“Thoughts manifest themselves within emptiness and are reabsorbed into it like a face appears and disappears in a mirror;
the
face has never been in the mirror, and when it ceases to be reflected
in it, it has not really ceased to exist. The mirror itself has never
changed. So, before departing on the spiritual path, we remain in the
so-called "impure" state of samsara, which is, in appearance, governed
by ignorance. When we commit ourselves to that path, we cross a state
where ignorance and wisdom are mixed. At the end, at the moment of
Enlightenment, only pure wisdom exists. But
all the way along this spiritual journey, although there is an
appearance of transformation, the nature of the mind has never changed:
it was not corrupted on entry onto the path, and it was not improved at the time of realization.” ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
