A Direct Pointing Out | The Unobservable Self

"All conditioned phenomena are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, like dew, or a flash of lightning. Thus, we shall perceive them.

All composed things are like a dream, a phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning. That is how to meditate on them, that is how to observe them.

So you should view this fleeting world — a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream."

These are some translations of the Diamond Sutra Gatha, and this video is not going to be an explanation of this Gatha, but rather about turning it into a recurring reminder, a pointer to what is real and what is not.

Because once you have understood this Gatha, have honed it into a fine edge, made it your own, then it is the Diamond that cuts through illusion.

The first thing to know is what this gatha is about. It is about all dharmas; all created things, all phenomena that arise from causes and conditions.

All that is material and all that is mental and experiential. This whole fleeting world. That is the subject matter.

And if you consider that, that covers everything — the feelings you're having, the thoughts, the sensations, the sights and sounds, all the memories, all the ideas of what you are. All material and objective phenomena that you may think exist outside of the mind.

All of those are like a star at dawn.

When you see the star shining brightly in the sky, of course, it looks real. It grabs all your attention. It is right there; it appears solid and permanent — a brilliant point of light.

But it depends on the sky being dark. And in the immensity of light that is the dawn, the star fades away and is forgotten.

This is how you should look at your attachments. All that you find beautiful and hold dear — you can still hold it dear and still see the beauty, but it is like a star at dawn.

To be loved, even adored, but not to be clung on to.

In some translations, the metaphor of a cataract is mentioned, like the fault of vision or a visual distortion. This points out how our perception of time, of what is important in this moment, is always conditioned and inherently flawed. It is always being seen through the lens of clinging on, of fearing loss, of holding what is in the moment to be very real, and all that has passed is forgotten, and all yet to come is not known.

But what is here right now is so very real and important. This is being lost in the illusion of time.

Instead, this moment should be seen as just a bubble in a stream. At every scale, this experience, this life, this world, this universe, it should be seen as just a bubble in a stream.

Time is only in reference to the bubble as it flows in the stream. But the bubble itself has no substance. It is entirely part of the stream. And the stream itself as a whole cannot be talked about in terms of time.

All of now is flowing into all of now, eternally.

There's no question of individual things and objects and subjects. All of now flows into all of now, and this moment is just a bubble in that stream.

Notice the next sensation, the flicker of emotion, the spark of a thought.

It is all like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud. The mind is just like a cloud, and within it, all these phenomena appear spontaneously — flashes of lightning.

There! So obvious, so clear, so striking. And then gone.

Look at it in awe. Look at it in wonder. But do not be afraid of it. It is better for there to be rain than to be parched by drought.

Whatever comes, it is summer rain. Go bathe in it!

It can seem that life is a constant between the two points of birth and death, But is it really so? Are you always conscious?

Don't you go to sleep? Even during the day, there are many points where you've stopped thinking, stopped looking, stopped hearing.

Consciousness is like a flickering lamp. It seems the flame is constant, but it's moving.

It may even go out and come back. What if the lamp goes out? What makes it real? Not the memory of it, not the thought of it.

What makes the lamp real is that its light is being perceived; that somehow this lamp was lit.

That perceiving, that knowing, is the touch of Reality. That which is prior to the mind, prior to consciousness, not an object in space and time.

That is what is perceiving the lamp. That is through which the light of the lamp is perceived.

So, who is this person called me, and what is this world? They are just a phantom and a dream.

Who is the phantom?

You.

The idea of you being a person, an individual sentient being in this world, that is the phantom. There are no separate selves, no separate things. All conditioned phenomena are like shadows, like dreams.

Knowing this, the self and all the selves do not exist and thus do not require liberation.

But as soon as you know that this is a dream, who is it that knows that this is a dream?

That You is real. That is the Reality in You. That is the Tathagata.

The unconditioned and the absolute Reality. Buddha Nature.

So recite this gatha. Understand it, remember it, and hone it into the diamond that cuts through the illusion in an instant.

When you find the mind wrapped up in itself, let a line from this stanza appear and cut through it.

In a moment of joy, a memory filled with love; a beautiful moment, remember it is just a star at dawn.

When you are caught in the rush of life, feeling the weight of the moment, know that it is just a bubble in a stream.

When you feel that flash of anger or anxiety, look at it as a flash of lightning in a summer cloud.

When you feel yourself as a thing in the world, know that you are just a phantom in a dream.

When you question yourself in flickering between wisdom and ignorance, know that consciousness itself is just a flickering lamp.

And true Enlightenment is in just being able to know this lamp, to see it. Because the one who knows consciousness is beyond consciousness, beyond being and non-being.

That is the Truth in you, the Reality of you, the Buddha Nature.

That is the light of dawn, the riverbed in which the stream of time flows, the sky in which the summer clouds take shape, the Awareness in which the lamp is perceived, the Reality in which the dreams appear.

And so you should view this fleeting world:

a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream.