The Tree of Enlightenment

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
yth and ymbolism
I n Chapter 24 we talked about how the special characteristic of
the Vajrayana is its use of the totality of experience to achieve
direct or immediate knowledge of nonduality. In turning the
totality of experience to the use of this spiritual or religious
endeavor, it is important that we select elements of experience
that are specially powerful and meaningful. is does not
exclude using the totality of our experience for our spiritual progress.
Rather, it means that we focus first on types of experience
that are particularly powerful and meaningful, using them as
the building blocks of our transformed vision. We then extend
that transformed experience so that it eventually encompasses all
experiences, even those that were originally less significant.
Initially, then, we select elements of experience that are specially
potent and powerful. In the process, certain archetypal
elements are isolated. Archetypal elements of experience are
those that have a very deep-seated mode of being within both an
individual consciousness and our collective consciousness (that
is, the sum total of all individual consciousness).
Let us look at some specific examples of archetypal experience.
e first belongs to the realm of myth. e most dominant
feature of myth is the struggle between good and evil. is is
perhaps the primordial, fundamental mythological theme, and
has been worked out in myths from the beginning of time up to
the present day. For example, the crux of the contest between
Rama and Ravana in the Ramayana is the struggle between
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