The luminous Mind

Luminosity (S., prabhâsvara) as it relates to mind in the example of luminous Mind is the objectification of mind, itself.  Mind is reflecting back into itself completely empty of extraneousness.  It is somewhat like the sun which by its own light fully reveals itself.  The luminous Mind is, thus, the only reality, everything else, including consciousness, is maya or illusory which cannot affect it.

Hitherto, mind was only understood in and through its modes, for example, consciousness or the intellect which attempts to apprehend it by way of  certain learned concepts.  Mind was never beheld luminously.  Mind lying beyond consciousness and the intellect could only be guessed at.  By awakening to Mind, directly, we understand that the awakened Mind supersedes consciousness and the intellect.  Only then does luminosity dawn for us.

Mind’s luminosity as a subject first appears in the Pali canon.

"Monks, this mind (citta) is luminous (pabhassara), but it is defiled by the adventitious defilements....Monks, this mind is luminous [when] freed (vippamutta) from the adventitious defilements.  This the educated noble disciple understands as it really is” (A. i. 10).

Mind’s agitation/defilements, or its waves, have suddenly stopped.  Mind, itself, is revealed.  At once, luminosity mysteriously pervades the entire body.  Nothing is left out.  Even our consciousness is under its presence.  This luminosity is not something the senses are able to detect except they, too, like consciousness, are under the influence of its presence.  Even our ordinary thoughts are pervaded by luminosity.

Zen Buddhism, hardly mentions this subject.  In Theravada, it is an indication that one has entered the stream to nirvana.  In the Lankavatara Sutra, this luminosity seems to be the apotheosis of Mahayana.

“Then, Mahamati, sustained by the power of the Buddhas, the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas at their first stage will attain the Bodhisattva-Sabmadhi, known as the Light of Mahayana, which belongs to the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas. They will immediately see the Tathagatas, Arhats, Fully-Enlightened Ones appearing before them personally, who come from all the different abodes in the ten quarters of the world and who now facing the Bodhisattvas will impart to them their sustaining power displayed with the body, mouth, and words.”

An aside, this happened to me 1976.  There is little if any exaggeration in this passage.  The whole time one is surrounded by what can only be described as super beings who impart a luminosity into you which is beyond anything you might imagine.  

Comments

[The Zennist]

Gui Do:

Last I read, Goethe requested that his servant let in “more light.” For the many, the prithagjana, who have never experienced the light of Mahayana, I am sure some will do their best to try and debunk it. That's expected. For those who are open to it, it is quite amazing. One understands what the Buddha was trying to say. He was no materialist.

[Gui Do]

I guess Goethe, the famous German writer, unconsciously made fun of that, when his last words were: "More light! More light!"

Actually, that happened to me. Light or luminosity only happens when you have set your mindframe to it. If not, if there are no expectations or remnants of what one once heard or read, nothing like that is to be expected. Light has not more truth in it than black holes. But as there was no knowledge of the importance of this "darkness" in the universe, metaphors in old zen literature referred to the power of the sun. Those metaphors should be outdated or handled with care.