“Our true nature can be compared to the sky, and the confusion of the ordinary mind to clouds...we should always try to remember the clouds are not the sky, and do not ‘belong ‘to it. They only hang there and pass by in a non-dependent fashion. And they can never stain or mark the sky in any way.
(Sogyal Rinpoche, 2008 the Tibetan Book of Living & Dying. p49)
There are many aspects of the mind, but two stand out.
The first is the ordinary mind; called by the Tibetans sem.... the sem is the discursive, dualistic, thinking mind, which can only function in relation to a projected and falsely perceived external reference point. Sem is the mind that thinks, plots, desires, manipulates, that flares up in anger, that creates and indulges in waves of negative emotions and thoughts, that has to go on and on asserting, validating and confirming its ‘existence’ by fragmenting, conceptualising and solidifying experience. The ordinary mind is the ceaselessly shifting and shiftless prey of external influence, habitual tendencies and conditioning.
‘The Masters liken sem to a candle flame in the open doorway, vulnerable to all the winds of circumstance.’ (Sogyal Rinpoche, 2008 the Tibetan Book of Living & Dying. p46)
Sem is flickering, unstable, grasping, and ceaselessly minding others’ business, its energy consumed by projecting outwards ...
Yet in another way, the ordinary mind has a false, dull stability, a smug and self-protective inertia, a stone-like calm of ingrained habits. Sem is cunning, sceptical, distrustful and an expert in trickery and guile.
Then there is the very nature of the mind, its innermost essence, which is absolutely and always untouched by change or death. At present it is hidden within our own minds, our sem, enveloped and obscured by the mental scurry of our thoughts and emotions. Just as clouds can be shifted by a strong gust of wind to reveal the shining sun and wide open sky, so under certain circumstances, some inspiration may uncover for us glimpses of this nature of mind.
These glimpses have many depths and degrees but each of them will bring some light of understanding, meaning and freedom.
This is because the nature of mind is the very root itself of understanding.
In Tibetan we call it Rigpa, a primordial, pure, pristine awareness that is at once intelligent, cognizant, radiant, and always awake.
It could be said to be knowledge of knowledge itself
(Sogyal Rinpoche, 2008 the Tibetan Book of Living & Dying)
