An Old Man Basking in the Sun

Longchen Rabjam


The pathless path is the path always under our feet and since that path is always beneath us, if we miss it, how stupid!

The dynamic of involuntary concentration, irrespective of meditation, is always present -but surely we all know that!

Surely we all know that our selves and the things we want and cling to, from the very first, in reality, are all images of intrinsic gnosis.

The five passions, self-imposed shackles, from the first occur together with gnosis -surely we all know that!

The four material elements, earth, water, fire and air, constitute the body -surely we can all see that!

The distilled elixir of the most secret instruction resounds spontaneously in every ear -surely we can all hear it! Or don't we have ears to hear?

The tang of natural spaciousness and gnosis indelibly surrounds us -surely we can all smell it! Or are our noses blocked up?

The three elixirs rolled into one secret precept have always been the flavor of body-mind -surely we can all taste it! Or have we lost our tongues?

The phantasmagoria of pure vision is always with us, day and night, like a shadow, a part of the body -or are we shadowless corpses? Surely we can all feel it!

Happiness, hand in hand with suffering, inexpressibly, is intrinsically present -or are our minds too dull to notice?

The build-up of samsaric propensities, primordially, is the pure dimension of being -pity him who has not noticed!

In the field of sense organ, object and consciousness every recollection and apperception, every flicker of the mind, arises as the dimension of perfect enjoyment -how can we fail to see it!

All goal-oriented conventional activity and all chatter, gossip and laughter, is the dimension of magical emanation -surely we all know that! Or are we so dull?

Every impulse and stirring of the mind, seamless, like a flowing stream, our constant mental enchantment, is effortless, natural meditation - surely we can't miss that!

Looking closely at matter and energy, and at thought, sound and form, it is all insubstantial projection, and this view that empties our urban samsara has always been with us, though unseen -surely our doors of perception are now open!


-Kunkhyen Longchenpa, An Old Man Basking in the Sun, translated by Keith Dowman, Vajra Publications, 2006