareness to see itself is happening all the time; that’s why beings remained deluded. It is happening right now for sentient beings. There is no beginning moment. Samsara did not start at a point in time in the past. In fact samsara never had a start because it is an illusion. That’s why we cannot speak of a starting point. We need to understand that this way of explaining is simply a way to use words to explain something that is beyond words. So samsara, which is that lack of awareness, begins each moment, but it can also end at any moment.

This is like the classical example of someone confusing a rope for a snake. If a person confuses a rope for a snake, and this person were to ask the question, “When did this snake come into the house? At what time did the snake come?” there is no answer to that question because there is no snake. It is the same. Ignorance appears to arise and samsara appears to manifest and we speak of sentient beings having a karmic vision of existence, and sure this is the experience, but it’s like the snake!

Three Aspects of Ignorance

In this part of the text it is describing how ignorance arises from the pure ground and results in the full experience of dualism, with the appearance of an apparent self and the development of appearances and disturbing emotions. There are three aspects described:

1. Ignorance that has the same nature as awareness
2. Co-emergent ignorance
3. Labeling, or objectifying ignorance

Brief Explanation

In the primordial ground itself, whose essence is primordial purity, there is no delusion. Its important to understand that otherwise we might think that ignorance is ‘something’ that also exists in the ground. However, from the perspective of sentient beings, at the time when the ground arises as appearance, there is no awareness that these appearances are self-appearances. So these displays from the ground do not appear as awareness. Due to this, appearances seem to be something other and concrete and separate – so they are ignorant.

There are three aspects of ignorance, and in a way it can be said that they are the opposite of the three aspects of the ground: essence, nature and dynamic energy. This first lines first of all speak about the first one, we can say the ‘root’ ignorance which is the reversal of the essence principle. Here in the text it calls it bewildered ignorance. The more usual term for this one is ‘ignorance that has the same nature as awareness’. Why do we say it’s a reversal of the essence principle – because the essence of the ground is primordial purity beyond concepts endowed with natural spontaneous presence – now this first ignorance refers to a sheer oblivion regarding this essence, or that is to say, a complete lack of awareness in relation to the essence of the basis of mind. It is a condition that is based on complete dullness and lack of awareness. It is called ignorance that has the same nature as awareness, because there is no actual ignorance in the primordial ground. What happens is that the natural clarity of awareness itself becomes a veil by which the essence of the ground is veiled. Just like a bright light can illuminate or it can seem to be blinding. So it is related to the essence aspect because it refers to the fact that the natural awarenss of the ground is oblivious of the essence of this very ground as it is.

As as a simple description: the knowing power of awareness is bewildered by its own radiance and at the moment of the arising of its own clarity, it fails to recognize that this clarity is itself. So you see this ignorance is not something real; it is illusory, just like a misperception. The ground itself has no ignorance.

Then this develops. As I explained before, the ground is also infinite creative power. As the displays of awareness arise in the ground, based on that first moment of non-recognition, then there is a form of ignorance that arises with the displays of awareness. Because it arises together, it is called co-emergent ignorance.

That would be like waves arising in the ocean, and each wave that arises thinks that itself is something unique and separate from the ocean. This ignorance arises with each wave. As this develops there is a full dualistic objectification of the radiant displays as being something other, and the knowing power of awareness appears as the subject. That is objectifying ignorance.

Using the example of the ocean as a metaphor for these three together: If the ocean were pure awareness, the natural movement of the ocean would be the radiant displays. So if the awareness of the ocean does not recognize that the movement itself is itself, then that is the first moment of ignorance. From there as waves arise, together with the arising of each wave, there is an ignorance that arises with the wave where there is the sense that this wave is something else. From that there is the full dualism of a knower which is knowing a wave as an objective separate entity. These three forms of ignorance arise together. Even though we explain them as a sequence, in reality it is a single moment.

The Ground of All

When these three factors of ignorance are complete, then we have another name for the Ground: now we refer to The Ground of All. This was explained earlier – It is called the Ground of All because it becomes the Ground for all dualistic appearances; it becomes the ground for the appearance of the individual consciousness and all its objects. And now samsara appears.

The appearance of the individual being and individual consciousness with all appearances and the five aggregates arise from the Ground’s aspect of ignorance which is called the Ground of All. These three aspects of ignorance are the deluded aspects of the three aspects of the ground: essence, nature, and creative energy.

So in this brief explanation we can understand that just as it was explained at the start, it all depends on awareness recognizing its own nature. But at the ground level this is very subtle. And these manifestations of ignorance are arising moment to moment.

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The Path: Liberating Disturbing Emotions

“From the emergence of subtle clinging Coarse habit gradually develops. Food, wealth, clothing, places, companions, The five desirables and beloved relatives — Beings are tormented by attachment to the pleasant. That is mundane confusion. (…) May desirous beings Not reject the longing of desire Nor accept the clinging of attachment. By relaxing cognition as it is May their awareness take its seat. May they attain the wisdom of discrimination.”

The next part is about the path and practice. Because we need to practice otherwise we remain in ignorance. This is very important to really make clear. When we speak of naturally perfected and nothing to do, these things mean something very specific. When we study texts like this we can start to understand; otherwise we just remain in spiritual fantasy.

The final part of the text will go through how to liberate the disturbing emotions into the five wisdoms and explain one by one. I will explain only the first one, desire. The others are similar and I will give a brief summary of them at the end.

The Practice for Desire

Once ignorance develops as explained before, and also through the development of the twelve links of interdependent arising, then the habit of grasping at pleasure comes up. So there is subtle clinging in the mind, which arises from the basic ignorance. That subtle clinging develops into gross forms of grasping and desire once the self becomes fully developed. So in that way beings are tormented by constant craving and seeking. The text says this is just worldly confusion; this is just suffering.

Then it says something quite important: it says, may all beings that suffer from desire not reject desire, but also not accept clinging and grasping. Instead it says to relax awareness as it is.

This is a crucial instruction on Dzogchen meditation practice. I have spoken about this in many other videos. Once desire, grasping, or attachment arise:

1. Not to reject it: That is to say, not to repress it, block it, or try to eliminate it.
2. Not to follow after it: Not to become involved with it. Neither way.
3. Instead: Simply remaining aware as that desire arises without rejecting it or repressing it, or becoming engaged and involved with it. Simply remaining present as that energy of desire arises without doing anything with it.

So important point here: this is not mindfulness of the emotions. Mindfulness of the emotions is keeping attention on the emotion. This is not the case here. For this practice to be Atiyoga practice it means we first have to have a concrete knowledge of this intrinsic awareness, this natural presence that is beyond the mind—otherwise it’s not possible.

So while remaining in this state of presence, intrinsic awareness, if desire arises, the desire arises within this present awareness, and without moving from awareness, the desire liberates itself. That is the real meaning. So it will release itself. And in that release we will recognize that what arises is a form of wisdom clarity; it is actually the discerning wisdom. Remember the five wisdoms I spoke about earlier: when desire is allowed to self-liberate, at that moment of liberation, it is manifesting as discerning-wisdom.

Application to All Emotions

The same is then explained for the other disturbing emotions: anger, pride, jealousy, and dullness or haziness of mind, which is a gross form of ignorance. The same principle applies to all of them, and also to thoughts of course. Here it only speaks of the five disturbing emotions. But we can include thoughts also.

Haziness of mind or dullness is a state of mental apathy and lethargy; this is a form of disturbing emotion because it is a very gross form of ignorance. We can experience that sometimes if we are tired and the mind starts to become sleepy and very dull, or if we are not meditating properly, our meditation falls into a sort of spacing out state. That is this ignorance, haziness. So it is the same: if that is recognized by awareness, to simply remain in awareness without trying to block that state, but also without falling into it. If we fall into it we will just fall asleep for example. This one is not so easy at the start.

The other ones, anger and so on, are also similar like desire. If anger arises, there is this wave of energy of anger. Then it is not to reject it, block it, repress it, but also not to follow after it, not to mix with it. Once again, this is not about mindfulness of emotions. At the start it can seem similar to that; most beginners that try this will be doing some kind of mindfulness practice of emotions, but that’s not really Atiyoga practice yet. Atiyoga is to recognize this basic intrinsic presence or awareness and remain in that cognizance while the emotion arises. Then, depending on the strength of one’s clarity and experience, that emotion will liberate itself very fast, or maybe it can take time. But once it liberates itself, then wisdom arises.

This describes the essential meaning of the principle of contemplative meditation but also how to then integrate this experience in daily life. There are more specific instructions on meditation in other texts.

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Conclusion

This completes a brief teaching on the Aspiration of Samantabhadra, on the main points taught in this text. By understanding the meaning of what is present in these teachings our minds can start to really understand what is the meaning of existence, suffering, awakening, liberation, and the path of Atiyoga.

As it says in the text again and again:

“Through the aspiration of Samantabhadra May all beings be fully awakened in the great expanse of the natural state.”

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This article is based on a video teaching.