Verse 12: Cutting through Conceptual Positions

If one says “it is this,” nothing has been posited.
If one says “it is not this,” nothing has been denied.
Unconditioned pure being transcends intellect.
May I gain conviction in the possibility of true being.

Commentary

Still, the part of us that seeks a conceptual understanding of life persists.
When we say that mind is empty experience, we are not positing some thing
called empty experience. The words “empty experience” point to a knowing
beyond ordinary knowing. However, the part of us that relies on reason and
concepts tries to find meaning in the words themselves, and ends up looking at the proverbial finger pointing to the moon, rather than the moon itself

In the same way, when we say that experience has no ground, we are not
positing some thing called ground and saying it doesn’t exist. There never was any ground to be negated. Again, such statements are pointers.

Mind nature, mind-itself, pure being, buddha nature, naked awareness,
ordinary knowing, and so forth, all these terms are pointers. They are not terms to be understood through reason or the intellect. We can only know what they point to through direct knowing and experience.

To move beyond conceptual knowing is difficult. Glimpses are easy, but to
live from there for even a few minutes is not. We first have to learn about this possibility. Then we have to understand what is being pointed to. And then we have to trust it enough to practice it. Only then will we be able to know that it is more than a possibility. That is why we aspire to gain conviction in this possibility.

Links to Related Verses

Verse 11

Verse 17