If You Seek Enlightenment, You Have Failed
from The Great Image Biography compiled by Yudra Nyingpo Then Vairotsana requested instruction from a wise Chinese mendicant, yoginī, and hermitess, who said: If you seek enlightenment, let go of striving. If you seek to watch the mind, focus on the breath. If you seek wisdom, constantly apply mindfulness. If you seek bliss, check whether you’ve found the essence of the five poisons. If you seek enlightenment, you have failed. This is what the ḍākinī said to Vairotsana. Then Vairotsana asked the Chinese yoginī about the definitive meaning. The hermitess Chudunma replied by saying: With the realization of space-like purity, Virtue and non-virtue are mere conventions; Suffering and saṃsāra have never existed. There is no effort towards unborn dharmas. There is no liberation, for there is no bondage. There has never been an 'essence of awakening'. Those childlike ones who fail to realize this And chase in vain after supposed enemies Entirely forsake all virtuous dharmas. They clin...