It seems Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s description of something that he calls ‘essence love’ is not only easily misunderstood but also, when discussed, capable of generating strong feelings. Or so it was when several nights ago I asked a group of fellow students was essence love something innate, something outside of the laws of cause and effect such as rigpa, or a particular state that only existed when the causes and conditions for its existence - an absence of stress - were present? (These are the only two options that the Dharma gives us). From reading Why We Meditate I felt this was not clear, although Dan Golman’s contribution did seem to lean towards the latter. However several members of the group vociferously stated it was the opposite: “It’s definitely innate, it’s Rinpoche’s way of introducing rigpa” and a little less convincing, “Of course it’s innate, I can feel it in the morning”. And you can see their point. Tsoknyi Rinpoche does say things like it’s “a natural well-being independent of circumstances” and a feeling of “okay for no particular reason”, which could imply that it does not arise interdependently.
However, for my tuppence worth of opinion I don’t think this interpretation is correct. While, what Rinpoche is describing as ‘essence love’ could sound like something innate, something that is covered over but never lost, in reality this state of “basic okayness” is like all other feelings. Entirely dependent on conditions - an absence of stress - and when these conditions change - we become stressed, when we feel hollow - the feeling is lost. So how did I get here? The answer is via Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and what he writes about obstacles and the subtle body in his book As It Is,:
Inner obstacles are imbalances in the nadis, pranas and bindu - the channels, energies and essences, … these can be disturbed in various ways. The channels can be constricted, the winds or energies can be reversed and move in the wrong way, or the essences can be deranged. ‘Essence’ here means mainly the white and red elements obtained from the father and mother. These three serve as the blue-print, the basic structure for the human body. When they suffer from imbalances, we feel that our illusionary physical body is sick. Of course there are certain remedies we can use to cure such imbalances.
So here we have it. Tulku Urgyen is describing a process of cause and effect. Conditions - in fact the ‘human condition’ - creates imbalances in our subtle body but equally we can create the conditions that act as a remedy for this. Essence love, unlike rigpa is not simply covered over or obscured by obstacles, but is a particular and unique state of well-being that is dependent on a healthy subtle body, and when this is not present, it has gone.
Going on a step, what is really interesting and of course important is what are the remedies that cure the imbalances. Tsoknyi Rinpoche offers a hand-full of exercises and in particular the ‘hand-shake’ practice that helps us to be present with our emotions. Tulku Urgyen urges us towards the ultimate ‘remedy’ - rigpa. This really turns everything on its head because once resting stably within rigpa, imbalances within the subtle body are not only cured but also recognised for what they most profoundly are, the expression of rigpa itself. So in this sense, both the experiences of the well-being of essence love and its opposite, hollowness, are from within the perspective of the non-dual mind, one and the same thing. Both are intrinsic awareness, the only thing that Dzogchen considers innate, manifesting itself. The mirror contains all reflections.
But there is one twist more. Could it be that the feeling of essence love somehow contains an echo of something that is actually innate? Dzogchen describes the ground of reality as being empty in essence, clear by nature and without limit which it says is its capacity or energy. The Tibetan word for this unconfined energy is tukjé, which in the Sutras also means ‘compassion’. So in this sense it could also be said that the nature of reality is all pervasive love - which is exactly what Tsoknyi Rinpoche says when speaking of bodhichitta:
All sentient beings innately possess love and compassion. We can even say our true nature is love and compassion. Although we have this nature as our birthright, we can also cultivate these qualities deliberately. This is like stimulating something to come out, to grow and expand.
Whatever the truth of all this, one thing is clear. To recognise and rest within the non-dual mind requires a healthy, stress free subtle body - this is before any great transformations within it - and if this is described by the notion of essence love, then the restoration of essence love, that creates the conditions for the uncovering of rigpa, is essential.
And it feels good.
NW. 7 July 2024
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