Our Pristine Mind

Our Pristine Mind

By Orgyen Chowang

The True Nature of Our Mind:

Pristine mind is the mind we were all born with, our natural mind.  It is called Pristine Mind because it is untouched and unspoiled by experiences.  It is inherently and permanently pure.  It is like pristine land that has not been altered by civilization. 

In Pristine Mind our senses are vibrant and alive, our perceptions pure.  Things that cause us fear or insecurity in our ordinary mind do not affect us negatively when we are in Pristine Mind, because of its innate serenity.

Pristine Mind is not dependent on the ups and downs of life that we have no control over.  It just "is."  Changing life events that we take so seriously in our ordinary mind are far less significant in the changeless Pristine Mind.  Clouds in the sky may appear, change, or dissolve, but the sky never changes.  In the same way, the events in our ordinary mind may change, but our clear, spacious Pristine Mind never changes.  That's the most fundamental things we come to realize about our Pristine Mind.

At the heart of the teachings is our discovery that inside all of us there is a Pristine Mind unscathed by life experiences, awaiting our rediscovery.  Unlike our ever-changing ordinary mind with which we are familiar, Pristine Mind is not a changing or fluctuating state of mind.  It is stable and at the same time, boundless.  In Pristine Mind, we enter into a fundamental state of mind that is brilliant, clear and tranquil.

We get increasingly fascinated by our mental events, and eventually we get lost in them.  Soon, it is no longer just small waves of metal energy that we are following.  Now we are completely entangled in an increasingly complex web of thoughts, emotions, beliefs, feelings, and experiences, all those mental events that are now far beyond our control.  We become unaware, distracted, and separated from the experience of Pristine Mind.  This is how the distortion of our mind develops.  The accumulation of various mental events become so extensive that it completely hides our original Pristine Mind. 

Primordial Fear:  

The fear that results when we are disconnected from Pristine Mind is the cause of much of our mental and emotional suffering.  It is called "primordial" fear because it has been with us since we originally lost our connection with Pristine Mind.

When we are unknowingly disconnected from Pristine Mind, we are not even aware that we have lost our stability of mind.  The very nature of existence is marked by constant flux.  Nothing lasts, everything eventually dies or decays, and fluctuating mental events that continually rise and pass away make life unpredictable.  But in Pristine Mind, this fact of life does not upset or imbalance us.  In losing access to this stability of our Pristine Mind, we lose our capacity for true happiness and well-bing.

In our ordinary mind, mental events arise.  The more mental events we have, the stronger our underlying anxiety becomes; the greater the gap between our ordinary mind and our Pristine Mind, the more powerful the anxiety.  When we rediscover our Pristine Mind, we realize that this anxiety, our primordial fear, is not inherent to life but actually originates from our disconnection from Pristine Mind and manifests itself in our mental events.

Most people are subject to some level of anxiety most of the time, whether they recognize it or not.  Many of our activities are in truth efforts to distract ourselves from this underlying primordial fear that drives our ordinary mind and only creates more fear.  We make phone calls, create incessant plans, and keep our schedule at a hectic pace.  We need the TV on or music playing in the background to feel a sense of connection-- even when we are not watching it or really listening.  Even on our way to our activities, we play music as we drive because silence in our car would leave us alone to experience anxiety or boredom.

It is this constant activity around which we organize our lives to avoid confronting our primordial fear.  We pursue connection, connection, connection.  We try to connect with sounds and flavors and sights.  We are constantly eating, talking, watching, or listening, trying to connect our five senses to anything we can in every waking moment. 

Distracting ourselves from our primordial fear does not reduce it.  Engaging constantly does not reduce primordial fear.  Amusement may be a temporary band-aid but not a permanent remedy.  Just because we may currently dislike being still, silent, and by ourselves does not mean that constant distraction is healthy; it takes its toll as well.

There is another problem that we must understand.  By running from our fear, not only are we failing to alleviate our separation from Pristine Mind, we are actually amplifying it without realizing it.  Distractions generate more and more mental events at an ever-increasing pace.  These mental events remove us still further from Pristine Mind.  It is another layer of barrier between our ordinary mind and Pristine Mind.  It only makes our road home much more difficult and arduous.

When we lose touch with Pristine Mind, we are ungrounded and unconnected to ourselves and our world.  Favorable circumstances will often bring us some kind of temporary happiness, occasional joyousness, and other forms of contentment.  But it is not a permanent solution.  Without Pristine Mind, we cannot know unconditional happiness.

Why do we often get bored when there is nothing to do?  Why are we so uncomfortable without distractions?  The root cause of our problem is our underlying discontent and insatiable ordinary mind.  We are uncomfortable because our ordinary mind is driven by a hunger, a constant yearning for something.  That hunger is lurking around within us, unsatisfied.  Without external stimuli, there is nothing to distract the mind from the restlessness of its insatiable thoughts.  Our mind is looking for something, but without objects for it to latch on to, it becomes agitated and unsettled.  When our thoughts and emotions have a focus, the mind is soothed for the time being.  We find a temporary small comfort zone.

This is why we are so in need of distractions.  If there is nothing to distract us from the ever-increasing internal agitation, our ordinary mind gets even more restless and generates more mental events that only make the matter worse.  We are caught in Samsara, in which we pursue the illusion that things external to our mind can give us the security that we have lost because of our disconnection from Pristine Mind.

The way to break through the restless habits of the mind is through meditation.  Meditation frees the mind from its compulsive tendency to engage, engage, engage.  This brings tremendous liberation.  Once we are free from that compulsion, whether we engage or we rest, we are comfortable.  We do not need to always engage.  Without engaging we can still find comfort.  We can choose to engage comfortably when the time is right.

Calming The Mind:

On a cloudy day, when all we can see are clouds, we cannot see the blue sky because the clouds obscure our view.  Yet the luminous, beautiful, and boundless sky is always there.  In the same way, if our mind is busy, chaotic, confused, or agitated, we cannot see our natural state of mind.  Under these circumstances, we don't realize that behind these thoughts and other mental events, our mind is calm, beautiful, boundless and fearless. 

Mental events are like the clouds in the sky.  If our mind is constantly churning with mental events -- thoughts and emotions, beliefs and habits -- it is impossible to experience the mind's natural pristine state.  For that, our mind must be calm and our view of the mind must be uncluttered by transitory, but insistent mental events.

Even if we appreciate the importance of calming the mind, however, we will not be able to do that unless we know how to meditate properly. 

Four simple steps of Pristine Mind meditation:

1.  Don't follow the past.  Do not get caught up in thoughts, memories or images of your past, regardless of whether they occurred minutes ago or years ago.  Bring your mind fully into the present moment.

2.  Don't anticipate the future.  Do not pursue, plan or follow any thoughts, feelings or imaginations of the future.  Do not begin wondering or speculating about what will happen.  Bring your mind fully into the present moment.

3.  Remain in the present moment.  When you are not in the past and not in the future, you're staying in the present moment.  Just be present.  There is nothing to do but vibrantly experience your mind. Let your mind be natural.

4.  Leave your mind alone.  Just let all the thoughts melt away, leave your mind alone, and the present moment will be there for you.

As mental events dissolve, our Pristine Mind naturally emerges.  This is our fundamental nature.  This is the ultimate reality.  This is the true nature of our mind.  In facilitating that increasingly clear view of our mind, this meditation leads us to "realization" -- a realization of what our mind truly is and who we really are.

Once thoughts and emotions subside, we are left with the experience of Pristine Mind, and this meditation is the way to accomplish that.

Our practice with the above 4-step technique is used to attain the three aspects of realization.  We commonly refer to this as Pristine Mind meditation.  Once our realization has taken firm root in our minds, then we abide in Pristine Mind; this abiding is the true Pristine Mind meditation.

Recognizing who we really are is realization.  Abiding in our awareness of who we really are, maintaining that experience, is meditation.  Together, realization and meditation are the journey into enlightenment.

The goal is ultimately to become free from all mental events, including all negative emotions, distractions, and pollutions of mind, and to awaken our innermost essence, our natural state of mind -- and in doing so, to uncover enlightenment.

When our awareness becomes completely pristine, then our mental events no longer have the power to divert us from that vivid, clear, flawless state.  When we reach that point, there is no anxiety, suffering, or fear in our minds.  

Hazy Mind:

When people have anxiety, fear, anger, sorrow, and unhappiness, their mind is overcast.  It is clouded over with thoughts.  In this kind of cloudy mind, it is easy to get upset, to develop anxiety, to become unhappy.  In a mind that has been habitually distorted and cloudy for a long time, reactions are triggered very easily.  The disturbed mind feels volatile and is therefore fundamentally unstable.

When one's mind is more open and clear, however, with fewer tendencies toward mental events, we say that it is more awakened or more pristine.  In that state, anxiety, anger, or other negative reactions are not triggered easily.  Those types of reactions simply do not happen so readily, because the mind has greater stability.

Mental Events Are Like Internal Demons:  

Most people's problems spring from their own thoughts.  Their thoughts and their mental events create unhappiness, disturbance and chaos in their lives.  That's why thoughts are real demons, because they are the cause of suffering, chaos, separation and conflict in so many areas of our lives. 

Generally, we identify with our mental events and carry them with us throughout our lives.  We just keep accumulating mental events without any respite.  We overvalue and even cherish our thoughts.  Some people even take pride in their thoughts.  But as long as we cherish and protect our ordinary thoughts, there is no liberation, there is no freedom from our suffering, because the thoughts we take so seriously dictate our experience.  In such a thought-created world, it does not matter if we are rich and famous; it does not matter if we can travel into outer space; it does not matter if we live in the White House; we are always the victim of our own thoughts and the experience they create for us. 

However, when you know how to access Pristine Mind and you remain in Pristine Mind, then your thoughts lose their power.  They slowly vanish, and your mind becomes comfortable and fearless because your demonic thoughts have disappeared.  You mind is so tranquil, so blissful. 

Clearing Our Mental Clutter:

In our ordinary mind, we live like someone with a hoarding disorder.  We have, figuratively speaking, a wonderful house in the hills overlooking a bay with panoramic views of expensive bridges.  But if we collect our trash in that house year after year, it becomes challenging to even walk from the kitchen to the living room because it is so full of junk that we've collected. 

This is exactly what we are doing with our mind when we identify with our thoughts and emotions and other mental events.  We are hoarders -- mental hoarders.  We have this beautiful Pristine Mind with five amazing senses that are like beautiful windows to the world.  When our mind is pristine, everything we see, hear, touch, taste and smell is viewed from the pristine perspective.  However, if we store clutter and garbage, we are distorting our view of the world.  It adds clutter and sluggishness to our mind when we save negative thoughts, bad habits, unhealthy belief systems, and other toxic information in our mind.

Life is hard when we identify with our mental clutter.  But when, through the realization of Pristine Mind, our mental events cease to define us, then we are no longer a mental hoarder.  Our mind is not holding useless material.  Our mind is clean and beautiful.  As we cultivate our Pristine Mind through meditation, we are doing just that.    


Enlightenment:

What is enlightenment?  Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava says:

If you cultivate positive attitudes and circumstances, 
It helps your mind to naturally go in the right direction.
If your mind goes in the right direction,
It helps to improve and increase your meditation experience.
If you develop the right meditation experience,
It helps you to quickly attain perfect enlightenment.

Our state of mind determines our reality, right now, in this moment.  Therefore, the most important thing is to have the right mind-set right now in this moment.  The only thing standing between us and enlightenment right now is our mental events.  That's it.  When our mental events are no longer present, enlightenment becomes naturally evident, whether we seek it or not.  Enlightenment is essentially the complete, permanent absence of distorted mind, thus letting us experience the deep and abiding inner state that lies beneath mental events.  Our mind becomes completely pristine without any negative thoughts or emotions that cause suffering.  Our mind becomes completely healthy and perfect.  This is the true meaning of enlightenment.