The Seeing Path

Pema Dragpa January 29, 2020

“If we continue to maintain our creation stage practice with love and compassion—along with the recognition of phenomena as pure from the beginning and inseparable from great equality—we will reach the third path, known as the “seeing path” in English and thonglam [mthong lam] in Tibetan. This corresponds to the first bhumi and the second vidyadhara level, that of tsewang rigdzin. On the seeing path, we begin to clearly see the nature as it is. We do not just perceive the deity in this way; rather, the entire world and universe are experienced in a state of transparent clarity. Meanwhile, our visualizations become more lucid and translucent, in a state of openness. They are not partial or based on fixation. The Guhyagarbha Tantra refers to this as the “clear-light state of the divine body (of the seeing path).” In general, the teachings explain that upon reaching the first bhumi, the development and progress of our realization is irreversible and unending. We can say it is unstoppable, flowing like a big river that always moves forward even as it becomes deeper and wider.”

Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Splendid Presence of the Great Guhyagarbha (pg 317)
www.padmasambhava.org/chiso/books-by-khenpo-rinpoches/guhyagarbha-tantra

Photo of Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche making a mandala offering before the concluding teaching of the 2020 Winter Retreat at the PBC Palm Beach Dharma Center on January 25, 2020.