A gem in the ocean's depths
Similarly, because the experience of the space seems to accord with various descriptions one might have heard or read, it is also relatively common for this awareness to come to be referred to, for example, as the ‘Ground of Being’, as the ‘Cosmic Consciousness’, ‘Big Mind’, ‘The One Mind’, ‘The Absolute’, ‘The Unconditioned’, or ‘The Unfabricated’. And since a sense of divinity often permeates experience, a practitioner may begin to speak in theistic terms. Whatever appellation is used, what unites them is the belief in the inherent existence of this space; and often too a belief in its status as an ultimate object of realization. Then a practitioner may believe that, having reached the ultimate, they only need to familiarize themselves with this state, so that its perspective becomes more continuously accessible. As we will shortly discuss, this is a delicate and pivotal stage in practice, for in fact this is not yet the deepest understanding. Although a meditator may actually be served by becoming attached to such views for a while, clinging to the belief that it is ultimate may well prevent further insight.
Rob Burbea. Seeing That Frees: Meditations on Emptiness and Dependent Arising (p. 198).
A friend just started reading this treasure of a book - this Substack could easily fill up nothing but close readings of individual passages I’ve highlighted. This particular passage is a nice counterbalance to endless paeans to the Ground of Being, of which I am slightly guilty. To be fair, a lot of Tibetan Buddhist texts can be like this. I just opened to a random page of Patrul Rinpoche’s Nature of Mind: “From within the very expanse of original purity / Mindful each moment of the immanent arising of awareness / It is like finding a gem in the ocean’s depths / Nobody has contrived or tampered with dharmakaya” All of this is true and profound — but no matter how much it seems like it’s the Unconditioned, you have to be able to work with it as a fabrication as well. The even more paradoxical thing is that taking it as less real can make it seem more real. Insubstantial yet vividly occurring.