"Outward appearances including mountains and mansions, all of the earth, water, fire, wind, space, and so forth …and what’s inward including all that arises as the manifold variations of awareness that affirm or negate, all of your moving, sleeping, eating, walking, talking, and so forth – without distraction, become familiar with their nature being like a dream, an illusion, hallucination, mirage, a moon in water, an echo, castles in the clouds, an apparition.
By knowing that the appearances of objects, affirmations or negations of the intellect, ebbs and flows of experience, and anything whatsoever, are the play of illusion – enhance your practice and train in being artful, so as to bring whatever you encounter within great intrinsic freedom!"
Text: Excerpt from Trilogy of Rest (Ngal gso skor gsum), Dzogchen writings by Longchenpa (1308–1364). It's from the third and final one -- being at ease with the illusory nature of reality.
Photo: Image of NGC 6302 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 6302 is commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula and lies within our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 3800 light-years away.
