2. Previously I quoted the saying, "Light arises in the empty room." This
light is not luminous, but there is an explanation of this as an evidence of
efficacy in the beginning before one has seen the light. If you see it as light
and fix your attention on it, then you fall into ideational consciousness,
which is not the light of essence.
3. Now when the mind forms a thought, this thought is the present mind.
This mind is light; it is medicine. Whenever people look at things, when
they perceive them spontaneously all at once without discriminating, this is
the light of essence. It is like a mirror reflecting without intending to do so.
In a moment it becomes the light of consciousness, through discrimination.
When there is an image in a mirror, there is no more mirroring; when there
is consciousness in the light, then what light is there any more?
4. At first, when the light of essence turns into thought, then it is
consciousness. When consciousness arises, the light is obscured and cannot
be found. It is not that there is no light, but that the light has become
consciousness. This is what is meant by the saying of the Yellow Emperor,
"When sound moves, it does not produce sound, it produces echoes."
5. The introduction to logical examination in the Heroic March Scripture
says, "neither in objects nor in consciousness," only picking out the organ.
What does this mean? Objects are external things, or the so-called material
world. This has no actual connection with us. If you pursue objects, you are
mistaking things for yourself.
