In Rigpa, Nothing Sticks
Rigpa, in the Tibetan Nyingma tradition, is the word for pure awareness: it is pure, empty conscious space, the very nature of mind. It’s what we are – we are pure mind essence. When we wake up from sleep, that is our very first experience.
As it is pure emptiness, nothing sticks to it. Rigpa is just an open receptacle, like space, and thoughts and appearances do not stick. This openness is always present, even when thoughts and appearances enter the mind. Throw something into space; it doesn’t hang there, but naturally drops, and pure mind essence is actually like that.
When Rigpa (pure awareness) is not recognised however, the mind becomes sticky and clings to thoughts and appearances. Once something sticks, we create a whole chain reaction. In this way, the constant re-creation of a self is maintained, with a ‘me’ and ‘y thoughts’ and ‘my world’. We find that we are desperately holding onto our world as this fixation makes everything appear solid and real, and we seem to suffer.
In saying that we seem to suffer, this because we are holding on to an illusion: thoughts and appearances are temporary, and so is our suffering. Nothing can upset or destroy Rigpa. Thoughts and appearances only obscure it. Our thoughts obscure our reality.
In a world of ‘claiming’, this is not easy to understand. It is, however, the pure and simple truth. The more we cling, the more we suffer. The less we cling, the less we suffer. It’s obvious when we look and see.
