Pure Intention

2024, June, Issue 100

Beginning

must begin

with pure intention,

with that knowledge

that one must

awaken

perfectly awaken

beyond all notions

of awakening,

one must,

with pure heart,

sincerely

wish

to go beyond

to do whatever it takes

to confront all that stands in the way

to be willing to open your heart

and mind

completely

without fear

without holding anything back without

without

without the slightest hesitation or worry about protecting oneself

from all those demons we must face

from friends who quickly turn to enemies

from family who quickly attack our most sensitive

places of the heart,

for simply not

agreeing

to continue

in that

eternal

confusion, that

suffering

that

that that pain without end;

We must

definitely decide

upon purity with

this intention

to go

beyond into

pure

light.

A poem from, Timeless Luminosity, pp. 60-61, © 2020.

When we decide to set foot on the Spiritual Path, we must do so with a pure intention.  This means that we must decide to be a genuine Spiritual Practitioner by beginning with the sincere and compassionate wish to awaken.  We come to this point by simply observing all that has ever left an imprint on our mind.  Our own psyche reveals the complete futility of remaining asleep for all eternity.  Nothing but chaos and instability has ever happened within this turbulent cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Our pure intention to awaken means that we have exhausted all other avenues in our search for some sort of meaning, some sort of answer, some sort of philosophy that might last beyond a cursory examination.  The Spiritual Seeker decides to generate Bodhicitta at last.  The seeker of answers decides to awaken, instead of blindly searching in the dark.  Light begins to shine, when we discover the importance of enlightenment mind.

Having this pure intention means that we are finally preparing for death in a meaningful way, in a way that can be of great help when you find yourself needing to navigate the death bardo.  When I say purification, I am referring to the elimination of obstacles, not something related to behavior, as is sometimes misunderstood.  We purify our karma by not being constrained by what we have set in motion.  We purify our essence by letting light shine, rather than creating more darkness or by hardening our heart from what is, as it is.

Think of yourself, a being trapped in cyclic existence, as someone who has built a hard shell around them, always defending this shell, never letting the light shine through.  The more closed mind, the thicker the shell.  When you decide to awaken, you are deciding to break through this shell, maybe just chipping a small crack in the shell, allowing yourself to have some notion of this light of pure existence.  We let the light into our heart and mind, then it grows.

Maybe you have developed a strong determination to break through this hard shell and you burst out into light.  This is purification of instantly opening your heart and mind.  Some people have the capacity for such a dramatic move, others need to wait by developing abilities of mind through meditation.  It doesn’t matter whether it is instantaneous or gradual.  Since time is an illusion, fretting about the time it takes is a highly comical act.

We do our best, we do not worry about the time it takes to awaken.  In this way, we can remove obstacles and live life with a lightness to our being, not being concerned about our progress.  What we must know is that we have determined to establish Bodhicitta, and that is that.  We will awaken once we have definitively established the wish to awaken, which is Bodhicitta.

As you go through life, please understand that you will most certainly encounter innumerable obstacles.  If you have sufficiently developed a strong spiritual foundation, that will be no problem.  With each demon you face, you may laugh about it a little bit more, as you find yourself in the knowledge that these demons are all fictitious aberrations.  With your laughter, the demons disperse, you purify your existence.

As the light of Dharmakaya begins to flood inside your heart and mind, you find yourself beyond belief, beyond constraints of any kind.  These obscurations that have shadowed your life from what is, as it is, will have less of a hold on you.  When this happens, you have prepared yourself for death, and you may awaken at any time.

I have said this very same thing in many ways.  Maybe it is making you weary to hear it once again, even if you already know you are a Buddha, just ready to appear from out of confusion and suffering.  If that is the case, it is time for you to put this into practice, rather than turning my words into yet another obstacle.  What is preventing you from becoming the light itself?  What is preventing you from awakening?

Please find the strength and determination to awaken at once!  You have this ability to become the master.  You don’t need to hear someone else’s words in order to awaken.  You’ve always had this ability, Dorothy, just click those heels on your ruby slippers and make that wish to awaken.  Begin and awaken.

Blessings in Light,               

Robert Aho