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| Paul Levy |
Years ago I received the empowerment of
PadmaSambhava from one of my teacher's gurus. In these empowerments,
or initiations, we are supposed to imagine that we are receiving the
empowerment, rich with infinite blessings, from PadmaSambhava himself.
Afterwards, I had a private audience with this guru, and he casually
asked me, as if asking about a journey I had just returned from, how
it went. Put on the spot, I didn't quite know what to say, other than
the noncommittal and unrevealing "fine." He responded by
saying "If you think you got it, you got it." I didn't think
much of it at the time. It was only months later that I realized that
at that moment this guru was giving me a profound insight into the
nature of reality.
The Buddha kept on prophesizing in a number of sutras that an even
greater incarnation than himself will soon be born whose name will
be PadmaSambhava. PadmaSambhava is the tantric Buddha, the incarnation
of the enlightened mind itself; he is considered to be the Buddha
of our age. By the power of his awakening he "conquered"
the country of Tibet and turned everyone into Dharma practitioners.
PadmaSambhava is the supreme alchemist; it is said the greater the
negativity, the greater his power of transmutation.
PadmaSambhava started the "terma," or hidden treasure
lineage, which is particularly unique and psychoactive beyond belief.
To insure the propagation of the purity of the teachings, PadmaSambhava
concealed teachings and blessed objects in the dreamfield: in the
earth, in the sky, in lakes, in his disciples minds. He would then
inspire his disciples to discover them at exactly the right point
in history, when this exact teaching was needed. Like alarm clocks
going off to wake us up, these terma hidden in the dream, were also
like vitamins that the dreamfield would organically secrete when
needed, so as to compensate a one-sidedness.
One such terma is the Tibetan Book of Great Liberation. In this
hidden treasure, one of the things PadmaSambhava says is "As
a thing is viewed, so it appears," which can be essentialized
to "As Viewed, So Appears." This points to the dreamlike
nature of reality, for, in a dream, if we change the way we view
it, the dream has no choice but to immediately shapeshift and reflect
back our new point of view. A dream is none other than a mirrored
reflection or projection of the very mind that is observing it.
"As viewed, so appears," is such a profound expression
of how we create our reality, that if we think it isn't true, the
entire universe will shape-shift and reflect back that as viewed,
so appears is not true. Which, of course, is just further proof
of the all-pervasiveness and profundity of “as viewed, so appears.”
Because this whole process happens outside of time, in no time,
faster than the twinkling of an eye, we don't see the role we're
playing in co-dreaming our seeming reality, and we become entranced
by our own creation. We imagine and then experience the dreamscape
as something intrinsically real, objectively existing and separate
from us, which we thereby react to. In essence we are reacting to
our own energy, like a kitten reacting to her reflection in a mirror,
and we have once again dreamed ourselves into the self-perpetuating,
infinite regression known as samsara or cyclic existence.
So if I think I got PadmaSambhava's blessing at the empowerment,
then, according to “as viewed, so appears,” I got it.
Could it be that simple? PadmaSambhava would certainly say so.
An artist whose medium is dreaming, Paul Levy is also a healer
in private practice, assisting others who are also spiritually awakening.
He is the coordinator of the Portland PadmaSambhava Buddhist Center.
He can be reached at (503) 234-6480. As part of the preparations
for the Dalai Lama’s visit, Paul has been invited by New Renaissance
Bookshop to give a lecture on "Receiving the Greatest Blessing
from His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Visit to Portland." The
talk will be held on Friday, April 20th. See calendar
for details.
For more articles about dreaming, see www.communityconnexion.com/levy
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