31/07/2025
The colors, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations of things are not their true nature!
Everything we see, hear, and think is our own projection. I want to emphasize again that when I say "everything," I really mean everything! Everyone's opinions and beliefs are based on their unique perceptions. Everything we perceive, whether it is beautiful, ugly, flavorful, tasteless, sweet, sour, good, bad, black, white, etc., is within the viewer's eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and mind. In other words, the color, sound, aroma, taste, and touch of things are not their true nature.
Another commonly used proverb is: "Appearances are deceptive." If you understand this truth, 80% of the practice of pure perception is already completed. We also need to understand the paradox that color and emptiness are not two, sound and emptiness are not two, aroma and emptiness are not two, taste and emptiness are not two, and touch and emptiness are not two. The paradox here means that each of these pairs is inseparable. The appearance does not manifest one second before the emergence of emptiness, and vice versa; heat does not appear before the fire emerges, and vice versa.
100% pure perception (pure view) is what the Ta**ra calls "devotion," which is believing that your guru possesses full Buddhahood. A geologist looking at a pile of ore and determining it to be pure gold is absolutely correct; similarly, a Ta**ra student looking at a guru who often seems sleepy, sometimes irritable, loves red wine but not white, and believing that feeling is devotion, is also absolutely correct. He has felt the heart of devotion.
Moreover, devotion is not one-sided; the Vajra Guru must also view every student with the exact same pure perception—just as a chef looks at a pile of ingredients about to become a delicious meal and starts to salivate. But in the case of the Vajra Guru, pure perception is called "compassion" and "kindness."
A great Sakya master once said that you must first try to visualize the guru as a Buddha, then try to see the guru as a Buddha, but the ultimate goal is to realize that you yourself are a Buddha. This is the essence of Guru Yoga.
Always remember, the guru fully knows that no student can see him as a Buddha from the very first day. As I have said, this takes a long time. If the guru expects immediate pure perception and becomes dissatisfied with students who cannot immediately see him as a Buddha, even punishing them, then he is not only an unqualified Vajra Guru but also lacks common sense. #
