Only surface. Extract from The Happy Twins, Eifel 2019

James Low

Extract taken from ‘The Happy Twins: Dzogchen and Mahamudra Autumn Retreat in the Eifel, 2019 James Low

Transcribed by Jo Feat

Edited by Barbara Terris

Read the 1 page transcript here.

A block of gold it is very heavy and dense. You know it has a lot of value but you don’t really see the value. You could give the block of gold to someone who knows how to make gold leaf and they could prepare it, thin it out  and use it.  Gold leaf is very shiny and can be used on a statue or the frame of a painting. Gold leaf is the purity of surface; there is no depth to it. We should thin everything out like beaten gold. This is really how mahamudra is. It is showing again and again the great diversity and richness of possibilities, but always as the luminous surface of the world. Whenever we find a substantial essence and we think we have found a deeper meaning in something then that is a sure sign that we have put it there.

 

Listen to the whole retreat here. https://simplybeing.co.uk/audio-records/year/audio2019/autumn-2019-the-happy-twins