In a Martial conflict, what would be your greatest obstruction, your greatest barrier even after years of training? You may well find it is the very thing that’s been lurking in both your conscious mind, and also in the (so called) sub conscious mind. Unless you have really worked on yourself, you will find fear is there, waiting for you. In a conflict, in an instant, you will freeze, stiffen, slow down and start to doubt your own ability. Here we should ask why? Well, we will be looking at the conflict from a solid centre, the ego, and the self. We see this self as a separate entity, separate from all that now surrounds us. And in that separation from all that is, we become vulnerable. Whereas, if we see the confusion that we created by this idea of me, of I, of a separate self, then even in a difficult situation we can remain calm. Why is this? Because there is no you, and therefore no enemy. Only appropriate action, unimpeded, spontaneous, and instant.

Ask your self why the Samurai, (who, at the end of the day were no more than hired, professional killers), should adopt the Zen Buddhist techniques of meditation, which, are designed help people to reach an enlighten states of wisdom and compassion, the very opposite the Samurai’s goal. They knew that should they be able to achieve a state of emptiness in battle, they would become invincible. We have also to treat emptiness as an obtainable goal/state, and not just as some exotic theory. Reaching an understanding will bring about a totally new feeling of relaxation and mental well-being, which in turn, will release a great deal of energy. This new feeling of wholeness will reflect in your practice, which will cease to be something to be achieved, a goal to be reach, but instead you will find that you will practice for it’s own sake.

The Base or Ground of all being:
Lets go back to that flower, how did it arise, and where did it come from? First lets look at the three levels of existence as described by the Taoist and Buddhist systems, firstly we have Jing, Chi, and Shen and in the Buddhist, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya or Body, Speech and Mind. Very simply these words relate to the Space, in which things
manifest. The Energy by which they manifest, and the solid Manifestations themselves. So the empty space, in which the flower can manifest, is referred to as the Ground or Source in which all the impermanent (things) of the Universe arise. According to Eastern thought this ground, although “Empty” has the quality of “Clarity” and “Luminosity”. Also called “Clear” and “Light”. In Tibetan Bon and Buddhism this is called Kunzhi, the Mother of all existence. In Chinese “The Tao” The essence of Kunzhi is emptiness. It is unlimited, absolute space; within it exist no concepts, no entities, no inherent existence of any kind, and it has no boundaries. This empty space seems external to us, the empty space that objects inhabit, and the empty space of the mind. Even hard to comprehend is that this ground or Kunzhi has neither inside or outside, cannot be said to exist or not exist (because it is empty) for it is reality itself. It is said to be limitless, nor can it be destroyed, because it has never been born. Language used to describe it is necessarily paradoxical, since this ground is beyond dualism and concept. Therefore, it is unconditioned and cannot be known by the conditioned(mind)

The clarity or light aspect of the ground is pure awareness, so we have the inseparable unity of emptiness and clarity. Now I will quote from the book call “The Tibetan Yoga’s of Dream and Sleep” byTenzin Wangal Rinpoche, because this is such a brilliant explanation of a vital, but very difficult subject.

When the sun goes down in the evening, we say that darkness falls. This is darkness from the perceiver’s point of view. Space is always clear and pervasive, it does not change when the sun rises or sets; there is not dark space and light space. It is only dark or light for us the perceiver. The darkness takes place in space but does not affect the space. When the lamp of awareness is lit, the space of the ground, the base, is illuminated for us, but it was never dark. The darkness was the result of
obscurations; our awareness was entangled in the darkness of the ignorant mind.

Mind and Matter:
The essence of both mind and matter is the base, so why does matter lack awareness? Why can sentient beings become enlightened and matter cannot? In Dzgochen(Tibet’s system of Metaphysics and Yoga, similar in many ways to Taoism, for example, the Yoga of Dzgochen resembles Qigong) we explain this with a crystal and a lump of coal. where the crystal represents mind and coal represents matter. When the sun shines, the coal, even though drenched in light, cannot radiate that light. It lacks the capacity, just as matter lacks the reflective capacity of innate awareness. But when the sunlight reaches the crystal, it reflects the light because it has the Innate capacity to do so; that is its nature. This capacity manifests as displays of multi-hued light. Similarly, sentient beings have the capacity of innate awareness. The mind of a sentient being reflects the light of primordial awareness and its potential is displayed in either the projections of the mind, or in the pure light of primordial awareness.

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