The Zennist: The dark clouds dissolve

Realizing pure Mind for the first time is something like seeing an overcast sky at night open up just long enough to see the moon, then closing. The closing part is very important. It represents the force of our old habits. In spite of the fact that we just had a glimpse into pure Mind, the power of our habits to run contrary to such an awakening still strongly persist.

Even if we have had absolute Bodhicitta (bodhicittotpada), which is quite rare, we still have to perfect it, that is, overcome our contrary habits which only serve to cover it. As strange as it sounds, we have to reach a state of perfection, or paramita, such that our all-too-familiar world no longer exists for us. What replaces it is our original glimpse into pure Mind that now never subsides because our old habits are no longer operative—they can’t cover the light, in other words. We have prajñâ paramited them out of the way! By continually focusing on pure Mind, again and again our habits, over time, gradually disappear. What replaces them is the certainty of pure spirit that it is, indeed, the one true substance of all.