Trying to make heads or tails out of the picture to the left at first glance is difficult. Being told that it is a special breed of dog is helpful. But even more helpful is to learn that it is a Dalmatian, or a firehouse dog.
Cognizing pure Mind is somewhat like this, but far more difficult. While we are familiar with a Dalmatian, we have never beheld pure Mind before, or the same, the Buddha or awakened Mind. This does mean pure Mind is not present. It is. Our thought-forms are made of it as is everything else. They are distortions of it like a whirlpool is a distortion of water.
The guidance of those who have truly mastered Zen is important. They unselfishly try to inform us what the quest is about; then, if we are lucky and blessed, kick our ass to force us to make the long inward journey. At the same time, they drop hints along the way that help us to look in the right direction, just like it is helpful to know, in the picture above, that all the seemingly incoherent spots add up to a firehouse dog.
When we see pure Mind for the first time, we realize that there is no spatial split between pure Mind, itself, and the torsional forms its takes in the form of our temporal world, including our thought-forms. There is nothing, in other words, outside of it. While for the modern mind, this sounds reductionistic, if not impossible, for those who have seen Mind, first hand, it is the fundamental fact of reality which cannot be escaped.
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