The Sutra
"When a moonless raining night is not present, close eyes and find blackness before you. Opening eyes see blackness. So faults disappear forever."
Paul Reps translation, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (1957)
Understanding
You do not need an actual dark night for the previous technique. Close your eyes - there is blackness. Open your eyes - see the blackness that is BEHIND the visible objects, the darkness that is the background of all perception. When you can see this blackness with eyes both open and closed, the distinction between inner and outer dissolves. "Faults disappear forever" because psychological faults exist only in the division between inner and outer.
Original Sanskrit
एवमेव जगत्सर्वं दग्धं ध्यात्वा विकल्पतः ।
evameva jagatsarvam dagdham dhyaatvaa vikalpatah |
Vijnanabhairava Verse 99 (Technique 76 of 112)
How to Practice
Close your eyes. Notice the blackness, the darkness that is always present inside.
Stay with this internal darkness for a few minutes. Become familiar with it.
Now slowly open your eyes. But instead of focusing on objects, look for the darkness BETWEEN and BEHIND things.
Try to see the dark background that objects appear against - the space, the gaps, the shadows.
Practice alternating: eyes closed (darkness), eyes open (darkness behind light).
When you can feel the same continuous darkness in both states, the division between inner and outer dissolves. That dissolution is freedom from all psychological faults.
Duration
15-25 minutes
Best Time
Evening or nighttime
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