Confusion and Wisdom
At present the state of ordinary people is like pure gold covered with dirt. Our buddha nature is covered by temporary obscurations. One of the main obscurations that need to be purified is our fixation on duality, on solid reality. Once it is purified, then gold is just gold. As long as our mind is confused, bewildered, deluded and mistaken, our buddha nature continues to be dragged through the realms of samsara. But when the mind is unconfused, unmistaken, and undeluded, it is the buddha nature itself.
It is not that the buddha nature is one thing and our mind is another separate thing. They are not two different entities. The undeluded mind itself is the pure gold, the buddha nature. Sentient beings do not have two minds. When the mind is deluded, it is given the name sentient being. When the mind is undeluded, unmistaken, it is called buddha.
There are not two different entities. The undeluded mind itself is the pure gold, the buddha nature. Sentient beings do not have two minds. When the mind is deluded, it is given the name sentient being. When the mind is undeluded, unmistaken, it is called buddha.
(Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in As It Is, Vol. I, ‘The Fourth Dharma of Gampopa)
