The Changeless Nature

172 The Changeless Naturedirectly aware of phenomena.2. Cognitive obscuration: conditioned, dualistic thinking and perception whichobscures the true nature of things; the blockage caused by unenlightenedperception and knowledge.3. Indivisible: it has the same purity throughout the different phases. SeeChapter I, point 9 — Inalterability.4. Purity: the twofold purity of buddhahood alone: 1) purity of nature(even present in the 'impure' phase, in ordinary beings) and 2) purity dueto the absence of the incidental impurities.5. Inter meditation: see Chapter One, Note 29.6. Rahu: a mythical figure who eats the sun and moon; refers to eclipses.7. Embodiment of jewel-qualities: the dharmakaya.8. Untainted purity and all-embracing knowledgeSangs. rGyas - buddha. See Note 11 to Part One.form the two aspects of9. The excellent: the bodhisattvas of the deep levels.10. Form beyond elements to be seen etc.: in the ten bodhisattva levels, whatwere formerly the five senses are purified and, instead of the sort of senseimpressions ordinary beings perceive, bodhisattvas on those levels experiencethe beatitudes of the pure lands. Their eyes see symbols of the qualities ofawakened mind, their noses smell the fragrance of pure conduct etc.11. Profound nature: being unobvious and difficult to understand, it is 'deep'.Normally, one perceives the superficial, apparent nature. The deep nature ofall is sunyata, voidness. See Translators' Introduction.12. Like space: not in the sense of making space or being vast but like spacebecause they are also non-compounded, the uncreate.13. Embodiment of dharma: dharma (Tib: CHos) is a term with many meanings(Kongtrul Rinpoche lists ten). Here it means nirvana.14. Jnana: here, stands for the dharmakaya. It represents the 'perfect knowledge'aspect of buddhahood while the vimuktikaya represents the perfectpurity. It is said that buddhahood is jnana.16. Mahasattvas: see Note 6 on Part One.17. The two kayas: the dharmakaya and the form-kayas. The latter are two —sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. The form kaya seen by the deeply-realisedis the sambhogakaya.18. Inconceivable for beings different from the jnanakaya: there are variousways of interpreting this passage; here according to Kongtrul Rinpoche'scommentary.19. Three kinds of prajna: prajna born of studying dharma, born of reflectingupon it and born of meditation. See note 9 to Part One.20. Two extreme notions: misassumption — holding the untrue as true (to takeall phenomena as real) and wrong denial — denying what is, in fact, true(denying that all beings are endowed with buddha-nature).21. The three obscurations: 1) negative affects, 2) dualistic knowledge and3) hindrances to meditative balance.